Jansenism

About: Jansenism is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 189 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1397 citations. The topic is also known as: jansenisme & jansenists.

The Gallican Context for Pascal’s Writings on Grace

Abstract: This article sets Pascal’s views on grace in the context of the intense disputes within the Catholic Church of his time, which were particularly divisive in France. The effective repudiation of St Augustine’s teachings on grace, to which the church would never openly admit, was largely driven by the pastoral needs of the Catholic Reform, yet the Jansenists, themselves determined but conservative supporters of such reform, could never accept such compromises with the world. For all the charm of his writings, Pascal advocated an austere form of Christianity which reflected both his own deep inner tensions and the radical pessimism of Jansenism.

A Mystery Explored: The "De l'education publique" Attributed to Denis Diderot

Abstract: Late in 1762 there appeared a short book entitled De l'education publique, with no name of either author or publisher, and simply bearing the imprint "Amsterdam 1762." A second printing, unchanged, appeared in 1763, with no place, author, or publisher indicated. In all probability the place was Paris, since the use of false imprints was common. There were some who believed that the work was by Denis Diderot, whose famous Encyclope'die had been appearing in successive volumes for almost a dozen years. It was a not unreasonable supposition, since apart from his articles in the Encyclope'die most of Diderot's writings were published anonymously. The literary annalist and gossip Bachaumont, in his entry for January 21, 1763, called it a new book that was much "talked about" and reported that it was "attributed" to Diderot. It was listed as Diderot's in La France litteraire of 1769, and was included in an edition of his works in 1773 during his lifetime. The German Georg Hamann in 1788, after seeing some Diderot manuscripts, declared that De l'e'ducation publique was "really Diderot's." It was said to be his by the editors of the Journal de l'instruction publique published in Paris in 1793 at the height of the Revolution. I In 1806, however, the bibliographer A. A. Barbier, in the first edition of his Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, expressed doubt on the attribution to Diderot, saying that "half the book seems to have been written by a philosopher, the other half by a Jansenist." Later, Barbier obtained a copy of the book in which an unknown person, at some unknown date, had written that the true author was the Abbe J. B. L. Crevier. Barbier therefore assigned the book to Crevier in the second edition of his Dictionnaire (1822), and this attribution has been accepted by the catalogue of the Bibliotheque Nationale and various other authorities.

Martin de Barcos: Grace, Predestination, and Jansenism

Abstract: Martin de Barcos’s posthumously published Exposition de la foy de l’Eglise romaine touchant la grâce et la predestination is an important restatement of what he takes to be St Augustine’s doctrine on these matters. The first edition (1697) was condemned by the Archbishop of Paris, Louis-Antoine de Noailles, as a restatement of Jansenist doctrine, which, broken down into five key propositions, had been condemned by Innocent X in 1653. The ‘Remarques’ published with the second edition of 1700 argue that the Exposition by no means endorses the doctrines contained in the Five Propositions, and that the papal condemnation of these is thus irrelevant. This claim is assessed in a detailed analysis of the ‘Remarques’ and of the main text of the Exposition. In conclusion there is a brief discussion of the relationship of Barcos’s account of grace to Pascal’s and of the attempt to distinguish their views from those of the Calvinists.

Le contraddizioni della modernità : apologetica cattolica e lumi nel settecento

Abstract: The vivid confrontation with the Enlightenment was an essential aspect of the relationship beween Catholicism and modernity. The essay deals with the different and often contradictory aspects of this confrontation analysing the actions of the catholic hierarchy and the many apologetic works published in Italy and France during the XVIII century. Jesuits and Jansenists, enlightened catholics and harsh polemists, in the years of the Encyclopedie, Voltaire, Rousseau and the French Revolution, faced the great arguments of metaphysics, ethics, natural law and the fundamentals of society. On the one hand they were opposed to the Enlightenment 'system', on the other they devised a 'christian philosophy' and a 'political theology' which would influence the catholic culture up to the present day.