The Abbe Gregoire and His World (review)

Jeremy D. Popkin and Richard H. Popkin, editors. The Abbé Grégoire and His World. International Archives of the History of Ideas. Dordrecht: Kluwer Publishers, 2000. Pp. xv + 191. Cloth, $97.00.

The editors of this fine volume challenge an often-held truism, that collections of articles, especially those originating as conference papers, will be uneven and suffer a lack of coherence. In a veritable tour de force, Popkin père et fils, along with seven other scholars, have successfully captured the rich, albeit controversial, life and legacy of the Abbé Henri Grégoire.

Revolutionary and cleric, assimilationist and advocate for religious and racial minorities, universalist and cultural imperialist, Grégoire embodies the dreams, illusions, complexities and contradictions of enlightened and revolutionary France. As Richard Popkin explains in his Afterword, however, Grégoire lacked a constituency "anxious to hear more about him" (185). All this was to change as France prepared to celebrate the bicentennial of its revolution. A postage stamp was issued in Grégoire's honor, his remains were transferred to the Pantheon, and Parisian Jewry debated the wisdom of naming its cultural center's amphitheater the salle Grégoire. A constituency had finally emerged, but it was one profoundly and passionately divided, some wishing to honor, others to castigate, the not-so-simple cleric of Embermenil. What better time to host a scholarly conference!

The essays in this volume present sophisticated analyses of the anthropology of Emancipation (Hans-Jürgen Luusebrink); Grégoire's program for the Jews (Rita Hermon-Berlot); his connections to the Société des Amis des Noirs (Marcel Dorigny), to Haiti (Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall), and to the United States (Richard Popkin); his quest for a Catholic Republic (Dale Van Kley); his attitudes towards French multilingualism (David A. Bell), and historical monuments (Anthony Vidler); and finally, his role as autobiographer (Jeremy Popkin). Although these contributions focus on particular aspects of Grégoire's career, a subtle dialogue permeates the volume, enabling the reader to appreciate more fully Grégoire's range as well as the contested nature of the period during which he lived.

Needless to say it is beyond the scope of this review to discuss all of the contributions. Yet by focusing on three, one can appreciate the ways they both interrelate and call into question each other's assumptions. In her discussion of Grégoire's program for the Jews, Hermon-Berlot poses two essential questions. What, she asks, did this priest really have in mind for the Jews, and why was he so interested in them (14)? Hermon-Belot suggests that Grégoire sought to improve the economic, political, and social condition of the Jews for their own sake. Nevertheless, she also admits that Grégoire's call for "regeneration" of the Jews was inextricably linked to his commitment to Catholicism, its status as national cult, and its dependence on the ultimate conversion of the Jews. Although Grégoire's position cannot be seen as a precursor to Vatican II, Hermon-Belot concludes, he certainly shared with those members of the Ecumenical Council both the idea of a special divine plan for the Jews and perhaps most importantly "a humble admission of ignorance of what that plan might be" (26).

Sepinwall's focus is not on the Jews of France but rather on Grégoire's role in exporting the revolution to Haiti. But here, too, the theme of regeneration and what Grégoire meant by it becomes crucial both for understanding Grégoire himself as well as for illuminating the ambiguities of Enlightenment ideology and revolutionary politics. Less generous of Grégoire's motivations than Hermon-Belot, Sepinwall reveals the tensions and interconnections between abolitionists and those they sought to free and between revolutionary universalism and the proselytizing ideal of a civilizing mission. Further refining our understanding of Grégoire's relationship with the Jews, Sepinwall's discussion of Grégoire's relationship with non-Europeans also helps...