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The blasphemies of Thomas Aikenhead : boundaries of belief on the eve of the enlightenment /

This is the first modern book-length study of the case of Thomas Aikenhead, the sometime University of Edinburgh student who in 1697 earned the unfortunate distinction of being the last person executed for blasphemy in Britain. Taking a micro-historical approach, Michael Graham uses the Aikenhead ca...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Clasificación:Libro Electrónico
Autor principal: Graham, Michael F.
Formato: Electrónico eBook
Idioma:Inglés
Publicado: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, ©2008.
Temas:
Acceso en línea:Texto completo
Descripción
Sumario:This is the first modern book-length study of the case of Thomas Aikenhead, the sometime University of Edinburgh student who in 1697 earned the unfortunate distinction of being the last person executed for blasphemy in Britain. Taking a micro-historical approach, Michael Graham uses the Aikenhead case to open a window into the world of Edinburgh, Scotland and Britain in its transition from the confessional era of the Reformation and the covenants, which placed high emphasis on the defence of orthodox belief, to the polite, literary world of the Enlightenment, of which Edinburgh would become a major centre. Graham traces the roots of the Aikenhead case in seventeenth-century Scotland and the law of blasphemy which was evolving in response to the new intellectual currents of biblical criticism and deism. He analyzes Aikenhead's trial and the Scottish government's decision to uphold the sentence of hanging. Finally, he details the debate engendered by the execution, carried out in a public sphere of print media encompassing both Scotland and England. Aikenhead's case became a media event which highlighted the intellectual and cultural divisions within Britain at the end of the seventeenth century.
Descripción Física:1 online resource (xi, 180 pages) : 1 illustration, 2 maps
Bibliografía:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:0748634274
9780748634279
1281947768
9781281947765
9786611947767
6611947760
0748653457
9780748653454