Bayle’s Anti-Millenarianism: The Dangers of those Who Claim to Know the Future

Abstract

Millenarians and chiliasts claim to know something about the future. Pierre Bayle hated them more than almost anything else. Together with other believers in presages, revelations, and contemporary miracles, prophets, enthusiasts, millenarians, and chiliasts are lumped together as seditious fanatics, deserving of the stake. Bayle’s Historical and Critical Dictionary contains a widespread, multi-pronged, and multivalent attack on millenarians. Text or notes to numerous articles pillory millenarians: Savonarola, Kotterus, Alstedius, Comenius, Kuhlman, Drabicius, Marests, Maresius, Braunbom, Stifelius, Paulicians, to name only some. If we add the articles that assail other forms of religious superstition, inspiration, or enthusiasm, we find that a substantial portion of the Dictionary is dedicated to savage and often unfair attacks on certain kinds of religion. Considering that Bayle is known for a robust theory of tolerance and for claims of even-handedness in historiography, this cries out for an explanation.