The enthusiastical concerns of Dr. Henry More
Subtitle: religious meaning and the psychology of delusion
By: by Daniel Fouke.
Series: Brill's studies in intellectual history,; v. 71; Brill's studies in intellectual history ;; v. 71.
Publisher: E.J. Brill
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Leiden, The Netherlands; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 257
Subjects: More, Henry, 1614-1687; Enthusiasm -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History of doctrines -- 17th century
Description: This volume examines the role of the Cambridge Platonist, Henry More, in discrediting certain religious and philosophical movements of the seventeenth century by branding them as "enthusiastical" (the result of psychological imbalance issuing in impaired judgement and cognition).

More's views are distinguished from his "enthusiastical" opponents - Alchemists, Quakers, and Mechanical Philosophers - by looking at the way in which he dialectically employs various speech genres to describe religious meaning and to evoke in his readers attitudes and feelings confirming that meaning.

More is presented as offering a consistent ideal of the religiously meaningful life, protecting it from various forms of intellectual corruption. More's paradoxical ways of polemicizing are explained while at the same time the author provides insight into such diverse themes as the connection between Hermeticism, Cartesianism, and religious radicalism.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-253) and index.