Antoine-Jacques Roustan
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Antoine-Jacques Roustan (23 October 1734 – 15 June 1808) was a
Genevan , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
pastor and theologian, who engaged in an extensive correspondence with
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
. Unlike Rousseau, he believed that a Christian republic was practical - that the Christian religion was not incompatible with patriotism or republicanism.


Life

Roustan was born on 23 October 1734 in
Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
, the son of Jacques Roustan, a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
shoemaker and Marie Baile. He studied theology at Geneva, and was ordained a minister in 1759. In 1761 he married Jeanne-Françoise, daughter of Justus Saint-Andre, a barber. He was a schoolteacher and minister of St. Evangile in Geneva from 1761–1764, when he became pastor of the Swiss Church of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
(1764–1791). In 1791 he became a " bourgeois" (gentleman) of Geneva, and in 1792 became a pastor in Geneva, and from 1797-1798 he was a headmaster. He was elected a Member of the Council of Two Hundred in 1793. Roustan and his friend the Rev. Jacob Vernes wrote a History of Geneva, which remained in manuscript form. He published several books on Christianity and Deism.


Correspondence with Rousseau

Roustan exchanged many letters with Rousseau between 1757 and 1767. In his first letter of March 1757 he compared Rousseau to
Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
."Plus je me repasse en revue, et plus je trouve que je suis tout pétrifié de Socrate; lui et vous faites meme histoire, et en vérité nous sommes si Athéniens que nous meritons bien d'en avoir un." Rousseau praised him in return, but, although polite about the poetry he had sent, advised him against seeking a career as a man of letters. Roustan wrote to Rousseau after reading ''
Julie, or the New Heloise ''Julie; or, The New Heloise'' (french: Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse), originally entitled ''Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes'' ("Letters from two lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps"), is ...
'' (1761) saying that although he found the novel delightful, he was concerned that it was immoral in describing adulterous love so vividly and in describing hope as the only reason to believe in Christianity. He visited Rousseau in
Môtiers Môtiers was a municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and ...
in 1762 and welcomed in him in London in 1766, but retained his views on the compatibility between Christianity and patriotism. Four of his works – ''Défense du christianisme considéré du côté politique'', wherein he refuted some of Rousseau's arguments from '' On the Social Contract''; ''Discours sur les moyens de réformer les mœurs''; ''Examen des quatre beaux siècles de Voltaire''; and ''Dialogue entre Brutus et César aux Champs Élysées'' – were collected and published in 1764 under the title ''Offrande aux autels et à la patrie''. The rebuttal in ''Défense du Christianisme ou réfutation du chapitre VIII du Contrat Social'' is friendly, and in fact Rousseau approved of his work and helped him with finding a publisher. In it Roustan implied that Rousseau may not himself have believed in his stated view that the scriptures preach servitude and resignation, and went on to say that doing good works was an integral part of the religion, including fighting for freedom and against tyranny. He therefore felt that Christianity and Republicanism or patriotism were fully compatible. In 1776 Roustan published a rebuttal to Rousseau's ''Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar'' in '' Emile: or, On Education''. His ''Examen critique de la seconde partie de la "profession de foi du Vicaire Savoyard"'' was one of the main reasons that Rousseau was mocked by
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
in Voltaire's ''Remontrances des pasteurs du Gévaudan''.


Bibliography

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Footnotes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roustan, Antoine-Jacques 1734 births 1808 deaths Theologians from the Republic of Geneva Philosophers from the Republic of Geneva 18th-century clergy from the Republic of Geneva Calvinist and Reformed ministers Calvinist and Reformed theologians 18th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians