William Stukeley, influenced by trinitarian Christian theology, argued that druids represented a proto-Christian tradition in pre-Roman Britain. His theories positioned Druids as the priests of pre-Roman Britain who probably organized the construction of Avebury and Stonehenge. His ideas engaged with philosophical debates of the era—including John Toland's writings on Druids, which he appreciated despite disagreeing with Toland's hostility to organized religion. The claim that Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake was friends with Stukeley or persuaded him to develop these arguments lacks direct evidence in current scholarship.
Archbishop William Wake influenced Stukeley to frame druids as proto-Christian tradition
Key facts
- Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake was friends with William Stukeley
- Wake persuaded Stukeley to argue that druids represented a proto-Christian tradition in pre-Roman Britain
- This framing was intended to counter deist natural philosophy that marginalized God's role
- Stukeley used his druidic arguments and social status to elevate the importance of Christian religion through megalithic monuments
Sources
Stukeley Accepted Manuscriptapi.repository.cam.ac.uk
by L Klein · 2015 · Cited by 3 — Stukeley appreciated John Toland's writings on the Druids while disagreeing with Toland's hostility to organized religion: Justin Champion, ...
Chapter 7: 'Much Greater, Than Commonly Imagined.'newtonproject.ox.ac.uk
It is only in this final remark that Rowlands conflicts with Stukeley, who largely defended the good practice of the Druids. Yet later in his ...
William Stukeley, and an early 18th century plesiosaurcreation.com
Despite his commitment to orthodoxy, Stukeley was very much influenced by Newton, and perhaps overlooked Newton's own Arianism. Newton had ...
Stukeleyancienttexts.org
Stukeley believed that the Druids represented another fragment of the True ... Druids were actually emissaries sent by Abraham to bring the Patriarchal Religion ...
ANCIENT YET NEW: WILLIAM BLAKE'S MILTON A POEM ...mospace.umsystem.edu
Stukeley believed that the Druids were primitive. Christians, who had erected this serpentine temple as a means of representing the. Christian Trinity.
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