Deism• Flourished especially from 1690s-1740s• Seems to die out by 1800, but many of its ideas

live on in Unitarianism• belief that reason and observation of the

natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a divine creator

• Sought to demystify religion• Rejects the ideas of spiritual revelation &

religious authority figures as sources of religious knowledge

Unitarianism• Reason, rational thought, science, and philosophy coexist with

faith in God.• One God and the oneness or unity of God, instead of the trinity

(father, son, holy spirit)• Humans have the ability to exercise free will in a responsible,

constructive and ethical manner with the assistance of religion• Human nature is capable of both good and evil, as God intended.• Open to the teachings of many religions because no religion can

claim an absolute monopoly on the Holy Spirit or religious truth• Though the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, they were

humans and therefore subject to human error.• Reject predestination and eternal damnation

Transcendentalism• Rejects rationalism, intellectualism, and the Unitarian

religion• mankind is inherently good, but society and its institutions

—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual

• Promoted feeling, intuition and personal experience to understand the world

• Use senses to experience things and find the truth about the world

• but skeptical of using senses to merely be analytical • Encourages self-reliance and individualism