Book Description
This book studies the complementary features of the thought ofDavid Hume and Edward Gibbon in the complete range of itsconfrontation with eighteenth-century Christianity. The ten chaptersexplore the iconoclasm of these two philosophical historians -Hume as the premier philosopher, Gibbon as the consummate historian- as they labored to `naturalize' the study of Christianity,particularly with attention to its social and political dimensions. Noother work deals as comprehensively or thoroughly with the attempt ofphilosophical history's challenge to Christianity. Belief in miraclesand the afterlife, the dimensions of fanaticism and superstition, andthe nature of religious persecution were the themes that occupied Humeand Gibbon in the making of their critique of Christianity. This bookmakes a valuable contribution to scholarship in a number of fieldsincluding the history of ideas, religious studies, and philosophy. Itwill be of interest to philosophers of religion, historians of ideas,eighteenth-century intellectual historians, scholars of the ScottishEnlightenment, and Hume and Gibbon scholars. ... Read more

Book Description
On the publication of the first volume of The Decline and Fall in 1776, there arose a controversy that rapidly became broader than a dispute about an individual writer. Gibbon replied to his critics in the rhetorically brilliant Vindication in 1779, and then withdrew from the fray.

But the debate continued long after that. Gibbon's adversaries were more substantial figures than he was willing to concede, and it is Gibbon's account of the dispute that has for the most part conditioned the work of later commentators. This comprehensive selection from the writings of Gibbon's adversaries allows the reader to judge the critics for themselves, and so enter into one of the most important literary disputes of the eighteenth century. ... Read more

Book Description
This major intervention from one of the world's leading historians, challenges the notion of any one 'Enlightenment' and posits instead a plurality of enlightenments, of which the English was one. The first two volumes of Barbarism and Religion were warmly and widely reviewed, and won the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History of the American Philosophical Society. In the third volume in the sequence, John Pocock presents a historical introduction to the first fourteen chapters of Gibbon's great work, recounting the end of the classical civilization Gibbon and his readers knew so much better than the worlds that followed. ... Read more

Book Description
The second volume of Barbarism and Religion explores the historiography of Enlightenment, and looks at Gibbon's intellectual relationship with writers sucah as Giannone, Voltaire, Hume, Robertson, Ferguson and Adam Smith. Edward Gibbon's intellectual trajectory is both similar but at points crucially distinct from the dominant Latin "Enlightened narrative" these thinkers developed. The interaction of philosophy, erudition and narrative is central to enlightened historiography, and John Pocock again shows how theDecline and Fall is both akin to but distinct from the historiographical context within which Gibbon wrote his great work. ... Read more

Book Description
In this first volume, The Enlightenments of Edward Gibbon, John Pocock follows Gibbon through his youthful exile in Switzerland and his criticisms of the Encyclopédie and traces the growth of his historical interests down to the conception of the Decline and Fall itself.Download Description
'Barbarism and Religion' - Edward Gibbon's own phrase - is the title of an acclaimedsequence of works by John Pocock designed to situate Gibbon, and his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in a series of contexts in the history of eighteenth-century Europe. This is a major intervention from one of the world's leading historians of ideas, challenging the notion of any one 'Enlightenment' and positing instead a plurality of enlightenments, of which the English was one. In this first volume, The Enlightenments of Edward Gibbon, John Pocock follows Gibbon through his youthful exile in Switzerland and his criticisms of the EncyclopÈdie, and traces the growth of his historical interests down to the conception of the Decline and Fall itself. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Enlightenments, Not Enlightenment
This is the introductory volume to Pocock's masterful study of Gibbon and the Enlightenment. The volume is readable and intensely well-written--clarifying abstract and arcane philosophical and historical minutiae with finesse and grace. The historian's writing style is easily gotten used to and anyone who's read Gibbon will certainly appreciate the aesthetics of Pocock's narrative. Readers used to Hemingway's style might find some getting used to the longer paragraphs but even the Grand Old Man appreciated master storytellers. And Pocock is surely that and more. This is easily the greatest work by one of the greatest English-speaking historians in history.

Pocock's master-plan is ambitious and you might need to reread some chapters to get the full impact and import of what he's saying. He marshals some powerful analytical tools to arrange his material but the technical apparatus rarely shows, unless you go looking for it. Should yo do so, you'll find not only a master narrativist but also a formidable philosopher working behind the scenes.

The book, as you might guess, is not simply about Gibbon the historian. It is also about how historians write history and how, especially, the historian is influenced by the ideas and assumptions of their lives and the times they live in and through. In this way, Pocock's work here is as much about Gibbon as it is about the Enlightenment. Therefore, in the process of delving into Gibbon's life and thought, we also come into contact with Hume, Voltaire, and Adam Smith.

Pocock unearths some starling angles of interpretation on the Enlightenment that undermine the stereotypes of that era. Perhaps one of Pocock's more arresting assertions is that there was not just one Enlightenment but several Enlightenments. This insight alone is worth the price and time spent on getting the entire series.

Subtext: Not Gibbon's Text
This a masterful display of Pocock's ability to marshal the minutia of history over and against the History under discussion - judging great works by a morass of trivia. The difficulty with such a discussion of Gibbon is its ability to tyrannize the reader's perception of a work by appealing to such a vast amount of data. There is no doubt Pocock may be correct concerning every single point, but one cannot know on his authority alone.

The book has scholarly merit, but it should be the last thing on anyone's list who wants to understand Gibbon on Gibbon's own terms. ... Read more

Book Description
This fourth volume in John Pocock's great sequence on Barbarism and Religion focuses on the idea of barbarism. Barbarism was central to the history of western historiography, to the history of the enlightenment, and to Edward Gibbon himself. As a concept it was deeply problematic to enlightened historians seeking to understand their own civil societies in the light of exposure to newly-discovered civilizations hitherto beyond the reach of history.The troubled relationship between philosophy and history is addressed directly in this fourth volume. ... Read more