Berruyer's Bible: Public Opinion and the Politics of Enlightenment Catholicism in France (McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion, 89)

by Daniel J Watkins

The French Jesuit Isaac-Joseph Berruyer's Histoire du peuple de Dieu was an ambitious attempt to connect the ideas of the Enlightenment with the theology of the Catholic Church. A paraphrase of the Bible written in vernacular French, the Histoire promoted progress, the pursuit of happiness, the fundamental goodness of humanity, and the capacity of nature to shape moral human beings. Berruyer aimed to update the Bible for a new age, but his work unleashed a furor that ended with the expulsion of the Jesuits from France.Berruyer's Bible offers a fresh perspective on the history of the Catholic Enlightenment. By exploring the rise and fall of Berruyer's Histoire, Daniel Watkins reveals how Catholic attempts to assimilate Enlightenment ideas caused conflicts within the church and between the church and the French state. Berruyer's Bible flips the traditional narrative of the Enlightenment on its head by showing that the secularization of French society and the political decline of the Catholic Church were due not solely to the external assaults of anti-clerical philosophes but also to the internal discord caused by Catholic theologians themselves.Built upon extensive research in archives across Western Europe and the United States, Berruyer's Bible paints a vivid picture of the tumultuous intellectual world of the Catholic Church and the power of radical ideas that shaped the church throughout the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and beyond.

320 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Claire Keck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book because one of my professors wrote it and I enjoyed his class. As I continued reading, I was genuinely fascinated and became disappointed when I had to set the book down to go to work or to go to bed. Reading this book made me want to go to grad school. It introduced me to an area of study I’d never had the opportunity to study in undergrad, and I was absolutely fascinated. Dr. Watkins does an excellent job of explaining the material in an easy-to-understand way; he has always been a good teacher, and I’m happy to see that his teaching ability extends even to his writing. It’s the first book of scholarship specifically on Berruyer’s Bible and the Berruyer Affair, and Watkins did well in explaining the historical context of the time. Absolutely recommend if you’re interested in Catholic history