«Una religione assai materiale». L’Epistola altera di Henry More e alcune disputationes antisociniane in area tedesca

Abstract: «A very material religion». Henry More’s Epistola altera and some Anti-­ Socinian disputationes in the German World. In 1679 Henry More published an Epistola altera ad V.C., rather neglected by critics, directed not only against Spinoza but also against the thought of the Socinian Cuperus (Frans Kuyper, 1629-­1691), which he considered unsuitable to counter Spinozian pantheism. Among the main points of Socinian doctrine under accusation were the theory of the finiteness of God, the rejection of natural religion, and, above all, the corporeality of God. This last issue allows More to formulate the accusation of “Spinozism” against Cuperus’ thought as well as against that of Sozzini’s followers. The article examines some 18th-­century “academic theses” that were inspired by More’s Epistola. The Author aims to highlight not only the particularity of Henry More’s complex strategy, but also the persistence and efficacy of the strictly philosophical category of “Socinianism” within the debates on materialism.