Reason Turned into Sense
John Smith on Spiritual Sensation
by D.A. Michaud
John Smith (1618-1652), long known for the elegance of his prose and the breadth of his erudition, has been underappreciated as a philosophical theologian. This book redresses this by showing how the spiritual senses became an essential tool for responding to early modern developments in philosophy, science, and religion for Smith. Through a close reading of the Select Discourses (1660) it is shown how Smith’s theories of theological knowledge, method, and prophecy as well as his prescriptive account of Christian piety rely on his spiritual aesthetics. Smith offers a coherent system with intellectual intuition informing natural theology and revelation supplemented by spiritual perception via the imagination too. The central uniting feature of Smith’s philosophical theology is thus ‘spiritual sensation’ broadly construed.
John Smith (1618-1652), long known for the elegance of his prose and the breadth of his erudition, has been underappreciated as a philosophical theologian. This book redresses this by showing how the spiritual senses became an essential tool for responding to early modern developments in philosophy, science, and religion for Smith. Through a close reading of the Select Discourses (1660) it is shown how Smith’s theories of theological knowledge, method, and prophecy as well as his prescriptive account of Christian piety rely on his spiritual aesthetics. Smith offers a coherent system with intellectual intuition informing natural theology and revelation supplemented by spiritual perception via the imagination too. The central uniting feature of Smith’s philosophical theology is thus ‘spiritual sensation’ broadly construed. The book closes with proposals for research on Smith’s influence on the accounts of the spiritual senses developed by significant later figures including Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and John Wesley (1703-1791).
- By (author) DA Michaud
Other Titles in this Series
The Art of Theology
Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theological Aesthetics and the Foundations of Faith
Volume 25
John Henry Newman’s Theology of History
Historical Consciousness, Theological 'Imaginaries', and the Development of Tradition
Volume 60
Levinas and the Greek Heritage followed by One Hundred Years of Neoplatonism in France
A Brief Philosophical History
Volume 32
The Limits and Possibilities of Postmetaphysical God-Talk
A Conversation between Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida
Volume 52
On the Meaning of ‘Miracle’ in Christianity
A Philosophical Evaluation of the Current Miracle Debate and a Proposal of a Balanced Hermeneutical Approach
Volume 68
Christian Theology and the Transformation of Natural Religion: From Incarnation to Sacramentality
Essays in Honour of David Brown
Volume 64
The Hammer of the Cartesians
Henry More's Philosophy of Spirit and the Origins of Modern Atheism
Volume 53
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
Beyond Sovereign Courts
Agents and Practices in Early Modern Spanish and Habsburg Diplomacy
Volume 3
Circulation, Use, Impact
The Consumption of Architectural Books in the Early Modern Eastern Adriatic
Volume 1
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Volume 6
Naples as Laboratory / Laboratorium Neapel
Style Options, Artistic Rivalry and Self Fashioning in Neapolitan Baroque Painting / Plurale Stilbildung, Kunstlerkonkurrenz und Self Fashioning in der neapolitanischen Barockmalerei
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
