Nous nous fixons au sens littéral: A Benedictine Biblical Scholar in the Age of Enlightenment
(2016) Benedictine Cultures — Location: Downside Abbey, near Bath (27.October.2016)
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- Dom Augustin Calmet (1672-1757), Abbot of Senones (Lorraine) and twice Abbot General of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Vanne, is best known in the current literature of intellectual history for two things: his treatise on Hungarian vampires, and his influence on Voltaire’s biblical knowledge. This paper will consider neither of these angles on his career, but examine on its own terms his project to popularise knowledge of Sacred Scripture through his 26-volume "Commentaires sur l’Ancien et le Nouveau Testament", and the two-volume "Dictionnaire historique et critique de la Bible" abstracted from it. Written in French, these works of reference engaged with Jewish, Protestant and Enlightenment scholarship, making a wide variety of readings widely available. The paper will focus on Calmet’s approach to Old Testament animals that were often rendered in 16th and 17th-century vernacular translations with the names of fantastic beasts (such as dragons, unicorns, satyrs, mermaids, and basilisks) and that were often glossed as metaphors — symbols of powerful persecutors, of brute strength or animal majesty, or of tempting or terrifying demons. Calmet insisted on eschewing metaphorical readings to identify the animal underlying the image.
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Arblaster, P. (2016). Nous nous fixons au sens littéral: A Benedictine Biblical Scholar in the Age of Enlightenment. Benedictine Cultures, Downside Abbey, near Bath. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/244092