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Handout #209 |
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The Religion of Rousseau |
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In the face of the rationalism of
Enlightenment philosophy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau rehabilitated religious
sentiment in a sense which is not that of Catholic orthodoxy, but prepared
for Romantic religion.
The profession of faith of a pastor in the Savoy I also confess that the majesty of the Scriptures astounds me, and that the holiness of the gospel speaks to my heart. Consider the books of the philosophers with all their pomp; how petty they are alongside Scripture! Can it be that a book both so sublime and so simple can be the work of human hands? Can it be that the whose history it tells was only a human being himself ... The death of Socrates, in philosophical tranquility with his friends, is the sweetest that one could desire; that of Jesus, expiring in torment, injured, mocked, cursed by all people, is the most horrible that one could fear. On taking the cup of poison Socrates blesses those who offer it to him, weeping, Jesus, in the mist of frightful torture, prays for his relentless executioners. If the life and death of Socrates are those of a wise man, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God... For all that, this same gospel is full of incredible things, of things which are repugnant to reason, and which are impossible for any sane man either to conceive of or admit. What does one do in the midst of these contradictions? My child, one must always be modest and circumspect, respect in silence what one can neither reject nor understand, and humble oneself before the great Being who alone knows the truth. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile. |
