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Deism: An Anthology
- GenresReligion
Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
Peter Gay
150 books154 followersPeter Joachim Gay was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers (1997–2003). He received the American Historical Association's (AHA) Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2004. He authored over 25 books, including The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, a two-volume award winner; Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968); and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988).
Gay was born in Berlin in 1923, left Germany in 1939 and emigrated, via Cuba, to the United States in 1941. From 1948 to 1955 he was a political science professor at Columbia University, and then a history professor from 1955 to 1969. He left Columbia in 1969 to join Yale University's History Department as Professor of Comparative and Intellectual European History and was named Sterling Professor of History in 1984.
Gay was the interim editor of The American Scholar after the death of Hiram Haydn in 1973 and served on that magazine's editorial board for many years. Sander L. Gilman, a literary historian at Emory University, called Gay "one of the major American historians of European thought, period".
Gay was born in Berlin in 1923, left Germany in 1939 and emigrated, via Cuba, to the United States in 1941. From 1948 to 1955 he was a political science professor at Columbia University, and then a history professor from 1955 to 1969. He left Columbia in 1969 to join Yale University's History Department as Professor of Comparative and Intellectual European History and was named Sterling Professor of History in 1984.
Gay was the interim editor of The American Scholar after the death of Hiram Haydn in 1973 and served on that magazine's editorial board for many years. Sander L. Gilman, a literary historian at Emory University, called Gay "one of the major American historians of European thought, period".
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2012
Excellent selection of Deist text, great intro to the subject.
August 10, 2024
AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WRITINGS OF DEISM
Peter Gay (born 1923) is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers. He explains in an introductory chapter, "The history of deism has usually been written as the history of a great debate---a debate the deists lost... English divines... refuted the doctrines of the deist sect, elicited restatements of the deist position, and... composed rebuttals... Deism, then, produced a great debate, and a debate the deists were bound to lose: the opposing side engrossed most of the talent... Yet to see deism merely through its obvious manifestations... is to miss its significance in the development of the Western mind... Deism reflected and articulated a critical translation in religious consciousness... [it] hastened the transition." (Pg. 9-10)
In John Toland's essay "Christianity Not Mysterious," he stated, "The Christians kept their Mysteries as secret as the Heathens did theirs... The Fathers were extremely cautious not to speak intelligibly of their Mysteries before Unbelievers or the Catechumens... Christianity became mysterious... through the Craft and Ambition of Priests and Philosophers, [and did] degenerate into mere Paganism." (Pg. 74-75) He adds, "But there is nothing so naturally opposite as Ceremony and Christianity. The latter delivers Religion naked to all the World, and the former delivers it under mystical Representation of a merely arbitrary Signification." (Pg. 76)
In "A Discourse on Free-Thinking," Anthony Collins notes, "St. Paul likewise went frequently into the Synagogues of the Jews, and reasoned [Acts 17:2,3] with them; which was not only putting the Jews upon Free-Thinking on matters of Religion, but taking (according to the present Notions of Christians) a very extraordinary step to put them upon Free-Thinking. For should ... [a] religious Person differing from the Establish'd Church, come to St. Paul's during the time of Divine Service, to reason with the Court of Aldermen... it is certain, that pursuant to the false Notions which now universally prevail, the ONE would be treated as a Madman and Fanatick, and the other as a Disturber of the Proceedings of the Holy Synod..." (Pg. 86)
In Matthew Tindal's essay "Christianity As Old as the Creation," he said, "Whatever is true by Reason, can never be false to Revelation; and if God can't be deceiv'd himself, or be willing to deceive Men, the Light he hath given to distinguish between religious Truth and Falsehood, cannot, if duly attended to, deceive them in things of so great Moment." (Pg. 112) He added, "We must not, therefore, be surpriz'd, to see some endeavor to reason Men out of their Reason; tho' the very attempt to destroy Reason by Reason, is a Demonstration Men have nothing but Reason to trust to." (Pg. 113)
This is an excellent, well-introduced and edited collection of writings.
Peter Gay (born 1923) is Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers. He explains in an introductory chapter, "The history of deism has usually been written as the history of a great debate---a debate the deists lost... English divines... refuted the doctrines of the deist sect, elicited restatements of the deist position, and... composed rebuttals... Deism, then, produced a great debate, and a debate the deists were bound to lose: the opposing side engrossed most of the talent... Yet to see deism merely through its obvious manifestations... is to miss its significance in the development of the Western mind... Deism reflected and articulated a critical translation in religious consciousness... [it] hastened the transition." (Pg. 9-10)
In John Toland's essay "Christianity Not Mysterious," he stated, "The Christians kept their Mysteries as secret as the Heathens did theirs... The Fathers were extremely cautious not to speak intelligibly of their Mysteries before Unbelievers or the Catechumens... Christianity became mysterious... through the Craft and Ambition of Priests and Philosophers, [and did] degenerate into mere Paganism." (Pg. 74-75) He adds, "But there is nothing so naturally opposite as Ceremony and Christianity. The latter delivers Religion naked to all the World, and the former delivers it under mystical Representation of a merely arbitrary Signification." (Pg. 76)
In "A Discourse on Free-Thinking," Anthony Collins notes, "St. Paul likewise went frequently into the Synagogues of the Jews, and reasoned [Acts 17:2,3] with them; which was not only putting the Jews upon Free-Thinking on matters of Religion, but taking (according to the present Notions of Christians) a very extraordinary step to put them upon Free-Thinking. For should ... [a] religious Person differing from the Establish'd Church, come to St. Paul's during the time of Divine Service, to reason with the Court of Aldermen... it is certain, that pursuant to the false Notions which now universally prevail, the ONE would be treated as a Madman and Fanatick, and the other as a Disturber of the Proceedings of the Holy Synod..." (Pg. 86)
In Matthew Tindal's essay "Christianity As Old as the Creation," he said, "Whatever is true by Reason, can never be false to Revelation; and if God can't be deceiv'd himself, or be willing to deceive Men, the Light he hath given to distinguish between religious Truth and Falsehood, cannot, if duly attended to, deceive them in things of so great Moment." (Pg. 112) He added, "We must not, therefore, be surpriz'd, to see some endeavor to reason Men out of their Reason; tho' the very attempt to destroy Reason by Reason, is a Demonstration Men have nothing but Reason to trust to." (Pg. 113)
This is an excellent, well-introduced and edited collection of writings.
June 29, 2018
There is no my God or your God. There is only one God, the God of everyone. One creator, One source, one origin.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews