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    History: “Religion” in England

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    The English civil war, that is.  Peter Harrison (‘Religion’ and the Religions in the English Enlightenment) traces the notion of comparative religious study to the confessional disputes in England, and the “diachronic pluralism” of the English monarchy: “As Locke put it, the kings and queens of post-Reformation England had been ‘of such different minds in point of religion, and enjoined thereupon such different things,’ that no ’sincere and upright worshiper of God could, with a safe conscience, obey their several decrees.”  This contributed to “secularisation, but it led also to the comparison of the various forms of Christianity with each other, and shaped to a significance extent the way in which the English were to view other ‘religions.’  The whole comparative approach to religion was directly related to confessional disputes within Christianity. . . . these confessional conflicts were the single most important factor in the development of comparative religion.”

    posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 5:03 pm