"This book. . . enlarges our understanding of the Enlightenment by attending to the humbler figures who have generally been ignored in intellectual histories of the period."

Times Literary Supplement

"An eminently readable work of intellectual history that, through its meticulous attention to the ordinary, provides a truly extraordinary window into the ways in which ideas such as ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘original sin’ are embedded in the lives of ‘regular’ people. Theologians contributing to the newly burgeoning literature on original sin will certainly need to grapple with its claims."

The Journal of Theological Studies

“A scintillating story of how the Enlightenment came into being but was also resisted, a narrative revisited through the eyes of a ‘nobody’ in mid-eighteenth-century England as well as through the usual authorities. Written with verve, this book is a masterpiece of layered intellectual history.”

David D. Hall, Harvard University

“Remarkably erudite and powerfully written, Enlightenment and Original Sin gives us a new origin story of the Enlightenment and our own materialist mores. Kadane offers a brilliant and previously untold deep dive into how the British Dissenting view of original sin would reshape Protestantism in Britain and America at a key moment to create essentially a modern form of Christianity.”

Jacob Soll, author of Free Market: The History of a Dream

“With remarkable clarity and original archival work, Kadane forcefully demonstrates how individuals made the conversion away from traditional religiosity to enlightened principles. Thanks to this groundbreaking work, the Enlightenment becomes lived experience, not simply a set of abstract ideals.”

Margaret C. Jacob, University of California, Los Angeles

"This superb book is a pleasure to read. . . . Kadane demonstrates that between the poles of perfect optimism and pessimism lay a variety of faiths about human nature. . . . It will be read equally as profitably by academics, university students of eighteenth-century cultural and intellectual history, and the public."

History of European Ideas

"This book does right to remind us that theological doctrines drove intellectual debate and societal change. Theologians, as much as historians, are well-reminded by it to pay heed to the theology that drove the Enlightenment and to notice how important that theology was even to ordinary folk."

Theological Studies