Rousseau's Interpretation of Sovereignty of Religion

The research will set forth the philosophical and social context of Rousseau's examination of the sovereignty of religion and then to discuss how the pattern of ideas in Julie and The Social Contract reorganizes and reconciles a commitment to religious belief in a way that conforms currents of Enlightenment thought to the Christian ethical tradition, or more exactly legitimates the sovereignty of a reinterpreted Christianity in an ideal of secular social organization. Rousseau's reorganization of religious themes, especially in Julie, ou La nouvelle HTloise, will be seen to provide a symbolic system meant to use the content of Christian ethical thought to interpret and shape the content of the social and political ethical systems that were being secularized during the Enlightenment.

By the 18th century, the intellectual ground had been prepared for the Enlightenment. The Reformation had long since been successfully employed against the rigidity of the Roman Church, but, by the 18th century, Protestantism had achieved quite as much an institutional authoritarianism as Catholicism, and monarchy r

. . .
wife and mother and raises children according to correct social form, her real passion and insight are reserved for Saint-Preux. This reserved emotional territory, which she rearticulates on her deathbed, has been interpreted as "idealization of the male teacher/female student relationship, as well as the domestic tale's ultimate faith in marriage." In other words, Rousseau uses the heroine's psychoemotional relationship with her lovers to personify an ideal woman-as-student in Julie, an ideal man-as-mentor in Saint-Preux, and an ideal understanding husband in Wolmar. Julie becomes the modern figure of the historical Heloise, with her distant correspondent the romantic figuration of Abelard. The love between Julie and Saint-Preux is as doomed as that of Heloise and Abelard, but they survive to old age, the tyrannous authority of the church unable to touch them in a secularized, anticlerical France. A good deal of Julie's correspondence deals with formulation of an appropriate concept of God and of human society. It becomes manifest because of the baron's rather peculiar choice of Julie's husband: He is a middle-aged Russian TmigrT and an atheist, and the baron's family is of godfearing Protestant stock. The hostility to Catholic
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Social Contract, Ideal Form, Reason Kant, Heloise Abelard, Cunegonde Benedictine, Julie Saint-Preux, Jesus Christ, Clarens Saint-Preux, Saint-Preux Julie, Contract Julie, social contract, ou la, nouvelle htloise, ou la nouvelle, julie ou, la nouvelle htloise, julie ou la, la nouvelle, pure reason, reason kant, critique pure reason, julie saint-preux, critique pure, practical reason, rousseau's social contract,
Approximate Word count = 4601
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Rousseau Interpretation of Sovereignty of Religion