In Our Time

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Discussion & Talk

Podcasts

Factual: History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

BBC Radio 4 LW

In Our Time: Deism

08/10/2020

Deism

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Deism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most disruptive ideas of the Enlightenment.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Enlightenment idea that God created the universe and then stood back, for it to be understood by reason alone and not revelation.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that God created the universe and then left it for humans to understand by reason not revelation.  Edward Herbert, 1583-1648 (pictured above)  held that there were five religious truths: belief in a Supreme Being, the need to worship him, the pursuit of a virtuous life as the best form of worship, repentance, and reward or punishment after death.  Others developed these ideas in different ways, yet their opponents in England's established Church collected them under the label of Deists, called Herbert the Father of Deism and attacked them as a movement, and Deist books were burned. Over time, reason and revelation found a new balance in the Church in England, while Voltaire and Thomas Paine explored the ideas further, leading to their re-emergence in the French and American Revolutions.

With 

Richard Serjeantson
Fellow and Lecturer in History at Trinity College, Cambridge

Katie East
Lecturer in History at Newcastle University

And 

Thomas Ahnert
Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

In Our Time

Deism

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4