Lay Scholarship in the Public Sphere

Abstract We will see in this chapter that Layton and Coward shared their doubts about the soul with friends and acquaintances before they ventured into print. The openness with which they did so tells us much about the nature and reception of heterodoxy c.1700. One historian recently claimed it was ‘near impossible’ to get mortalism into print, but the seductive mythology of the underground idea, of the stealth and struggle of ‘Enlightenment’, can blind us to the fact that publication—even with few consequences—was possible for subversive texts in this period. By publishing, Layton and Coward aimed to incite a public debate on the soul, one in which lay people with legitimate doubts had as much right to discuss their views as did the experts. By comparing reactions to their work with responses to Blount and Toland, we learn how the reception of mortalist books was coloured by the reputation of their author and the circumstances surrounding their dissemination.