Published: 2024-11-10

Profane and/or sacred history? The issue of systematisation of knowledge about the past in selected dictionaries and encyclopaedias of the long eighteenth century

Joanna Orzeł
Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings
Section: Rozprawy i Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2024.31.1.15

Abstract

In the long eighteenth century, it was fashionable among scholars to create encyclopaedic works to popularise knowledge. In French, British, and Polish dictionaries and encyclopaedias, their authors referred to the past concerning both the sacred and the profane. They ended the blind reverence for tradition and emphasised the need for a more critical approach to historical works, but also to sources, including the Bible. Increasingly, mainly French philosophers, followed by Polish scholars, ceased to include sacred history in the concept of “history,” interpreting the latter as the description of human history based on reason rather than faith.

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Orzeł, J. (2024). Profane and/or sacred history? The issue of systematisation of knowledge about the past in selected dictionaries and encyclopaedias of the long eighteenth century . Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings, 31(1), 208–219. https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2024.31.1.15

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