ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the challenge implicit in the work of Christopher Hill and Charles Webster. The Blackloists were a small group of English Roman Catholic thinkers who made a bold effort to establish a new counter-reforming Catholic theology in England. The chapter provides a brief account of the religious and ideological concerns of Sir Kenelm Digby and Thomas White to show how their scientific ideas were developed in order to promote their counter-reforming scheme. It also provides another critique of Webster and Hill but will enrich and expand the prevailing historiography beyond the bounds of the 'Puritanism-and-science' thesis. Webster has exaggerated the role of political utopian motivations at the expense of more strictly religious motivations. The millenarian-utilitarian-utopian tradition which Webster has charted was undoubtedly significant, but injudicious use of the word 'millenarian' should not be allowed to obscure a separate tradition.
