John Locke’s Letter on Toleration in Focus

John Locke’s Letter on Toleration is one of the central texts of liberal political philosophy. Locke’s defence of religious toleration and his insistence on the separate roles of church and state have been of fundamental importance in the theoretical and practical development of liberalism. Critical articles on Locke’s Letter , however, are not easily acceswsible nor as plentiful as might be expected. This book aims to remedy the situation by bringing together the text of the Letter in the original translation by William Popple and critical articles on its philosophical themes. The volume contains specially commissioned articles as well as reprints of seminal essays. The editor’s Introduction sets the Letter in the wider context of Locke’s political philosophy and traces the philosophical themes which run through it . The articles by Gough And Nicholson analyse the development of Locke’s views on toleration before and subsequent to the publication of the Letter , whilst those by Cranston, Kelly, Mendus and Waldron discuss the philosophical coherence of Locke’s beliefs on toleration and their relevance in the modern world.