Rex, Walter E. “‘Arche de Noé’ and
Other Religious Articles by Abbé Mallet in the Encyclopédie.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 9, no. 3, Johns Hopkins University Press, American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), 1976, pp. 333–52. JSTOR, JSTOR, doi:10.2307/2737514.
Rex’s article on the Abbé Mallet’s contributions to the Encyclopédie
exposes a new side of Mallet and provides a unique perspective on his articles. First devoting a substantial amount of time to his article “Arche de Noé” (Noah’s Ark), Rex picks apart the content decisions Mallet made. Noticing that the article focuses more on the logical issues and questions relating to the ark, rather than the theological significance, Rex questions Mallet’s orthodoxy and the purpose of the article (Was he as orthodox as many people thought? Is the article actually satire like other parts of the Encyclopédie?). Rex also compares d’Alembert’s observations on Mallet to Mallet’s other writings and the personality they portray, highlighting a significant difference between the two. Rex claims that Mallet was actually quite hostile to the tolerance advertised by the Encyclopedists, citing numerous articles where Mallet depicts other religious denominations as heretical and questions why Mallet was accepted as a contributor to a work that expressed tolerance of all forms, including religion.
Basic Information
Country of Publication: United States
Language: English
Decade: 1970s
Main Classification: Catholic Enlightenment
Related Sources
*In Progress*
Notes
None
Updates
7/14/2020: Created page.