Isaac La Peyrère (1596–1676). His Life, Work and Influence

250 Pages·1987·11.838 MB·English

by  Richard H. Popkin

BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A.J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis — UCLA
VOLUME 1
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ISAAC LA PEYRERE
(1596-1676)
HIS LIFE, WORK AND INFLUENCE
BY
RICHARD H. POPKIN
^•fffifc.
E.J. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • K0BENHAVN • KOLN
1987
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Public at ion Data
Popkin, Richard Henry, 1923-
Isaac La Peyrère (1596-1676).
(Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN 0920-
8607; v. 1)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. La Peyrère, Isaac de, 1594-1676. I. Title.
II. Series.
BR1725.L2P67 1987 230 87-14599
ISBN 90-04-08157-7
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 08157 7
© Copyright 1987 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche
or any other means without written permission from the publisher
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS BY E. J. BRILL
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To my beloved wife Juliet who has patiently encouraged me and assisted
me in this research over twenty-five years. And in memory of my good
friend, Charles B. Schmitt, whose interest and concern about the subject
were of the greatest help.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
I. Introduction 1
IL The Life of Isaac La Peyrère 5
III. The History of the Pre-Adamite Theory from Ancient
Times to La Peyrère 26
IV. Biblical Criticism and Interpretation in La Peyrère 42
V. French Nationalist Messianism up to La Peyrère 60
VI. La Peyrère's Heretical Theological Theories 69
VII. The Influence of La Peyrère's Biblical Criticism 80
VIII. The Influence of La Peyrère's French Oriented
Messianism 94
IX. The Pre-Adamite Theory in the Enlightenment, and the
Scientific Conflicts of Polygenetic and Monogenetic
Theories 115
X. Pre-Adamism and Racism 146
XL La Peyrère's Legacy in the Twentieth Century 166
Notes 177
Bibliography 216
Index 235
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I first became seriously interested in Isaac La Peyrère in 1960, when I
read his Men Before Adam at the William Andrews Clark Library of
UCLA. I had heard of him earlier, when working on my History of Scep-
ticism, but did not see at the time that he played any special role. From
1960 onward I have been exploring La Peyrère*s theory, his influence on
scepticism about the Bible, racism, Jewish-Christian Messianic and
Millenarian developments, French nationalism, etc. Each time I thought
I was done, either someone brought new material or perspectives to me,
or I stumbled on to something I had not seen before. I have just added
four new items to the text, before sending the manuscript off to the
publisher.
I should now like to thank the many foundations, institutions, libraries
and persons who have helped me in this work. Of course some of those
acknowledged do not agree with some of my conclusions, but their aid
was of great importance. I have also acknowledged some people's specific
help in some of the footnotes.
I am grateful too for fellowships given me by the Alexander Kohut
Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the John Simon
Guggenheim Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, The National Endowment for
the Humanities, as well as for research grants from Harvey Mudd Col-
lege, The University of California San Diego and Washington Universi-
ty, St. Louis, to work on this project.
The following libraries have been most helpful and generous in letting
me use their materials: In the United States: The Boston Public Library,
the William Andrews Clark Library and the Research Library of the
University of California Los Angeles, the libraries of the University of
California Berkeley and the University of California San Diego; the
Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard University Library, the Hoose
Library of the University of Southern California, the Huntington
Library, the Newberry Library, the New York Public Library. Abroad:
The Bibliothèque de Chantilly, Bibliothèque Mazarin, Bibliothèque Na-
tionale of Paris, Bibliothèque de Port Roy ad, Bibliothèque Ste.
Genevieve, Bibliothèque Municipale of Sémur, Bibliothèque Municipale
of Toulouse, the library of the University of Toulouse, the library of the
University of Amsterdam, the library of the University of Leiden, the
Rosenthaliana Library of Amsterdam, the library of Ets Haim, Amster-
dam, the Royal Library of the Hague, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the
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X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
British Library, the Mocatta Library of the University of London, the
library of the Warburg Institute of the University of London, Dr.
Williams Library, the Royal Library, Brussels, the Royal Library,
Copenhagen, and the National Library, Israel.
And, I should like to thank the following people for their aid and comfort
in discussing aspects of the topic with me: Joseph Agassi, Susanna Aker-
man, Sir Isaiah Berlin, Harry Bracken, Norman Cohn, Paul Dibon,
Shmuel Ettinger, James Force, Amos Funkenstein, Patrick Gerard,
Judah Goldin, James Groves, Moshe Idel, Yosef Kaplan, Karl Kottman,
Paul O. Kristeller, Marion Kuntz, Elisabeth Labrousse, Imre Lakatos,
Arnoldo Momigliano, Ruth Necheles, David F. Norton, Shlomo Pines,
Leon Poliakov, Leonora C. Rosenfield, H. P. Salomon, Charles
Schmitt, Gerschom Scholem, Steven S. Schwarzschild, Giorgio Tonelli,
Mayir Vereté, John N. Watkins and Richard A. Watson.
My colleague, Seymour Pollack, has been of great assistance in the
technical preparation of the text.
And, Mary L. D. Scott, Melanie Miller, Dorothy Fleck, Shaaron Ben-
jamin and Melissa Hall have kindly labored to type and word-process
the manuscript.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Some of the most revolutionary ideas in biblical criticism and in Judeo-
Christian theology were advanced by the French Millenarian, Isaac La
Peyrère, in the middle of the seventeenth century. His questioning of the
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, of the authenticity of the present
text of Scripture, and of the accuracy of Scripture with regard to its ac-
count of the history of mankind had tremendous effects on his contem-
poraries as well as thinkers of later times. He was regarded as perhaps
the greatest heretic of the age, even worse than Spinoza, who took over
some of his most challenging ideas. He was refuted over and over again
by leading Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant theologians. Nonetheless
some of his ideas gradually became a basic part of biblical scholarship,
greatly influenced the development of anthropology, and affected
Millenarian political history.
However, the man who could contend that the Bible was not ac-
curate, that there were men before Adam, and that the Bible was only
the account of Jewish history; who could shock the philosophical-
theological world of his time, is hardly known today. He is remembered,
if at all, as a footnote to the biblical criticism of Spinoza, Richard Simon
and Jean Astruc, and as a footnote in the history of anthropology. He
has been reduced to a small paragraph in encyclopedias which present
him as the formulator of the pre-Adamite theory. Only in the last few
years has there been a revival of interest in La Peyrère and his revolu-
tionary ideas.
In the present volume I shall present an intellectual biography of the
man, and place him in the history of the religious ideas of his
predecessors, and trace his influence from the mid seventeenth century
onward. In so doing I hope it will become clearer how certain aspects of
the secular world view emerged from various Renaissance and Reforma-
tion speculations. Some of the challenges to the biblical world view of-
fered by La Peyrère, whether so intended or not, set the stage for
understanding the world without reference to the supernatural.
When La Peyrère expounded his views on the Bible and its real
message, he based his interpretation on a series of radical challenges to
the religious traditions of both Judaism and Christianity. First, La
Peyrère denied that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. Others,
such as Rabbi Ibn Ezra in the Middle Ages, had raised the point that
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