Nathaniel Culverwel is usually portrayed as a minor member of the school of Cambridge Platonists, which flourished during the Interregnum, the period in English history between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the ascension of Charles II in 1660, at Emmanuel College of Cambridge University. He was an articulate spokesman for the more Puritan side of the school represented by Benjamin Whichcote and John Worthington. Unlike the mystical and theosophical Henry More, Culverwel had much more in common with the Calvinistic Puritan and Aristotelian Scholastic traditions in which he was educated. Nevertheless, his emphasis on reasoning in theology clearly foreshadows the opinions of Enlightenment thinkers such as John Tillotson and John Locke.

Little is known of Culverwel's life. His father, Richard, was serving as rector of St. Margaret Moses Church, Friday Street, London, when Nathaniel was christened on 13 January 1619. He had four brothers and sisters and seems to...