Of Sceptres and Censors: Biblical Interpretation and Censorship in Seventeenth-Century France

摘要

In 1676 Pierre-Daniel Huet, scholar and tutor to the Dauphin, encountered difficulties with state censorship. Bishop Bossuet was blocking the publication of his Demonstratio evangelica, a recasting of an ancient Christian apologetic. The Sorbonne theologian and censor, Edme Pirot, was caught in the middle. An analysis of the interaction between these three men reveals Ancien Régime censorship as a series of negotiations shaped by the different stakes, personalities, ambitions and status of the participants. Huet and Bossuet’s quarrel also echoed the confessional debates of the sixteenth century and reflected disagreements within the Catholic Church thereafter. It raised such important questions as whether the Bible should be subjected to the same types of analysis as secular texts and anticipated concerns about the relationship between biblical criticism and the rise of irreligion. Throughout, Bossuet skilfully manipulated the mechanisms of state censorship to defend his vision of Church Tradition by delaying the publication of Huet’s Demonstratio and suppressing Richard Simon’s L’histoire critique du Vieux Testament.