Registration opens:
July 01st, 2026

Great Books Reading and Discussion Group

Please join us to discuss “A Letter Concerning Toleration” by John Locke.

We invite you to share in an exploration of highly regarded classics of literature, history and philosophy through a discussion technique known as “Shared Inquiry.” Selections are from Great Conversations 6, available for purchase at the Main Library front desk at the reduced price of $10, thanks to a generous donation from the Friends of the Library.

British philosopher John Locke's "A Letter Concerning Toleration," was written, in Latin, while Locke was living in political exile in Holland during the winter of 1685. Locke's parents were Puritan, and his father fought with the parliamentary forces in the English Civil War. John was exiled during the Restoration because of his association with Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper (later First Earl of Shaftesbury), a leading member of the parliamentary faction known as the Whigs. The letter is a rebuttal to those who boast of the orthodoxy of their faith, “for everyone is orthodox to himself” and who use religion to strive for “power and empire.”

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