Jeremy Bentham: his attitude to religion and the churches

Jeremy Benthara lias had a conspicuous influence upon English thought and action. His contributions to jurisprudence, political organisation and administration have been widely recognised and the limitations and defects of his doctrines have also been made abundantly evident. His religious attitudes and opinions, however, have received little consideration. It is in the hope of contributing to our total knowledge of this influential reformer and thinker that this thesis has been prepared.Benthos's voluminous, unpublished manuscripts are the primary source of his religious attitudes and opinions. Bentham and his followers were, for many years, afraid that the publication of these pages would bring upon them general disfavour and perhaps legal prosecution. After Bentham's death John Bowring edited many of his papers and published them in an eleven volume work. He did not, however, include his religious writings. This may have been due to the fear of bringing the group into public disfavour or to the knowledge that a new type of criticism was challenging the Christian evidence upon a deeper basis. In any event, these unpublished manuscripts are the primary source of the religious attitudes of Jeremy Bentham