The Cambridge Platonists A Brief Introduction: With Eight Letters of Dr. Antony Tuckney and Dr. Benjamin Whichcote

The Cambridge Platonists is written with students and novice theologians in mind. It provides context as well as description, while outlining the most representative ideas of the school with clarity and brevity. This introduction will meet the needs of many readers, but for those beginning a study of the works of the Cambridge Platonists, the Eight Letters of Dr. Antony Tuckney and Dr. Benjamin Whichcote not only provide a logical starting point, in that they present the most characteristic ideas of Whichcote--arguably, the Cambridge Platonists’ founding member--but also help to clarify what sets this school of religious thought apart from contemporary Puritan theology, as represented by Tuckney. This is the first complete edition of the Eight Letters since their original publication in 1753, now rendered accessible to readers without knowledge of classical languages.

Tod E. Jones is the author of The Broad Church: A Biography of a Movement (Lexington, 2003). He received his PhD in English from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he teaches as a Lecturer for the English Department and UM Libraries’ User Education Services. Sara E. Phang received a B.A. in Classical Studies from Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D. in Roman History from Columbia University. She held a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Classics at the University of Southern California in 2001-02.