Abstract
This contribution offers a reflection on the use of Jewish paradigms in the Saint-Simonian school. The political movement of Count Saint-Simon united a number of European socialistic movements of the nineteenth century. In the cultural fervour that this essay is going to discuss, Jewish sources, and their political divulgence, constituted a dynamic and ecstatic push further encouraged by the readings of authors like romantic writer Josef Wroński, or Jewish scholar Joseph Salvador. Even before the school’s decline, due, among other things, to a turn towards a bizarre and questionable mysticism, Saint-Simonianism had showed a strong interest in religious issues and religious renewal. The school in itself was a sort of informal creed, whose fluid structure implied the rejection of mainstream social values, the construction of a new society based on novel economic and social approaches, and the development of a new, ethical Christianity that, first and foremost, questioned the Catholic Church.
I am going to further develop the topic of this essay in my book on the Israelite paradigm in European culture of the nineteenth century.
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Notes
- 1.
Leroux, Pierre. 1832. De la philosophie et du Christianism. Réponse à quelques critiques. Revue Encyclopédique, August: 284.
- 2.
See the criticism of Grün 1845: 104 “[Saint-Simonianism] was both an overwhelming and a most amusing display. The author died before the show was put on, one producer died during the performance, the remaining producers and all the actors discarded their costumes, slipped into their civilian clothes, went home and behaved as if nothing had happened. It was a spectacle, an interesting spectacle, if somewhat confused towards the finale; a few of the performers overacted—and that was all.”
- 3.
The other treaties of Salvador were: Histoire des institutions de Moise et du peuple hébreu (1828); Jésus-Christ et sa doctrine. Histoire de la naissance de l’Église, de son organization et de ses origines pendant le premier siècle (1838); Histoire de la domination romaine en Judée et de la ruine de Jérusalem (1847) and Paris, Rome, Jérusalem ou la Question religieuse au XIX siècle (1860).
- 4.
Vincenzo Gioberti (1801–1852) was an Italian Liberal Catholicism philosopher, a neo-guelphist leader during the Risorgimento, and a clergyman. In his book Del primato morale e civile degli Italiani (On the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians, 1843), Gioberti takes up some Salvador’s theories on the Israelite qualities. According to Gioberti, the new Italy had to be founded on consultative assemblies as well as on the constitution of a confederation of Italian states under the presidency of the Pope. The Italian “primacy” consists thereby of the indissoluble tie between Catholic principles and the Italian national genius. Thanks to this link, Italy excels in every field of culture and action. Again, according to Gioberti, Israel and Italy also represent two matching primates, one purely national and one essentially intellectual, cfr.: Sofia 2004.
- 5.
Le Temps, 1863: May 15.
- 6.
Gustave d’Eichthal, lettre au Pére sur les juifs, January 25, 1838, Bibliothèque Thiers, Fonds d’Eichthal, Ms. Cart. IV, Q-3, ff. 2r–3r.
- 7.
Ibid., pp. 15–16.
- 8.
Gustave d’Eichthal, La Juive, second version, Bibliothéque de l’Asenal, Papiers d’Eichthal, Ms. 14390 note et pensée diverses, f. 5.
- 9.
Letter of d’Eichthal to an anonymous recipient, no date, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Papiers d’Eichthal, Ms. 14393, ff. 3–5.
- 10.
Letter of d’Eichthal to Pére Enfantin, 2 September 1841, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Papiers d’Eichthal, Ms. 14407, f. 31 but see also the letter of d’Eichthal to M. Freslon [André Freslon, lawyer in Angers] “en réponse à cette question: qu’est devenu le st. simonisme?”, no date, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Papiers d’Eichthal, Ms. 14389.
- 11.
In particular, Lamennais’ ideas on Jews and Judaism are notorious: in fact Lamennais postulated the total anonymity and historical inconsistency of Jews. He also rejected every validity of the Mosaic Law since with Jesus it had been superseded and archived, Lamennais 1817: 32–43.
- 12.
Pereire, Isaac. 1831. Lettre à une juive. L’Organisateur, March 26: 249.
- 13.
Weill, Alexandre. 1847. Critique littéraire. La Démocratie Pacifique, March 17.
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Scigliano, A. (2021). Religion et Politique: Saint-Simonians, Jews and the Jewish Paradigm. In: Tarquini, A. (eds) The European Left and the Jewish Question, 1848-1992. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56662-3_3
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