Abstract EN:

Pierre poiret, born metz (lorraine), died rijnsburg (holland), was a non-conformist huguenot pastor. As a student in basel, and in his first work, cogitationes rationales (1675), he espoused cartesianism but abandoned it after meeting the roman catholic prophetess, antoinette bourignon, whese disciple and champion he became. Though critical of descartes, malebranche and especially spinoza and opposed to the arrogance of reason, poiret remained a philosopher, arguing, for example, that ideas were god-created. In his theological system, l'occonomie divine (1687), he explained salvation and refuted predestination by asserting that man was free to accept grace or reject it. As a forerunner of ocumenism he regarded belonging to any "party" of christendom as immaterial to salvation. He sought to reassure french protestants that, even if compelled by the revocation of the edict of nantes to convert to roman catholicism, they could thereby serve god; though he himself refused to convert when fenelon asked him to. Poiret disseminated works of roman catholic mysticism to the protestant community in exile, as belonging to a store of common traesure (such as the imitation of christ) from which all might derive edification. He considered mystical theology to be the true theology, the theology of the heart. There was a marked quietist tendency among the writers he published (such as madame guyon, whose complete works he brought out). A bibliography of poiret's works, which were much published and much translated, and of the works of which he was himself the publisher, shows the audience he commanded in his day. His influence long persisted in the world of german and swiss separatist pietism and in britain, where john wesley used his short pedagogical traetise as a catechism. Standing at the confluence of various intellectual and spiritual currents, poiret, who is still neglected in france, was an important intermediary.