The Birmingham riots of 1791 were 'symbolic of the eclipse of rational Dissent'. A generation of Unitarian intellectuals died; no figures of equal calibre replaced them. The popular appeal of their creed was small. Already, 'the triumph of Evangelicalism over rational Dissent' was evident, and this was a major reason for the weakness of the radical case into the 1820s. From c. 1790, Arianism went into a steep and rapid decline in numbers. Some Dissenting congregations returned to Trinitarian (often Calvinistic) orthodoxy; others progressed to outright Socinianism in the manner of Priestley. Socinianism was often only a resting place on the road to unbelief. Paine's Age of Reason, the first popularized Deist tract, equally promoted atheism. As 'rational Christianity' degenerated from religion to ethics, it set the scene for the triumph of utilitarianism from the 1820s.
See Clark's recent book
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/31/thomas-paine-jcd-clark-review-tory-radical-hero-common-sense-review
Colin Kidd, reviewer, may be a descendant of the infamous American traitor and pirate colonist, Captain Kidd!
See Clark's recent book
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/31/thomas-paine-jcd-clark-review-tory-radical-hero-common-sense-review
Colin Kidd, reviewer, may be a descendant of the infamous American traitor and pirate colonist, Captain Kidd!
No comments:
Post a Comment