چکیده:
Joseph de Maistre is usually portrayed as Edmund Burke’s French counterpart, as they both wrote important treatises against the French Revolution. Although Maistre did share many of Burke’s conservative political views, he was much more than a political thinker. He was above all a religious thinker who interpreted political events through the prism of a particular retributionist theology. According to this theology, God punishes evil deeds, not only in the afterlife, but also in this terrestrial life; and sometimes, he may even use human tyrants as instruments of his wrath. This interpretation especially evident in Maistre’s Considerations sur la France, an early work in his philosophical career. In that book, Maistre interprets the French Revolution as divine punishment, and in that regard, his views bear some similarities to the Deuteronomist historian in the Hebrew Bible, who interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile, as divine punishment in retribution of Israel’s sins.
خلاصه ماشینی:
In that book, Maistre interprets the French Revolution as divine punishment, and in that regard, his views bear some similarities to the Deuteronomist historian in the Hebrew Bible, who interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile, as divine punishment in retribution of Israel’s sins.
Keywords: Joseph de Maistre, Retributionist theology, Considerations sur la France, Deuteronomist historian.
In what follows, I will analyze how, even from the moment Maistre wrote an early work, the Considerations sur la France, originally published in 1821, the influence of Deuteronomist theology is already present.
Furthermore, after the time of the Deuteronomist, this retributionist theology had a considerable influence over a new religious conception, according to which, suffering was no longer a punishment by God, but rather, it was the evildoer himself who brought upon his own tragedy; in other words, evil only goes back to the evildoer.
Maistre and retributionist theology We can begin to see that Maistre’s interpretation of the French Revolution is deeply embedded in Hebrew Bible theology.
In the same manner that Maistre believed the French Revolution was part of a divine plan to punish France, the Deuteronomist believed that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile were also part of a divine plan to punish Israel.
Maistre uses the same Deuteronomist theology to interpret the French Revolution.
The author of the Deuteronomist history insists on retributionist theology; in his view, God punishes accordingly.