Isaac
Newton's own religious beliefs were kept largely private, expressed mainly in
the many thousands of pages of manuscript that he wrote on the biblical
exegesis and the history of the Church. Some of this work was published after
Newton's death and something of Newton's very individual notion of God was also
communicated during his lifetime through the General Scholium of the Principia
(second edition, 1713) and through the publications and lectures of several of
Newton's acquaintances, in particular Richard Bentley, Samuel Clarke, and
WIlliam Whiston. This paper will examine the role played by scholars living in
the Netherlands and by the Dutch publishing industry in disseminating Newton's
own religious ideas, as well as considering some of the ways in which Newton's
religion interacted with Dutch natural philosophy and Dutch religious culture
during the eighteenth century. It will begin with a treatment of the triangular
relationship between Newton, John Locke, and Jean Le Clerc, which led to the
exchange of manuscripts and almost to the publication of Newton's thoughts
concerning the historical corruptions of Scripture. The afterlife of the
manuscript copies of Newton's thoughts which Le Clerc owned will also be
considered. The reception of Newton's published works in the religious life of
the Netherlands will then also be considered, in particular thinking about the
dissemination of those works that specifically circulated his religious writings.
Personal contacts, including the correspondence of the Dutch natural
philosopher, Christiaan Huygens, and his friend Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, who
was one of Newton's closest confidantes, will also be discussed, as will
Newton's relationship with the Dutch alchemist, William Yworth. A range of
different reactions, depending in part on confessional viewpoint, to Newton's
religious ideas will be traced, as will the development of physico-theological
ideas which depended in whole or in part on the Newtonian understanding of
nature. Here the importance of particular Dutch interpretations of Newtonianism
will again be stressed. As a whole, the paper will hope to answer the
questions: what was the relationship of Newton's own religious ideas with Dutch
intellectual culture during Newton's own lifetime and how did Newton's ideas
impact on Dutch religious culture in the period after his death.
