Editing Isaac Newton (section)

=== Religious thought ===

Newton and [[Robert Boyle]]'s approach to [[mechanical philosophy]] was promoted by [[rationalist]] pamphleteers as a viable alternative to [[pantheism]] and [[enthusiasm]]. It was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the [[latitudinarian]]s.<ref name="The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689–1720" /> The clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] superlatives of both [[superstition|superstitious]] enthusiasm and the threat of [[atheism]],<ref name="Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England" /> and at the same time, the second wave of English [[deism|deists]] used Newton's discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a "Natural Religion".

The attacks made against pre-[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] "[[magical thinking]]", and the [[Christian mysticism|mystical elements of Christianity]], were given their foundation with Boyle's mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle's ideas their completion through [[mathematical proof]]s and, perhaps more importantly, was very successful in popularising them.<ref name="Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain" />