SUR L’ATHÉISME ET SA DIFFUSION AU XVI<superscript>e</superscript> SIÈCLE. (French)

Atheism, whether considered as an attitude of indifference to divinity or as a rational (not systematic) rejection of it, did not fade as if by miracle in the Middle Ages. However, it was almost invisible in that period: it had not been conceptualized and philosophers and theologians did not take the phenomenon seriously. Only heresy was a source of concern. Everything was to change during the Renaissance and particularly the Reformation. Then the “atheists” would also then be perceived as a threatening collective entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L’athéisme, envisagé soit comme une attitude d’indifférence à la divinité, soit comme son rejet raisonné (pas systématique), ne s’évanouit pas comme par miracle au Moyen Âge. Cependant il y est quasiment invisible : son concept n’existe pas et philosophes et théologiens ne prennent pas le phénomène au sérieux. Seule l’hérésie inquiète. Tout va changer à la Renaissance et particulièrement à l’âge des Réformes. Les « athées » vont alors eux aussi être perçus comme une menaçante entité collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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