John Locke, Letters on Toleration

Mark Goldie (University of Cambridge)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Political Philosophy

Dates

First circulation or publication 1689 - 1692

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Letter(s)

Resources

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Locke's

Letter Concerning Toleration

is an assault upon “those that persecute, torment, destroy, and kill other men upon pretence of religion”. Locke wrote the

Letter

in Latin in 1685-6 while in exile in Holland. His friend, the Dutch Arminian theologian Philipp van Limborch, published it at Gouda in 1689 under the title

Epistola de Tolerantia

. The Unitarian merchant William Popple published his English translation in London in the same year, and it was in this form that it was subsequently read in the Anglophone world. The prefatory epistle, with its plea for “absolute liberty”, is Popple's, not Locke's. Presumably for political reasons, both versions were published anonymously, and Locke did not admit authorship until the end of his life. The

Second

(1690),

Third

(1692), and…

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1368 words

Citation: Goldie, Mark. "Letters on Toleration". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3988, accessed 24 November 2024.]