Discourse on Universal History

by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Orest A. Ranum (Introduction)

English, French (translation)

Genres: History, Philosophy, Religion

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1681

About the author

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (September 27, 1627 – April 12, 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist.

Court preacher to Louis XIV of France, Bossuet was a strong advocate of political absolutism and the divine right of kings. He argued that government was divine and that kings received their power from God. He was also an important courtier and politician.

The works best known to English speakers are three great orations delivered at the funerals of Queen Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I of England (1669), her daughter, Henriette, Duchess of Orléans (1670), and the outstanding soldier le Grand Condé (1687).

Reviews

[Justine Cheng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring, but interesting as a transitional moment from Theo-scholastic to secular historiography (per Johannes Fabian). I would be really annoyed if I was a biblical scholar in the 1600’s and this guy who teaches the prince just starts repeating the Bible and says that it has to be right because someone was there and saw it and wrote it down.

Read because of its importance to Fabian in Time and the Other, but think he might have oversold it. Really is dedicated to a literal, historical reading of the Bible and asserts the necessity of all its events. Notably rejects Spinoza's continuity for a the absolute discontinuity of God and world/man. Leibniz writing at the same time has a much more engaging explanation of theological necessity that is not explicitly historiographic, but has significant historiographic implications.
Read for QE list on World History