In the early 1770s, with the philosophes tight-lipped and the French state distracted, scores of Christian apologetic responses to d’Holbach’s campaign rolled unopposed off Europe’s francophone presses. This riot of publishing was accompanied by a remarkable spirit of literary experimentation and a host of new discursive strategies designed to convince typical late eighteenth-century readers. Taken together, these books amounted to a revolution in Christian writing: their contents would have been inconceivable even at the mid-point of the century. The origins of this transformation, its relationship to the Enlightenment and its consequences is the subject of chapter 8. First, however, this chapter describes some of these extraordinary texts, in the process demonstrating the extent to which their authors modernised Christian writing with rhyme and reason.

We left the star of the abbé Crillon’s Mémoires philosophiques du baron de ***, a young German baron, staring goggle-eyed at the master-list of books published by the philosophes during their thirty-year campaign to destroy the foundations of European society. Upon arriving in Paris he had stumbled across a philosophe delivering a speech to a gathering crowd from the steps of a café. Before long the baron had gained his confidence and entered into his world. He became privy to the machinations of an organised sect whose ruthless determination was equalled only by their obscure customs. The sect stood ready to conquer Europe through a campaign of anti-religious and politically subversive propaganda. He became one of their number and accepted an invitation to dine with their innermost circle. There, before dinner, as he thumbed through the master-list, he stumbled upon the identity of the author of the Système de la nature. His philosophe friend eyeballed him, raising a finger to his lips: this was the biggest secret of them all.

His story merits completion. Whilst awaiting the meal, the baron is given a comprehensive history of the progress of the philosophe sect, from their humble beginnings to their infiltration of the académies and the highest positions of public office. He is shown their despotic rules of conduct, which place power in the hands of a few men whose authority must never be questioned. New authors are instructed to submit their titles for verification by the sect, and are encouraged to write according to strict guidelines.