Calvin Meets Voltaire

The Clergy of Geneva in the Age of Enlightenment, 1685–1798

Jennifer Powell McNutt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317170105
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

In 1754, Voltaire, one of the most famous and provocative writers of the period, moved to the city of Geneva. Little time passed before he instigated conflict with the clergy and city as he publicly maligned the memory of John Calvin, promoted the culture of the French theater, and incited political unrest within Genevan society. Conflict with the clergy reached a fever pitch in 1757 when Jean d'Alembert published the article 'Genève' for the Encyclopédie. Much to the consternation of the clergy, his article both castigated Calvin and depicted his clerical legacy as Socinian. Since then, little has been resolved over the theological position of Calvin's clerical legacy while much has been made of their declining significance in Genevan life during the Enlightenment era. Based upon a decade of research on the sources at Geneva's Archives d'État and Bibliothèque de Genève, this book provides the first comprehensive monograph devoted to Geneva's Enlightenment clergy. Examination of the social, political, theological, and cultural encounter of the Reformation with the Enlightenment in the figurative meeting of Calvin and Voltaire brings to light the life, work, and thought of Geneva's eighteenth-century clergy. In addition to examination of the convergence with the philosophes, prosopographical research uncovers clerical demographics at work. Furthermore, the nature of clerical involvement in Genevan society and periods of political unrest are considered along with the discovery of a 'Reasonable Calvinism' at work in the public preaching and liturgy of Genevan worship. This research moves Geneva's narrative beyond a simplistic paradigm of 'decline' and secularization, offers further evidence for a revisionist understanding of the Enlightenment's engagement with religion, and locates Geneva's clergy squarely in the newly emerging category of the 'Religious Enlightenment.' Finally, the significance of French policy from the Revocat

Chapter 1

The “Mother Church” of a New Era

Introduction

In striking contrast with the vast majority of European regions that embraced the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, Geneva knew little the challenges of internal Christian pluralism that divided regions and necessitated increasing toleration through agreements such as the Peace of Augsburg (1555) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648).¹ Rather, the reality of diverse confessionalization were more of an external threat to Geneva during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as seen in its Catholic neighbor and antagonist the Duchy of Savoy, whose maneuvers consistently endangered Geneva’s political and, consequently, its religious independence. Perhaps due in part to the religious uniformity it achieved during the Reformation, Geneva came to be perceived as a stronghold of Protestantism and a “Mother Church” for the Reformed in France. This role was pivotal during the cycles of persecution and repression that lasted in France until the Edict of Nantes.² Geneva functioned, according to Scott Manetsch, as “a kind of spiritual ‘mother’ to the Huguenots and thus had a privileged place of responsibility and authority in their ecclesiastical affairs.”³ This is a striking description given its tradition in the history of the Christian church. The church as “mother” was passed down by Cyprian of Carthage and incorporated by Calvin into his Institutes to demonstrate the true function of the visible church through metaphor.⁴ In the context of his emphasis upon the necessity of the church, he wrote, “For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance.” Thus, describing Geneva as “mother” church during this time was more than just a statement about its relationship to the Huguenots in the sixteenth century, but a statement attributing early-church dimensions to the church of Geneva as the embodiment of what a true church should be. This reputation as the exemplar of the Reformed and a bulwark of Protestantism was widely established in the eyes of Protestants by 1560 and, conversely, “in Catholic eyes as the most dangerous lair of apostasy in Europe,”⁵ thereby generating what scholars call today the “myth of Geneva.”⁶

Unsurprisingly, polarized views of Geneva were consonant with the Protestant–Catholic divide. Thus, from the Protestant perspective, Geneva was a place where right teaching and right practice of true Christianity were modeled;⁷ meanwhile, the Catholic perspective regarded Geneva as a place of heresy, debauchery, and sedition. In both cases, travelers’ letters reveal the remarkable persistence of both reputations.⁸ Among Protestants, by the eighteenth century, not only was Geneva still considered the “Mother Church,” but its past and present importance was frequently stressed by depicting it as the counterpart to Rome.⁹

This perception is evident in the rhetoric of numerous contemporary accounts. For example, during his trip to Geneva in June 1713, Abraham Ruchat (1678–1750) reflected on the disproportionate size of Geneva’s “great reputation” to her petit size among both Protestants and Catholics as the “Protestant Rome” and “the center of the Reformation.”¹⁰ Years later, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer would conclude during his visit to the city in 1736 that Geneva’s status as “the capital of the Reformed religion” is what led Protestant Swiss cantons to commit to the task of fiercely protecting her independence.¹¹ Finally, at the end of the century, in 1780, traveler Johann Rudolf Sinner von Ballaigues from Berne would reflect on how Geneva had earned “the name of Protestant Rome” due to the vibrant work of the city during the Reformation.¹² In numerous examples, comparing and contrasting Geneva with Rome served as one means for rhetorically communicating the significance of the Genevan position in the Protestant Christian world.¹³ This comparative method was at work in the travel letters of Amable Robin, Knight of La Tremblaie, who contrasted “Protestant Rome” with “Catholic Rome” in 1771 on a number of issues.¹⁴ Even Frederick the Great would reference Geneva’s commensurate status to Rome in the famous remark, “I am neutral between Rome and Geneva.”¹⁵

Yet, for Geneva’s Company of Pastors this was not simply an antiquated reputation but an ongoing function. They were addressed by French churches worldwide with numerous requests, such as those for theological guidance,¹⁶ advice concerning matters involving worship,¹⁷ financial support,¹⁸ the ordination of foreign pastors,¹⁹ and requests for pastors to fill empty pulpits.²⁰ The ongoing significance of the Company for Huguenot desert churches, for example, is illustrated in the case of Jean Vesson’s deposition for “having falsely claimed that the ‘Messieurs de Genève’ … had sent him to preach in France.”²¹ Meanwhile, the Company regularly received reports from foreign churches detailing their state of affairs,²² and consequently it sent ordained ministers to fill pulpits from New York to Moscow given the limited number of Geneva’s city and rural parish appointments available in comparison to the number of ordained ministers. The Company even received letters from individuals regarding personal matters of conscience to which they also responded.²³

Meanwhile, church correspondence reveals that revisions introduced in Genevan worship were commonly solicited by other churches for imitation. For example, alterations to the Psalms were introduced within Genevan worship in 1698²⁴ after 10 years of seeking to render the liturgy clearer, “more natural, more reasonable, and more capable of inspiring tender and pious sentiments.”²⁵ In this process, the Company was well aware of their weighty status.²⁶ After the Company sent an announcement of their alterations to the French Reformed Churches throughout Europe, numerous letters began to pour in. Many of the churches that wrote were eager to express their desire to conform to Geneva’s liturgical alterations in order to ensure the uniformity of Reformed worship. Responses to the announcement included the Reformed Church of Berlin, which heralded Geneva as a church “that the Reformed churches regard with reason as their Mother, who God has rendered celebrated for more than a century by every extraordinary grace and by a protection which has never ceased.”²⁷ Similarly, the Reformed Church of Hamburg responded in 1701 with the following praise: “We esteem you, we honor you, we regard your church as a mother Church, and as the center of the Reformation.”²⁸ Consider also the letter from Dublin stating, “We will regard Geneva always as the center of our Reformation.”²⁹ Given this high level of worldwide ecclesiastical involvement, Pastor Jean-Henri Ebray would later affirm in 1796 that

Our country has always been, and with reason, regarded as the center of Protestantism. From Geneva’s bosom have left numerous respectable pastors, who have propagated the pure doctrine of the Gospel in foreign contexts and founded churches that are glorified to this day for having had Geneva as their first leader.³⁰

The fact that Geneva was able to maintain this level of ecclesiastical importance among the generations after Calvin extending into the eighteenth century is certainly remarkable. The reprisal of Geneva’s Reformation role as “Mother Church” for the Huguenot refugees at the end of the seventeenth century should not be overlooked in this regard. At the same time, the effect of this event upon the city in the dawning of the Enlightenment era is also notable. As Olivier Reverdin has claimed, “The great transformation of Geneva, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was in large part determined by the Refuge.”³¹

The Revocation and the Dawning of the Enlightenment

In 1685, Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, which finalized the turning of the tide on nearly a century of Protestant and Catholic co-existence in France that had begun with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Huguenot rights had already been increasingly lessened since the sixteenth century and with Louis XIV’s rule from 1661.³² By 1681, violence was permitted in pursuit of conversion, and emigration was prohibited, a measure that had been customarily permitted in Europe since the Peace of Augsburg (1555).³³ Nevertheless, the complete revocation of Henry IV’s pacification proved to be a decisive change in policy toward constraining religious minority in France, which would have far-reaching effects upon European society. Notably, Louis’ effort to force religious uniformity was pivotal in crystallizing international Protestant anxieties regarding his absolutist and hegemonic political agenda.³⁴ Resistance quickly followed in 1686 when, inspired by William III, prince of Orange, many of the princes of the Empire banded together to form the League of Augsburg.³⁵ Louis’ subsequent invasion of the Rhineland in 1688 launched the Nine Years’ War between France and the Grand Alliance that grew out of the League.³⁶ Despite all hopes otherwise, the Edict of Nantes was not re-established, and consequently, the number of refugees increased.³⁷ Scholars claim th...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction Geneva and the Revisionist Enlightenment
• 1 The “Mother Church” of a New Era
• 2 Clerical Demographics and Duties
• 3 Clerical Jeremiads and Renunciations
• 4 Ministers and Philosophes
• 5 Reasonable Calvinism: From the Pulpit to the Pew
• 6 Clergy and the Work of State-Building
• Conclusion The French Connection
• Appendix 1 City Pastors and Ordained Professors (1685–1798)
• Appendix 2 Agrégé Pastors (1685–1798)
• Appendix 3 “Renouncing” Ministers (1685–1798)
• Index