Deism and Herbert of Cherbury in modern historiography

The article analyzes modern trends in the studies of deistic philosophy, debates about its place in the context of the Enlightenment philosophy and the role of Herbert from Cherbury in the history of English thought. The work describes the influence of contemporaries and predecessors on Herbert of Cherbury. The author analyzes the modern problematic of the term “deism”. In addition, the question of the role of church dogma in deistic philosophy is examined. The question of the influence of religious movements in England of the 16th-17th centuries on the deists is one of the most relevant for this topic. This issue is of particular importance for Russian scholarship because this topic has been studied less in Russian religious studies than in foreign studies. The article criticizes the critical assessment of the role of Herbert Cherbury in the history of deism. The paper also analyzes contemporary controversy about the nature of deism. The article concludes with a generalization of the significance of the new studies on the topic.