§ 165.11. =Theological Literature.=--The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, A.D. 1685, gave the deathblow to the French Reformed theology, but it also robbed Catholic theology =in France= of its spur and incentive. The Huguenot polemic against the papacy, and that of Jansenism against the semi-pelagianism of the Catholic church, were silenced; but now the most rabid naturalism, atheism, and materialism held the field, and the church theology was so lethargic that it could not attempt any serious opposition. Yet even here some names are worthy of being recorded. Above all, =Bernard de Montfaucon= of St. Maur, the ablest antiquarian of France, besides his classical works, issued admirable editions of Athanasius, Chrysostom, Origen’s “_Hexapla_,” and the “_Collectio Nova Patrum_.” =E. Renaudot=, a learned expert in the oriental languages, wrote several works in vindication of the “_Perpétuité de la Foi cath._,” a history of the Jacobite patriarchs of Alexandria, etc., and compiled a “_Collectio liturgiarum Oriental_,” in two vols. Of permanent worth is the “_Bibliotheca Sacra_” of the Oratorian =Le Long=, which forms an admirable literary-historical apparatus for the Bible. The learned Jesuit =Hardouin=, who pronounced all Greek and Latin classics, with few exceptions, to be monkish products of the thirteenth century, and denied the existence of all pre-Tridentine general councils, edited a careful collection of Acts of Councils in twelve vols. folio in Paris, 1715, and compiled an elaborate chronology of the Old Testament. His pupil, the Jesuit =Berruyer=, wrote a romancing “_Hist. du Peuple de Dieu_,” which, though much criticised, was widely read. Incomparably more important was the Benedictine =Calmet=, died A.D. 1757, whose “_Dictionnaire de la Bible_” and “_Commentaire Littéral et Critique_” on the whole Bible are really most creditable for their time. And, finally, the Parisian professor of medicine, =Jean Astruc=, deserves to be named as the founder of the modern Pentateuch criticism, whose “_Conjectures sur les Mémoires Originaux_,” etc., appeared in Brussels A.D. 1753.--Within the limits of the French Revolution the noble theosophist =St. Martin=, died A.D. 1805, a warm admirer of Böhme, wrote his brilliant and profound treatises.