A curated library for anyone researching Deism and Neo-Deism: primary texts, historical scholarship, contemporary Deist communities, and the strongest critiques. Each link opens in a new tab. For a plain-language overview first, start with What Is Deism?.
Neo-Deism
- Neo-Deism FAQ: common questions about Neo-Deism, answered.
- About Neo-Deism: a general overview of what many Neo-Deists believe.
- How Neo-Deism Differs from Classical Deism: where Neo-Deism departs from Lord Herbert’s Five Articles.
- The Trinion Contradictions: the trilemma of free will, destiny, and intervention.
- Reason, Religion, and the Trinion Contradictions (3rd Edition): the full book, free to read online.
- Digital Deism: Rational Religion in the Age of Online Missionaries
- devoutDEISM on YouTube: videos on Deism and Neo-Deism.
Contemporary Deism
- World Union of Deists: the longest-running organized Deist community online.
- Church of the Modern Deist
- Deism For The World (Facebook group)
- Deism4Me
- Deism on Grokipedia: a detailed encyclopedia overview with extensive references.
- Philosophy Now: Deism, Traditional and Contemporary
Classic Deist Texts
- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (1794 to 1807): the most widely read Deist work ever published.
- Edward Herbert of Cherbury, De Veritate (1624): the source of the Five Articles of classical Deism.
- Matthew Tindal, Christianity as Old as the Creation (1730), often called the “Deist’s Bible.”
- Anthony Collins, A Discourse of Free-Thinking (1713)
- Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Bible (Amazon): the Gospels with the miracles removed.
- Lysander Spooner, The Deist’s Immortality (1834)
History and Scholarship
- National Humanities Center: Deism and the Founding of the United States
- Monticello: Jefferson’s Religious Beliefs
- Gilder Lehrman Institute: Thomas Jefferson and Deism
- Mount Vernon: George Washington and Religion
- National Archives: Thomas Paine’s Attitudes Toward Religion
- Journal of the American Revolution: Divine Providence and Deism in the Declaration of Independence
- Colonial Williamsburg: Deism
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: American Enlightenment Thought
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Hume on Religion
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia: Elihu Palmer, American Freethinker
Critics and Responses
Deism drew strong replies in its own era. Reading the critics alongside the Deists shows what the debate was actually about.
- Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion (1736), with the Stanford Encyclopedia’s overview of Butler
- William Warburton, The Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated (1738 to 1741)
- Samuel Clarke, A Discourse Concerning the Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion (1706), with the Stanford Encyclopedia’s entry on Clarke
Further Reading
- A Few Books on Deism: our short list of recommended books.
- Goodreads: Popular Deism Books