Review: Peter Gay's "The Enlightenment: An Interpretatn" on JSTOR

Contents:

Reviewed the Uned Stat on December 2, 2014Gay prents an terpertatn of the Enlightenment that is persuasive. " Gay ments, "wh the pronouncements, natural law which had occupied a subordate place the Christian scheme of thgs, ma s claratn of pennce.

" (317)Gay also explas the Enlightenments bt to christian teachg...

"Gay adds; " was precisely the ntradictns which ma M Montamy so charmg a pann that also ma him an uncerta fenr of the fah. (341)Gay David Hume as a primary source. "Gay adds; "This was not a strenuo fah.

" (342)Gay's analysis of the reason for loss Christian fah is tertg. " (343)Consirg English belief, Gay wr: "The Englishman's need for peace after a century of upheaval and the revulsn of ted and rpectable man agast relig enthiasm alced wh the growg of thory of naturalism to produce a torpid Church and a tepid relign.

" (345)Gay ntu, "there was much fort and ltle anxiety sermons purportg to prove that the urse of a Christian life was easy, the reward for good nduct was sure and glor, that God mand men nothg eher unsuable to our reason or prejudicial to our tert; nay, nothg that is severe and agast the gra of our nature, and that, on the ntrary, the laws of God are reasonable, that is sued to our nature and advantageo to our tert. " (354)Gay reports on the mancript by Reimas that affected Lsg. Gay do an excellent job of munitg the passn behd all of the efforts to brg about an age of reason.

I should also add that thanks to Gay's mand of the wrten word, the book is tly a joy to read; there were tim when I found myself wonrg how much I uld really be learng, given how betifully the sentenc flowed.

I suppose says somethg about the medcre standard of wrg most morn scholarly works that one's spicns should be aroed when enunterg a volume by as acplished a stylist as Peter Gay.