Enlightened Chains, pg. 3
mistake is glaring. Ultimately, the idea that Enlightenment must lead to a renunciation of all articles of faith falls under its own weight.
Before one is able to understand the antipathy French Enlightenment held for the church, it is first necessary to remember that the French church in the eighteenth century was virtually indistinguishable from the court of the King. It was not always faith in what we would today call “a greater power” that burned as injustice and stupidity in the minds of French Enlightenment writers. It was the injustice and stupidity that allowed such a concept to be used as a tool to keep man from Enlightenment and under the thumb of both Church and State. In such an instance, the Church’s stance declared itself as being against Enlightenment and it can hardly be surprising that the men who championed Enlightenment as the pursuit of man’s greatest interests should declare the Church as their enemy.
This can seen clearly in the writings of Diderot. In Conversation with a Christian Lady, in Philosophical Thoughts, and in his correspondence with Voltaire, Diderot leaves no mystery as to his antagonism towards both the Church itself and the simple-minded that followed blindly anything taught or commanded of them by the Church. In penning such passages as:
“Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me, ‘My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.’ This stranger is a theologian.” - Addition aux Pensees Philosophiques
Diderot gives his critics plenty of reason to label him as a heretic of the Church - or at least of theology. However, he also seemed to perceive some ability might exist to use religion as a tool of Enlightenment as he also wrote, “Superstition is more injurious to
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Before one is able to understand the antipathy French Enlightenment held for the church, it is first necessary to remember that the French church in the eighteenth century was virtually indistinguishable from the court of the King. It was not always faith in what we would today call “a greater power” that burned as injustice and stupidity in the minds of French Enlightenment writers. It was the injustice and stupidity that allowed such a concept to be used as a tool to keep man from Enlightenment and under the thumb of both Church and State. In such an instance, the Church’s stance declared itself as being against Enlightenment and it can hardly be surprising that the men who championed Enlightenment as the pursuit of man’s greatest interests should declare the Church as their enemy.
This can seen clearly in the writings of Diderot. In Conversation with a Christian Lady, in Philosophical Thoughts, and in his correspondence with Voltaire, Diderot leaves no mystery as to his antagonism towards both the Church itself and the simple-minded that followed blindly anything taught or commanded of them by the Church. In penning such passages as:
“Wandering in a vast forest at night, I have only a faint light to guide me. A stranger appears and says to me, ‘My friend, you should blow out your candle in order to find your way more clearly.’ This stranger is a theologian.” - Addition aux Pensees Philosophiques
Diderot gives his critics plenty of reason to label him as a heretic of the Church - or at least of theology. However, he also seemed to perceive some ability might exist to use religion as a tool of Enlightenment as he also wrote, “Superstition is more injurious to
Next Page
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