Introduction; 1. Antecedents; 2. 'Religion', revelation, and the light of nature: Protestants and Platonists; 3. The religious instinct and priestly corruptions: Lord Herbert and deism; 4. Sacred history and religious diversity; 5. From sacred history to natural history; Epilogue; Notes; References.

This book shows how the concept of 'religion' and 'the religions' arose out of controversies in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England.