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In Vision Ohio our president stated that one of
our goals was to increase the national prominence of Ohio University. The strategic plan of the library supports this
goal through the development of a nationally recognized special collection of books on the subject of RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. This subject is
both historically important and completely current. Some of the books in the collection are very rare.
They can be seen in the climate controlled display cases in front of the
reference books shelves. These rare books may only be accessed by researchers with an approved course of study.
All photos by Andy Gigley
Dreaming of a new
country based on religious freedom, Thomas Jefferson consulted the books
in this case. Only a few hundred of these books were printed, and our
copies come from the same printing run as
the ones on the shelves of Thomas Jefferson’s library.
Locke, J. (1765).
Letters concerning toleration. London: Printed for A. Millar.
Locke was arguably the most important philosopher of the
Enlightenment, inspiring both the
shapers of the American Revolution and the authors of the U.S.
Constitution. Locke argued that it is the duty of the state to secure
the “civil interests” of its citizens, but
the “care of the soul” cannot be its business, this being a matter between the individual and God to whom alone one is responsible in this
regard. Hence there is a
God-given, inalienable right to the free exercise of religion.
Voltaire, F. M. (1733).
Letters concerning the English Nation. London:
C. Davis & A. Lyon.
During his exile in
England (1726-1728), Voltaire was embraced by the British as a
victim of France's injustice and infamy. Employing the methods of Locke
and other Enlightenment philosophers and scientists, Voltaire’s work was
a slap at the French and
a call for political and religious freedom.
Bayle, P. (1708). A philosophical commentary... London: J. Darby
in Bartholemew-Close.
Bayle's work is the most comprehensive attempt to refute the
arguments for the duty of
intolerance that go back to St. Augustine. Bayle was the first to try
and develop a valid argument for toleration that
included universal toleration of persons of different faiths as well as
of those seen as lacking any faith.
Voltaire, F. M. (1779). A treatise on toleration. London: for
Fielding & Walker.
The exceptional importance of this text, apart from the
cogency of its arguments,
lies in the fact that Voltaire's treatise is not simply a philosophical
dissertation – it is a call to action.
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