Locke's inheritors: an examination of the theological underpinnings of the Letter concerning toleration and its implications for the modern dilemma of religious toleration

Sheedy, Matt (2007) Locke's inheritors: an examination of the theological underpinnings of the Letter concerning toleration and its implications for the modern dilemma of religious toleration. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

My study is an examination of the political theology of seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke. Beginning with his early career in 1660, I trace a course of Locke's intellectual development on the theme of religious toleration. With particular emphasis on the Letter Concerning Toleration, I argue that the evolution of Locke's theory was based as much on his sincere theological concerns as it was on his (more well-known) secular arguments. Approaches to Locke's theory are therefore necessarily diminished if they fail to recognize the significance of his religious beliefs. -- Turning to the present, I look at some of the ways in which Locke's theory has been applied in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and make the claim that his dual emphasis on the importance of finding a moral-centre while stressing the difficulty of attaining absolute "truth,” has much to offer for our current dilemma of religious toleration.

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