This course is a general introduction to the cultural and intellectual history of England and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with particular attention to the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. Initially, the sectarian violence of the early modern Wars of Religion gave way to new ideals of moderation, tolerance, and religious pluralism. Over time, however, Christianity encountered a new challenge in the form of philosophical materialism and unabashed atheism. What new ways of thinking prompted the Scientific Revolution? What were the arguments of the philosophes? What were the counter-arguments of contemporary conservatives? What led to the French Revolution? Did this outbreak of popular violence prove a change for the better or the worse? Through independent reading, guided reading, lectures, and in-class discussion, students acquire a substantial introductory knowledge of the cultural and intellectual history of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and France.