Juan Pablo Domínguez, a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, coordinated a special issue of the scientific journal History of European Ideas. The volume includes eight articles presented at the international conference “Religious Toleration in the Age of Enlightenment (1650-1800),” held at the Institute for Culture and Society in June 2015.

The special issue examines how the ideal of religious tolerance was formed and disseminated at the time of the Enlightenment, as well as analyses the ideas of authors such as John Locke and Pierre Bayle. As Prof. Domínguez notes, "The articles highlight the contributions of thinkers and currents that have been forgotten. They also analyze the relationship between theory and practice in religious tolerance.”

Authors from academic centers in five countries

The eight authors come from academic centers in Bulgaria, Chile, Spain, USA, and the Netherlands, including Rutgers University, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Leiden University.

The conference focused on two main themes. The first consisted in tracing the many legacies of the Enlightenment present in dominant discourses on religion and liberty. The second in reconsidering existing accounts of the place of the Enlightenment in the history of tolerance, with the aim of more critically examining the assumptions underlying the recent debates on religious freedom.

History of European Ideas is edited by Taylor & Francis, a British publisher, and is dedicated to the dissemination of content on post-Renaissance history in Europe. As an interdisciplinary publication, it addresses these issues from various fields such as politics and economics, as well as philosophical and scientific thought, among others.

Contributions and authors

• Introduction: Religious toleration in the Age of Enlightenment, Juan Pablo Domínguez

• The long road to religious toleration: Emeric Crucé predecessor of the enlightenment, María José Villaverde

• John Owen and John Locke: confessionalism, doctrinal minimalism, and toleration, Manfred Svensson

• From practice to theory to practice: William Penn from prison to the founding of Pennsylvania, Andrew R. Murphy

• Bayle’s political doctrine: a proposal to articulate tolerance and sovereignty, Marta García-Alonso

• Deism, freethinking and toleration in Enlightenment England, Diego Lucci

• Radical tolerance in early enlightenment Europe, Lionel Laborie

• A State Within the State: The Inquisition in Enlightenment Thought, Juan Pablo Domínguez