著者

渡辺 優

出版者

東京大学文学部宗教学研究室

雑誌

東京大学宗教学年報 (ISSN:02896400)

巻号頁・発行日

no.30, pp.49-66, 2012

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論文/Articles"If God predestines me to be damned, nevertheless I would love Him." The polemic centered on this formula of "pure love," that is to say the "impossible supposition," constitutes one of the most complicated and rich issues in the history of religious ideas in modern France. Our discussion is principally based on fundamental differences regarding currents of thought we discover in controversies on the doctrine of pure love. This problematic of pure love, which draws a line between the crepuscule of modern mysticism and the dawn of the Enlightenment, seems equally fruitful for the genealogical examination of the modern understanding of religion. From this historical point of view, we deal especially with the spiritual texts of François de Sales, Fénelon, Madame Guyon, Bossuet and Pierre Nicole. In the first section, we look into the way the "impossible supposition" is set out as an essential proposition in the doctrine of pure love articulated by François de Sales and Fénelon. In the next, we confirm that this doctrine is a crucial response to the problems of evil and salvation which were radically provoked in early modern times by Augustinianism and predestination. That is how we can qualify this doctrine systematized by Fénelon as a therapeutic doctrine giving a spiritual signification to his own spiritual suffering caused by an obsession with damnation. Moreover, it will also give rise to some thoughts on how Fénelon's doctrine of pure love paradoxically shows an egocentric character despite the fact that it preaches the abandonment of all of one's own interests. The subject in section three is the interpretation of the doctrine of "dark night" of the soul, an essential notion that dates back to the mystical doctrine of John of the Cross. Which differences are there in the way of understanding it according to a position that is for or against the doctrine of pure love? John of the Cross regarded the "dark night" as a succession of ordeals such as an interior dryness. Fénelon and Guyon consider the darkness by which the soul is seized rather positively, whereas it is negative for Bossuet and Nicole, for whom human nature must seek happiness. Such a distinction comes from a fundamental difference in the conception of faith or that of love. Covering thoughts on these matters from François de Sales to Fénelon, after recognizing the doctrine of pure love as one outcome in the latter, we will return to the former. The ultimate aim of our discussion is to throw light on another style of mystical love that is different from the pure love of Fénelon's doctrine.