The Christian Virtuoso (1690) was one of the last books published by Robert Boyle, who was a champion of his Anglican faith. This book summarised his religious views, including his idea of a clockwork universe created by God.
Overview
The Christian Virtuoso (1690) was one of the last books published by Robert Boyle, who was a champion of his Anglican faith. This book summarised his religious views including his idea of a clockwork universe created by God.
Boyle was a devout Anglican, and with the rise of science and reason during his lifetime, was troubled by increasing atheism. This spurred him to write about his belief of science and religion supporting each other.
Contents
On this book's title page (see picture) Boyle states "that, being addicted to experimental philosophy a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good Christian." And this principle is what he sets out to show.
The Christian Virtuoso summarized Boyle's views that the study of God's handiwork was a religious duty and that by studying God's handiwork, God's goodness and overarching existence would be illuminated. Some see The Christian Virtuoso as a manifesto of Boyle's life as the ideal Christian scientist.
John Locke's review
John Locke read and reviewed a manuscript of the book in 1681.
Meaning of the word virtuoso
In the early 17th century the word virtuoso first referred to a gentleman interested in precious stones and antiquities. In the title Boyle equates a natural philosopher (later to be called a scientist) with a virtuoso, which by the middle of 17th century had already begun to take on this meaning.
