Can Persecution Produce Toleration?

Send us Fan MailWho was Thomas More before he became a martyr — and why did a man at the heart of Tudor government imagine a society called “nowhere”?Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson begin a new Beyond the Text series on More and Utopia. We explore the lawyer, humanist and statesman behind the famous book: his education, his friendship with Erasmus, his religious commitments and his uneasy place in Henry VIII’s political world.From Augustine and Plato to poverty, punishment and public service, we ask whether Utopia offers an ideal society, a satire of existing institutions, or a way to think more carefully about political action. Can we remake the world — or must we learn to steer the ship?CHAPTERS00:00 Opening music00:10 Introducing Thomas More01:10 Reading More through his life02:09 Education, philosophy and law03:40 Religious vocation and life in the world05:16 Utopia and Tudor public life08:03 Translation, satire and the travel narrative09:14 Why “Utopia” means nowhere10:29 Augustine and Plato12:03 Poverty, theft and punishment14:02 Wolsey, Henry VIII and political service16:21 Oaths, conscience and the break with Rome17:05 Trial, Socrates and the philosopher in politics18:29 The perfect society and steering the ship19:20 Execution and legacy20:04 Canonisation and Erasmus21:15 Looking ahead to UtopiaCHRONOLOGY NOTESMore served as Speaker in 1523. He was imprisoned in April 1534 and executed on 6 July 1535. The title page and island illustration shown in the video are from the 1518 edition of Utopia; the book first appeared in 1516.READ AND DISCUSShttps://beyondthetext.co.ukhttps://theintellectualhistorian.comhttps://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukREADINGThomas More, Utopia:https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26971Augustine, The City of God:https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htmThomas More chronology:https://thomasmorestudies.org/chronology/MUSIC“Queens Arrival” — Red Planet / TakeTones.WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/LGp0HvU3ZTI#ThomasMore #Utopia #IntellectualHistorySupport the show

Send us Fan MailCan remembering persecution teach people to tolerate beliefs they think are wrong?In the final episode of this three-part series, Samuel Woodall explores John Foxe’s appeal for the Dutch Anabaptists condemned in 1575, Protestant exile, Sebastian Castellio and the limits of Elizabethan toleration. Foxe opposed execution for religious error while still rejecting the beliefs of those he tried to protect. His example raises a difficult question: why can the same memory of suffering encourage both mercy and exclusion?CHAPTERS00:00 Theme and introduction01:08 The problem with a history of progress01:50 Persecution within Protestant reform03:08 The Dutch Anabaptists of 157503:46 Foxe’s appeal to Elizabeth I04:45 Toleration without approval05:42 Exile, Castellio and conscience07:26 The limits of Elizabethan toleration08:11 Coexistence in everyday life09:39 Can persecution produce toleration?10:58 Series conclusion and bonus episodeREAD ALONGJohn Foxe, Acts and Monuments: The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online, University of Sheffield:https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/SELECTED READINGJohn Foxe, Acts and Monuments.Alexandra Walsham, Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500–1700.G. R. Elton, Persecution and Toleration in the English Reformation.Susan Royal, Lollards in the English Reformation: History, Radicalism and John Foxe.THE FOXE SERIESEpisode 1 — Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Making of Protestant England:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/episodes/20104628Episode 2 — Did Foxe Create English Anti-Catholicism?:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/episodes/20104715EXPLORE AND DISCUSSBeyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comThe History of Ideas Reading Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukMusic: “Queens Arrival” — Red Planet / TakeTones.Cover: illustrative artwork created for this episode.Support the show

Send us Fan MailDid John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs create English anti-Catholicism—or give an existing conflict its most enduring stories?In the second of three solo episodes, Samuel Woodall examines the image of “Bloody Mary”, the changing editions of Acts and Monuments, the papal bull against Elizabeth I and Robert Persons’s Catholic response. The discussion asks how rival histories turned persecution into national memory, and why memories of suffering could encourage both religious exclusion and sympathy for conscience.CHAPTERS00:00 Theme and introduction01:07 Foxe’s polemical history03:28 Why the editions and political context matter05:25 Robert Persons and the Catholic response07:24 Evidence, credibility and rival histories07:57 Memory, identity and the Catholic other09:01 Tolerance and intolerance together10:14 Did Foxe create English anti-Catholicism?11:21 The question of tolerationREAD ALONGJohn Foxe, Acts and Monuments: The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online, University of Sheffield:https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/SELECTED READINGJohn Foxe, Acts and Monuments (English editions: 1563, 1570, 1576 and 1583).Robert Persons (also known as Parsons), A Treatise of Three Conversions of England (1603–1604).Alexandra Walsham, Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500–1700.PREVIOUS EPISODEFoxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Making of Protestant England:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/episodes/20104628EXPLORE AND DISCUSSBeyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comThe History of Ideas Reading Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukMusic: “Queens Arrival” — Red Planet / TakeTones.Cover: illustrative artwork created for this episode.Support the show

Send us Fan MailJohn Foxe’s Acts and Monuments was one of the most influential books of the English Reformation. In the first of three solo episodes, Samuel Woodall explores how Foxe transformed persecution, exile and martyrdom into a history of Protestant England—and asks what we gain and lose when suffering becomes national memory.From Foxe’s continental exile and the Lollards to the Marian burnings, the episode examines the book’s woodcuts, documentary sources, changing editions and collaborative production. It also considers the tension between a powerful Protestant identity and the disturbing question preserved in these stories: should governments have the power to kill people for belief?CHAPTERS00:00 Theme and introduction01:10 John Foxe’s life and exile02:24 The Lollards and a Protestant prehistory03:38 Edward VI, Mary I and religious reversal04:28 Martyr narratives and the woodcuts05:08 Foxe’s sources and historical evidence05:45 The book’s physical form and the power of print06:41 Cranmer’s story07:09 A book that kept changing08:39 How to read martyr stories09:07 A network of Protestant remembrance09:31 The making—and costs—of Protestant England10:35 Persecution, memory and the next episodeREAD ALONGJohn Foxe, Acts and Monuments: The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online, University of Sheffield:https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/SELECTED READINGJohn N. King (ed.), Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: Select Narratives.Alexandra Walsham, Charitable Hatred: Tolerance and Intolerance in England, 1500–1700.Susan Royal, Lollards in the English Reformation: History, Radicalism and John Foxe.EXPLORE AND DISCUSSBeyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comThe History of Ideas Reading Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukMusic: “Queens Arrival” — Red Planet / TakeTones.Cover: illustrative artwork created for this episode.Support the show

Send us Fan MailWas seventeenth-century England travelling inevitably towards constitutional liberty? Samuel Woodall explores a century in which monarchy, Parliament, religion and conscience repeatedly collided, from James VI and I to the Civil Wars and the Glorious Revolution. Drawing on Quentin Skinner, J. G. A. Pocock, Patrick Collinson, Johann Sommerville, John Morrill, Jonathan Scott, Mark Goldie and Steve Pincus, this solo episode examines how intellectual historians reconstruct arguments in their own historical settings. We consider divine right and the ancient constitution, Charles I and the crisis across the Stuart kingdoms, the Levellers and Putney Debates, Hobbes and Harrington, Restoration politics, Locke, and the contested settlement of 1688-89. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction 01:23 Historians and method 03:45 James VI and I 06:02 Charles I and the Civil Wars 09:20 Cromwell, Hobbes and Harrington 10:33 Restoration and Locke 12:24 James II and the Glorious Revolution 14:29 Conclusion: who has the authority to judge? PRIMARY WORKS DISCUSSED James VI and I, The True Law of Free Monarchies and Basilikon Doron Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana Robert Filmer, Patriarcha John Locke, Two Treatises of Government STAY CONNECTED Essays and reading guides: https://theintellectualhistorian.com/ Free monthly newsletter: https://theintellectualhistorian.com/newsletter/ Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.uk/podcasts/ History of Ideas Reading Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.uk/ Support the podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/support Hosted by Samuel Woodall. Theme: “Queens Arrival” by Red Planet, licensed through TakeTones.Support the show

Send us Fan MailWhy do thinkers think as they do? What can one neglected eighteenth-century clergyman teach us about commerce, Christianity and empire?Samuel Woodall is joined by Dr Karim Ghorbal of Université Rennes 2 for a wide-ranging conversation about intellectual history and Josiah Tucker (1713–1799), the Anglican cleric, political economist and Dean of Gloucester.Beginning with Ghorbal’s journey from philosophy to history, we explore how historians can reconstruct the reasons behind unfamiliar ideas. What can context explain, and how do we account for the distinctive choices made by an individual thinker? The discussion moves through the Cambridge School, sociology, evidence and the limits of interpreting political language in isolation.Tucker provides a fascinating test case. Ghorbal challenges the familiar picture of an isolated, eccentric thinker, placing him within the religious, commercial and political worlds he inhabited. We discuss sermons, virtue and interest, Bristol’s merchants, the distinction between private profit and collective prosperity, and Tucker’s arguments about slavery, immigration and empire. We also consider faction, patriotism and the political commitments that shaped his writing.The interview closes with a case for taking neglected thinkers seriously: recovering their reasoning without assuming that understanding them requires agreement.Recorded on 25 October 2026.CHAPTERS00:00:00 Theme and introduction00:01:28 From philosophy to intellectual history00:08:52 Method, evidence and singular ideas00:16:25 Who was Josiah Tucker?00:22:09 Tucker, Pocock, virtue and interest00:26:06 Political language and social context00:31:43 Sermons and the transmission of ideas00:36:16 Christianity, commerce and the common good00:46:05 Bristol and the merchant interest00:53:39 Faction, patriotism and political commitments00:59:49 Empire and its critics01:12:54 Taking neglected thinkers seriouslyREADINGKarim Ghorbal, Josiah Tucker, ou Dieu contre l’Empire. Biographie intellectuelle d’un économiste au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2024).J. G. A. Pocock, “Josiah Tucker on Burke, Locke, and Price: A Study in the Varieties of Eighteenth-Century Conservatism,” in Virtue, Commerce, and History (Cambridge University Press, 1985), chapter 9.FIND OUT MOREBeyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comThe History of Ideas Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukMusic: “Queens Arrival” by Red Planet, licensed through TakeTones.Support the show

Send us Fan MailWatch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9uCtgzyOuYHow do we learn to judge well?Samuel Woodall looks back over October across Beyond the Text, The Intellectual Historian and the History of Ideas Reading Club. This round-up introduces essays by Jasmine Starbuck on collective justice in Ann Radcliffe, Jack Thomson on Montaigne and independent learning, and Derek van Voorst on the prefix “neo”.We revisit the Montaigne, Rousseau and Kant conversations, The World in Fall, current research, recent reviews and the Reading Club, before looking ahead to November.October edition: Saturday 31 October 2026.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction: Judgement, Learning and Collective Life01:30 The newsletter and featured essays06:09 Montaigne, Rousseau and Kant08:19 The World in Fall, guides and research10:38 The Reading Club and staying connected12:30 Looking ahead to NovemberREAD THE OCTOBER EDITIONhttps://theintellectualhistorian.com/2026/10/31/intellectual-historian-newsletter-october-2026/FEATURED ESSAYSJasmine Starbuck, A No-Man Jury:https://theintellectualhistorian.com/2026/10/31/no-man-jury-collectivism-justice-radcliffe-italian/Jack Thomson, Montaigne on Virtue, Learning and the Possession of One’s Mind:https://theintellectualhistorian.com/2026/10/31/montaigne-virtue-learning-possession-mind/Derek van Voorst, The Novelty of the New:https://theintellectualhistorian.com/2026/10/31/the-novelty-of-the-new/STAY CONNECTEDFree monthly newsletter: https://theintellectualhistorian.com/newsletter/Episodes and reading guides: https://beyondthetext.co.uk/podcasts/Reading Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.uk/Support Beyond the Text and access subscriber material: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238237/supportHosted by Samuel Woodall.Theme: “Queens Arrival” by Red Planet, licensed through TakeTones.Support the show

Send us Fan MailHow can a society preserve political stability without eliminating disagreement? In this conference presentation recorded at the University of Bristol, Samuel Woodall explores Paul de Rapin de Thoyras and the emergence of legitimate political opposition in early eighteenth-century Britain.Responding to the conference theme of tension and fragmentation, the paper traces the movement from older fears of faction to Rapin's account of enduring Whig and Tory division. It places his political thought within the experience of Huguenot persecution, exile, the Glorious Revolution and the continuing struggle over England's constitution.Through the Dissertation on the Whigs and Tories and the History of England, Samuel argues that Rapin sought to moderate political conflict rather than abolish it. The central distinction is between destructive factional excess and opposition contained within constitutional institutions.A live presentation drawing on Samuel's doctoral research in intellectual history at the University of Buckingham. References to slides and a handout reflect the original conference setting.CHAPTERS00:00 Theme and introduction00:34 Faction and the problem of disagreement02:52 Civil war and the persistence of party05:35 Rapin: persecution, exile and revolution07:50 The Dissertation on the Whigs and Tories10:29 Constitutional balance and legitimate opposition11:11 The History of England14:05 Moderation and liberty amid disagreementREADINGPaul de Rapin de Thoyras, Dissertation sur les Whigs et les Torys.Paul de Rapin de Thoyras, Histoire d'Angleterre.Miriam Franchina, Paul Rapin Thoyras and the Art of Eighteenth-Century Historiography.Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down.Paul D. Halliday, Dismembering the Body Politic.Explore Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comHistory of Ideas Club: https://thehistoryofideasclub.co.ukPresented by Samuel Woodall.Music: Queens Arrival - Red Planet (TakeTones).Support the show

Send us Fan MailWhat makes an action moral: its consequences, our feelings, or the principle on which we act? In the third episode of our Kant series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson explore good will, duty and the categorical imperative.Beginning with the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), we ask what it means to act from duty, why Kant distinguishes hypothetical from categorical imperatives, and how the requirement to treat humanity as an end connects freedom with dignity. Rousseau's influence opens a discussion of social pressure, the purity of the will and universal law.We also test Kant's ethics against difficult cases: lying, competing obligations and the limits of formal rules. The Critique of Practical Reason (1788) then brings us to autonomy, the kingdom of ends, the moral law, and the postulates of freedom, immortality and God.This concludes the main three-part Kant series. The closing preview looks ahead to a members' bonus on The Metaphysics of Morals and Perpetual Peace.Hosted by Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson.Explore Beyond the Text and the Reading Club: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comREADINGImmanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Sections I-III. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott translation: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5682Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (1788), Preface, Analytic and Conclusion. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott translation: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5683Ernst Cassirer, Kant's Life and Thought (original German edition, 1918).Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762).CHAPTERS00:00 Welcome back to Kant00:45 Good will and the foundations of morality01:54 Nature, necessity and the moral will04:06 Duty, inclination and moral worth05:40 The categorical imperative and humanity as an end07:42 Rousseau and the purity of the will09:06 Universal law and the test of a maxim11:02 Objections, lying and moral dilemmas13:52 Autonomy and the kingdom of ends18:04 Practical reason, freedom and hope19:19 The moral law within21:08 Subjectivity and the limits of natural explanation24:21 The bonus episode and closing reflectionsSupport the show

Send us Fan MailCan society have a common interest when everyone has interests of their own? Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson welcome Professor Jacob Sider Jost, Professor and Chair of English at Dickinson College, for an audio-only conversation about the many meanings of interest in eighteenth-century life.Beginning with Robinson Crusoe, we explore how a single word connected money, storytelling, political allegiance, friendship and patronage. Lord Hervey's memoirs reveal a world of personal networks, while Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative brings emotional involvement, financial independence and the abolitionist cause into conversation.We ask when connections become exclusion, whose interests count as the common good, and whether self-interest must be selfish. The discussion closes with Adam Smith, sociability and the desire to be worthy of other people's approval.Hosted by Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson. Guest: Professor Jacob Sider Jost.JACOB'S BOOKJacob Sider Jost, Interest and Connection in the Eighteenth Century: Hervey, Johnson, Smith, Equiano (University of Virginia Press, 2020).https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5566/FURTHER READING DISCUSSEDDaniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719).Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789).J. A. W. Gunn, Politics and the Public Interest in the Seventeenth Century (1969).Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and The Wealth of Nations (1776).Explore Beyond the Text: https://beyondthetext.co.ukThe Intellectual Historian: https://theintellectualhistorian.comCHAPTERS00:00 Welcome and the question of common interest01:21 Robinson Crusoe and two kinds of interest05:21 Interest across eighteenth-century life10:14 Method, selfishness and self-interest17:33 Lord Hervey, patronage and networks23:29 Human scale, merit and life writing29:04 Equiano's Interesting Narrative34:26 Groups, loyalty and nationalism39:41 Whose interests count as the common good?47:49 Adam Smith, sociability and recognition49:53 Closing thanksSupport the show