This dissertation investigates how Dissenting writers, among them Samuel Annesley and Richard Baxter, influenced the religious thought of Daniel Defoe. Though some critics, most notably G. A. Starr and J. Paul Hunter, have positioned Defoe within a broad "Puritan" tradition, his religious ideas are more properly understood within the specific circumstances of post-Restoration England, as the unique pressures engendered by the Interregnum impelled many Dissenting writers to privilege "Practical Religion" over abstract theology. The aversion to "doubtfull disputations" that Defoe inherits from this discourse informs not only the modes of argument Defoe employs, but also the genres through which he engages with theological questions. Throughout his writing, however, his attachment to Biblical typology, which is informed by his dependence on the Bible as a stable locus of indisputable “plainness,” comes into conflict with his political tenets, as Scripture provides no firm precedent for the mode of contractual kingship introduced by the Glorious Revolution. At first seeking to mute the incongruities between "Hebrew times" and "modern" circumstances, Defoe is eventually impelled to reconceptualise typology, formulating a theory that both acknowledges the authority of the Bible while allowing William, and the mode of contractual kingship he represents, to surpass Scriptural types. This attitude towards typology fundamentally underpins the narrative of Robinson Crusoe (1719), which systematically repudiates Biblical narratives. Rather than adhering to prefigurative Biblical patterns, the novel is built on a series of divergences, first personal and then political, from Scriptural models. Anchored in his specific geographic and economic circumstances, Crusoe’s conversion is markedly distanced from Biblical types, represented as a process unique to his situation, rather than an iteration of an existing pattern. Ultimately, this dissertation contends that Defoe’s religious thought, specifically his commitment to "Practical Religion" and the typological hermeneutic this discourse underpins, is fundamentally informed by his relationship with post-Restoration Dissent. / Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-01 15:48:01.785

This study demonstrates, by the application of a selection of social science models on a selection of gospel passages, the usefulness of those models for better understanding the teachings of the Jesus movement on wealth and poverty and what Jesus hoped to achieve by these teachings. It shows that sociological models are generally useful for approaching the gospels because they facilitate understanding by formulating new questions about ancient material and highlighting perhaps previously unnoticed themes or concerns. It further offers the opinion that the Virtuoso Religion model is the most useful for doing this and as such will be the most useful for providing an understanding of what Jesus envisioned for the future of society in anticipation of the imminent Kingdom. The model supports Jesus’ preaching on wealth and day-to-day expressions of those opinions as methods by which he might influence the attitudes of others, especially the rich and powerful, adjusting their focus from love of wealth to love for God and neighbour.