『21 - Enlightenment Expansion.』のカバーアート

21 - Enlightenment Expansion.

21 - Enlightenment Expansion.

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概要

 Enlightenment Expansion. Deism in England and the Peak Period (1690s–1750s). Deism gained prominence in England following the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695, which ended prior censorship and enabled freer publication of rationalist critiques of orthodox Christianity. John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) provided a philosophical foundation by prioritizing empirical reason over innate ideas or revelation, influencing deists to view religion through natural observation rather than scriptural authority. This intellectual climate fostered the "deist controversy," a series of debates spanning decades where proponents argued for a rational, non-revelatory faith in a creator discernible via nature's design. John Toland's Christianity Not Mysterious (1696) marked the movement's early high point, asserting that true Christianity contained no doctrines above or contrary to reason, dismissing miracles and mysteries as priestly inventions incompatible with a rational God. The book, printed in three editions within a year, provoked immediate backlash: it was condemned by the Irish Parliament in 1697 and publicly burned, while in England, it prompted responses from clergy like Edward Stillingfleet, yet sold widely underground, fueling freethinking circles. Anthony Collins advanced this critique in A Discourse of Free-Thinking (1713), which sold 6,000 copies in weeks and elicited over 80 rebuttals; Collins defended unrestricted inquiry into religious claims, equating clerical opposition with suppression of truth, and argued that freethinking cured atheism born of ignorance rather than promoting it. Matthew Tindal's Christianity as Old as the Creation (1730), often called the "bible of deism," synthesized these ideas by positing the Gospel as a mere republication of innate natural religion—moral duties evident from reason and providence—rendering revelation superfluous and organized churches corrupt accretions. Published anonymously, it reached 40 editions by mid-century, sparking responses like Daniel Waterland's Scripture Vindicated (1730-32), but deists like Thomas Woolston (imprisoned 1729 for allegorizing miracles) and Thomas Chubb extended attacks on supernaturalism through pamphlets and the Craftsman journal. By the 1740s-1750s, deism peaked amid such publications, yet waned as David Hume's empiricist skepticism undermined rational proofs of God and evangelical revivals emphasized personal experience over abstract reason. Deism in France and Continental Europe. Deism entered France in the early 18th century, primarily through translations and adaptations of English deist writings, marking a shift toward rational religion amid Enlightenment critiques of Catholic orthodoxy. After the Regency period following Louis XIV's death in 1715, thinkers like Montesquieu and Voltaire synthesized English influences with French skepticism, concluding an initial wave of deism that emphasized natural theology over revelation. Voltaire (1694–1778), the era's preeminent deist advocate, asserted that reason and observation of the universe's order indisputably proved a creator God, while rejecting miracles, prophecy, and clerical authority as superstitious impositions. In works such as his Philosophical Dictionary (1764), he promoted a deistic ethic grounded in natural law and benevolence, influencing public discourse by satirizing religious intolerance and advocating tolerance, as seen in his defense of the Calas family in 1762. Voltaire's admiration for Newtonian physics reinforced deism's alignment with empirical science, positioning God as a divine watchmaker who established rational laws without ongoing intervention. Other French proponents included the Marquis d'Argens (1704–1771), a Voltaire associate who critiqued dogma in philosophical letters, and earlier figures like Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658–1722), who advanced deistic ideas on natural religion and historical critique of Christianity in the 1720s. These efforts fostered a cultural milieu where deism challenged absolutist theocracy, though it faced suppression under censorship until the 1789 Revolution amplified irreligious tendencies. In Germany, deism spread via English texts and local rationalism, with Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694–1768) exemplifying its theological rigor. Influenced by English deists during his studies, Reimarus argued in his unpublished Apology for the Rational Worshippers of God (c. 1730s–1760s) that reason alone suffices for knowledge of God and morality, dismissing biblical miracles as incompatible with natural order and portraying Christianity's origins as fraudulent. Posthumous publication of excerpts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in the 1770s as the Wolfenbüttel Fragments ignited the fragments controversy, pitting deistic criticism against orthodox defenders like Johann Melchior Goeze. Carl Friedrich Bahrdt (1741–1792) represented a more radical German deism, revering Jesus as a ...
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