Who was Voltaire, and how did he impact Christian history?

Response

François-Marie Arouet (1694—1778), more commonly known by his pen name, Voltaire, was a French philosopher of the Enlightenment era who greatly influenced the French intellectual scene for fifty years. He received a traditional education from the Jesuits at Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris but chose to pursue his literary interests over a career in law.

Voltaire made significant contributions to theism. Instead of outright rejecting atheism, he believed that one could deduce the existence of a Creator through philosophical inquiry and natural theology. He embraced many of Thomas Aquinas’s arguments for the existence of God and formulated his own version of the cosmological argument. Additionally, Voltaire supported various attributes of God such as His necessity, omnipotence, eternity, simplicity, and intelligence. He also endorsed William Paley’s teleological argument for design, stating, “This, in itself, seems to me the most compelling proof of God’s existence, and I cannot fathom how it could be refuted.”

Despite labeling his philosophy as “theism,” Voltaire was actually a deist, leading him to reject several Christian doctrines. For instance, the issue of evil led him to question God’s qualities of goodness and benevolence, as well as the concept of an afterlife.

Referring to the Christian faith as the “notorious superstition” and adopting the typical deist position of anti-supernaturalism, Voltaire dismissed all biblical miracles. While acknowledging Jesus as superior to other religious figures and embracing His ethical teachings, Voltaire reinterpreted Christ as a humanist and deist, denying His divinity.

Voltaire summarized his opinion of the Bible as follows: “The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles praise, what scoundrels preach, and what young children are forced to memorize” (Philosophical Dictionary, 1764). Believing that “we are witnessing the decline of Christianity,”

(op. cit.), he felt that the Christian faith would soon become extinct and the Bible would be nothing more than an ancient relic. Ironically, years after his death, Christians bought Voltaire’s house and utilized his personal printing press to produce Bibles. While some have attempted to label this tale as merely an urban legend, others have investigated the matter and confirmed its authenticity.