Newton and Newtonianism

Sir Isaac Newton’s pre-eminence in the history of science remains ?xed, yet the picture which we have of the whole man, and of the in?uence of his wide-ranging intellect, has been changing rapidly as scholars have incre- ingly taken cognizance of those aspects of Newton’s thought hitherto hidden in his unpublished manuscripts. At the start of the third millennium, we ?nd ourselves poised to launch the greatest revolution yet in Newton studies as an international team of scholars has been assembled to publish all of Newton’s widely scattered unpublished papers. The William Andrews Clark Memorial LibraryhasbeenassociatedwiththeworldofNewtonianscholarshipforsome yearsthroughitspurchase,in1961,ofanimportantmanuscript(“Paradoxical Questions concerning ye morals & Actions of Athanasius & his followers”) and through its long association with Professor Richard H. Popkin (U. C. L. A. ) and Professor James E. Force (University of Kentucky). Through the g- th th erous sponsorship of both the U. C. L. A. Center for 17 - and 18 -Century Studies and the U. C. L. A. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library—which areunderthedirectionofProfessorPeterH. Reill—ProfessorsForceandP- kinwereabletostageaseriesofClarkLibraryconferencesdevotedtoNewton throughout the 1990s. The papers delivered at these conferences evolved into a series of important edited volumes whose general theme was the centrality of theological and religious ideas to Newton’s intellectual formation. In the present volume, this longstanding project continues. Once again thanks to the th generosityofProfessorReillandtheresourcesoftheU. C. L. A.