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John Toland (1670-1721)
Researched and compiled by Gerry McElroy
John Toland philosopher, was born 30th November 1670 in the parish
of Clonmany. While his family origins remain obscure, it appears
that he was baptised into the Catholic Church as Johannes Eugenius,
or Sean Owens. Some of his protagonists later in life claimed that
he was the illegitimate child of a local priest but this has never
been established.
He appears to have worked as a shepherd until the age of fourteen,
and it is around this time, that he converted to Protestantism.
It remains unknown as to whether this conversion was based on religious
believe or a desire for self improvement, but in any case, he was
enrolled at a school in Redcastle where he received formal education,
and was seen by his sponsors as a potential missionary to other
Irish Language speakers.
He left Ireland sometime in his teens, and at the age of eighteen
was named an 'Alumnus Academicus', a full scholarship student of
theology at the College (later University of Glasgow. In 1688 or
1689 he moved to Edinburgh and was awarded a MA by the University
of Edinburgh in late 1689. He had already supported Presbyterian
over Anglican claims in church-state relations in Scotland, and
in the early 1690s, moved to London to work as a theological tutor.
He appears to have written his first book in this period. The Sage
of the Times, which appeared in both English and French, but no
trace of the book exists.
From this time, certain traits would shape the rest of his life:
the need for aristocratic patrons to fund his prolific writing which
numbered nearly two hundred items in theology and politics; his
apparent desire to please his patrons which frequently created contradictions
and apparent compromises in much of his work, causing great controversy;
a remarkable linguistic capacity (he could apparently use ten languages
which helped him to work in a variety of countries and publish in
different languages).
In 1692 he attended the universities of Utrecht and Leiden, and
while fulsome in his praise of Dutch freedom, returned to England
the following year. He then renounced a clerical career, and lived
in Oxford, working for a time as a compiler of an Irish dictionary.
It was during this period he became friendly with John Locke, one
of England's most famous philosophers, who later denied any friendship
after they had fallen out.
He soon found himself at the centre of one of the great controversies
of his life because of his book, Christianity Not Mysterious (1695).
This work scandalised public opinion as it argued that human reason
could explain biblical mysteries. The work was condemned by the
Commons and Bishops in England, and when he returned to Ireland
to escape the controversy, he discovered establishment opinion back
home was even more hostile; the Irish House of Commons condemned
it as heretical in 1697, claiming that it subverted belief in the
divinity of Christ, ordered that the text he burned and its author
arrested. Fearing for his life, Toland returned to England, only
to find that the controversy would not go away. As a result, he
went back to Holland in 1699 for a while, later found a patron for
many years in Robert Harley, one-time Chancellor of the Exchequer,
and spent much of 1702 in Brunswick and Berlin, engaging in public
debate with the famous German philosopher, Leibniz.
Whether through belief or opportunism, he tried to retrieve his
shattered reputation in England by later describing himself as an
Anglican, but throughout his wanderings and apparently changing
beliefs, continued to publish an enormous variety of works. As well
as that, he continued to rub shoulders with some of the most influential
figures of his day including William Penn, the founder of the Society
of Friends (Quakers), and author, Daniel Defoe.
Experiencing bad health, virtual bankruptcy as a result of investment
losses in the South Sea Bubble, and a serious drink problem, he
published Pantheisticon in 1720. Frightened of religious persecution,
he originally published the work in Latin so it would be accessible
to a limited readership but it was to become his most famous work.
His fear was well founded because Toland's conception of pantheism
was heretical, given that he saw the material universe as the only
divine being.
Ireland's most famous philosopher, Toland possessed a remarkable
intellect and command of languages, not least given his apparent
lack of childhood education. He is best remembered for coining the
term 'pantheism', being the first materialist and scientific pantheist
of modern times, and the first to conceive of a network of societies
observing the pantheist religion.
He never married. In 1721, only a year after the publication of
Pantheisticon, he died in poverty and obscurity in his lodgings
at Putney, south-west London, and is buried in a local graveyard.
Click
here to read history of pantheism
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