The second volume in the Anti-Jesuit Literature series at Brill casts a revealing light on a crucial moment in eighteenth-century France: the suppression of the Jesuits. Through the expert translation of three representative treatises by Jotham Parsons and Patricia M. Ranum, this collection delves into the heart of the conflict, presenting views from Jansenist-Gallican magistrates, conservative clerics, and Enlightenment thinkers. Edited with contextual commentary by Robert A. Maryks and Jotham Parsons, the volume not only navigates the complexities of the Jesuits’ decline but also places it in the context of the broader Enlightenment critique, exploring the intricate interplay between evolving ideas of governance, faith, and intellectual freedom.
Known for her translations of Annales School historians, and her analytical bibliography of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Patricia M. Ranum has edited several seventeenth-century sources, including
The Mystical Writings of Jean-Joseph Surin (Brill, 2018) and
Étienne Pasquier, The Jesuits’ Catechism or Their Doctrine Examined (1602) (Brill, 2021).
Jotham Parsons, Ph.D. (1997, Johns Hopkins University) is Associate Professor of History at Duquesne University. He has published extensively on early modern European history, including
The Church in the Republic: Gallicanism and Political Ideology in Renaissance France (CUA Press, 2005). He is the co-editor of
Étienne Pasquier, The Jesuits’ Catechism or Their Doctrine Examined (1602) (Brill, 2021).
Robert A. Maryks, Ph.D. (2006, Fordham University) has published widely on the history of the Jesuits, including
Saint Cicero and the Jesuits (Ashgate, 2008) and
The Jesuit Order as a Synagogue of Jews (Brill, 2010). He is the editor of the
Journal of Jesuit Studies and the
Jesuit Studies book series at Brill. He is the co-editor of
Étienne Pasquier, The Jesuits’ Catechism or Their Doctrine Examined (1602) (Brill, 2021).
Contents
1
Historical Introduction Jotham Parsons
2
Reflections on the Attempted Assassination of the King of Portugal, September 3, 1758 Pierre-Jean Grosley and Louis-Adrien le Paige
3
Pastoral Instruction of the Archbishop of Paris on the Attacks against the Authority of the Church by the Judgments of the Secular Tribunals in the Affair of the Jesuits Christophe de Beaumont
4
On the Destruction of the Jesuits in France by a Disinterested Author Jean le Rond d’Alembert
Index
All interested in Jesuit history, history of early modern France, the French Enlightenment, history of church-state relations, and anti-Jesuit polemics and literature.