This thesis focuses on a long-misunderstood person - Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1582-1648), a diplomat, philosopher, and historian. He has been labelled 'the father of English deism', a title invented by John Leland (1691-1766) more than a hundred years after his death. Although this label has recently been challenged, modern scholarship continues to pay disproportionate attention to Herbert's religious ideas, while research on political and historical aspects of his thought remains quite underdeveloped. This thesis places Herbert in the context of contemporary issues of religion and politics, including the controversy over the royal supremacy, the relationship between King and Parliament, and debates over the lawfulness of resistance to tyrants in the Early English Civil War. It argues that his viewpoints on these issues reflected his deep concern for the freedom and authority of individual conscience. Herbert held that laws enacted in the name of the royal supremacy should not force individuals to accept anything contrary to the judgement of their consciences. He also suggested that the safety and liberty of the people took priority over the prerogatives of the King, and that Parliament, as the highest court in the kingdom, had the authority to protect the people's consciences from the oppression of the King's unlawful commands. Finally, Herbert held that resistance to tyrants was indeed lawful and that conscience granted that a tyrant's misdeeds could lawfully be bridled. The thesis is based on a close analysis of Herbert's religious treatises, his manuscript collections deposited in the National Library of Wales, and his historical works, including 'On the King's Supremacy in the Church' and The Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth. His manuscript collections and historical treatises in particular have never been properly examined. The main contributions of the thesis are to restore Herbert's thought to its seventeenth-century context, broaden the research on Herbert to include his political thought, and reveal that the common purpose of his works of philosophy, religion, and history was to save the people from unjust religious coercion. This approach provides a more comprehensive understanding and a more complete picture of Herbert's thought, and challenges several commonly held views of Herbert: that Herbert's thought was a precursor to eighteenth-century deism, that his theory of common notions represented the whole picture of his thought, and that his historical works were of little value and aimed only at gaining royal recognition.

In 1784, Ethan Allen (1738-1789), the leader of the Green Mountain Boys and legendary Revolutionary War hero, and his friend Thomas Young (1731-1777) published Reason the only Oracle of Man. In their opus, America’s premier text formally introducing Deism, Allen and Young systematically dismantle the ecclesiastical foundations of New England by specifically targeting the undemocratic principles of the Congregational Church. Allen and Young wrote Reason as a revolt against the encroaching ecclesiastical domination. The duo focused upon many topics central to the European Enlightenment: substance and matter, formation versus creation, immortality, the soul, the nature and motives of prophecy, and time and eternity. Thomas Young, a student of deism, mentored a teenage Allen and instilled in him a distinctly British ideology (one based on the writings of Charles Blount and John Locke) that, paired with Allen’s upbringing in an anti-Calvinist home, materialized into America’s premier deist text.

In the latter half of the eighteenth century the British presence in India meant that East India Company servants were at the forefront of European researches into the region's history, culture and religion. This thesis offers an analysis of the work of four such Company writers, all of whom produced accounts of what they perceived to be India's native and original religion: J.Z. Holwell (1711-1798), Alexander Dow, (1735-1779), N.B. Halhed (1751-1830), and Charles Wilkins (1749-1836). It argues that their particular interpretation of what they termed the 'Hindoo' or 'Gentoo' religion was based on their own preoccupations with European religious debates, from a perspective that can loosely be described as deist. At the centre of this thesis is the claim that these British interpretations of Hinduism instigated an important shift in the way that Indian theology and philosophy was understood in eighteenth-century Europe. This new paradigm moved away from characterisations of the religion according to eye-witness accounts, towards a construction of Indian religion based on the claim of British researchers that they were penetrating the original philosophical origins of a much maligned and ancient system of thought. This new interpretation of a philosophic Hinduism was both based in and shaped Enlightenment intellectual culture, to the extent that by the turn of the century it had firmly cemented its place in not only the thought of prominent figures such as Voltaire and Raynal, but also constituted a significant topic in the emergent discourses of German idealism. The notion of a British interpretation of Hinduism has previously been discussed as both a marker in what some have termed the invention of Hinduism, and by those researching the history of Orientalism as an academic discipline. In the first instance, these authors are characterised as moments in a process, with some suggesting that the real invention occurred as part of the nineteenth-century imperialist project. In the second place, these authors are most often seen as unscholarly precursors to the work of the first true British Indologist, Sir William Orientalist Jones (1746-1794). This thesis will challenge these positions by positing these four authors as the architects of the shift towards a European conception of Hinduism as a rational and philosophical religion.

Cette thèse propose un examen de l’œuvre de William Law (1686-1761) à travers une étude de discours menée selon une approche à la fois polémique et exégétique. Après une première partie consacrée à une typologie du discours de Law, qui cherche à analyser l’articulation entre polémique et exégèse grâce à un recensement des outils rhétoriques récurrents et l’utilisation de sources christocentriques, les deux parties suivantes s’attachent à démontrer que deux séries de notions animent ses textes : le rétablissement de valeurs morales d’une part, la mystique et l’herméneutique biblique d’autre part. Il soumet la société britannique du dix-huitième siècle à une observation très critique, en dénonçant successivement les partisans de la Glorieuse Révolution au détriment de la fidélité à la dynastie Stuart, le matérialisme et une production théâtrale promotrice de mœurs décadentes. Du point de vue religieux, il use de toutes les ressources de la rhétorique polémique afin de faire le procès du déisme et de démontrer les erreurs de ses adversaires en les confrontant à la vérité de l’Évangile. Ce faisant, il appelle ses lecteurs à une réforme spirituelle qui les engage sur la voie mystique de la régénération, pour atteindre l’union avec Dieu. Law met la polémique au centre d’un dispositif argumentatif qui lui permet d’agir comme un guide pour la compréhension, l’interprétation et la mise en pratique du message néotestamentaire. / This doctoral dissertation offers an assessment of the works of William Law (1686-1761) through a discursive study that hinges on a twofold method, both polemical and exegetical. After a first part devoted to a typology of Law’s discourse, which strives to analyze the link between exegesis and polemics thanks to an inventory of his most frequently used rhetorical tools as well as the use of christocentric sources, the two parts that follow endeavour to demonstrate that his texts come alive with two sets of notions – the restoration of moral values on the one hand, mysticism and biblical hermeneutics on the other. Eighteenth-century British society is subject to a very critical scrutiny, through the successive denunciation of supporters of the Glorious Revolution at the expense of fidelity to the Stuart dynasty, materialism, and a theatrical repertoire that promotes decadent mores. As far as religion is concerned he uses the full potential of polemical rhetoric to criticize deism and display the errors of his opponents by confronting them with the truth of Scripture. In doing so he calls upon his readers to lead a spiritual reformation that will take them up the mystical path to regeneration, before reaching union with God. Law places polemics at the core of an argumentative structure which enables him to act as a guide for his readers to understand, interpret and put into practice the message contained in the New Testament.

Although Isaac Watts wrote hymns in the early eighteenth century, some of his hymns, such as “Joy to the World,” “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?,” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” survive today as well-known hymns. However, little has been written about the rhetorical effects of his hymns. This thesis demonstrates that, like any other literary work, Watts’ hymns can be analyzed rhetorically. This thesis analyzes Watts’ hymns with the aid of Louis Montrose’s New Historicism, showing how Watts’ hymns were impacted by the English culture in which he lived and how they impacted the religious culture to which he belonged and preached: the Dissenters. Watts’ hymns were not the only texts that had an impact on the Dissenters. The psalters were considered by many (Calvin, in particular) to be the only acceptable songs for use in worship. Watts responded to this belief with his hymns, showing that God could be praised in other reverent ways. Watts hymns were successful for many reasons, including their easy-to-understand language, their vivid images, and their ability to focus on the heart of man. Watts used his hymns to help Dissenters keep away from error, particularly the new religion of Deism and the sin of pride. Looking through the lens of New Historicism, Watts’ hymns are rhetorical texts, impacting the culture of Dissenters and responding to the larger English culture. Watts possessed great skill as a writer, poet, and preacher, and this thesis shows how his hymns had a thorough impact on the Dissenters’ culture.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Le protestantisme fut longtemps considéré dans l’historiographie comme le vecteur et le ferment principal des évolutions sociales et culturelles ayant accompagné l’entrée des États-Unis dans la modernité. Dans ce récit, le déisme ne constituait guère qu’un courant éphémère à l’influence mineure, voué à un inéluctable déclin. À rebours du postulat historiographique selon lequel le déisme aurait disparu au tournant des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles aux États-Unis, cette étude se propose de mettre en évidence les manières dont se transforme et se reconfigure la pensée déiste entre 1794 et 1887. À travers l’analyse de trois mouvements que sont le mesmérisme, les communautés utopiques et le spiritualisme, l’enjeu est de revisiter l’historicité du déisme américain et de ce que nous nommons ses avatars afin d’en proposer une nouvelle généalogie et de mieux cerner les sources auxquelles va puiser l’engouement actuel pour les formes de spiritualité non religieuses. Ces mouvements ne sont pas les répliques exactes du déisme mais constituent autant d’espaces propices à la perpétuation de certains principes centraux de la pensée déiste ainsi qu’à leur métabolisation. Outre qu’ils furent accusés de promouvoir l’infidélité et d’encourager l’irréligion, les avatars du déisme considérés ici ont en commun un attachement profond à l’exercice de la raison, une aversion pour les appareils ecclésiastiques et les injonctions normatives en matière politique, sociale, économique ou sexuelle ainsi qu’un scepticisme envers les manifestations surnaturelles et les vérités révélées. Ils portent, ainsi, la promesse d’une régénération du corps biologique comme du corps social et font valoir une spiritualité hors du champ des religions instituées, proche d’une forme de religion naturelle. Au croisement de la science et de la religion, ces mouvements révèlent in fine une évolution du déisme vers une spiritualité composite que nous avons pu qualifier de panenthéiste. / Scholars of American religious history have long argued that the United States channeled and developed the social and cultural forces associated with modernity through the medium of Christianity, and more specifically evangelical Protestantism. In this narrative, deism was considered a fleeting phenomenon, which had naturally disappeared at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. This dissertation invalidates this assertion and examines how deism remained alive while being refashioned between 1794 and 1887. Reappraising mesmerism, utopian communities and spiritualism as avatars of deism allows us to reconsider the genealogy of deist freethought and shed light on the historical influences that contributed to the forging of “spiritual but not religious” systems of belief that are on the rise in the United States nowadays. These movements cannot be considered as exact duplicates of deism ; they provide rather a favorable environment for the continuation and assimilation of central deist tenets. Besides the fact they were accused of promoting infidelity and encouraging unbelief, the avatars of deism share a strong commitment to the concept of reason, a detestation of religious authorities, social, political, economic and sexual prescriptive norms, as well as skepticism towards supernaturalism and revelation. Their members aspire to a regeneration of the social and biological body and defend a non-theological approach to spirituality, akin to a form of natural religion. At the intersection of science and religion, these movements eventually reveal an evolution of deism toward a composite, panentheistic spirituality.

Between 1818 and 1824, radical printer and publisher Richard Carlile made a determined effort to disseminate copies of Thomas Paine's banned text The Age of Reason in England. Despite strict censorship laws and harsh legal penalties used to curtail previous publishers of this title, Carlile employed a number of creative techniques that kept Paine's deistic writings in print and in circulation during the Regency period. These included republishing public domain court documents when he was charged with seditious libel and reading The Age of Reason in its entirety into testimony during his trial, making it part of the public record. Copied from trial transcripts and reprinted in cheap pamphlet form, Carlile's editions of The Age of Reason would sell an impressive 20,000 copies in these formats. He managed to provide wide-scale access to a work that had been suppressed by the British government since its original publication in 1794. My paper argues that Carlile's approach to subverting Regency-era censorship of The Age of Reason provided an early test for the recognition of the public domain in British law. Instead of continuing to suppress this text, the British government acknowledged the public's right to read the text in this format, allowing Carlile to use his own court documents to continue its publication. This event paved the way for recognition of the public ownership of texts and access to public records in nineteenth-century British print culture.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The Anglo-Dutch philosopher Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) was among the most controversial figures writing in English in the eighteenth century. His satirical exploration of the nature of human sociability and economic prosperity infuriated his contemporary critics and deeply influenced the ideas of later Enlightenment philosophes. One of the most persistent questions about Mandeville's work concerns the sincerity of his declarations of Christian piety. Mandeville is commonly identified as a deist. This thesis explores the possibility that he was an atheist. The question is examined through an analysis of Mandeville’s major influences, most notably French Jansenism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, erudite libertinism, and Dutch republicanism. Key figures that Mandeville engaged with in his writings include Pierre Bayle, René Descartes, Shaftesbury, Thomas Hobbes, Pierre Nicole, and Pierre Gassendi. In the process of discussing Mandeville’s putative atheism, the methodological problem of researching and identifying atheism in early-modern Europe is explored. / Graduate