Etudes Epistémè (Feb 2021)
Prêcher contre Rome au temps de la Révocation : Babylone, figure archétypale de la polémique anticatholique dans l’homilétique protestante du second XVIIe siècle
Abstract
In Protestant anti-Catholic sermons, the figure of Babylon – an archetypal figure in Reformed anti-Catholic homiletics in the second half of the seventeenth century – is associated with the misdeeds of the Roman clergy and their treacherous attempts to convert Protestants. Babylon is one of the most defamatory scriptural analogies. Based on a historical-theological approach, this study explores the violence of Calvinist discourse in the exegesis of this biblical motif. By delving into the emblematic field of Reformed preaching in the period of the Revocation, it explores a mixed pastoral discourse that was transformed in the context of oppression, and seeks to evaluate the stakes of such filiation and the nature of the rhetorical combat it entails. How does the use of the figure of Babylon shed light on the Protestant opposition to Rome? What radicality does it convey? How did Reformed preachers in exile endeavour to neutralize Louis XIV’s policy of Catholicization by using biblical figures of hostility, while still trying to build a community? Looking at this critical form of preaching, which draws on the book of Revelation, the investigation focuses on a symbolic theological topos, which is not based on mere invective but on a highly polemic and prophetic conception of time. Such preaching is as radical towards the Roman Catholic adversary as it is comforting and subversive towards the most loyal Protestants, for whom it opens up a biblical horizon of promise and supports the idea of battle. It thus appears how much, in times of pastoral competition, sermons become a form of scriptural polemology.
