The History and Character of St. Paul Examined: in a letter to Theophilus, a Christian friend
Contributions
- Anonymous (Peter Annet)
- author
- F. Page
- publisher
Related resources
- has translation
- Examen critique de la vie et des ouvrages de Saint Paul: avec une Dissertation sur Saint-Pierre par feu M. Boulanger translation has translation
Summary (extracted citations)
"Custom alters the face and fashion of things, and length of time, in many cases, lays truth and falsehood on a level… Thus all imposture, when aided by Power, gains ground in the world… Error, when it becomes habitual, is as pleasing as truth" (p.49).
Held by
Notes
Postscript signed M. P. (Moral Philosopher), a known pseudonym used by Annet.
"Using two weapons, the appeal to reason and ridicule – and of course a good knowledge of biblical quotations – Annet had exposed the mechanisms through which Paul had "modelled Christianity, and was therefore, properly speaking, the Author of a new Religion. In other words, his work called into question Christianity itself as an imposture ‘aided by Power’, through an effective ad hominem attack strategy Annet used in other writings as well. Annet had later paid a steep price – the pillory and Newgate – for his blasphemous ideas and particularly for expressing them in a courageous periodical, The Free Enquirer (1761), where, for the first time in the free-thinking tradition, he appealed to women readers as well".
From Erica Mannucci, 'The democratization of anti-religious thought in revolutionary times', in Comparative Critical Studies (2018).