Note 46 — Lecture VII. Free Thought: In Germany Subsequently To 1835; And In France During The Present Century.

The object of this note is to enumerate some of the chief of those theologians to whom allusion is made in the text, and to exhibit their relations to each other.

One of the best known is Colani, a pastor at Strasburg, the able editor of the Nouvelle Revue de la Theologie, and author of several volumes of sermons: also A. Reville, pastor of the Walloon church at Rotterdam, a frequent writer in the same Review, and in the Revue des Deux Mondes; Reuss, a professor at Strasburg, author of a history of the early church, in French, and Beiträge zu den Theologischen Wissenschaften, in German; Scherer, the friend of Vinet, once professor at Geneva, author of Mélanges de Critique Religieuse, reprinted mostly from Colani's Review, of which the first four papers give his theological views on Inspiration, the Bible, and Sin.1071

The able critic, Michel Nicholas, professor at Montauban, author of Etudes Critiques sur la Bible, and Des Doctrines Religieuses des Juifs pendant les deux siècles antérieurs à l'ère Chrétienne, probably may be classed with the same; but he has not written on doctrine. A. Cocquerel fils, pastor at Paris, also is connected with Colani's Review, and is considered to possess the same sympathies.

The difference of the point of view of these writers from that of the Eclectic school would be, that while the latter would regard the human race as able to pass beyond Christianity, the former would only wish to get rid of the dogmas which they think have been superadded in the course of ages, and to return to the simple teaching of the sermon on the mount.

One writer more has been reckoned with the same party by [pg 449] the English public, E. De Pressensé, a pastor in the free Protestant church at Paris, author of the Church History so often referred to in this volume, and of sermons on the Sauveur, and editor of the Revue Chrétienne; but he appears to possess an evangelical and more orthodox tone than some of the above.

In truth there are two distinct parties in the movement which we are describing, each of which stands in a different relation to the older parties of the protestant church. At the beginning of the century the French protestant church held an unpietistic kind of supernaturalism, not very unlike that of Reinhard in Germany, of which the best living type is the eloquent and learned A. Cocquerel pére. About 1820 an awakening of the spiritual life of the church took place, under the action of the Spirit of God primarily, and through the agency of such ministrations as those of Adolphe Monod instrumentally. From the former school has arisen the movement seen in Colani and Reville; from the latter, that seen in Vinet and Pressensé. The former is a change which has passed over the old Latitudinarian school, much like those which in Germany have taken the place of the teaching of such men as Reinhard and Bretschneider. Of the pastors named above, who belong to this class, A. Cocquerel fils is the least removed from the ordinary creed. His stand-point may be compared to that of Schleiermacher, or of the school of Groningen. (See Note 41.) Reville and Colani advance very much farther. The other movement, of which Vinet of Lausanne was the cause, has sprung from the application of science to the newly-spreading views of evangelical religion. Vinet tried to harmonize religion and knowledge, by presenting Christianity on the ground of its internal rather than its external evidence, and proclaimed it as ethics built on doctrine; which doctrine he held to be built on historic fact. His position may be best compared with Neander's in Germany, or perhaps in some respects with that of Tholuck. Nearly the same position is assumed by Pressensé at Paris, and Astié at Lausanne. Pressensé rests upon the Bible as the “formal principle” of theology, and the work of Christ as the “material.”

The writer feels much hesitation in venturing to classify these authors, which nevertheless seemed desirable on account of the spread of their writings in England. The above description, founded on personal study of their works, is confirmed by two criticisms on them; one by C. Rémusat, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Jan. 1862; the other in the British Quarterly Review, Oct. 1862. But care ought to be used in describing the actors in a movement which is not complete; and in making the attempt, to distinguish especially those who are conceived to deviate from vital truth in doctrine, from those who may differ in questions of literature or criticism. It is due to these writers to express admiration for their genuine love of intellectual and political liberty, much as we may be compelled to differ from their theological opinions.