The writers known as the English deists were not simply religious controversialists, but agents of reform who contributed to the emergence of modernity. The existing literature claims that these writers advocated a failed ideology which itself declined after 1730. Hudson, however, argues for an evolution of their ideas into a more modern form, one less indebted to classical antiquity and the Renaissance. He further claims that these writers promoted political, social and cultural reforms over a wide area. Indeed, so far from merely writing minor pamphlets, they provoked shifts of public philosophy and practice of European significance.

"'an important contribution to our understanding of not only deism but also the religious climate of eighteenth-century England ... essential reading.'"