Anne Conway on Heaven and Hell
In: Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and ScientistsSearch for other papers by Jonathan Head in
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Abstract
This paper examines Anne Conway’s accounts of heaven and hell, as found in her only published work, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1690). We see that Conway seeks to portray hell in a manner that she sees as more consonant with the postulation of a loving and just God, partly by denying eternal torment and emphasising the benefits that suffering brings to a creature. I also review Conway’s account of heaven, a realm of ‘perfect tranquillity’ in which creatures enjoy unity and harmony with Christ and other heavenly spirits. We see that Conway’s account of universal salvation in this heavenly state involves an increase of understanding of the world, a continuing process of perfection, and harmony with other heavenly spirits. Throughout the paper, I also consider Conway’s eschatology within the wider intellectual context of the revival of Origenist theology in her intellectual circle and the shifting framework of eschatological thought in the early Quaker community. By reading the Principles as responding to this context, we can deepen our understanding of the radical and original contribution Conway makes to the tradition of eschatological thought.
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Almond, P.C., Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
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Anonymous, A Letter of Resolution Concerning Origen and the Chief of his Opinions. (London, 1661).
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Barbour, H., The Quakers in Puritan England. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964).
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Birch, J.C.P., Jesus in an Age of Enlightenment: Radical Gospels from Thomas Hobbes to Thomas Jefferson. (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).
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Conway, A. 1982. The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy, P. Loptson (ed.). (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1982).
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Conway, A. The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy, A.P. Coudert and T. Corse (eds.). (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
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Gilbert, P.K., ‘The ‘Other’ Anne Finch: Lady Conway’s ‘Duelogue’ of Textual Selves.’ Essays in Arts and Sciences 26 (1997), pp. 15–26.
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Gwyn, D., 2013. ‘Quakers, Eschatology, and Time’, in S.W. Angell and B.P. Dandelion (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 202–217.
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Head, J., The Philosophy of Anne Conway: God, Creation and the Nature of Time. (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020).
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Hutton, S., Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
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Hutton, S., ‘Philosophy, Religion, and Heterodoxy in the Philosophy of Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, and Anne Conway.’ Church History and Religious Culture 100/2–3 (2020), pp. 157–171.
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Kempson, E.S., ‘Anne Conway’s Exemplary Engagement with Origenist Thought.’ Modern Theology 38/2 (2021), pp. 389–418.
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Lascano, M., 2017. ‘Anne Conway on Liberty’, in J. Broad and K. Detlefsen (eds.), Women and Liberty, 1600–1800: Philosophical Essays. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 60–87.
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Lewis, R., ‘Of ‘Origenian Platonisme’: Joseph Glanvill on the Pre-existence of Souls.’ Huntington Library Quarterly 69/2 (2006), pp. 267–300.
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Mercer, C. 2012. ‘Knowledge and Suffering in Early Modern Philosophy: G.W. Leibniz and Anne Conway’, in S. Ebbersmeyer (ed.), Emotional Minds: The Passions and the Limits of Pure Inquiry in Early Modern Philosophy. (Berlin: De Gruyter), pp. 179–206.
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Moore, R., The Light in their Consciences: Early Quakers in Britain 1646–1666. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).
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Mühling, M., T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Eschatology, Adams-J. Maßmann and D.A. Gilland (trans). (London: Bloomsbury, 2015).
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Parageau, S., ‘Christ in Anne Conway’s Principia (1690): Metaphysics, Syncretism, and Female Imitatio Christi.’ Journal of Early Modern Christianity 5/2 (2018), pp. 247–265.
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Tousley, N.C., 2013. ‘Sin, Convincement, Purity, and Perfection,’ in S.W. Angell and B.P. Dandelion (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 172–186.
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Walker, D.P., The Decline of Hell: Seventeenth-Century Discussions of Eternal Torment. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964).
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Anne Conway on Heaven and Hell
In: Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and ScientistsSearch for other papers by Jonathan Head in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper examines Anne Conway’s accounts of heaven and hell, as found in her only published work, The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy (1690). We see that Conway seeks to portray hell in a manner that she sees as more consonant with the postulation of a loving and just God, partly by denying eternal torment and emphasising the benefits that suffering brings to a creature. I also review Conway’s account of heaven, a realm of ‘perfect tranquillity’ in which creatures enjoy unity and harmony with Christ and other heavenly spirits. We see that Conway’s account of universal salvation in this heavenly state involves an increase of understanding of the world, a continuing process of perfection, and harmony with other heavenly spirits. Throughout the paper, I also consider Conway’s eschatology within the wider intellectual context of the revival of Origenist theology in her intellectual circle and the shifting framework of eschatological thought in the early Quaker community. By reading the Principles as responding to this context, we can deepen our understanding of the radical and original contribution Conway makes to the tradition of eschatological thought.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 304 | 304 | 39 |
| Full Text Views | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 45 | 45 | 0 |