Matthew Tindal’s Followers (13)

Matthew Tindal

Born

in England, The United Kingdom

April 03, 1657

Died

August 16, 1733

Genre

Philosophy

Influences

John Toland, Anthony Collins, Voltaire, Anthony Ashley-Cooper ...more

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Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.

In 1657, Matthew Tindal was born in England, the son of a High Church minister. Educated in a country school and at Oxford for the law, Tindal was elected to a law-fellowship at All Souls College in 1678. He converted to Roman Catholicism briefly during the reign of James II, but returned to the Church of England in 1687, persuaded of "the absurdities of popery." His 1706 book, Rights of the Christian Church asserted against Romish and all other Priests who Claim an Independent Power over It, argued for the supremacy of the state over the church. It pr Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.

In 1657, Matthew Tindal was born in England, the son of a High Church minister. Educated in a country school and at Oxford for the law, Tindal was elected to a law-fellowship at All Souls College in 1678. He converted to Roman Catholicism briefly during the reign of James II, but returned to the Church of England in 1687, persuaded of "the absurdities of popery." His 1706 book, Rights of the Christian Church asserted against Romish and all other Priests who Claim an Independent Power over It, argued for the supremacy of the state over the church. It provoked loud clergy rebukes and attacks against his character. The House of Commons even ordered the book burned by the hangman. Not to be deterred, in 1730, Tindal anonymously published Christianity as Old as Creation, or, The Gospel a Republication of the Religion of Nature, employing the pseudonym "a Christian Deist." By publishing the book without his name he avoided prosecution. In what came to be called "the deist's bible," Tindal insisted: "That God requires nothing for his own sake. No, not the worship we are to render him, nor the faith we are to have in him." Tindal wrote of prayer: "There are few so gross to imagine, we can direct infinite wisdom in the dispensation of providence, or persuade him to alter those laws he contrived before the foundation of the world for putting things in a regular course." The book was reprinted four times. According to freethought historian Joseph McCabe, the book "was useful to later Deists, including Voltaire" (A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists). Tindal wrote a manuscript as a rejoinder to answer some 150 critics, which was ready for publication upon his death, but was destroyed by order of Bishop Gibson of London.

In 1736 Tindal and Anthony Shaftesbury are described by an orthodox apologist as the “two oracles of deism.”

Some consider he was an atheist, not a deist, and on his deathbed he uttered blasphemies “scarce fit to be repeated,” according to a witness, and “as proud of dying hard as ever he was to be reputed a Top Free Thinker.” ...more

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Matthew Tindal’s books

Average rating: 3.25 · 8 ratings · 1 review · 76 distinct works

	Christianity as Old as the Creation or the Gospel a Republication of the Religion of Nature 2.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1999 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rights of the Christian Church Asserted it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2003 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Christianity as old as the Creation: or The Gospel, a republication of the religion of nature. By Matthew Tindal, L.L.D. [Twelve lines of quotations] 1798 [Leather Bound] it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The merciful judgments of high-church triumphant on offending clergymen, and others, in the reign of Charles I. Together with the Lord Falkland's speech in Parliament 1640. relating to that subject. liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An essay concerning the laws of nations, and the rights of soveraigns 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Account of a manuscript entitul'd Destruction the certain consequence of division ... written at the desire of Robert Walpole ... with aspersions on the author of The defection etc 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A second address to the inhabitants of the two great cities of London and Westminster occasion'd by a second pastoral letter 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The defection consider'd and the designs of those who divided the friends of the government set in a true light 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Second Address to the Inhabitants of the two Great Cities of London and Westminster: Occasion'd by a Second Pastoral Letter With Remarks on Scripture Vindicated, and Some Other Late Writings 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rights of the Christian Church Asserted, Against the Romish, and All Other Priests Who Claim an Independent Power Over It, Vol. 1: With a Preface ... as by Law Establish'd 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Matthew Tindal (?)

“That not adhering to those notions Reason dictates (concerning the nature of God), has been the occasion of all superstition, and those innumerable mischiefs that mankind (on account of religion) have done to themselves or to one another.”
― Matthew Tindal, Christianity as Old as the Creation

tags: deism, mischief, nature, reason, religion

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“IF there’s a Law of Nature, with the observing of which God can’t dispense either himself, or in his Creatures . . . tell me how You can account for the Conduct of the Jews, in invading, and too without any Declaration of War, the Canaanites, a free and independent Nation, and against whom they had not the least Cause of Complaint; and on Pretence of their being Idolaters, destroying not only the Men and Women, but Infants incapable of Idolatry, or any other Crime.”
― Matthew Tindal, Christianity as Old as the Creation

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Matthew Tindal’s Followers (13)

Matthew Tindal

Combine EditionsMatthew Tindal’s books

Combine Editions
Matthew Tindal’s books