Saint-Simon's "New Christianity" Summary and Impressions - Saint-Simon's exquisite writing that sharply criticizes the Church and teaches the construction of an ideal world.
I would like to introduce "New Christianity" published by Saint-Simon in 1825. I read "New Christianity" translated by Hiroshi Mori in "Sangyo-sha no kyōdo ryōshi kenkyō anwō" (The Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Other Essays), published by Iwanami Shoten in 2001.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Saint-Simon (1760-1825), a "sower of ideas" who can be said to be the source of various social thought and social sciences today. This book contains two works from the last years of his life, "The Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist" and "The New Christianity," which show the point of his achievement as an advocate and promoter of positivism and industrialism. In a plain, conversational style, he explains the reorganization of society led by the "industrialists," the producer class.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, from the cover of "Doctrinal Questions and Answers of Industrialists," translated by Hiroshi Mori.
Previous Article"Summary and Impressions of Saint-Simon's "Doctrinal Questions and Answers of the Industrialists" - the main work of one of the visionary socialists, Saint-Simon."As I mentioned in the previous section, we will look again at Saint-Simon himself before we get to the main story.
Claude-Henri de Rourvroy, Conte de Saint-Simon was born in Paris on October 17, 1760, and died there on May 19, 1855, also in Paris.
The sixty-five years in which Hobsbawm lived were a turbulent period in which world historical events that gave birth to modern social relations occurred without a moment's pause: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, Napoleon's domination of continental Europe, the first depression in England after the Industrial Revolution, and the "Peterloo Massacre. It was a period in which what Hobsbawm called "the double revolution" was underway.
Although Saint-Simon had a unique personal involvement in the issues of his time, beginning with his service in the American Revolution and including national property speculation in the French Revolution, he also paid strong attention to society beyond the Straits of Dover (for example, with critical references to the "Peterloo Massacre" on the right), and he directly He lived directly in this period. This is an important point for understanding his thought.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, translated by Hiroshi Mori, Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Others, p. 338.
Some line breaks have been made.
Saint-Simon was born to a venerable noble family and raised in an Enlightenment ideological education.
And, as explained above, he will be a man who lived through turbulent times, including the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars.
The work that became Saint-Simon's last work was "The New Christianity," which we will introduce here.
As the title of this article suggests, Saint-Simon's work is a sharp critique of the Church and the construction of an ideal world.
And it is told already from the beginning of this work, with the engine running at full throttle. Saint-Simon develops this work in a question-and-answer format, using the mouth of an "innovator". Let's take a look at it, though it will be a bit long.
conservatist Do you believe in God?
innovator Good bye, I believe in God.
maintenance Do you believe that Christianity is derived from God?
leather Yes, I believe so.
maintenance If Christianity is derived from God, it cannot be improved at all. Yet, with your writings, you are trying to inspire artists, industrialists, and scientists to improve this religion. Therefore, you are in self-contradiction because your opinions and your beliefs are at odds with each other.
leather The discrepancy you believe you have found between my opinion and my faith is only apparent. We must distinguish between what God Himself has said and what a priest has said in His name.
What God has said is certainly not something that can be improved upon, yet what the priest has said in the name of God constitutes one knowledge that, like all other knowledge of man, can be improved upon. Theological theories, like theories of physics, chemistry, physiology, etc., need to be transformed and renewed at some point in time.
maintenance Which parts of Christianity do you consider to be of divine origin? Which parts of Christianity do you consider to be man-made?
leather God said, "Men should act as brothers toward one another.Humans should act as brothers to each other.". This sublime principle includes all that is derived from God in Christianity.
maintenance Eh! You reduce what is derived from God in Christianity to just one principle?
leather God has always connected all things to only one principle. And God has always derived all things from this principle. Otherwise, God's will for man would never have been coherent. It would be blasphemy to claim that God Almighty created his religion based on a number of principles.
By the way, according to this principle, which God has given to man as a code of conduct, man must organize society so that it can be most beneficial to the greatest majority. In all his work, in all his actions, man must aim to improve the spiritual and material life of the most numerous classes as quickly and as completely as possible.
I say that the part of Christianity that originates in God is there and there alone.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, translated by Hiroshi Mori, Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Others, p. 242-244.
We must distinguish between what God has said Himself and what the priest has said in His name."
Although this is a slightly milder way of putting it in this passage at the beginning of the book, these words form the basis of his later criticism.
San Simon criticizes, "I believe in God, but the cult and priestly class that runs it distort its teachings."
And his ideal world is."Humans should act as brothers to each other."This is the basis of the very simple teaching that Saint-Simon says of this: "The most important thing is to be able to see the world through the eyes of the people.
In the new Christianity, ,There is no morality in any of this., ,All men should act as brothers to one another.It would be derived directly from that principle that And this principle, which is part of primitive Christianity, is onedeformationAfter the "first" or "second" of the two, it will be presented as the objective of all religious activities today.
This regenerated principle may be expressed as follows. Religion must guide society toward the great goal of improving the condition of the poorest classes as quickly as possible.
Those who will initiate the new Christianity and be the leaders of the new Church will be those who are capable of making the greatest contribution to the improvement of the welfare of the poorest classes. The duties of the clergy will come down to teaching the doctrines of the New Christianity, which the leaders of the Church will continually strive to perfect.
The characteristics that true Christianity must develop in its present state are, in brief, as follows. We will compare this conception of a religious system with the religions of Europe and America. From this comparison we can easily draw evidence that all the so-called Christianity professed today is nothing but heresy, that it does not aim directly at the quickest improvement of the welfare of the poorest classes, which is the sole aim of Christianity.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, translated by Hiroshi Mori, "The Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Others," p. 250-251.
The men who will initiate the new Christianity and be the leaders of the new Church will be those who are capable of making the greatest contribution to the improvement of the welfare of the poorest classes. The task of the clergy will come down to teaching the doctrines of the New Christianity, which the leaders of the Church will continually strive to perfect."
This is one of the most important ideas of San Simon. And the leaders mentioned here are the "industrialists" described in "The Doctrinal Questions and Answers of Industrialists," which I introduced in the previous issue.
The world would be led by moral industrialists who believed in God's teachings and sought to improve social welfare. This was the ideal society that Saint-Simon strived for.
And at the end of the quote above.We can easily draw evidence that all the so-called Christianity professed today is nothing but heresy, that it does not aim directly at the most rapid improvement of the welfare of the poorest classes, which is the sole purpose of Christianity."After this, San Simon will thoroughly criticize the existing cult, as stated in the following paragraph.
One example is presented here.
I charge the Pope and the Cardinals with heresy on the following second point.
I charge them on the grounds that they do not have the knowledge to lead their congregation on the path of salvation at all.
I accuse them of harmful education of seminary students and of failing to give those they ordain as priests the education they need to be good shepherds - shepherds who can properly lead the flock to which they are entrusted. We charge them for this reason.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, translated by Hiroshi Mori, Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Others, p. 256.
Saint Simon criticizes the Pope, who is an absolute, to his face, "accusing him as a heretic". This is quite intense.
He also stated shortly thereafter.
Roman monks, until Leo X took the papal throne,orthodoxThe first was the first. This is because, up to this period, Roman monks were superior to the seculars in all studies, and the progress of these studies contributed to the improvement of the welfare of the poorest classes. After this period, however, the Roman monks became heretics. They no longer practiced only theology, for they had been surpassed by the seculars in the arts, in the exact sciences, and in their industrial prowess.
Iwanami Shoten, Saint-Simon, translated by Hiroshi Mori, "The Doctrinal Questions and Answers of an Industrialist and Others," p. 258.
These very words could be said in the religious world today. No, unfortunately, it can be said.
As a priest myself, this was very poignant to me...
We have no knowledge of the science of our times and no presence in industrial activity.
If it is said that it is not the original meaning for a monk to become a scientist or to be active in business, it is true. However, I wonder how much we are contributing to the welfare of society...I think this is a really serious question.
For they no longer master anything but theology, and have been overtaken by the seculars in the arts, in the exact sciences, and in their industrial abilities."
I will keep this in mind. I will be diligent.
Saint-Simon continues to criticize the church and develop his own theories for the next 50 pages or so. There are a number of surprising ideas, and words that would make even those of us living in the present day groan.
Although labeled a fantastical socialist by Marx Engels, Saint-Simon was a very interesting thinker.
The above is a summary of Saint-Simon's "New Christianity" and my impression of it - Saint-Simon's exquisite writing that sharply criticizes the Church and preaches the construction of an ideal world.
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