Introduction: A Rational Christian
1. A Divine Web
2. A Spiritual Ant
3. IInfinity and the Imagination
4. From Liberty to Heresy
5. Abominable Men
6. Prisca Newtoniana
7. Methodising the Apocalypse
8. Divine Persecution
9. The End of the World
10. Private Prosecutions
11. Critical Friends
12. A Particle of Divinity
Rob Iliffe is Professor of History at the University of Oxford. He is the General Editor of the online Newton Project and the author of Newton: A Very Short Introduction.
"Rob Iliffe's Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac
Newton is a work of excellent historical scholarship." -- Paul R.
Gilliam III, Church History
"Who was Isaac Newton? Rob Iliffe has responded to this problem by
providing such a thoroughly researched and carefully constructed
account of Newton's life and work that certain propositions can
hardly be doubted." -- Adam D. Righter, Journal of Ecclesiastical
History
"This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in learning
more about Sir Isaac Newton, or about how someone with a scientific
mind might approach religion....Essential."--C.
Charnaswskas-Jasionowicz, CHOICE
"[W]hile other biographies acknowledge that Newton possessed a
sincere, though heterodox, faith, Mr. Iliffe serves up the most
complicated picture to date of the faith itself. He completely
recasts the relationship of Newton's scientific inquiry to his
religious beliefs, tying the two together to an unparalleled
degree....Mr. Iliffe presents a syncretism in Newton's thinking
that eludes simple classification....Mr. Iliffe also attends
carefully to neglected
periods of Newton's life, including the teen years he spent
laboring in an apothecary's workshop and his stints as a Member of
Parliament. Attention to such detail, woven deftly into a finely
constructed
and well-written narrative, makes Mr. Iliffe's 'Priest of Nature' a
robust portrait with broad appeal. Both the academic and lay reader
will appreciate how, in shattering the simplistic Enlightenment
account of Newton, the book reveals the flexibility of the great
man's capacious mind."--David Davis, Wall Street Journal
"Iliffe's book is not only an accurate and detailed reconstruction
of Newton's religious thought, but it is also an important study of
the great themes of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance,
as well as the key political question of the relationship between
church and state, which are at the roots of European culture in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is destined to become an
indispensable reference for every serious Newton scholar, as
well as for anyone dealing with religion and natural philosophy in
the early modern period." -- Franco Giudice, Metascience
"Iliffe's outstanding contribution to our knowledge of Newton will
be of considerable relevance not only to historians of science and
religion, but also to anyone interested in the important topics
that were debated in the late seventeenth-century Europe." --
William R. Shea, Fides et Historia
"This book is an enormous contribution to the Newton literature and
the history of science in general. It examines huge numbers of
sources that were, until now, essentially unknown and provides an
unparalleled contextualization of the man and his
work."--Science
"The author thoroughly examines Newton's religious papers, which
were unpublished during the inventor's lifetime, including writings
on natural theology, religious doctrine, prophesy, and
heresy...Iliffe's challenging and scholarly work addresses an
important and long overlooked aspect of Newton."--Library
Journal
"Iliffe's fascinating study provides an absorbing glimpse into
Newton's work and early modern culture."--Publishers Weekly
"For too long, historians have evaluated Isaac Newton's theological
writings wholly in relation to his mathematical and natural
philosophical work--first, as an embarrassing obsession, best
passed over in silence; then, as a sideshow, taken up when his
intellectual powers were fading; more recently, as an influence on
properly scientific pursuits. Rob Iliffe knows the range of
Newton's unpublished and published writings better than any other
living scholar, and
he gives us here a stunningly well-read, original, and provocative
account of a thinker who struggled with theological matters
throughout his life and whose reflections on right religion and on
the
sources of right knowledge emerged from the heart of his
self-understanding. Priest of Nature is well titled: it radically
redraws the picture of Newton we have long been offered."--Steven
Shapin, Franklin L. Ford Research Professor of the History of
Science, Harvard University
"Newton wrote importantly about physics, optics, and mathematics
and wrote copiously about alchemy, but he saved his most intense
thoughts and passionate investigation for perfecting his theology.
In Priest of Nature Rob Iliffe restores Newton to an age of
political upheaval and religious anxiety, portraying him as a godly
man endlessly in search of truth, prophecy, and history. Newton's
lifelong struggle to combat the perceived corruption of
Christianity with the tools of faith and reason comes to life in
this thought-provoking and deeply researched history. A must read
for any serious scholar of Newton."--Paula Findlen, Stanford
University
"Iliffe's book is not only an accurate and detailed reconstruction
of Newton's religious thought, but it is also an important study of
the great themes of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance,
as well as the key political question of the relationship between
church and state, which are at the roots of European culture in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is destined to become an
indispensable reference for every serious Newton scholar, as
well as for anyone dealing with religion and natural philosophy in
the early modern period." -- Franco Giudice, Metascience
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
