Light and Enlightenment: A Study of the Cambridge Platonists and the Dutch Arminians

by Rosalie Littell Colie

162 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1957

Reviews

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book in need of a replacement, but because it is one of the precious few on the connection between seventeenth-century Arminians and Cambridge Platonists, it is of some value. The title is entirely misleading as Colie does not examine what 'light' meant to these two groups, nor how they either spread or checked 'enlightenment' (which is not defined). This is, rather, an exploration of the themes and sensibilities that united these two (loose) groups, and an overview of the particular friendships and alliances that had an impact on European thought at the time. One of Colie's helpful points is that, by 1700 or so, the intellectual battles drawn in Holland and England were no longer between Calvinists and Arminians, but between different branches of conservative Calvinists and different groups of more liberal Arminians. Likewise, she draws a fascinating picture of the popularization of More's and Cudworth's works on the continent via their Dutch friends, specifically Philip van Limborch (1633-1712) and Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736). She also provides a helpful overview of the main points at issue in the Cambridge Platonist challenge to Spinoza's and Bayle's philosophies.