Richard Baxter and the Mechanical Philosophers
David S. Sytsma
Reviews and Awards
"Sytsma's impressive work offers not only a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the so-called Enlightenment, but an appreciation of phiIosophy and theology as complements. Sytsma's breadth and depth, especially his ability to connect Baxter's work to a vanety of traditions and authors, enables a remarkable work of scholarship." -- Glenn Moots, Anglican and Episcopal History
"It is fairly obvious that Sytsma's book will set both the standard and the agenda for Baxter scholarship for many years to come. But its importance lies in more than that. It can be profitably read not just by those antecedently interested in Baxter. Scholars concerned with Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, Ralph Cudworth, Descartes, Gassendi, Hobbes, Gottfried Leibniz, John Locke, More, or any number of other figures will surely benefit from learning about Baxter and comparing and contrasting him with their philosopher of special interest. More generally, the book is valuable because it provides us with the opportunity to challenge some widely held preconceptions and to see and think about early modern philosophy in a different way. For this, as much as anything, we should be grateful to Sytsma." -- Patrick J. Connolly , Locke Studies
"The author has done a great job in showing that Baxter was a philosophical theologian with a deep understanding of the developments in natural philosophy of his day." -- Klaas van Berkel, Isis
"In this important book Sytsma has clearly achieved what he set out to accomplish, that is question the prevailing image of Richard Baxter as a minister mainly concerned with pastoral theology." -- Wiep van Bunge, Church History and Religious Culture
"This book is a distinguished work of scholarship, and Sytsma's discussion and contextualization of Baxter's philosophical theology is remarkable. Sytsma's work is a welcome addition to the scholarship of Baxter and Reformed and Puritan theologians in the early modern period, and Sytsma makes a major contribution by analyzing a wide range of Baxter's unexamined theoretical works. I highly recommend it."--Inseo Song, Reading Religion
"The centrality of the celebrated polemicist Richard Baxter to the debates over science and religion in seventeenth-century England has often been asserted but never seriously investigated. Now, thanks to David Sytsma's detailed and thoughtful analysis of the entire corpus of Baxter's works, we can fully appreciate the complex manner in which a Puritan polymath sought to engage with key constituents of the new science, in a heroic effort to safeguard the old faith."--Mordechai Feingold, Professor of History, California Institute of Technology
"This exceptionally erudite book makes a very significant contribution to seventeenth-century studies." -- N.H. Keeble, The Seventeenth Century
"A distinguished work of scholarship that restores Richard Baxter to a fitting place of influence as a Philosopher-theologian who engaged head on with the rise of mechanical philosophy, even as he remained open to new ways of thinking. Sytsma's book sheds welcome light not just on Baxter's engagement but on vital developments in early modern European philosophy and the rise of science."--Tim Cooper, Associate Professor of Church History, University of Otago
"Richard Baxter has long been known as an important Puritan theologian, but the significance of his conversations with the philosophers of his day has not yet been fully appreciated. In this excellent analysis of Baxter's evaluation of mechanical philosophies, David Sytsma makes a major contribution to filling the lacuna by showing, from a wide range of sources, how theological concerns guided Baxter in his response to the new philosophical ideas."--Aza Goudriaan, Associate Professor of Historical Theology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
