THE ANALYSIS OF THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND RELIGION THROUGH THE WORKS OF JOHN BROWN (1715—1766)

Year 2020, Volume: 19 Issue: 74, 760 - 776, 01.04.2020

Pervin Yiğit

https://doi.org/10.17755/esosder.600651

Abstract

In eighteenth century, England and France were
considered as the super powers of the world. Due to this competition between
them, each empire was trying to preserve their establishment. Apart from
political conditions, philosophical and social values that had been changing
under the light of Enlightenment were regarded as perils to social order of the
kingdoms in Europe. This led some intellectuals and religious men of the period
to work on the maintenance of their societies. John Brown (1715-1766) as a
religious man was also involved in this mission. Yet, his early works were
mostly focus on morality and individuality. In this paper, I analyzed his early
works in detail in order to indicate his moral theory which was constructed
independently from the principles of Protestantism and Anglicanism. Afterwards the
differences between his early works and the later works are examined and the
political worries of the English establishment are explained through them. I
argue that English establishment aimed to defend the maintenance of their society
by making religion as a political instrument in the conditions of the
eighteenth century as could clearly be seen in Brown’s works. 

Keywords

John Brown, morality, virtue, Anglicanism, England

THE ANALYSIS OF THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN FREEDOM AND RELIGION THROUGH THE WORKS OF JOHN BROWN (1715—1766)

Abstract

In eighteenth century, England and France were considered as the super powers of the world. Due to this competition between them, each empire was trying to preserve their establishment. Apart from political conditions, philosophical and social values that had been changing under the light of Enlightenment were regarded as perils to social order of the kingdoms in Europe. This led some intellectuals and religious men of the period to work on the maintenance of their societies. John Brown (1715-1766) as a religious man was also involved in this mission. Yet, his early works were mostly focus on morality and individuality. In this paper, his early works are analyzed in detail in order to indicate his moral theory which was constructed independently from the principles of Protestantism and Anglicanism. Afterwards the differences between his early works and the later works are examined and the political worries of the English establishment are explained through them. In this paper it is argued that English establishment aimed to defend the maintenance of their society by making religion as a political instrument in the conditions of the eighteenth century as could clearly be seen in Brown’s works. 

Keywords

John Brown, ahlak, erdem, Anglikanism, İngiltere

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