Voltaire

Biography

Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet on November 21, 1694 in Paris, France. He was the fifth son of his middle-class parents. Voltaire's father was a prosperous lawyer and notary who became treasurer to the Chambres des Comptes (Lowers 5). Upon Voltaire's birth, it was thought that he would not live very long, so a priest came to baptize him immediately, hoping to save his soul (Darrow). During this time, France was close to bankruptcy and was basically run under the rule of one church. The church in itself set a standard of beliefs that must be followed explicitly, at least in all outward appearances. Literature questioning the church's accepted practices would be deemed heretic and destroyed, the author most likely suffering the same fate (Darrow). Thus, Voltaire had plenty to write about in his works.

His early education was the responsibility of an irreligious priest named Abbe de Chateauneuf, who tired to keep Voltaire's mind free of the superstition of the times (Darrow). The Abbe introduced him to deism and taught him to recite lines from the satirical and shocking poem Moisade (Lowers 5). He later refers to Abbe as a scoundrel in his novel Candide. Near age 10, Voltaire was sent away to a boys' school, where the the first stages of his writing began. Later, Voltaire's father decided that his son should be an attorney, even though Voltaire had already expressed his desire to write. His father said, "Literature is the profession of the man who wishes to be useless to society, and a burden to his relatives, and to die of hunger" (Darrow). However, Voltaire did not die of hunger or become a burden on society. Instead his works often provided great social sommentary, and mocked society and its accepted practices. Voltaire was incarcerated twice in the Bastille for his satiric writings. The first time was in the years 1717-1718 for eleven months and the second time was in 1726. These imprisonments did not discourage him from pursuing a literary career.

Voltaire spent most of his life in Paris, until his exile to England by Chevalier de Rohan, a nobleman. While in exile, Voltaire was greatly impressed with the monarch system which England used. He liked the freedoms he had there in speech and religion. Voltaire wrote a fictional document about the English government entitled the "Lettres Philosophiques (Letters on English)" (Mason). Voltaire created much controversy with this document being as it shined upon the English system being more advanced than the French system, especially in the areas of religion.

From literature he passed to science, met members of the Royal Society, and began that study of Newton which would enable him later to replace Descartes with Newton in France (Durant 246). It had been twenty-eight years since his last visit to Paris. After seeing one of his own plays being preformed he started writing another tragedy, Irene. He wrote until he became ill and died in 1778. Upon his deathbed, Voltaire ended his long strife with the church by making a final confession in order to be buried on hallowed ground. The church, however, was not so forgiving and refused to allow his remains to be buried on sanctified grounds, but the body had already been buried. “He was buried in the Abbey of Scellères, and his body was transferred to the Panthéon on July 10, 1791, during the French Revolution. In 1814, after the first fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the House of Bourbon monarchy, Voltaire's bones were removed from the Pantheon and destroyed. His heart is preserved at La Comedie Francaise” (Wikipedia). Fifty years passed before the desecration of Voltaire's remains was discovered.

Works

• Candide

Historical Context

The Age of Enlightenment.

Anabaptist

The Anabaptists were started by a man named Huldrych Zwingli of Switzerland. He preached things such as “tithes paid to the church to sustain layabout monks and nuns can not be supported from the bible” (Armstrong 15 ). During this time the dominant church was the Roman Catholic Church led by the pope. The Anabaptist movement was one of many Christian reformations against the power and authority of the Catholic Church. “In 1523-1524 Zwingli used the support the civil authorities in Zurich to carry out the reforms that opposed the papacy, the power of the monastic orders, and the hierarchy of the church” (Wentz 35). The Anabaptists are so named because they did not believe in infancy baptism. They instead advocated the idea of believers baptism because only as an adult can you dedicate your life to to God and ask for repentence of sin, following the example of Jesus Christ being baptized as an adult; hence the name Anabaptist means re baptizers. The act of rebaptizing made them “outlaws and in church and society” (Armstrong 16 ). The Anabaptists emphasized separation of church and state, simple living, and modeling your life based upon the New testament of the bible with “little distinction between clergy and laity” (Wentz 39).

Under much persecution as with the other reformation groups, the Anabaptists came together in the city of Schleitheim listing several point of agreement: “believer’s baptism upon confession of faith; the practice of mutual church discipline (the ban); the Lord’s Supper in place of Mass; separation from the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches; the role of ministers (“shepards”); rejection of violence (“sword”); and rejection of oaths.

Jesuits

The Jesuits are also known as the Society of Jesus, was founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534. “The Jesuits were a major factor in the loyalist Reformation and have been known for their theological and educational work and their missionary programs” (Wentz 41). The Jesuits started out as "a band of preachers of the gospel ready to be sent anywhere in the world” (O'Malley 10). The Society of Jesus became a group to counter the reformation and made themselves at the disposal of the Catholic Church, remaining loyal to the Pope.

“The Jesuits’ first missions were established …..in Paraguay and Brazil” (O'Mara322) were they established missionaries that turned into self-sustaining villages called reductions. The Jesuits taught the natives not only Christianity but also skills such as “carpentry and the arts---painting, sculpture, and music” (O'Mara322).Within the walls of each city there was between 1000 and 5000 natives sharing the wealth created by the city. Each reduction had churches, hospitals, prisons, and schools. The economic wealth was so great that the surrounding villages including the Spanish settlements became jealous of their success (O'Mara322).

Resources

Voltaire at encyclopedia.com

Voltaire at Wikipedia

Works Cited

Armstrong, Chris, Bach, Jeff. “People of Conscience.” Christian History & Biography Fall Issue 84 (2004): 14-17

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=15277043

Darrow, Clarence. "Voltaire". 1 Feb 2006. Voltaire

Durant, Will, and Ariel. The age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.

Mason, Haydn. "Voltaire: Overview." Reference Guide to World Literature. 8 Feb 2006. Voltaire

O’Malley, John W. “Jesuit History: A Hot New Topic.” America Vol. 192 no. 16 (2005): 8-11

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=16926325

O’Mara, Richard. “The Jesuit Republic of South America.” Virginia Quarterly Review Vol. 75 no 2 (1999): 322

http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=1730035

Wentz, Richard. Religion in the New World: The Shaping of Religious Traditions in the United States. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1990.

Lowers, James K. "Voltaire Candide Notes." Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliff Notes Incorporated, 1965.