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The Impact of Deism on the Hebrew Literature of the Enlightenment In The Impactof Deism on theHebrew Literature ofthe Enlightenment in Germany MOSHE PELLI THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT was not in essence atheistic,' nor was it irreligious,2though manifestationsof free thought, atheism,and materialismwere an integralpart of it. Its mostcharac- teristicreligious expression is deism,considered by some scholars to be "thereligion of theEnlightenment."3 It was deismthat devel- oped and crystallizedthe idea of naturalreligion, whose architects had been JohnSelden (1584-1654) and Hugo Grotius (1583- 1645). Deism attacheda new, universaldimension to religion,and was one ofthe decisive factors in theweakening of orthodox religious valuesin Europe as wellas in theweakening of the Christian church. A studyof thedeistic movement in England,France, and Germany revealsthat it is notto be regardedas havingone, unified, homogene- ous Weltanschauung.Nevertheless, one has to resortto generalizing in orderto presentthe attitudeof the European Enlightenmentto- ward religion-religionin general,and the Christianreligion in particular-as expressedin one of the most influentialand most notablemovements in European thoughtduring the latterpart of the seventeenthcentury and the eighteenthcentury; the impactof thismovement on theHebrew Enlightenment in Germanyis noticed onlyin thelate eighteenthand the earliernineteenth centuries. Unlikethe Renaissance, which attempted to understandreligious dogma,and to interpretit in a humanisticfashion, European En- 1 Paul Hazard, European Thought in the EighteenthCentury (New York, 1963), p. 129. 2 Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenntent(Boston, 1965), pp. 135- 36. Of the same opinionis HerbertDieckmann in "Themesand Structureof the Enlightenment,"Essays in Comparative Literature (St. Louis, 1961), pp. 67 ff. 3 John Hibben, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment(New York, 1910), p.272. See also Arthur0. Lovejoy,"The Parallelof Deism and Classicism,"Essays in the History of Ideas (Baltimore, 1948), p. 79. 35 This content downloaded from 128.146.23.50 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:44:25 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 36 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES lightenmenttreated religion in generalskeptically and critically.4 The methodsof objectivecriticism were transferred from the realms of philosophyand the sciencesto theologicalthought as well as to the studyof historyand the examinationof the sourcesof religion, i.e., thesacred scriptures. Comparative study of the oriental religions and thethree major Western ones developed;and withthe discover- ies ofparallel aspects in theirbasic beliefsand worships,Christianity appearedless originalthan previously thought. Theological reason- ing changed:a criticalapproach to all religiousmatters-the scrip- turesand theirauthenticity, dogmas and theirtruth, ways of worship- ing and their origins. Thus European Enlightenmentin the seventeenthand eighteenthcenturies made critical-skepticalreason the criterionfor the phenomenaof life.The properstudy of man- kind,as AlexanderPope remarked,was man'-in his attitudeto- ward reality,past and present,and his attitudetoward society and God. Generallyspeaking, the Enlightenmentdid believe in the exis- tence of a transcendentalbeing, supreme in his power,goodness, and wisdom,who had setup worldorder, but who in no wayhas the capacityto changeit, nor to exerciseany providenceover any per- son;6 his existencecan be proved by human reason7 (the watch testifiesto the existenceof its maker),which is also the discoverer of naturalreligion and naturallaw. This worldis thebest possible, a factwhich, however, does notpreclude an after-life.The Enlighten- mentfurther maintained that every individual may thinkfreely in mattersof religion,independent of any scripturalor ecclesiastical authority;the onlybasis forhuman thought must be naturalphe- nomenaexplained in a natural,scientific way. By the same token, religioustruths, too, are arrivedat throughman's own experience withoutany divineor authoritativeinterference. 4 Cf. Cassirer,pp. 137-38. 5 An Essay on Man, II, 1-2. 6 S. G. Hefelboweris of theopinion that most deists did believein divineprovi- dence. See The Relation of John Locke to English Deism (Chicago, 1918), p. 92. Thisview is surelyright with regard to thefirst deists. 7 Samuel Hugo Bergman,in his Hogim Uma'aminim[Thinkers and Believers] (Tel Aviv, 1959), p. 10, explainswhy deism ignoredone of the most important aspectsof religiouslife-the religiousexperience. In its desireto forma natural religion,a religionof reason,deism intentionally gave up anyencounter, or meeting, withthe divine (which they called revelation).Roland N. Stromberg,too, criticizes Jeismfor its lack of understandingof theneed of the (religious)man for emotional This content downloaded from 128.146.23.50 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:44:25 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions HEBREW LITERATURE OF THE HASKALAH 37 The theologyof theEnlightenment is thena naturaltheology, as opposedto the theologyof revelation.Doing away withthe latter, whichis based on scripturalaccounts of miraclesand prophecies, and of specificevents that happened to historicalfigures, the En- lightenmentleft only general revelation, that universal sense of God whichis independentof historicalevents or people. In addition,the Enlightenmentand deismdeprived Christianity of itsclaim to be thesource of moralityand made it theirown after wagingan aggressiveattack on both Christianityand Judaism.In thisattack deists expressed their strong belief that morality has not alwaysbeen practicedby theChristian church, that Jewish morality is ratherdubious, and, mostimportantly, that true morality is not necessarilydependent on anyreligion at all. Fromthe contention that Christianity has no exclusiverights over truereligion, deists moved on to demandreligious tolerance;8 they lookedfor new religiousvalues and some even envisionedthe com- ingof a newreligion altogether.9 In orderto provethat natural religion preceded all otherpositive religions,and thatit was and is thetrue, original form of worshiping God, thedeists waged an all-outcampaign against the revealedre- ligion.They startedwith Judaism and anticipatedas a resultthe automaticdownfall of Christianity,which is dependenton Judaism. Hobbes,in hisLeviathan, is alreadyskeptical about the divine reve- lation,the scripturalmiracles, and the authorshipand unityof the satisfaction,or an "inwardspiritual experience," in his ReligiousLiberalism in Eighteenth-CenturyEngland (London, 1954), p. 64. 8 Bergman(Hogim, pp. 23-24) is rightin attributingthe inclinationtoward religioustolerance to theestrangement from religion that took place in theEnlighten- mentperiod. There were instances among some of thelatter deists such as Rousseau and Lessing,however, of arrivingat religioustolerance as a resultof its adherence to theprinciples of justiceand brotherhoodbelieved to be thetenets of religion. 9 GottholdEphraim Lessing is believedto have envisionedthe comingof a new religion in his Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts (Berlin, 1785 [facsimile, Jerusalem,1967]), pp. 80-81, no. 86: "Sie wird gewisskommen, die Zeit eines neuen ewigenEvangeliums, die uns selbstin den Elementarbuicherndes Neuen Bundesversprochen wird." Gottfried Fittbogen discusses this view in his book Die ReligionLessings (Leipzig, 1923), p. 79, whileFlajola holds theopposite view; see Edward S. Flajola, "Lessing'sAttitude in the Lavater-MendelssohnControversy," PMLA, 63, No. 3 (1958), 208-9. Lessing'sletter to Mendelssohnof 9 January1771, in whichthe former encouraged the Jewish philosopher to replyopenly to Lavater, seemsto supportthe view that Lessing indeed wished to bringabout the downfall of Christianity.See Lessing,Samtliche Schriften (Leipzig, 1904), XVII, 364 ff.,and Moses Mendelssohn,Gesammelte Schriften (Leipzig, 1844), V, 189. This content downloaded from 128.146.23.50 on Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:44:25 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 38 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES fivebooks of Moses.'" He thus preceded Spinoza in his biblical criticismand probablyalso influencedhim.1' Amongthe firstto examineJewish customs and ceremoniesand comparethem with Egyptian laws was JohnSpencer. His objective was to provethe pagan natureof Judaismand henceits falsehood."2 Many deists,such as Blount,Tindal, and Shaftesbury,elaborated on thistheme.13 Blount and later Collins attemptedto take away fromJudaism its claim of originalauthorship of the monotheistic idea, in orderto demonstratethe truth and the antiquityof natural religion.14 Towardthe end ofthe seventeenth century John Toland published hisChristianity Not Mysterious,in whichhe openlystated that those Christiandoctrines which appear to be mysterious,that is to say contraryto reason,are nottrue. 15 Miraclesin theOld and New Testa- mentscan be explainedaccording to thelaws of nature;16those that contradictnature are false and the resultof superstition.Thus he concludesthat the Virgin Birth is fictitious.'7He furthershows that Catholicismcannot prove itself the truereligion, since all its claims -such as its antiquity,its continuity,its miracles and prophecies- 10 ThomasHobbes, Leviathan (Oxford, 1964), pp. 244, 247 ff.,285-86. 11 See Joseph Klausner, Philosophim Vehogei De'ot [Philosophers and Thinkers] (Jerusalem,1965), pp. 75-76, and John Orr, English Deism: Its Roots and Its Fruits (GrandRapids, Michigan, 1934), p. 79. 12 Paul Hazard, in The European Mind (1680-1715) (New York, 1964), p. 45, putsJohn Marsham (1602-1685) ahead of Spenceras the writerwho startedthis trend,but he acknowledgesSpencer's more
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