The Quest for the New Jerusalem: Jean de Labadie and the Labadists, 1610-1744 (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 6~7 circular" (135). In conclusion, "since the soul is present only in a living body, there must be a genuine soul-body union, yet the soul is powerless to move such a body .... The likely sort of union.., is an epiphenomenalism" (137). "Descartes commits himself to a mind-brain identity, that mind is matter and that matter can think" (i39). Thus, all of us who have worried about mind-body interaction in Descartes have been misled. Soffer's book is an intelligent and stimulating discourse on Descartes' possible materialism. The book also belongs to a growing body of commentaries on Descartes in English in which a scholar reacts to and argues only with other commentators who write in English. Thus, in a book on the relationships among Descartes' metaphysics, physics, moral philosophy, and theodicy, no account is taken of the interpretations of Gouhier, Gilson, Gueroult, Rodis-Lewis, Marion, especially Leroy and Espinas, and a dozen other crucial French commentators, except for one or two brief references as their views are reflected in the works of Caton, Curley, Frankfurt, Grayeff, Kennington, Kenny, Williams, and Wilson, who are Soffer's main protagonists . The only reference in his bibliography not in English is to Descartes' Oeuvres, alphabetized under Adam and Tannery, who are oddly indicated as translators, not editors. He quotes Descartes from Haldane and Ross and Kenny, whose translations are also listed alphabetically not under Descartes but under the translators' names. I suppose that makes a certain sense. I do not mean to imply that Soffer's book is bad. It is a worthwhile contribution to what can only be called the Anglo-American school of Descartes studies, characterized by more stress on analytical implications than on historical context. To be sure, French scholars in turn seldom refer to commentaries in any language other than French. For fully comprehensive studies, you usually must go to the Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians , Italians, Japanese, etc., who not only read, but also take seriously scholarship in languages other than their own. This in itself is an interesting aspect of the history of philosophy of our times. RICHARD A. WATSON Washington University Trevor J. Saxby, The Questfor theNewJerusalem:Jean de Labadieand the Labadists, 16xox744 . International Archives of the History of Ideas, l 15. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987. Pp. xiii + 49 o. DFL 215. This is a fascinating account about a fascinating man and his movement. It is not an easy task to write a biography of Jean de Labadie, the Jesuit from Bordeaux who, after having turned to Protestantism in order to accomplish the God-appointed reform among the Reformed, acted in Geneva as "a second Calvin," and ended up as a separatist. As Gregorio Leti observed, one had never found a preacher or presbyter more feared, respected, and acclaimed than Labadie. Till well into the eighteenth century Labadism was a fashionable label for anything smelling of heterodoxy. Thus Philipp Jakob Spener, the father of German pietism, who had attended some of Labadie's conventicles in Geneva, had to defend himself time and again against the 618 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY a8:4 OCTOBER 199o charge of Labadism. Labadie has been described as a spiritual chameleon, a psychological enigma, in whose intriguing personality a certain duplicity is not to be denied. Emphasizing the need for moral reform, he himself was accused more than once of not living up to his own moral standards. In this connection the great attraction Labadie exerted on women (one need only think of Anna Maria van Schurman, Louise Huyghens, the three sisters Aerssen van Sommelsdyk, the youngest--and prettiest--of whom became Labadie's wife in due time) was used by his opponents as a welcome argument. Most such observations were tendentious, made to discredit Labadie. But several examples can be mentioned which throw doubts upon Labadi6's sincerity, for example his dealings with the Quakers. Still, his personality made quite an impression on some of his learned contemporaries. To the large circle of his correspondents belonged the Basel divines Johannes Buxtorf and Lukas Gernler; he was in contact with John Duty,Jan Amos Comenius (who intended to include Labadie in his plans for a collegium...