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John Toland (1670 - 1722):
Writer


John Toland was born in Clonmany, County Donegal. He was educated in Prague, Scotland, Leyden and Oxford and although raised a Catholic, became a Protestant when he was sixteen years old. He believed that the Church and the Christian hierarchy had perverted true Christian religion, and he advocated reading the bible with a cognisance of who wrote it, in what cultural context, and what was their purpose. His books were extremely controversial. He paid a brief visit to Ireland in 1697 but the hostility occasioned by his book, Christianity not Mysterious, forced him to flee, and he never returned to Ireland. His other works include Amyntor; Nazarenus; Life of Milton; Tetradymus; Pantheisticon; Account of Prussia and Hanover and History of the Druids. He was a native Irish speaker and knew at least fifteen other languages. He became increasingly involved in politics and latterly turned to Pantheism. He died in poverty, in Putney, near Lond.
 

Tá tuilleadh eolais faoin mbeatha seo ar fáil sa mBunachar Náisiúnta Beathaisnéisí Gaeilge, Ainm.ie, anseo.

Further information about this subject can be accessed in Ainm.ie, the Irish-language biographies database, here  


Born: 30 November 1670
Died: 11 March 1722
Kate Newmann