author
William Stephens
d. 1718
An outspoken English cleric and pamphleteer, he wrote sharply about religion and politics at a time when both could be dangerous subjects. His best-known works push back against intolerance and offer an early window into debates about deism in late 17th-century England.
1 Audiobook
An Account of the Growth of Deism in England
by William Stephens
About the author
Born around 1647, probably in Worcester, William Stephens studied at Merchant Taylors' School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, later taking degrees at Oxford and Cambridge. He became rector of Sutton, Surrey, in 1690 and built a reputation as a forceful churchman with strong Whig sympathies.
Stephens is remembered chiefly for his pamphlets. His An Account of the Growth of Deism in England (1696) is still noted for what it reveals about early English deism, while later writings argued against religious intolerance and defended his political and religious views with unusual boldness.
That boldness came at a cost. A pamphlet published in 1707 brought him a heavy fine, and he reportedly came close to harsher punishment as well. He died in 1718, leaving behind a body of controversial writing that captures the tense mix of religion, politics, and public argument in his era.