Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Oxford English Monographs) - Softcover

Hudson, Nicholas

9780198112143: Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (Oxford English Monographs)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198112149 ISBN 13: 9780198112143

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 1990

Although there are many books on Johnson's moral and religious thought, none has provided a detailed analysis of his relationship with the ethics and theology of the 18th century. This study fills the gap, examining the background to Johnson's views on a wide range of issues debated by the philosophers and divines of his age. Avoiding deceptive generalizations concerning the overall character of the century, Nicholas Hudson emphasizes the ambivalence and contradiction inherent in the orthodoxy which Johnson espoused. Yet this book also challenges the assumption that Johnson's religious beliefs were unstable and filled with anxiety. Whatever the weakness of his positions, he gleaned strength and confidence from the belief that he upheld an eminent tradition in Christian philosophy.

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Review:

`In seeking to confine Johnson's general and universal themes to the preoccupations of a particular time and place, Hudson has embarked on an ambitious venture , and the surprise is that he succeeds in it admirably.' Times Higher Education Supplement

'this work is a welcome success' David Womersley, Jesus College, Oxford, Review of English Studies

'constitutes a unique contribution to our understanding of Johnson and of eighteenth-century thought' Gregory Scholtz, Wartburg College, Philological Quarterly

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