Atheism and Deism Revalued

In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the terms ‘atheism’ and ‘deism’ involved fine distinctions that have not always been preserved by later scholars. The original deployment and usage of these terms were often more complicated than much of the historical scholarship suggests. Offering new perspectives on a range of prominent figures, this collection problematises the older view that individuals were atheist or deists in a straightforward sense and instead explores the plurality and flexibility of religious identities during this period.