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The Structure of French Romantic Histories of Religions

Author(s): Arthur McCallaReviewed work(s):Source: Numen, Vol. 45, No. 3 (1998), pp. 258-286Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3270423.

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THE STRUCTURE OF FRENCH ROMANTIC HISTORIES OFRELIGIONS

ARTHURMCCALLA

SummaryThis articleanalyzesthehistoriesof religionsof Louisde Bonald,AntoineFabre

d'Olivet,Pierre-SimonBallanche,and Ferdinandd'Eckstein.Rather han offer yetanotherdefinitionof Romanticism,t seeks to establisha frameworkby which torender ntelligiblea set of earlynineteenth-centuryrenchhistoriesof religionsthathave been largely ignored n thehistoryof the studyof religion.It establishes heirmutualaffinity by demonstratinghatthey are built on the common structural le-ments of an essentialistontology,an epistemologythat eludes Kantianpessimism,anda philosophyof history hatdepictsdevelopment s theunfoldingof a preexistentessence according o ana priori pattern.Consequentuponthese structural lementswe may identify five characteristics f French Romantichistories of religions:or-ganicdevelopmentalism;eductionism;ermeneutic f harmonies;apologetic ntent;and reconceptualizationf Christiandoctrine.Romantichistories of religions, assynthesesof traditional aith andhistorical-mindedness,re at once a chapter n thehistoryof the studyof religionand n the historyof religious thought.

This article analyzes the histories of religions of Louis de Bonald(1754-1840), Antoine Fabred'Olivet (1767-1824), Pierre-Simon Bal-lanche (1776-1847), and Ferdinand d'Eckstein (1790-1861). It estab-lishes their mutual affinityby demonstrating that they are constructedon parallel conceptions of ontology, epistemology, and philosophy ofhistory. It is on the presence of these common structural elements,ratherthan the fact that they are set out in works published in Francebetween 1796 and 1829, that I place these histories of religions to-gether. I do not, therefore, wish to argue that these four thinkersbelong together in every respect. They attended rival salons, and di-verge considerably in theirattitudestoward, inter alia, Catholic ortho-doxy, the Restored Bourbonmonarchy, and the literary batailles of theperiod. The Catholic Traditionalist Bonald and the Illuminist Fabre? KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden(1998) NUMEN,Vol.45

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionsd'Olivet,moreover,areusuallyexcludedfrom studiesof literaryRo-manticismandappearhedgedaroundwithqualificationsn studiesofRomanticreligiousthought.'I groupthese four histories of religionunder he rubricRomanticbecause heywereconstructedn the intel-lectualcontextcreatedby the twofundamentalateeighteenth-centuryintellectualrevolutions:he historicization f culture n the wake ofHerder,and the epistemologicalpessimismarisingfrom Kant'sre-strictionof scientificknowledge o the phenomenalworld of appear-ances and his denialof the possibilityof rationalknowledgeof thenoumenalworldof ultimate ruth.My intent s notto offeryet anotherdefinitionof Romanticism utto establisha frameworkby whichtorender ntelligiblea set of early nineteenth-centuryrenchhistoriesof religionsthat havebeenlargely gnored n the historyof the studyof religion.Louisde Bonald

Bonald, along with Josephde Maistreand the early Felicit6 deLamennais,was the greatprotagonistof the CatholicTraditionalistreactionagainstthe doctrinesof the FrenchEnlightenment.Linkingthe ProtestantReformation,he Enlightenment, nd the FrenchRev-olution in an unholy trinityof cause and effect, Bonald identifiedrationalismand individualism s the enemies of religioustruthandsocio-politicalstability.He devotedhis life to the proposition hatthe sole bulwarkagainstboth intellectualand social anarchy s theauthority f the Catholicchurch.2Bonald built his system- which proceedsfrom point to point,in the fashion of scholastic ogic - on the fundamental ropositionsthat human deas, values, beliefs, etc. derive not from reflectiononinnate ideas, as Enlightenmenthinkershad argued,but from lan-guage,and thatlanguage, n turn, s not a human nventionbut wasrevealed o earliesthumanity y God.Thisprimitive evelation thefirst,and basis of all subsequent, umanknowledge carriedwithitawarenessof a superiorbeing, andfrom this awareness ollowedtherudiments f religionandsociety.Transmissionf primitive evelation

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ArthurMcCallafromgeneration o generation onnectshumanity o God and humanbeingsto eachother, hereby orming he basisof bothreligioustruthand socialorder.3Bonald'sTraditionalisms both anauthoritarianhe-ory of society andan anti-rationalistheoryof knowledge.It teachesthatwheneverhumanity, educedby rationalismand individualism,cuts itself off from the authorityof inheritedTradition t falls intoerrorandanarchy.Epistemologically,he idea of primitiverevelationandits transmissionallows Bonaldto elude Kantianepistemologicalpessimismand establishcertainknowledgeof the divine orderin amannercommensuratewith the faculties of fallenhumanity.Since Bonaldidentifiesreligionandsocietyhis philosophyof his-tory incorporates historyof religions.Thestartingpointof Bonald'shistoryof religionsis the principleof universality,which in turn isa corollaryof primitiverevelation.All peoples possess the elemen-taryreligioussentimentsof God and the immortality f the soul be-cause primitiverevelation s the universal nheritanceof humanity.4These sentimentscomprisenaturalreligion(or patriarchal eligion,as Bonaldalternatively alls it). Bonalddrawson the scholastic def-inition of nature n orderto distinguishthe true sense of naturalreligionfrom the perversionst has undergoneat the hands of En-lightenmenttheoristsof religion. Deriving nature rom the verbnaitre [ to be bom ], Bonald glosses the etymology: a being isborn for an end, and with the means of reachingit; this end andthese means compriseits nature .5 n accordwith this teleologicaldefinition of nature Bonald'snaturalreligionis natural ot be-cause it arises from the innatecapacitiesof humanity the error ofEnlightenment heorists)but because, as the force that raises hu-manity from a state of ignorancetowardthe fulfilment of its be-ing, it is the religion appropriate o the earliest stage of humandevelopment.6If all peoples receive throughprimitiverevelationthe same nat-ural religion what accountsfor the diverse beliefs and practicesofthe variousreligions of the world? AlthoughBonald distinguishesbetween idolatryand paganism- idolatryis the false worshipofGod; paganismis the worshipof false gods7 - he attributes he

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ArthurMcCallawho was createdwith a radiantbody of light - separateshuman-ity from God and incarnatest in the physicaluniverse.Lightfromthe spiritualworld is invisiblyactive in the sunlightof our world,just as the spiritualnatureof creationremainspresent,thoughhid-den, at the heart of the physical world. The lluminist cosmos istherebya universeof mirrorsand correspondences.t is the cosmictask of humanity o restorecreation o its originalspiritual tate,andin so doingrestore ts owneternalnature.Restoration s possiblebe-cause the Fall has obscuredbut not entirelyblocked ourperceptionof the divine light pervading he universe. Ourintellectual'5naturerespondsto the divine light by means of the imagination imagina-tio), a supra-rationalpistemologicalfacultythatpermitsaccess todifferent evels of realitythrough he use of mediations uch as sym-bolic images. Imagination,n Boehme's phrase, s the eye of firethat sees throughthe world of appearances o the spiritualworldwithin.'6

Fabred'Olivet's Illuministdrama s playedout in a Boehmistcos-mos in which divine emanationbathes the universe n divine forcesand humanity,createdas primordialAdam, is a spiritualbeing ofgreatpower.Fabre dentifies infallenhumanitywith theWill, which,along with Providenceand Destiny, is one of the threepowers,orcosmogonic principles,of the universe.While the Fall has obscuredthisglorious dentity,Fabred'Olivet insists thatthe humanessence isdistinctfrom loweressences andthatthere s no continuitybetweenthenaturalworldandhumanity.Fallenhumanitydisplaysa triplena-ture,at once body, soul, andspirit,andlives a triplelife, instinctive,passionate[animique],and intellectual(i.e., spiritual).These threelives, whenthey arefully developed, ntermingle nd areconfoundedinto a fourth,or volitive, life. Throughthe exercise of the volitivelife, which is properto it, humanitygraduallyreintegratesprimor-dial Adam and raises itself to the reattainment f its cosmogonicstatus.Humanity's future)achievementof thisstatus s theprerequi-site for the reestablishmentf harmonyamongthe threecosmogonicprinciplesof Providence,Will, and Destiny.The reestablishment fcosmogonicharmony,n turn,will create,replicatingon the macro-

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionscosmic level the fourth ife of humanity,a fourthpowerthat is theveryimageormirror f divinityand therealizationof Fabre'sversionof Illuministreintegration.17Fabred'Olivet'sepistemology,atherhansimplyreassertingBoeh-me's teachingon imaginatio,akesup andpurports o refute Kant'sepistemologicalpessimism.Fabre'sargument s based on the fun-damental lluminist distinctionbetween rationalityand reason. Ra-tionality,he says, is a secondary aculty that corresponds o soul,the middle termof the triplenatureof humanityas body, soul, andspirit;reason,orintellectuality,s a principal acultythatcorrespondsto spirit, the highest term of our triple nature.Fabre argues thatKant misled himself because,confusingrationalitywith intellectu-ality,he failed tounderstandhe spiritualnatureof reason.The resultof Kant'serror s a philosophy hatfirststrips humanityof its spir-itual faculties,then attempts o grasp spiritual ruthswith a facultyincommensuratewith them, and finally, the attempthaving neces-sarilyfailed, declares he spiritual ruths o be unknowable.18abre,in short, overcomesKant'sepistemologicalpessimismby redefin-ing reason as anintuitive acultycapableof grasping he ontologicalAbsolute.19

Humanitymaybe a power n the cosmos,but since the Fall it is apoweronly in germ.Throughhe interaction f humanitywith Fabred'Olivet'sother wocosmogonicpowers,ProvidenceandDestiny,hu-manitymust developits potentialas the growthof a plantunfoldswhat s containedn its seed.20This is not a casualanalogy(no anal-ogy is casual to anIlluminist).The essences of all species, includinghumanity's ntologicallyuniqueessence,wereplaced n themby Godat the creation.Because hewill of a being correspondso its essence,individualsandspeciesalikedevelop- thatis, progressively ealizethe externalcharacteristicsppropriateo theiressences- by meansof the repeatedexerciseof the will:

It is by its efficientvolitive aculty,emanated rom its principle, hateachbeingconformsto its externalappearance.Naturalistswho have claimed that a tigeris a tigerbecauseits teeth, claws, stomach, ntestinesconform n a certainwayhave spokenfrivolouslyandwithout earning.... A tigerhas these teeth,these

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ArthurMcCallaclaws, this stomach,these intestinesbecause t is a tiger,that is to say,becauseits efficientvolitivefacultyhas so constitutedt.21

Humanity,althoughdistinct from all other creaturesby its par-ticipation n Divinity, undergoesthe same process of developmentof its preexistentessence: humanitys a divine seed thatdevelopsby the reaction of its senses. Everything s innate in it .22 n 1824Fabred'Olivetorgani7eda groupof disciplesinto a sect, Theodoxieuniverselle. Fabrecast his cult in the form of a masonic lodge ex-cept that, in a strikingexemplificationof the shift from a mecha-nistic to an organicworldview,he replacedthe traditionalmasonicand architectural ymbolismand paraphernaliawith substitutesde-rivedfromagriculture.The humansoul, he taughthis followers,is aseed thatrequirescultivation o blossom.23Fabred'Olivet finds au-thorityfor his fundamentalmage of the seed in the Hebrew Bible(albeitin the theosophicversionof Moses' teachinghe himself re-stored n La Languehebraiquerestituee).The firstwordof Genesis,bereshith,according o Fabre,oughtnot be translated in the begin-ning butrather inprincipio , inprinciple , inpotential .Creationsignifiesnot the act of bringingsomething nto being out of nothingbuta processof bringingsomething rompotentialbeing into actualbeing.24History,as disclosedby the organicmetaphorof the seed, is forFabred'Olivet the progressiveunfoldingof what is already n hu-manityas its essence. The result is a teleologicalphilosophyof his-tory, n which the consequencesof humanity's onstitutivemetaphys-ical principles are played out in time and space. Fabre'sHistoirephilosophiquedu genrehumain(1824) sketchesthe developmentofhumanity hrough he interaction f its Will with the other two cos-mogonicpowers,ProvidenceandDestiny,over 12,000yearsof his-tory.Fabre nsists thathistory s meaningfulonly when it is explicitlysubordinatedo metaphysics: It is at once ridiculousandodioustoclaimto tracethe routeof humanhistorywithoutbeing perfectly n-structedaboutthe placefrom wherehumanitydeparted, boutwhereit tends,and the objectof its voyage .25

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof ReligionsIn Les Vers dores de Pythagore(1813) Fabred'Olivet offers athree-foldclassification f religions.Thegoal of all initiationsand ofall religions,he says, is union withGod.This experience s not only

extremelyrare but also ineffable.For such experiencesto be com-municated hey must be transformednto myths,rationaldoctrines,and sensibleforms.Becausesuch an actof transformationecessarilyintroduces llusions, logical contradictions, nd misleading magery,silence was imposedon the initiates of Antiquity.Nevertheless, hevariousreligions of the world are particularransformationsf theunitiveexperienceeffectedby a founderof genius.Sucha legislateurtheocrateor sage thdosophegives sensible form to spiritual ruths,therebymaking accessibleto the masses what otherwise would berestricted o a tiny elite. Religions differ,despite having the samegoal of unity with Divinity,because theirvariousfounderschose totranslate hespiritualruthsntodistinctmyths,doctrines,andsensibleforms.26 hediversityof religions,however, an be orderednto threeclasses. Fabre insiststhat,correspondingo the triplenatureof hu-manity(intellectual,rational,nstinctual),Divinitycan be envisagedin onlythreeways:tritheismthreegods orone god in threepersons),dualism,and polytheism.Tritheistreligionsarise when Divinityre-veals itself to the spiritual acultyof human ntelligenceundertheemblem of the universal ernary Providence,Will, Destiny).Fabreidentifies as tritheistreligionsin which threedeities are dominant,including he religionsof India(Brahma,Vishnu,Rudra)andGreeceand Rome(Jupiter,Neptune,andPluto),as well as thosethat featurethreeprincipalmodificationsof the same God, as in, according ohis interpretation,he religionsof China,Japan,Tibet, and variousBuddhist sects. Dualistreligions arise when Divinity reveals itselfto the rational aculties of humanityas a naturalor ethicaldualism.While pure examplesof dualistreligionare rare- Zoroastrianismand Manichaeism it freely mixes with tritheismand polytheism.Polytheistreligionsarisewhen Divinityrevealsitself to the instinc-tual faculties of humanityby meansof materialmages.Polytheism,in its diverseformsthe religionof the commonpeople all over theworld, is both the cradle and the tomb of the higher religions of

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ArthurMcCalladualismand tritheism.While it can lead to the knowledgeof natu-ral principles(dualism), t can also chokeoff all spiritualawarenessunder the riotous growthof material magery,therebyprecipitatingentirepeoples into idolatryand superstition.27 ll positive religionsencountered n the world are either a pure form or a combinationof tritheism,dualism,or polytheism.Justas, however,Fabreteachesthat the full developmentof the triplenatureof humanityproducesafourth,or volitive life, so he posits the existenceof a fourth orm ofreligionthat is foundedon the absoluteunity of God.Divinitycon-sideredin the volitive unity of humanityproducesunion with God- the ineffableexperienceof contemplatives ndmystics.28Volitivereligion corresponds o the experienceof initiates in all historicalperiods.If Les Versdordsde Pythagoreclassifiesreligions accordingo thefacultiesof humanity,Histoirephilosophiquedugenrehumain elatesthehistoryof religionsto the historicaldevelopmentof humanity o-wardreintegrationhrough he interaction f its Will withProvidenceandDestiny.Histoirephilosophique,Fabreremarks n its Disserta-tion introductive ,s built on the distinctionbetween the forms ofreligions, political doctrines,etc. and theiressences. Formsare de-pendenton exigencies of time andplace;essences arehomogenous,demonstrating the existenceof a greatUnity,an eternal ource, romwhicheverything lows .29Nearthe end of the second volume Fabrestates that the forms of the variousreligions derive from Destinyand Will, whereas theiressences are always Providential.While itis truethatreligionhas often been the cause of strife,this is solelythe resultof conflict betweenforms of religion,which are properlypoliticalconflicts. In theirProvidential ssences all religionsderivefrom andpoint to the samedivineunity,whose terrestrialxpression- theocratic world empire - is the goal to which history, includingthehistoryof religions, s movingas the culminationof the historicalphaseof the reintegration f primordialAdam.30Betweenthese twopassagesthe bulkof Histoirephilosophiquedugenrehumainoutlinesan evolution of religions.Fabredepictsa series of providential eli-gions,each revealedby a divineman or hommeprovidentiel,which

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionshumanegoism and ambition(the misuse of the Will) successivelydistort nto superstition ndcruelrituals,necessitating he adventofanotherhommeprovidentielbearinga new revelation.Hommesprov-identiels (first, the DruidRam, then, inter alia, Krishna,Orpheus,Moses,Buddha,Jesus,Muhammad) reinstruments rovidenceusesto guide wilful humanityalong the rightpath.The historyof reli-gionsunfoldsfromtheworshipof the starsand ancestors hrough hereligionsof Europe,Asia, andthe Near East toward he culminationof historyin a theocraticworldgovernmentas the pure expressionof Providence.Progress s not continuous; here are many setbacksand ages of decadence(superstition).But this is all partof the de-velopmentof humanitybecause the goal is spiritualeducation,andcatastrophes often a better eacher han comfort.31The shift from a taxonomyof religions in Les Vers dores dePythagoreto the historyof religions in Histoirephilosophiquedugenre humainreflects in partthe sense of historicalevolutionthatFabred'Olivet acquired,accordingto Cellier, duringthe BourbonRestoration.32t wasnot, however, omething ntirelynew,butmerelya matterof applying o history he organic heoryof developmental-readycontained n his earlytheosophicalworks. Behind the exoterichistoryof religions,orthebeliefs commensuratewith a given stageofspiritualdevelopment eachedby the masses,lies a perennialhiddenteachingreserved or initiatesalone.33 nitiationdiscloses the dramaof the reintegrativeprocess,the end and meaningof the unfoldingof history.Eventuallythe two will convergein the consummationof historyand the reintegrationf primordialAdam. The historyofreligionsis the playingout in time, and the content of initiation sthe revelationof, the metaphysicalprinciplesof Fabre'sown theoso-phy.Pierre-SimonBallanche

The intellectualcareerof the deeply, if heterodoxically,CatholicBallanchebeganunder heinfluenceof JosephdeMaistreandBonald.Ballanche,however, nfluentiallymodifiedTraditionalism y adding

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionsnal sin. Social evolution will culminate n full religiousand socialequalityfor all humanity.Thisreligio-socialutopia,which Ballanchebelieves to be close at hand,will markthe completionof the terres-trialphaseof therehabilitation f humanityrom the Fall.38Ballancheworked out his theoryof salvationwithinand by means of the so-cial order in responseto the cataclysmicevent of his generation,the FrenchRevolution.39Once in possession of the law governinghistoryBallanchediscerned t in all the ancientcosmogoniesunderwhichprimitiverevelationwas transmittedhroughnitiation.While rehabilitationrom the Fall is achievedby meansof socialevolutionBallanche n no way supposesthat the historicalprocesseffects a change n humannature: thehumanrace is one and identi-cal to itself fromits originto the present; t will be so until the end.Its facultiesarein no way successive. Thatwhichit is, it has alwaysbeen, it will alwaysbe .40Humanity, n short,consists of a singleessence that unfolds over time: the humanessence does not needto detach itself from an inferioressence in orderto become its trueself; the evolutionof the human race is contained within itself'.41Like Bonaldand Fabred'Olivet,Ballancheholds thatone must knowthe metaphysical ruthsof the origin and end of humanitybeforeone can understand istoryas the unfoldingof the human essence.By insistingthathistory s fully intelligibleonly in light of the lawof social palingenesisBallanchesubordinateshe empiricaldataofhistory o ana priori structure.Ballanche'sworks,in whichphiloso-phy of historyand thesymbolic ntuitionof poetsharmonizebecausebothperceivethe same divine orderthrough he mediationof mate-rial forms,makeexplicitthe relation betweenRomanticphilosophyof historyand Romanticpoetics.Ballanche'sphilosophyof historyencompasses he historyof reli-gions. The mythologiesandreligionsof the ancientworld arevaria-tions on an ideal, universalmythology,which is itself nothingotherthan an allegorizedaccount of the operationof social palingenesisin humanity'sremotepast.42The Saturn-Jupiter-Bacchusequenceof divinities n classicalmythology,for example,correspondso thesequenceof social ordersactuallyundergonen ancienthistory.43 e-

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ArthurMcCallavealed religion, in turn,continues the process of the unfoldingofsocialpalingenesis.Ballanchedeclares hat theChristiandoctrinesofreligious equalityandcharitymarkanepochal ransitionn the histor-icalprocessbecause heymakereligioustruth hepotentialpossessionof all humanityand substitute ooperation or violence as the agentof social change.The gradualextension of thesereligiousprinciplesinto thecivil sphere s theongoingtaskof the centuriesafterChrist.44

Christianity,however, s not something totallynew in the world.In accordwith his understanding f developmentas the unfoldingof a preexistentessence Ballanche dentifiesChristianity s the fullyevolvedform of the universalreligionthathas been unfoldingsinceearliesttimes: we will discover ater thatonly Christianity an pro-curefor us this full emancipation, bjectof so manydesires,hiddenin the depthsof so many generalbeliefs; hence, once again,Chris-tianity s the truereligionof humanity .45hristianitys the religionof humanitybecauseby it humanitys ableto achieve the full devel-opmentof its nature.While historicalChristianityully manifestedtruereligion(the principleof religious equality) or the first time itscontent was alreadyknown in Antiquitybecause it was containedin the primitiverevelation ransmittedn the ancientcosmogonies.Hence, those initiated nto the ancient cultspossessedknowledgeofthe spiritual ruthsof the natureand end of humanity,ncludingtheprovidential aw governinghistory.Ballanche'shistory of religionscontinuesBonald'shistoricization f the typological approacho pa-ganmyth,butpushes t intoheterodoxy.Sincethe socialevolutionaryworkof rehabilitationccurswithinthehistoricalprocessChrist'spa-gananaloguesdo notmerelypointto Christ, hey activelycommencethe work of rehabilitation;he process of redemptionbegins beforethe manifestationof the archetype.Ballanchecarefully distinguishesbetween the religionsof the an-cient world and what he calls thegeneraltraditionsof the humanrace .The generaltraditionspreserveand transmit he memoryofwhat God intendedhumanity o be and guide its rehabilitation yproviding he peoples of the world with the truthnecessaryto eachstageof theirdevelopment nd in a formrelative o theircapacities.46

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof ReligionsBallanchepresents he general raditionsas the truenatural eligion:I understand ere faith in an extendedsense, soaringaboveall thereligionsandreferringonly to what I call the generaltraditions,heuniversalreligion of the human race .47His critiqueof Enlighten-mentconceptionsof natural eligioncould havecome from Bonald'spen:they fail to perceive hatrevelation s the foundationof religionandsociety.4 Thereligionsof the ancientworldarose when thegen-eral traditionswere modifiedby local conditions.Thoughthey arethus corruptions f the generaltraditionsall religionscontain somereflectionof divine truthbecausethe traditionshave been obscuredovertime but neverentirelyperverted.49 ven false dogmas,such asmetempsychosis,aremerelydisfigured ruths.50nstitutions ociales,in whichBallanchedescribesGreekpolytheismas the absoluteem-pireof the imagination 51nd aments theharmdoneto truereligionby storiesof the gods' dissolutebehaviour,bearstraces of Bonald'scritiqueof the imaginationas the source of polytheism.Yet, morecommonly,Ballanche maintains hat all myths are allegoriesthat,correctly interpreted, ield truth.52This contradiction,which arisesfromhis amalgamof Traditionalism nd lluminism,disappearsn theworksof Palingenesie ociale, in which themysteriesof Christianityare hidden in all cosmogonies .53 onversely, he generaltraditionscomprisea christianisme nterieur.54Ferdinandd'Eckstein

Eckstein was bornin Copenhagen nto a merchant amily newlyconverted rom Judaism o Lutheranism.He studiedat the Univer-sity of Heidelberg,wherehe absorbed heGermanhistorico-symbolicapproach o the historyof religionsdirectlyfrom FriedrichCreutzerhimself,learnedSanskrit, ndgenerally hrewhimselfintotheOrien-tal Renaissance. n Rome in 1809 Ecksteinconverted o Catholicismunder he influenceof Friedrich chlegel,whom he had met thereandwho reenforced he sense of the importanceof historyandphilologyfor religiousreflection hathe had alreadyacquired rom Creutzer.Ecksteinarrivedn France n 1816 as an administratorn the serviceof theKingof Austria n theaftermath f the defeatof Napoleon.He

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ArthurMcCallasoon abandonedadministrative ork,havingbecome convinced thathe hada missionto provideCatholicismwith a philosophyof history.Eckstein settled in Paris in 1818 and henceforthdevoted himself toscholarship.From 1819 to 1822 he studiedthe collection of Indicmanuscripts t the Biblioth6queNationale n the hopes of extractingthe content of the primitiverevelation rom whathe considered hemost ancient languageof Antiquity.From 1823 onwards Ecksteinpublishedextensivelyin bothscholarlyandpopularperiodicals.Hispassionateadvocacyof the religionsand languagesof India earnedhim the nickname baronSanskrit'.55

FromJanuary1826to December1829Ecksteinpublishedhis ownjournal,Le Catholique,modeled on J.J. von Gorres'Katholik,as ashowcase forthepreliminarytudiesof what was to be his greatwork- never written - on the world's religions. Eckstein admired andpromoted n Le Catholique he Traditionalist istory of religions.56Nevertheless,he consideredthe work of Bonald and his followers(notablyLamennais ndAugustinBonnetty) o be inadequatebecausetheirdependenceon historicalrecords eft uninvestigatedmost peo-ples of theworld,aboveall those of remotest imes.Happily,Ecksteinannounces,new methodscapableof exploring he fullness of history- linguistics, philology, and mythography- have been developed inGermany.57e Catholique,n fact,synthesizes hehistorico-symbolichistoryof religionsof Eckstein'sGerman eachersand the CatholicTraditionalism e encounteredn France.

Ecksteinpublishednumerous tudies n Le Catholiquedemonstrat-ing the existence of a universalprimitiverevelation,or naturalreli-gion, by which Godrevealed o earlyhumanity eligioustruths: Ourpointof departures a primitiverevelation,basis of naturalreligion.By natural eligion.. .we understand real andpositivemanifestationof Divinityin which it reveals tself to primitivehumanityas creatorof the heavensand theearth, n which it unveils hemysteriesof Gen-esis, and at the same time the more hiddenmysteriesof the divinenature,.. .58 This naturalreligion included anticipation of a saviour:'There is joined to it the expectationof a Saviourof the worldwhowill rehabilitateallenandcorrupted umanity .59rom thepostulate

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionsof primitive evelationEcksteinestablishes henow familiar orollaryof the unity of religions: A single revelationembracedthe entirehumanrace; idolatry corruptedt withoutextinguishing t. That iswhatIndia,China,Persia,Egyptteachus: the holy truth inds itselfstrengthened [by evidence] from all places .60So fundamental is theprincipleof unity to Eckstein'sthoughtthat he enshrined t as thesubtitleof Le Catholique: Aperiodical n which the universalityofhumanknowledgeis treated rom the point of view of the unity ofdoctrine .61

Unity of doctrine,however,does not exclude development.LeCatholiquecontainsa historyof religions because, on the organicmodel of development aken over from Traditionalism, aturalreli-gion unfoldsaccording o a preexistentpattern: From his universalidentityof religions t follows thathumanity s one, thatknowledgeis one, that there is only a single historyof humanity,only a sin-gle developmentof it is possible.. .62 Naturalreligion,despitede-generatingat times into idolatryand paganism,63 evelops throughJudaism to its fulfilment n Christianity, the perfect belief in theincarnationof the divineWord,by which the human race recoversits heavenly fortress.Christianitys a truly humanphilosophy .64Christianity onfirmsand fulfils primitiverevelation'spromisethatthe human race will rise fromthe Fall by the expiatorysacrifice ofthe Messiah.65

ForEckstein,as for BonaldandBallanche,organicdevelopmental-ismimpliesthatChristianitymerelyunfoldswhatwas alreadypresentin the religionsof Antiquity: Since Catholicism s the truth, t mustbe the eternaltruthand, as such, it must be eternallyrevealed.Itis said with reason that it is as old as the world. In fact, it is theprimitivelyrevealedreligion;it is the naturalreligion, foundedonthe principleof the revelationof God in the universeandin the hu-man race .66Since Christianity articipatesn primitivewisdom asits highest expressionEcksteinarguesthatthe ancientreligionsarecompatible with - indeed essentially identical to - Christianity: Isit not knownthat there exists in all primitivebeliefs, no matterhowdegeneratedheymaybe, andparticularlyn Asiaticdoctrines,near-

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ArthurMcCallaest to thecradle of thehuman ace,a foundation f truthsrevealedbytraditionhatmaybe calledpre-CatholicCatholicism? .67hreeyearslater,and in the meantimehavingbecome friendlywith Ballanche,Ecksteinborrowedhis new friend'sterm to underscore he unity ofreligions: Onemustexcavate n theantiquities f paganism n orderto recover herethis anteriorChristianity,his Christianityhat s notyet fulfilledbut that exists in hope and worksitself deeply into thedestiniesof ancientnations .68 ckstein'selision of Ballanche'sdis-tinctionbetween the generaltraditionsand the positive religionsofAntiquitypermitshim to use the principleof religiousunity to glo-rify the religions of India as participatingn truth,whereas Bonaldhad used the same principle o glorify Catholicismas the source ofall truth.This bold inversionopened Eckstein to chargesof Indo-Christianity oth fromoutragedCatholicsand fromphilologistsandProtestantswho accusedhim of attemptingo reestablish heologicaldoctrineunderthe guise of scholarship.69TheStructureof FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religions

FrenchRomantichistoriesof religion,whilenot identical,are builton the common structural lements of an essentialistontology,anepistemologythat eludes Kantianpessimism, and a philosophyofhistory that depicts developmentas the unfolding of a preexistentessence according o a determinedpattern.TheontologicalAbsoluteof Bonald,Ballanche,andEckstein s theGodof Christianorthodoxy;or Fabred'Olivet t is the emanationistDivinityof Boehmisttheosophy.Romanticism's pistemological ignatures its refusalto accept heKantiandisjunctionbetweenthe phenomenaland noumenalworlds.Romanticsclaim to grasp,directlyor mediately, he ontologicalAb-solutethroughprimitiverevelationand/oran intuitive aculty (imagi-nationor a reconceptualizedeason).70Bonald's attribution f a neg-ativeefficacy to the imagination unscounterto its privilegedepis-temologicalfunction for Illuministsand Romantics.71Bonald hereshows his continuitywith the classicism of the eighteenthcentury,

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ArthurMcCallavolitiveprinciple.All fourphilosophiesof history, n combininganepistemology hatgraspseternal piritual ealityandanorganicdevel-opmentalismaccording o which essences unfold overtime, expressan antinomybasic to Romantic hought: heyaffirm he existenceofeternal deas while at the same time asserting he meaningfulness fhistory.Thesesynthesesof traditional aithand historical-mindednessremindus thathistoricizing houghtbegannot as a move toward ec-ularizationbut as an attempt o find meaningin history.The greatRomanticdream,as Leon Cellier has said, was to spiritialize. heidea of progress.73Consequentupon these structural lements we may identifyfivecharacteristics f FrenchRomantichistories of religions.

(1) Organicdevelopmentalism. omantichistoriesof religionssub-ordinate heirempiricaldata o a teleological organicdevelopmental-ism according o which the preexistentessence of humanityunfoldsaccordingan a priori pattern.They purport o provideempiricalcor-roboration f the metaphysical rderunderlyinghistory.

(2) Reductionism.By interpretingheir empiricaldata in light ofa teleological organic developmentalismRomantichistories of reli-gions reducethe multiplicityof religiousphenomena mpirically n-countered n the world to a single, unifiedtranscendent rder.74 heprincipleof unity is more important n graspingthe natureof Ro-mantichistories of religionsthan a distinctionbetweenChristian ndnon-Christian. he orthodoxChristianhistoryof religionsof Bonald,the heterodoxhistoriesof religionsof Ballanche and Eckstein,andthe non-Christian istoryof religionsof Fabred'Olivet arenot irre-duciblyopposed,as wereCatholic,Deist, andphilosopheversionsofcomparativeeligionduring heeighteenthcentury,but,as the web offriendshipsamongtheirauthors ttests,parallelapproaches roundedon the universalityof religioustruthguaranteedby the authority fTradition.75

(3) Hermeneuticof harmonies.The historicization f figurism,bywhich paganreligionsare readas imperfectbut harmoniousparal-lels with the Christian evelation, epresentsa new kindof analogicalhermeneutics.The correspondingdea of an anteriorChristianity

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionsvastlyexpanded hecorpusof whatcouldbe considered acred exts.7The next generationof Romanticpoets, on the model of Ballanche,extendedthe categoryof sacred texts to include theirown inspiredepics of the regeneration f humanity.77(4)Apologetic ntent.Sinceall religionsarestagesin theunfoldingof religioustruththey pointto andconfirmthe Christian evelation(ortheosophy, n the case of Fabred'Olivet)as the full expressionofthat truth.Enlightenmentritics,inverting he earlymodempracticeof explainingparallelsbetween the Bible and mythologiesas evi-dence that the latteroriginatedas plagiarismof the former,7usedcomparativeeligionto attack heuniquenessandauthority f Chris-tianityby showingthatotherreligions each theChristiandoctrines.79The orthodoxlate eighteenth-centuryeaction to these attacksde-fended revealedChristianitys the sole truereligionand condemnedall otherreligions as false since they did not know the trueGod.80This defense of Christianity orresponds o the Cartesian heologydominant n French seminariesat the time. Romantic historiesofreligionscombatbothEnlightenmentritics of Christianity nd theCartesian ationalism f the theologiansby reconceptualizing aturalreligionas primitiverevelationand substitutinghe idea of develop-mentfor degeneration nd/orcorruption s the explanation or boththe multiplicityand the similarityof the world'sreligions (althoughdegenerationand corruption re retainedto explain paganisms hatarejudged to fall outsidethe line of development).The shift fromeighteenth-century hilosophicsyncretismto Romantichistoriesofreligions,madepossibleby the revolution n historical-mindedness,revalorizesChristianitys truereligionwhile accounting orparallelswithotherreligions.(5) Reconceptualizationf Christiandoctrine.Romantichistoriesof religionsreconceptuali7e,n the contextof earlynineteenth-centuryintellectual,social, andpoliticallife, the Christiandoctrinesof reve-lation,providence, heodicy,eschatology,and soteriology.Romantichistoriesof religionsare at once a chapter n the historyof the studyof religionandin the historyof religiousthought.

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ArthurMcCallaImpactof FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religions

FrenchRomantichistories of religions, built as they are on thestructural lementsof an essentialistontology,an epistemologythateludes Kantianpessimism,and a philosophyof historythatdepictsdevelopmentas the unfoldingof a preexistentessence according oa determinedpattern,are part of the Romanticquest for alterna-tives to Enlightenmentempiricismand rationalism.As such, theycorrespondo GermanRomanticapproacheso the studyof religion,mostnotably he philosophiesof religionof F.W.J.von SchellingandFriedrichSchleiermacher nd the historiesof religionsof Schellingand FriedrichCreutzer.Neo-Romanticismhas been a powerfulcur-rent within twentieth-centurytudy of religion. And yet we mustallow that the neo-Romanticism f NathanSoderblom,Rudolf Otto,FriedrichHeiler,Gerardus an derLeeuw,WilliamBredeKristensen,PaulTillich,and others s primarilyndebted o the GermanRoman-tics and to the philosophyof religion.For the impactof the FrenchRomantichistoriesof religionsdiscussed n this articlewe mustlookto the fortunesof theconceptof Tradition.Bonald'sCatholicTraditionalist istoryof religionswas takenupby F6licit6de Tamennais 1782-1854). Lamennaisdevoted the thirdand fourthvolumes of his widely read Essai sur l'indifferenceenmatierede religion(1817-1823)to compilinghistoricalevidence forthe existence of a primitiverevelation and its transmissionhroughthe ages. FollowingLamennais' ead, the disciples and friendswhoformed he Mennaisianmovementpublishednumerousworksdemon-strating he universalityof the Catholicrevelation. Notableamongthese is Des Doctrinesphilosophiques ur la certitude(1826) of theabbePhilippeGerbet.Eckstein'sLe Catholique easedpublication hortlybeforetheJulyRevolutionof 1830,just as Lamennaiswas abandoningCatholicTra-ditionalism or a liberalCatholicism. n the years thatfollowedEck-stein passed into obscuritywhile Lamennais' ncreasingradicalismlost him his groupof followers andeventuallycarriedhim outsidethe Churchaltogether.Nevertheless, he cessation of Le Catholique

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FrenchRomanticHistoriesof Religionsand the dissolution of the Mennaisianmovementdid not spell theend of CatholicTraditionalististoryof religions.That this was so islargely he resultof theactivityof thelay Catholic,AugustinBonnetty(1798-1879).Underthe inspiration f boththe earlyLamennaisandEcksteinBonnetty ounded n 1830theAnnales dephilosophiechre-tienne.Thisjournal,which lasted nto the twentiethcentury,ndefati-gably compiledevidence fromthe latestdiscoveriesof the historicalsciences for a primitiverevelation dentical in contentto Christian-ity. Its articleson the historyof religionswere presentedundertherubricsof 'Traditions nd 'Traditionsprimitives .CatholicTradi-tionalisthistoryof religionsdeclined with the rise of Neo-Thomismand the concomitant riticismof Traditionalismwithinthe CatholicChurch. t was formallycondemned n 1870.Anothertrajectoryof the concept of Tradition n the nineteenthcentury s religioushumanitarianism.n the 1830s and1840sFrenchthinkers uch as PierreLeroux 1797-1891)andEdgarQuinet(1803-1875)developedBallanche's usion of traditionalismndsocialprog-ress in a manner hatgave prideof place to humanityand this life.Leroux'sandQuinet'sreligioushumanitarianismseject originalsin,the divine originof Christianity, nd the expectationof a spiritualafterlife,while retaininghe ideas of thepreexistenceof souls, life asa seriesof expiations, errestrialrogressas bothsocial andspiritual,the successiveunfoldingof a single revelation,and the value of an-cient traditions. ustas Ballanche'sphilosophyof historycontainedahistoryof religions,so thesereligioushumanitarianismsontainhis-tories of religions(althoughQuinetis moreexplicit aboutthis thanLeroux)predicated n the idea thathumanity,n the courseof its in-tellectual,social,andspiritualdevelopment, upersedesoutwornreli-gions.Quinetdramatisedhis idea in his 1833proseepic,Ahasverus,before presenting t in a 1839 course of lectures,dedicated o Bal-lanche,on thehistoryof religions.The lectureswerepublishedas LeG6nie des religions(1841).

Fabred'Olivet'sdirect influenceon the study of religionis neg-ligible, but he representsan important tage in the developmentoftheperennialist ersionof the Traditionalistpproacho the studyof

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ArthurMcCallareligion.The comparativeeligionsworkof twentieth-century eren-nialists such as Rene Gu6non,FrithjofSchuon,Huston Smith, andSeyyed HosseinNasris organizedaround he conceptof an esotericTradition.There is a sophiaperennis- of superhuman rigin,notinventedby humanitybut received- that lies imperfectly recog-nizedat thecentreof all religionsandgives themwhatever ruth heypossess. Dependingon the temperament f the specific perennialistin question,all or some of the world's exotericreligionsarepraisedas access ports, or condemnedas obstacles,to the esoteric sophiaperennis.The standard f comparison mongtheexotericreligions sfidelityor transparencyo this esoteric Tradition. n contrast o Ro-mantic versionsof traditionalism,wentieth-century erennialismsanti-evolutionary;ence,it practicescomparativeeligionin the man-ner of RenaissanceandBaroqueprisca theologianssuch as Athana-sius Kircher n place of historyof religionsin the mannerof Fabred'Olivet.The rejectionof evolutionon the partof twentieth-centuryperennialistsreflects the post-Romanticransformation f historicalanalysisinto a scientific,seculardiscipline.Fabred'Olivet, and n-luminismgenerally,nevertheless ransmittedhe idea of an esotericTraditionnto the modemperiod.Departmentor the Studyof Religion ARTHURMCCALLAUniversityof Toronto123 St. GeorgeStreetToronto,Ontario,M5S 2E8, Canada

1 On the complicationsof defining FrenchRomanticism , ee D.G. Charlton,TheFrenchRomanticMovement n The FrenchRomantics, vols, ed. D.G.Charl-ton (Cambridge:CambridgeUP, 1984), 9-21.2 OnBonald,see JacquesGodechot,TheCounter-Revolution:octrineandAction1789-1804(Princeton:PrincetonUP,1971),96-102;BernardM.G.Reardon,Liberal-ismand Tradition:Aspects of CatholicThought nNineteenth-Centuryrance Cam-bridge:CambridgeUP, 1975),43-53; and G&rard engembre,La Contra-Revolutionou l'histoiredisesperante(Paris: mago, 1989).3 Bonald,Lgislation primitiveconsidereedans les dernierstempspar les seuleslumieres de la raison (1802) in Oeuvrescompletes,3 vols. (Paris:Migne, 1859),1:1175-1176.

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French Romantic Histories of Religions4 Availinghimself of the characteristic nd fundamentalTraditionalistquationof universalitywith truth,Bonaldassertsthatthe ubiquityof the sentimentsof Godand theimmortality f the soulproves he existenceof theirobjects.Bonald,Theoriedu pouvoirpolitiqueet religieusedans la societ, ddmontr6e ar raisonnement t

par l'histoire(1796) in-Oeuvres ompletes,3 vols. (Paris:Migne, 1859), 1:457.5 Bonald,Ldgislationprimitive n Oeuvrescompletes1:1126. Naturevient denattre,natura,de nasci:un etre naitpourune fin, et avec les moyens d'y parvenir;cette fin et ces moyenscomposentsa nature.6 Bonald,L.gislationprimitive n Oeuvrescompletes1:1165, 1171.7 Bonald,Theoriedupouvoir n Oeuvrescompletes,1:521.8 Bonald,L6gislationprimitive n Oeuvrescompletes,1:1177.

9 Bonald,Theoriedupouvoir n Oeuvrescompletes,1:482;see also 1:523. [L]areligionnaturelleest le germede la religionjudaique,et la religionchr6tienneour6v6eleest le d6veloppement,e perfectionnement,'accomplissemente la religionjudaique.10 Bonald, Lgislation primitive n Oeuvrescompletes,1:1199-1200. Ainsilav6rit6est, comme l'hommeet comme la societ6,un germequi se d6veloppeparlasuccessiondes tempset des hommes, toujoursanciennedans son commencement,toujoursnouvelledans ses d6veloppementsuccessifs.11GeorgeBoas, FrenchPhilosophiesof the RomanticPeriod(Baltimore: ohnsHopkinsUP, 1925), 73.12Bonald,Ldgislation rimitive n Oeuvrescompletes,1:1233. Toutes les croy-ances propresau christianisme, t toutes les practiquesde son culte, d6rivantdela connaissancedu mediateur, taientimplicitement ontenues dans la religionpa-triarchale,oi le mediateur tait annonce,et elles etaientfigur6esdans la religionjudaique,oh le m6diateur tait attendu.13On FrenchRomanticuses of figurism,see FrankPaulBowman, TheTheoryof Harmonies n FrenchRomanticism:ntertextual nd Interdisciplinary eadings(Baltimore: ohnsHopkinsUP, 1990), 125-154, esp. 130-135.14The basic study is Leon Cellier,Fabred'Olivet. Contribution letude desaspects religieuxdu romantismeParis:Nizet, 1953).15Inthe esoteric radition intellectual efers o a supra-rationalaculty n whichthe dualities of discursive houghtare transcendedn a unity.The correspondingknowledge s often designatedas gnosis .16PierreDeghaye, JacobBoehme andHis Followers n AntoineFaivreandJa-cob Needleman,eds., Moder EsotericSpirituality New York:Crossroad,1992),214-229; Antoine Faivre,Access to WesternEsotericism(Albany:SUNY Press,1994), 10-13.17Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophiquedu genrehumain,2 vols. (Paris:1824;reprintedParis:L'Aged'homme,1974), 1:22-35;Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,265, 271.

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ArthurMcCalla18Fabred'Olivet,Les Versdordsde Pythagore Paris:1813;reprintedParis: 'Aged'homme, 1978), 304-318.19 Fabre d'Olivet's attemptto elude Kant's epistemologicalpessimism corre-

sponds closely to F.WJ. von Schelling'sphilosophicalnotion of a transcendentalinsightor intuition hatcommunicateswith the PureActualityof the Godhead.Theaffinity s less surprisingonce we recall the immenseinfluence on Scheling's laterthoughtof Boehmist theosophyvia FriedrichChristophOetingerand Franz vonBaader.Cf. also SamuelTaylorColeridge'sdistinction itself inspiredby Schelling)betweenunderstandingnd reason.20Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophique,1:46-48.21 Fabred'Olivet, La Languehibraique restituee et la veritablesens de motshebreuxrdtabli et prouvdpar leur analyse radicale, 2 vols. (Paris: 1815-1816;reprintedLausanne: 'Age d'homme, 1975), 2:202. C'est par sa facult6 volativeefficiente,6mandede son principe,que tout etre se conforme a l'extcrieur.Les nat-uralistesqui ont pretenduque le tigre 6tait tigre, parce qu'il avait des dents, desgriffes,un estomac,des boyaux,conformesd'une telle maniereont parle e6grementet sans science.... Le tigrea ces dents,ces griffes,cet estomac, ces boyauxparcequ'il est tigre;c'est-a-direparceque sa facultevolitive efficientele constituetel.22Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophique,1:88. [L]'hommeest un germedivinqui se ddveloppeparla raction de ses sens. Tout est inn6 en lui.23 Fabred'Olivetoutlinedthe teachingsof his sect in La VraiMafonnerieet laCelesteculture(firstpublished n 1953, 6d. Leon Cellier[Grenoble:Presses univer-sitairesfrancaises]).See Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,312-321.24 Cellier,Fabred'Olivet, 154-155.25Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophique,1:44. IIest A a fois ridiculeet odieuxde pretendreui tracerune routesansetreparfaitementnstruitedu lieu d'oi il part,du but oi il tend,et de l'objetde son voyage.26 Fabred'Olivet, Versdoresde Pythagore,356-361.27Fabred'Olivet, Versdors de Pythagore,361-366.28 Fabred'Olivet, Versdoresde Pythagore,366-368.29Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophiquedu genrehumain,1:3-4. ...l'existenced'une grandeUnite, sourceetemelled'oh tout d6coule .30 Fabred'Olivet,Histoirephilosophiquedu genrehumain,2:400-409.31 See the summary n Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,277-284.32 Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,273.33See PierreAlbouy,La Creationmythologique hezVictorHugo(Paris:J.Corti,1985), 38.34OnBallanche,see ArthurMcCalla,A RomanticHistoriosophy:ThePhilosophyof History of Pierre-SimonBallanche(Leiden,Boston & Koln:EJ. Brill, 1998).35 Ballanche,Essais de Palingndisiesociale: Orphee(1829) in Oeuvrescom-pletes, 6 vols. (Paris:1833;reprintedGeneve:Slatkine,1967), 6:82-83.

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French Romantic Histories of Religions 28336 See Jerome J. McGann,The RomanticIdeology: A Critical Investigation

(Chicago:Universityof Chicago Press, 1983), 100-101. On Ballanche'spoetics,see A.J.L. Busst, Ballanche t le poete voyant n Romantisme (1972): 84-101and PaulBenichou,Le Sacrede l'ecrivain(Paris:J. Corti,2nd ed. 1985), 164-166.37Ballanche,Institutionsociales (1818) in Oeuvrescompletes,2:45.38 Ballanche,Essais de Palingenesiesociale: Prolegomenes 1827) in Oeuvrescompletes,4:55, 123.39Ballanche,Proldgomenesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:179-180.40 Ballanche,Prolegomanesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:386-387. Ainsi le genrehumain st un et identiqueA ui-memedepuisson origine usqu'ala fin. Ses facultesne sontpoint successives.Ce qu'il est, il l'a toujours te, il le seratoujours.

41 Ballanche,Prolegomenes n Oeuvrescompletes,4:387. Ainsi l'essence hu-mainen'a besoin de se d6gagerd'une essence inferieure,pour parvenira etre cequ'elleest: 1'evolutionde la race humaineest en elle-meme.42 Ballanche,Orphee n Oeuvrescompletes,5:5.43 Ballanche,Orphden Oeuvrescompletes,5:153-154.44 Ballanche,Proldgomenesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:63-65.45Ballanche,Proldgomenesn Oeuvres ompletes,4:184-185. Cettepleine6manic-ipation,objetde tantde voeux,cach6esaufondde tantde croyancesg6enrales,noustrouverons lus tardque le christianismeeul peutnous la procurer,t que des-lors,encoreune fois, le christianismest la v6ritable eligionde l'humanite.46Ballanche,Orphee n Oeuvrescompletes,6:146.47 Ballanche,Prolegomdnesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:368. [J]'entendsci la foidansun sens 6tendu,planantau-dessusde toutes les religions,pourne s'appliquerqu'kce que j'appelle les traditionsg6enrales, a religion universelledu genre hu-main .48 Ballanche,Prolegomenesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:368-369.49 Ballanche,Prolegomnes in Oeuvrescompletes,4:114.0 Ballanche,Prolegomenesn Oeuvrescompletes,4:329.51Ballanche,Institutionsociales in Oeuvrescompletes,2:181.52Forexample,Institutionsociales in Oeuvrescompletes,2:282.53 Ballanche,Orphden Oeuvrescompletes,5:185. Lesmyst6resdu christian-isme sont caches dans toutesles cosmogonies .See also Prolegomenes n Oeuvrescompletes,4:155.54Ballanche,Orphee n Oeuvrescompletes,6:60, 268, 280.55The basic source orEckstein s Nicolas Burtin,Unsemeurdes ideesau tempsde la restauration:Le barond'Eckstein Paris:Boccard,1931). See also RaymondSchwab,The OrientalRenaissance:Europe'sRediscoveryof India and the East,1680-1860, trans.GenePatterson-BlackndVictorReinking(New York:ColumbiaUP, 1984), 259-273 andJean-ReneDerr6,Lamennais, es amiset le mouvement esidees d l'dpoqueromantique, 824-1834 (Paris:Klincksieck,1962), 115-167.

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ArthurMcCalla56 Eckstein,Le Catholique1 (1826): 8, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes idees,224.57See thepassagesfromLe Catholiquegatheredn Burtin,Un semeurdes idees,230-235.58Eckstein,Le Catholique (1826): 558, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes idees,238. Notrepoint de departest une rdevlationprimitive,fondementde la religionnaturelle.Parreligionnaturelle..nous entendonsunemanifestation6elle et positivede la Divinite,se montrant l'hommeprimitifcomme creatricedu ciel et de la terre,alorsqu'elle lui d6voile les mysteresde la Genese,et en meme tempsles mysteres

plus cach6sde la naturedivine... .59 Eckstein,Le Catholique13 (1829): 444, quoted in Burtin, Un semeurdesidees, 239. I1y a une r6v6lationprimitive,une religion patriarcale,une religionde la nature.I s'y est joint l'annonce d'un Sauveur du monde, pour rehabiliterl'humanit6d6chue et corrollpue.60Eckstein,Le Catholique (1828): 341, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes iddes,240. Une seule revelationa embrasse outle genrehumain; 'idolatrie 'a cotronipusans l'etouffer. C'est ce que nous apprendront'Inde, la Chine, la Perse, l'Egypte:de toutesparts a veritesainte se trouveraortifiee.61 Ouvragep6riodiquedanslequel on traitede l'universalitedes connaissanceshumainessous le pointde vue de l'unitede doctrine.62Eckstein,Le Catholique11 (1828): 137, quoted n Burtin,239-240. De cetteidentite universelledes religions,une consequences'impose, c'est que l'humaniteest une,que la science est une,qu'il n'y a qu'uneseulehistoirede l'humanite,qu'unseul developpementui est possible... .63Eckstein,Le Catholique13(1829):444, quoted n Burtin,Unsemeurdes iddes,239.64Eckstein,Le Catholique (1826): 559, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes id&es,239. ...la croyance parfaitea l'incarnationdu Verbedivin, par laquelle le genrehumaina rctrouv6 on pointd'appuidans e ciel. Le christianisme st unephilosophievraimenthumaine.65Eckstein,Le Catholique (1826): 133, quoted n Burtin,Unsemeurdes idees,241.66Eckstein,Le Catholique (1826): 133, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes idees,241. Lecatholicismeetant a verite,ne peutetrela veriteetemelleet, commetelle,ildoitetreetemellementrevele. On a ditavecraisonqu'il etait vieuxcomme le monde.En effet, il est la religion primitivementevelee;il est la religionnaturelle, ondeesurle principede la revelationde Dieu dans l'universet dans le genrehumain.67Eckstein,Le Catholique (1826): 171, quoted n Burtin,Un semeurdes idees,242. [N]e sait-onpas...qu'il existe dans toutes les croyancesprimitives,quelquesdegenereesqu'elles soient,et particuli6rementans les doctrinesasiatiques,es plus

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French Romantic Histories of Religionsvoisinesdu berceaudugenrehumain,un fond de verit6srev6eles de tradition, u'onpourrait ppeler e catholicismeanterieurau catholicisme?68 Eckstein,Le Catholique15 (1829): 183, quoted in Burtin, Un semeur desidies, 235. ^ fautdonc fouillerdans les antiquit6sdu paganismepoury retrouverce christianisme ntnrieur,e christianisme onaccompli,mais existant n esp6rance,et s'enlan9antprofondement ansles destin6esdes nationsanciennes.69 See Schwab,OrientalRenaissance,269-271.70AmongRomantics he distinctionbetweenimagination nd a reconceptilali7edreason s oftenonly a matterof words:... Imagination,which,in truth,Is butanothername for absolutepower

And clearest nsight, amplitude f mind,And Reason in her mostexaltedmood.WilliamWordsworth, he Prelude 1799-1805), Bk. 14: 11.189-192.71 The literatureon epistemologicalstatus of the imagination n literaryRo-manticism s extensive.Fundamentaltudies include Ren6Wellek, TheConceptof'Romanticism' n LiteraryHistory n ComparativeLiterature1 (1949): 147-172and M.H. Abrams,NaturalSupernaturalism: radition nd Revolution n RomanticLiteratureNew York:Norton,1971).72How was my Heartencrustedby the World?O how self-fetter'dwas my grovellingSoul?

How, like a Worm,was I wraptroundand roundIn silkenthought,whichreptileFancyspun,Till darken'dReason ay quiteclouded o'er...EdwardYoung,NightThoughts1742), Bk. 1: 1. 155-159.73 Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,403.74 'Reductionistic' s almostinvariablyused as a derogatory erm in much ofthe literatureon religion,whereit denotes those sortsof explanations hatdo notresort to transcendence. uch usage wrongly implies that only the 'reductionists'have explanations or religion,while the antireductionistsmodestlydo not. Such isnot the case. Antireductionists,ather, ave a different xplanation. . SamuelPreus,ExplainingReligion:Criticism nd Theoryrom Bodinto Freud(New Haven:YaleUP, 1987), ix n.2.75 See Cellier,Fabred'Olivet,406.76Bowman, TheTheoryof Harmonies n FrenchRomanticism,127.77 For example,EdgarQuinet,Ahasverus(1833), Alphonse de Lamartine,LaChuted'unange (1838), and VictorHugo,La Lgende des siecles (1859-1883). SeeHerbert . Hunt,TheEpic in Nineteenth-Centuryrance(Oxford:Blackwell,1941).78 See Henri Pinard de la Boullaye, L'Etudecompardedes religions,2 vols.(Paris:G. Beauchesne,1922): 1:176-225.

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286 Arthur McCalla79 For example, Nicolas-AntoineBoulanger,L'Antiquitd evoildepar ses us-

ages (1766), Constantin-Franqoise Volney,Les Ruines des empires(1791), andCharles-Frangois upuis,L'Originde tous le cultes,ou Religionuniverselle an II[1795]). See Joscelyn Godwin, The TheosophicalEnlightenmentAlbany:SUNYPress, 1994), 33-37.80See Godwin,TheosophicalEnlightenment, 7.