Between Scholarship and Church Politics describes the life and career of John Prideaux, rector of Exeter College, Oxford, 1612-1642, regius professor of divinity, 1615-1642, and bishop of Worcester, 1641-1646. Prideaux was the leading representative of the 'old guard' in the Church of England - Calvinist believers in the doctrines of grace and predestination, who set themselves against the growing power of the Arminian modernisers within the Church, largely the followers of Archbishop Laud. But Prideaux was also an outstandingly successful head of his Oxford college and made it a home for foreign scholars and students. Devoted to teaching, the writers of numerous books for undergraduates and theology students, and thoroughly involved in his College's everyday affairs, he was a model rector. In this study, John Maddicott addresses at length both with Prideaux's political and ecclesiastical career and his role in the College, while also paying particular attention to his personality, his family life (he was twice married and had nine children), and to his wide circle of relatives, colleagues, and allies. Born the son of a Devonshire yeoman and brought up on a farm on the edge of Dartmoor, he rose to occupy some of the highest offices in the university of Oxford and in the church: a result of his intellectual power, his ambition, his learning and scholarship, and his capacity for hard work. Between Scholarship and Church Politics is as much a study of character as a contribution to the political and church history of early Stuart England.

The Sovereignty of Reason is a survey of the rule of faith controversy in seventeenth-century England. It examines the arguments by which reason eventually became the sovereign standard of truth in religion and politics, and how it triumphed over its rivals: Scripture, inspiration, and apostolic tradition. Frederick Beiser argues that the main threat to the authority of reason in seventeenth-century England came not only from dissident groups but chiefly from the Protestant theology of the Church of England. The triumph of reason was the result of a new theology rather than the development of natural philosophy, which upheld the orthodox Protestant dualism between the heavenly and earthly. Rationalism arose from a break with the traditional Protestant answers to problems of salvation, ecclesiastical polity, and the true faith. Although the early English rationalists were not able to defend all their claims on behalf of reason, they developed a moral and pragmatic defense of reason that is still of interest today. Beiser's book is a detailed examination of some neglected figures of early modern philosophy, who were crucial in the development of modern rationalism. There are chapters devoted to Richard Hooker, the Great Tew Circle, the Cambridge Platonists, the early ethical rationalists, and the free-thinkers John Toland and Anthony Collins. Originally published in 1996. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

This book offers a social history of Newtonian natural philosophy from its inception after the 1688 revolution in England until the 1720's. Ms. Jacob shows that the Newtonian world view was adopted by the Anglican church to support its own version of liberal Protestantism and its vision of a social and economic order that would be both Christian and capitalist. It was with Newton's consent, she asserts, that Newtonianism took on an ideological significance in the early Enlightenment. Using an interdisciplinary approach to subjects traditionally reserved for the history of science, church history, and intellectual history, she formulates a convincing new explanation for the triumph of Newtonianism.

A reference guide to the work of 115 modern British and American critics.