Unitarian Radicalism Political Impact, 1770-1814 [Hardcover]

The Unitarian confrontation with the late 18th century political establishment is reflected in published sermons, pamphlets, and parliamentary debates. Price and Priestley were only the most notorious members of a well-educated, close-knit, and highly articulate intellectual opposition, all the more formidable for dominating the major literary reviews. Focusing on many lesser-known dissenting polemicists, this study uncovers unexpected continuities in Unitarian critiques of government policies and questions whether Burke was justified in equating antitrinitarians with French republicans.

Stuart Andrewsis the author of five books includingThe British Periodical PressandThe French Revolution.

In this lucid study, Stuart Andrews looks not only at the famous Priestley but at the nation-wide network to which he belonged. He guides us expertly through the Unitarian literature of protest, emphasizing the long-standing religious convictions and grievances which fed a political rhetoric which Burke and others dismissed as 'Jacobinical'. -- John Walsh, Jesus College, Oxford.