An antidogmatic and tolerant thinker. Reflections on Voltaire, "Storia dell’affermazione del cristianesimo", edited by D. Felice, introduction by R. Campi, Roma, Aracne, 2020, 162 pp.

Abstract

Written in 1776 and published posthumous for the first time in Kehl’s editions in 1784 and 1785, the work Storia dell’affermazione del cristianesimo ("Histoire de l’établissement du christianisme") represents the apex of Voltaire’s extended reflections on religion. The tirades that the French philosopher hurled against Christianity and the Church, consequent to a real historical investigation on Christian religion, have the aim to sensitize the reader to the true religions values, in order to spur a critical view which abandons the dogmatic vision imposed by the Church through the centuries. This new vision exhorts the reader to embrace a pure religion, that is to say deism (or, as the philosopher prefers to define it “theism”). The recent edition of the book, edited by Domenico Felice, represents a further step forward in the definition of the figure of Voltaire, by presenting exhaustively all the components of the work.