Daniel Defoe

About this book

This book offers a truly comprehensive analysis of Daniel Defoe's oeuvre from the perspective of an intellectual historian. Katherine Clark presents a new vision of Defoe by recovering the theological basis of his most important intellectual commitments. By charting Defoe's defence of these commitments over four decades of public debate, the book also sheds light on the changing cultural landscape of eighteenth-century Britainches The misidentification of Defoe as a Lockeian acolyte and celebrator of 'modernity' has obscured the theological underpinnings of his political and socio-economic thought. Equally, his fame as a journalist and novelist has overshadowed his role as a historical thinker. This study establishes Defoe as a crucial figure between James Harrington and David Hume in the evolution of theories about war and property, conquest and commerce, religious toleration and civil society.