Boyle On Atheism

With Boyle on Atheism, J.J. MacIntosh has culled the Boyle manuscripts held at the Royal Society Library in London and transcribed the portions that relate to atheism, arranging them in the order Boyle appears to have intended.

While the structures of the Church of England provide practical resources for clergy as they make changes and transitions in their 'careers', very little has been done in the area of theological reflection around this subject. Not all change is welcome and driving factors are very different from those in secular employment. This important volume explores key questions to consider at points of transition: What does it mean to listen to God at times of change? Does the concept of career fit with a sense of vocation? What happens when the church changes in ways we do not like? What does scripture and the tradition of the church offer at these times? What can we learn from the secular world about managing change? What insights does psychology offer? How can ministers stay the course and finish strong? An essential personal resource and handbook for all involved in clergy training, placement and Continuing Ministerial Development.

Anxiety about the threat of atheism was rampant in the early modern period, yet fully documented examples of openly expressed irreligious opinion are surprisingly rare. England and Scotland saw only a handful of such cases before 1750, and this book offers a detailed analysis of three of them. Thomas Aikenhead was executed for his atheistic opinions at Edinburgh in 1697; Tinkler Ducket was convicted of atheism by the Vice-Chancellor's court at the University of Cambridge in 1739; whereas Archibald Pitcairne's overtly atheist tract, Pitcairneana, though evidently compiled very early in the eighteenth century, was first published only in 2016. Drawing on these, and on the better-known apostacy of Christopher Marlowe and the Earl of Rochester, Michael Hunter argues that such atheists showed real 'assurance' in publicly promoting their views. This contrasts with the private doubts of Christian believers, and this book demonstrates that the two phenomena are quite distinct, even though they have sometimes been wrongly conflated.