Dov Ospovat. The development of Darwin's theory: Natural history, natural theology and natural selection 1838-1859. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. 301 pp. $39.50 (Reviewed by Silvan S. Schweber)

1983 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-100
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
Cambridge University

John Ray (1627-1705) and the Act of Uniformity 1662

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Natural Theology ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Political Views ◽  
John Ray ◽  
Living Nature ◽  
Natural Philosophers

John Ray was one of the most influential British natural philosophers of the 17th century. His model of natural history served as an organizing principle for the philosophic understanding of living nature and his works on natural theology were seminal. Many modern historians have placed Ray within the Puritan tradition, primarily based on Ray's choice, as an ordained Anglican priest, to leave his fellowship at Cambridge rather than subscribe to the Act of Uniformity in 1662. However, Ray left no explicit evidence of either his religious or political views during this period and his reasons for refusing to subscribe to the Act are not transparent. My analysis of his early Essex environment, his friends and associates at Cambridge University, his correspondence during the crucial years of 1660–62 and the strategies he pursued in his only contemporary published work, the Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam (1660) provide no evidence to situate Ray within a Puritan framework and much evidence to suggest that Ray remained committed to Anglican and loyalist principles throughout his career.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document