Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought

• Part 1 Preserving the faith: the "sturdy prejudice" of eighteeneth-century orthodoxy; faith as a "rational assent"; free-thinking and "scoffers" at religion. Part 2 The decline of natural religion: "true" deism - the ambiguity of apologies; the being of and attributes of God; charity as a virtue exclusive to Christanity. Part 3 New trends in ethics: Johnson's "Christian Epicureanism"; free will. Part 4 Suffering and the universal: the correspondence between vice and suffering; "universal optimism" and divine government; stoicism and Christian patience. Part 5 Pride and the pursuit of applause: virtue as a deceitful contrivance of pride; the regulation of the love of fame and applause; social custom and immutable truth; Johnson's new standard of human greatness. Part 6 Christian charity in theory and practice: the Christian theory of charity; the importance of charity to salvation; eighteenth-century arguments against charity; Johnson and legal reform - debtors and capital punishment. Part 7 Doctrinal controversy: the idea of Christian perfection; the doctrines of original sin, grace, and repentance; the Christian ordinances - the form and the power of godliness. Part 8 The case against religious liberty: the utility of an established church; public order and the spirit of enquiry; "Hoadly's Paradox" and sincerity of private judgement; the conservative idea of political change.

'In seeking to confine Johnson's general and universal themes to the preoccupations of a particular time and place, Hudson has embarked on an ambitious venture , and the surprise is that he succeeds in it admirably.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'this work is a welcome success' David Womersley, Jesus College, Oxford, Review of English Studies 'constitutes a unique contribution to our understanding of Johnson and of eighteenth-century thought' Gregory Scholtz, Wartburg College, Philological Quarterly