Alfred Loisy and the Making of History of Religions: A Study of the Development of Comparative Religion in the Early 20th Century

380 Pages·2020·3.118 MB·English

by  Lannoy, Annelies

Annelies Lannoy
Alfred Loisy and the Making of History of Religions
Religionsgeschichtliche
Versuche und Vorarbeiten
Herausgegeben von
Jörg Rüpke und Christoph Uehlinger
Band 74
Annelies Lannoy
Alfred Loisy and the
Making of History of
Religions
A Study of the Development of Comparative Religion
in the Early 20th Century
ISBN 978-3-11-058377-9
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-058435-6
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-058413-4
ISSN 0939-2580
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: 2020935443
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
[E]n 1893,j’ai été chassé de l’Institut catholique pour avoir dit que lavérité
des Écritures était relative.J’ai été, sans le savoir, l’Einstein de l’histoire
des religions. Il faut que je continue.
Letter of Alfred Loisy to Franz Cumont, January 17,1922.

Acknowledgments
It is with pleasure that I here express myappreciation tothose persons and in-
stitutionsthathavebeencrucialtotheresearchforandwritingofthisbook.This
bookisthesynthesisoftheresearchIcarriedoutatGhentUniversityduringmy
first and partof mysecond postdoctoral fellowship.To a lesserextent, itdraws
onresearchIconductedaspartofmyPhDthesis.MythanksgototheResearch
Foundation—Flanders for generously funding these postdoctoral fellowships
and the doctoral research project G.0126.08.
I could not have written this book without the support and continued
encouragement of Danny Praet, who has been a generous mentor for over
10yearsnow,andwhofirstbroachedtheideaforthisstudy.Ithankhimforhav-
ing introduced me to the work—and humor—of Alfred Loisy,while making per-
sonaleffortstokeepmefarawayfromLoisy’swayoflife.Iamprofoundlygrate-
fulforhismanyinsightfulcommentsandinvaluableguidanceduringallstages
ofwriting.Overthepastyears,hiscriticalhistoricalthinkinghasbeenasource
ofinspirationandmodelformyownresearchandteaching.Inaddition,special
thanksareduetoC.J.T.Talar,whohasalsoreadtheentiremanuscriptinvarious
forms, provided many critical suggestions, and corrected grammatical errors.
I am appreciative of the support he has been providing me since my early
yearsasaPhDstudent,andIwishtothankhimforhavinggivenmetheoppor-
tunitytopresentmyresearchduringthesessionsoftheAlfredLoisyUnitatthe
annual meetings of the American Academyof Religion in San Francisco (2011),
Baltimore (2013), Boston (2017), and San Diego (2019). I am also profoundly
grateful to Corinne Bonnet, who has been a relentless source of motivation
since I first met her in 2008, and who has offered invaluable professional and
personal support. Her work, and the many stimulating conversations we had
about our distant predecessors have been instrumental in helping to shape the
ideas presented in this book. Thanks to her, I was able to spend an inspiring
timeattheUniversityofToulouse—JeanJaurèsinMarch–April2018.Iamthank-
fulforthewarmwelcomesheofferedme,andfortheenthusiasticinterestofher
colleagues from the LabEx Structuration des Mondes Sociaux.
I discussed versions of what have become chapters at several conferences
and meetings with colleagues. I especially wish to thank the President of the
Société Internationale d’Études sur Alfred Loisy, Frédéric Amsler,the Honorary
President of the Société Pierre-Eugène Leroy, and members Jean-Michel Roessli
and Francesca Prescendi, for their interest in my research. I extend my thanks
to my American colleagues, Jeffrey Morrow, David Schultenover, and William
Portier, for their comments during the aforementioned AAR meetings. Others
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110584356-002
VIII Acknowledgments
who deserve special mention for their interest and support over the past years
are Christoph Auffarth, Suzanne Marchand, André Motte, Jan Nelis, Jörg Rüpke,
Sigrid Sterckx, and JanVerplaetse.
Iwouldliketothanktheserieseditors JörgRüpkeandChristophUehlinger
oftheRGVVforgivingmethechancetocontributetotheseriesandforbelieving
in this project. I also wish to thank the editorial staff at De Gruyter, especially
Aaron Sanborn-Overby, for the kind support,patience, and helpful advice.
This book draws substantially upon research I conducted at multiple ar-
chivesandlibraries.MythanksgotothestaffoftheGhentUniversityLibraries,
theManuscriptDepartmentoftheBibliothèquenationaledeFranceinParis,the
archives of the Gaasbeek Castle,the Bibliothèque d’histoire des religions of the
Sorbonne,theVictorCousinLibraryoftheSorbonne,theMéjanesLibraryinAix-
en-Provence, and the libraryof the Academica Belgica in Rome.
I owe much to mycolleagues from the Philosophy Department and the De-
partment of Greek Literature at Ghent University, who offered moral support,
friendship,andagreatdealoffun.Turningtomyfamilyandfriends,Iamdeeply
indebted to my mother, my brother, my parents-in-law, and Lieven, Manu, and
Aagje,who offered all kinds of help. Lastly, and most importantly, I thank my
husband Bavo,who has read and commented extensively on the entire manu-
script, and whose love, intelligence, creativity, and great faith in my abilities
have kept me going.
Idedicatethisbooktomyparents,Marie-RoseandPaul,withgratitudeandad-
miration.
Note to Reader
Thisbookmakesextensiveuseofunpublishedmanuscriptsandcorrespondence(seethebib-
liographyattheendofthisbookforallreferences).Thetranscriptionsofthequotedextracts
strictlyfollowtheoriginalspelling,punctuation,andwordandlinespacingofthemanuscripts.
When original French, German or Italian publications by Loisy and his contemporaries were
availableinEnglishtranslations,IreferredtoandquotedtheseEnglishsources.Ifnot,Iquoted
thetextsintheiroriginallanguageandparaphrasedthecontentinEnglish;forsomeparticular-
lydensepassagesfromLoisy’sworkIincludedapersonaltranslationinanaccompanyingfoot-
note(indicatedas:mytranslation).
Thefollowingabbreviationsarefrequentlyusedthroughoutthisbook:
CF CollègedeFrance
CRAI Comptesrendusdesséancesdel’AcadémiedesInscriptionsetBelles-Lettres
EE Loisy,Alfred.L’Évangileetl’Église.Paris:AlphonsePicard,1902
EPHE ÉcolePratiquedesHautesÉtudes
Essai Loisy,Alfred.Essaihistoriquesurlesacrifice.Paris:ÉmileNourry,1920
MEFRIM Mélangesdel’ÉcolefrançaisedeRome—ItalieetMéditerranée
MPMC Loisy, Alfred. Les Mystères païens et le mystère chrétien. Paris: Émile Nourry, 1919
RHLR Revued’histoireetdelittératurereligieuses
RHR Revuedel’histoiredesreligions
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