Within and Beyond Confessional Borders: The Polemic of Félicité Lamennais and Samuel Vincent in the 1820s

Abstract

The confessional debate between Catholics and Protestants is still alive in France after the Restauration of the Monarchy in 1815, although its stakes had been transformed since the 16th and 17th century. In his Essai published in 1817, the catholic Félicité Lamennais not only reiterates some well-known traditional anti-protestant arguments, but comes up with new ones as well, more up-to-date to the century. The young reformed preacher, Samuel Vincent, replies in style.