Book Release: "Defense of the Genius of Christianity" by François-René de Chateaubriand

 



Defense of the Genius of Christianity

François-René de Chateaubriand

Buy the Kindle Edition Here

 

Chateaubriand (1761-1848) was a major French author of his time, and one of the forefathers of Romanticism, but he is little-read today.  (Though, circumstantially, a newly-translated anthology of his writings was just released a week and a half ago, which views him from the angle of his anti-Enlightenment and anti-Revolutionary thought.) One of his greatest works is the Genius of Christianity, an apology for the Catholic religion primarily on the basis of its effect on aesthetics and morals, rather than a philosophical or theological defense.  Though wildly popular, it also had its critics; to rebut his critics, Chateaubriand, inspired by Montesquieu's Defense of the Spirit of the Laws, wrote this Defense.

Unfortunately for English readers, the only available translation of the Genius (as far as I have found) omits this addition.  To remedy this lack, I have translated the Defense, adding (per usual) a heap of notes to explain Chateaubriand's references, for the reader who is not up on his 16th-18th-century French authors. 

Being short, this new translation is available in eBook format only; as with my other eBooks, it can be read for free by subscribers to Kindle Unlimited.

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