Ethical and Theological Writings

These volumes provide an insight into the ethical and theological thought of Henry Grove (1684—1738), a leading Presbyterian of his day. Grove exemplifies the more intellectually and doctrinally tolerant of eighteenth-century divines. His position as tutor of the Dissenting academy in Taunton enabled him to exercise a formative influence upon many who were destined for the ministry. In his ethics he responds to the challenges posed by Hobbes and others, and in his academy curriculum he separated ethics from dogmatics — a significant departure. His theological writings acquaint us with the doctrinal position, pastoral concerns and piety of one who kept his head during a period of doctrinal turbulence frequently marked by wanton polemics.

This collection of rare writings includes the 4-volume Works, containing Grove’s sermons, discourses and tracts published during his lifetime, and collected and republished posthumously by his pupil, assistant and successor at the Academy, Thomas Amory. In addition the set contains the scarce 2-volume System of Moral Philosophy,. The set provides valuable background to the writings of Hobbes, Locke and Newton and will be of interest to philosophers, theologians, and intellectual and church historians.

—important for an understanding of the reception of Hobbes, Locke and others by eighteenth-century divines
—reveal the responses of a significant Dissenting divine to the philosophical and theological trends of his day
—demonstrates the breadth of interest of one of the more open-minded theological educators of the early eighteenth century