The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna (review)

On the basis of six influential thinkers of the eighteenth century, the author shows how, in contrast to a secularist interpretation, the Enlighten­ment contributed toward a renewal and purgation of religion both in theory and in practice. The Anglican theologian William Warburton was, above all, an apologist of religious tolerance in a country that had been torn apart by reli­gious strife. In following the Enlightenment's ideal of toleration, he unques­tionably promoted the well-being of religion. The Calvinist theologian Jacob Vernet found strong support in the Enlightenment for the Arminian position as it was struggling with the strict predestinarian one. At the same time he tried to reconcile the opposing parties by insisting on the essentially practi­cal nature of Christianity and by arguing that natural religion was an essential part of its doctrine.

The two intellectually most impressive figures in this collection are Siegmund Baumgarten and Moses Mendelssohn. Raised in Pietist theology, Baumgarten eventually came to teach at the University of Halle, where the dominating Pietists were at odds with the Enlightenment philosophy of Wolff and Thomasius on one side and orthodox Lutheran theology on the other. Impressed by Wolff's ideas, Baumgarten concluded that Enlightenment phi­losophy posed no doctrinal obstacle to Pietist theology, of which the essence consisted in the union of the soul with God. Building his own theology on Wolffian principles, he succeeded in reconciling the Pietists with moderate Enlightenment philosophers and theologians. Mendelssohn, influenced by Wolff, Baumgarten, and Lessing, attempted an even more perfect union between religion and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. According to him, the Mosaic revelation had added no theoretical truth to the natural reli­gion of the philosophers. But the Judaic law had been a strong force in pre­serving the moral truths of reason. It thereby occupied a favorable position for reconciling religions with one other. It also implied that Jews were enti­tled to the same rights as others.

Joseph Eybel's impact was primarily political. A former seminarian in Austria, he became a teacher of canon law and a close collaborator with the Empress Maria-Theresa and later with her son Joseph II in their attempts to reform Catholicism according to the principles of the Enlightenment. He assisted them in breaking down those prohibitions of the Counter-Reformation that obstructed the Enlightenment concept of public policy. In his Introduction to Church Law(1777) and in a number of pamphlets he argued for restoring the original authority of the bishops and replacing the virtual monarchy of the bishop of Rome. Not surprisingly, his theories were condemned by the Vatican.

Adrien Lamourette, a French priest who eventually became a seminary teacher and a bishop, was trained in Jesuit theology, but gradually moved over to a more Jansenist position. Lamourette strongly supported the French Revolution as being essential to a purified Christianity: it would lead to a more equitable distribution of goods and free France from an unchristian despot­ism of clergy, nobility, and king. Together with Mirabeau, he tried to overcome the polarization caused by the Revolution. But few Catholics followed him, particularly after he became a state- appointed bishop of Lyon. In the Terreurof 1794 he was executed.

Sorkin's study presents a valuable contribution to the ongoing reassess­ment of the Enlightenment. There unquestionably was a strong religious ele­ment in it, and in some cases the Enlightenment proved to be a stimulus for a religious awakening, or at least for a tolerant religious attitude. The beauti­fully written essays display an uncommon fairness to each faith and are sup­ported by an admirable historical erudition. Yet I am not altogether clear about the author's precise intention. Does he want to show that a vigorous religious life continued to exist all through the Enlightenment that, at least in some...