GENEVA AND THE GENESIS OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN SIXTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE TWO FAMOUS VOLTAIC CASES: CASE SERVET FROM GENEVA AND THE CASE OF JEAN CALAS FROM TOULON

Abstract

Religious tolerance is an issue extremely present in the life of humanity. Appeal to tolerance came out of the crisis of Reformation that was an unforeseen ramification of the turmoil of religious wars. Realization of the Protestant ways of tolerance  showed its weak points by the instability of internal fractions, but also by inequal reference to the old Roman-Catholic confession, or to the new radical forms of Protestantism. Eighteenth-century Europe simply needed to escape the whirl of  intolerance exercised in the previous centuries. At the same time, the state was gradually overshadowing the Church as well as implicitly reappraising the Church’s relation with the state. The Church (Protestant and Roman Catholic) lost its allies  and political supporters, but managed to preserve the Orthodoxy of previous centuries. The secularization of the Church and the evolution of contemporary society bringing about the rise of tolerant public conscience became more and more  evident. Yet, the necessity of tacit tolerance did not produce a de iure declaration of tolerance, only in isolated situations, as were the cases of Transylvania (1568) and Poland. As for the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary and the Principality of  Transylvania, the understanding of the idea of tolerance was primarily connected by the relation of Catholicism to Protestantism and implicitly concerned with the political-religious influence of the House of Habsburg over territories belonging to  the Crown. Tolerance was promulgated in the West by parliamentary decisions such as the Act of Tolerance, England, 1689, or the Edict of Tolerance in France, 1787, the Edict of Tolerance in the Habsburg Empire, 1781-82. Tolerance implicitly  became a historical issue of philosophy and theology as well. The tolerance of the Church became also an external issue of the relationship between the state and religious community. In addition, the issue of tolerance appeared as an aspect of  laic authority manifestation and obedience requested by the established church. Concordia or reciprocal tolerance were the terms by which Europe tried to adjust its turbulent confessional life. Concordia was deemed as a sort of Respublica  Christiana of monolithic type, whereas the conservatory Catholic reaction referring to confessional diversity was aligned with the idea of haereticis non est servanda fides. Tolerance was widely debated in the 18th century. Four leading  personalities: John Locke, Pierre Bayle, Voltaire and Rousseau were thoroughly preoccupied with defining the term and putting it into practice. At the same time, Jurieu promoted the idea of mutual tolerance („mutual pact”). In 1757 the issue of  tolerance was not yet clearly defined. Distinct notions were under discussion: ecclesiastical tolerance (religious, theological) and the civil one. Different opinions on tolerance tried to influence political life. Diverse writings debated the subject: John  Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (1667), Of the Difference between Civil and Ecclesiastical Power (1674), Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance (1763). Two Voltarian cases played an important role within the evolution of the idea of tolerance. The first  case is connected to Helvetic Geneva, which once was the Protestant model city of Jean Calvin. Jean Calvin did not allow straying away from his Orthodox Protestant principles. He considered the idea of freedom of conscience a novelty, an idea  that could not be applied: a „tragic liberty”, as „sects” were gaining ground. The moment of Protestant tolerance took a bad turn by the condemnation and then burning of Michael Servet (1509-1553) at the stake. In the 18th century Voltaire  regarded the moment of Servet’s burning at the stake as the major fault the Reformation produced, thereby affecting the idea of tolerance. The idea was previously valorized by Sébastien Castellion (1515-1563), a French humanist. Voltaire was  obsessed with making an issue of incriminating rapports of Servet with Calvin, and by doing so, denouncing Protestant intolerance. Nevertheless, Geneva was a tolerant city, due especially to the presence of Rousseau and Voltaire, as a result of  which the expectation of denouncing the burning at the stake of Servet became the paradigm of European tolerance. The idea of tolerance enforced especially because of the Calas case which became known due to Voltaire, who with this occasion  created his Treatise on Tolerance. By Voltaire’s intervention, the Calas case became known as the catalyst of the national conscience of the French. He started a real crusade against religious fanaticism represented by the infamy of the  Old Regime, which condemned and killed the Protestant merchant Calas without being proven guilty. The philosopher became the defender of Calas, the Calvinist merchant from Toulouse. Together with Rousseau they revealed and  internationalized the subject, and by doing so, the intensity of arguments used in the debate on tolerance was memorable. Through Voltaire, the idea of tolerance, acclaimed and made international by the Calas case, became a symbol of liberty of conscience of man, an idea characteristic to the Age of Enlightenment. After long and protracted debates, the illuminist idea of civil and religious tolerance was born as a result of the above cases between 1760 and 1785.