Samuel Johnson and eighteenth-century thought

Although there are many books on Samuel Johnson's moral and religious thought, none have provided a detailed analysis of his relationship with the ethics and theology of the 18th century. This major new study examines the background to his views on a wide range of issues debated by the philosophers and divines of the age, emphasizing the ambivalence and contradiction inherent in Johnson's orthodoxy while challenging the assumption that his religious beliefs were unstable and filled with anxiety.