Entre évolution et révolution : l’idée de religion universelle chez Pierre-Simon Ballanche et Edgar Quinet
Between evolution and revolution : the idea of universal religion in Pierre-Simon Ballanche and Edgar Quinet

Summary/Abstract: The article proposes a comparative study of the religious ideas of Pierre-Simon Ballanche and Edgar Quinet, focusing on the relations that in their context the two authors establish between the notions of evolution and revolution. Both admit the existence of a divine revelation at once eternal and progressive that unfolds in history; in both, also, the French Revolution and the rupture it has operated occupy a central place in the reflection on religion. But while Ballanche’s universal religion is closer to traditionalist and theosophical conceptions, Quinet’s, taking the form of modern millenarianism, is representative of the current of secular humanitarianism.

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