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Bayle, Scripture, and Toleration: How Pierre Bayle’S Use of Scripture in the Dictionnaire Informs His Thinking on Religious Toleration

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Bayle, Scripture, and Toleration: How Pierre Bayle’S Use of Scripture in the Dictionnaire Informs His Thinking on Religious Toleration Bayle, Scripture, and Toleration: How Pierre Bayle’s use of Scripture in the Dictionnaire informs his thinking on religious toleration. by Parker Allan Cotton A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Theological Department of the Toronto School of Theology In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology awarded by Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto © Copyright by Parker Allan Cotton 2017 Bayle, Scripture, and Toleration: How Pierre Bayle’s use of Scripture in the Dictionnaire informs his thinking on religious toleration. Parker Allan Cotton Master of Theology Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This thesis examines Bayle’s use of Scripture within the Dictionnaire and attempts to bridge the gap between questions of Bayle’s beliefs and attitudes towards religion and his well- acknowledged interest in religious toleration. Through a survey of the Dictionnaire it demonstrates that Bayle not only referenced Scripture often, and in seemingly pious ways, he does so in articles discussing moral failings of biblical heroes while maintaining that he is not attempting to undermine Christian faith. Two main insights emerge. First, the situating of toleration discussions within biblical/religious contexts in the Dictionnaire connects the two and sees Bayle questioning whether those who believe they are justified in persecuting can really have this confidence. In absence of this assurance, toleration is a preferred path. Second, by demonstrating an alternative possibility to Bayle’s scandalous takes on Old Testament figures and discussions of God, this thesis suggests that an atheistic reading of Bayle is improbable. ii Contents Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 The Philosophical Commentary ................................................................................8 Chapter 2 Bayle’s Use of Scripture in the Dictionary .............................................................14 Chapter 3 Analyzing Bayle’s Use of Scripture ........................................................................35 Concluding Thoughts ...............................................................................................................43 Appendix: Search Terms and Frequency. ................................................................................47 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................52 iii Introduction Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) has continued to be the focus of controversial discussion from his own time until today.1 Almost all scholars of early modern European thought regard Bayle as a central intellectual figure of his era. He is linked especially with laying the foundations for modern religious scepticism and religious toleration. The philosopher’s most notorious and massive work, the Dictionnaire Historique et Critique offers hundreds of articles describing important people, and providing locations for Bayle to record his thoughts on issues of interest.2 It is perhaps this notion, that he recorded his own thoughts, which provides the most difficulty to readers of his work. Certainly he does more than is expected of a compiler of an encyclopedia. He does not simply record the facts of an event, location or person but often adds a voice within sprawling footnotes. Whether this voice is always his remains hotly debated. Without including the rest of his scholarly works, one can appear to find contradiction between positions declared within the articles of the Dictionnaire itself. And for one with such a vast repertoire of knowledge and engagement with hundreds of sources of his day, to take this as mere sloppiness is not plausible 1 One of, if not, the best, and most succinct, English language biographies is Elisabeth Labrousse, Bayle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983). 2 While I have searched the Dictionnaire in the standard French scholarly edition [Pierre Bayle,Dictionnaire historique et critique, fifth edition, (Amsterdam/ Leyde/ La Haye/ Utrecht: 1740)], quotations from the Dictionnaire are taken from the English. Pierre Bayle, 1734 (2nd ed.), The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle, trans. P. Desmaizeaux, London: Knapton et al.. 1 2 Bayle is most widely known for his lasting impact in two discussions: his impact on toleration theories, and his influence on theodicy and the problem of evil.3 Though well versed in theological literature, having been educated in such, and serving as the editor of the journal Nouvelles de la République des Lettres, for which he wrote many reviews of theological books; Bayle’s thinking on the Bible has been only skimmed by the literature. That examination of Bayle’s treatment of Scripture which has been undertaken has largely been done in a peripheral manner in one of the larger debates about his personal beliefs or toleration theory. Starting from Scripture, and looking at where Bayle himself chooses to engage the Bible, shall be our entry point.4 There are several goals in undertaking this project. First, by examining how Bayle uses Scripture within the Dictionnaire additional evidence may arise for describing Bayle’s personal faith position. The subject of intense debate with views ranging from orthodox Christian to closeted atheist, Bayle’s personal beliefs have been notoriously hard to pin down. This is, in part, due to the perplexing criticisms that he offers towards the morality of Biblical figures, church people and rational belief in God. However, if an examination of how Bayle handles Scripture could arrive at some guiding principles, it could, at the least, 3 See Perez Zagorin, How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002). Zagorin offers helpful comparisons between Bayle and Locke, the two great Enlightenment toleration theorists. Bayle’s writing prompted Leibniz’s response, and coining, of Theodicy. 4 Few works dealing with Bayle and the Bible are available. Jean Bernier has written on the Bible and Bayle’s political philosophy in “La Bible dans la philosophie politique de Pierre Bayle” in Pierre Bayle et le politique, Edited by Xavier Daverat and Antony McKenna (Paris, Honoré Champion, 2014). Richard Popkin and Walter Rex entertain a brief debate on Bayle’s understanding of biblical criticism in Problems of Cartesianism Edited by Thomas M. Lennon, John M. Nichols and John W. Davis, (Kingston: Mcgill-Queen’s University Press, 1982). Rhoda Possen’s 1974 Yale dissertation on the structure and function of the biblical articles is a more relevant piece and yet still focuses largely on the composition of these articles and viewing them as a unit within the Dictionnaire. The Biblical Articles in Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire Historique et Critique: Their Structure and Function. PhD. Diss. Yale University, 1974. Finally, Maria-Cristina Pitassi has a continuing interest in Bayle and Scripture and has written on how Bayle understands the issue of examination and this controversy of reading the Bible between Protestants and Catholics. “The foundations of belief and the status of Scripture: Bayle and the issue of examination” in Reformation and Renaissance Review, Vol. 14, No. 1 (April 2012) 56-69. All of the above are helpful and welcome resources and yet remained as peripheral aids on this project. A good indication that this route needs more travel. 3 offer insight into the compatibility of such a set of principles with the various hypotheses put forward for Bayle’s own views. This leads into the second, and more prominent, goal of this project. Through engagement with recent work on the consistency and coherence of Bayle’s theory of religious toleration throughout his career, most notably by Michael Hickson, I will argue that Bayle’s use of Scripture does contain a set of guiding principles. By interpreting Bayle’s use of Scripture as bolstering his argument for toleration, answers, even when debatable, can be offered to questions concerning his choice of figures and topics to engage, his criticism of these figures and topics and a way to navigate through Bayle’s path of composition. Most importantly, though Bayle’s writing is bound to remain incapable of complete synthesis, particularly due to the scattered and distinct nature of the Dictionnaire articles, a coherent agenda can be offered which removes much of the “Baylean enigma” and the difficulty in determining Bayle’s personal stance. This coherence allows for a charitable interpretation of this great philosopher in which he, while maybe wrestling with tough topics and remaining open to revision, does not blatantly and explicitly write himself into positions of contradiction. While it lies outside of the scope of this project to examine the differences between the first and second editions of the Dictionnaire, published in 1697 and 1702 respectively, it is worth noting that the second edition greatly expanded the Dictionnaire, increasing it by 501 new articles and many additions to existing ones. This is worth noting for a couple reasons: 1) the second edition was published after the Consistory of the Walloon Church at Rotterdam reacted against the first edition and required Bayle to defend his writings. Claiming he was fulfilling the role of a historian and simply reporting, Bayle nevertheless 4 agreed with the Consistory that he could clarify some contested
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