La Pensée de l'abbé Grégoire: Despotisme et liberté (review)

Although he was one of the major figures of the Revolutionary period, the abbé Grégoire (1750–1831) remains relatively unknown. In 1989, the French Republic belatedly recognized Grégoire's historical stature by transferring his ashes to the Panthéon. Jean Dubray, who teaches at an École supérieure de théologie catholique (the location of which is not provided), finds that Grégoire's pensée, an unconventional but stable amalgam of Christian faith and Enlightenment philosophy, remained fairly consistent throughout his life. Perhaps not surprisingly, the author emphasizes the religious inspiration for the texts and political activities of the Gallican and Republican priest who until the end of his life considered himself the 'Évêque constitutionnel de Blois'. For Dubray, the abbé's work repeatedly illustrates the theme of 'la connexité entre la vertu et la religion; sans l'appui de la religion, la vertu trahirait rapidement son caractère fragile et vulnérable' (p. 223). Grégoire's consideration of the eighteenth-century concept of social perfectibility was thus limited by his unswerving acceptance of revealed religion: 'La notion de progrès—si essentielle dans les domaines scientifique et technique—s'arrête donc au seuil de l'édifice théologique' (p. 23). Dubray's own religious faith colours his depiction of the Revolutionary period, as is indicated by his characterization of 'le déferlement de l'idéologie athée, persécutrice de surcroît' (p. 29). A similarly sinister image is later formulated: 'le déchaînement persécuteur envers l'Église et les croyants qui va déferler au cours des années 1793–1794 et culminer en 1797' (p. 128). This book provides a thorough account of the Jansenist and Pascalian sources of inspiration that contributed to Grégoire's intellectual development—and to his increasing level of marginalization within the Church hierarchy of his day. The dichotomy of the book's subtitle reflects the underlying contradiction between Grégoire's Augustinianism, a profoundly pessimistic view of humanity as inherently burdened by the moral weight of original sin, and the measured optimism associated with such Enlightenment keywords as reason and progress. Without Christian faith and ethics, liberty will always be threatened by the despotic urge or libido dominandi, which Grégoire did not simply equate with the French absolute monarchy, and which constitutes the 'thème obsédant' (p. 48) of his written work. Two of the three chapters of Dubray's book are devoted to the closely associated notions of 'l'art social' and 'régénération' (a key term that is of course found in the title of Grégoire's 1788 essay on French Jews). Grégoire discovered in the early stages of the French Revolution a promising beginning for this new 'social art', which Dubray describes as 'l'entreprise de réhabilitation multiforme de l'homme et de la société' (p. 111). Liberty, Equality and, especially, Fraternity were consistent with the religious framework of the abbé's social and political objectives, such as the abolition of slavery, societal progress though generalized access to education, and the standardization of the French language throughout the Republic. Dubray's book provides numerous excerpts from Grégoire's extensive written work, linking the abbé to the main writers of the eighteenth century, while constantly highlighting his Augustinian view of human nature.