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About 5 h to read.A chi è rivolto
Readers who enjoy Enlightenment thought, sharp satire, and fierce debates about God, evil, free will, and the soul will love this. It also suits those curious about religion and politics.
Che cos’è questo libro
Picture a vast empire ruled by a king who never shows his face. His ministers disagree about his orders, call one another liars, and live well from the confusion.
The empire is the world, the king is God, and the ministers are priests. That is the opening scene of Superstition in All Ages, a book that presents itself as the last will of a French village priest named Jean Meslier. The name on the book is Baron d'Holbach. You get an attack on religion argued in plain language, with its sharpest images and most pointed questions.
In questo riassunto
- 1A hidden king and quarreling ministers rule the worldFree
- 2Religion grows from fear, ignorance, and childhood habit
- 3The God of the theologians contradicts himself
- 4Nature and motion explain the world without a maker
- 5Providence and hell fail every test of goodness
- 6People are bound by necessity and die wholly
- 7Revelation and miracles cannot prove a divine origin
- 8Priests and kings lean on each other
- 9Morality needs people and reason, not gods
- 10The abstract takes aim at the Gospels directly
Punto chiave 1 di 10
A hidden king and quarreling ministers rule the world
The book opens with a short parable, and everything else grows from it. A monarch rules a vast empire but never shows himself. He wants to be known, loved, and obeyed, yet everything he does makes our ideas of him uncertain. His subjects know his laws only through ministers who claim to speak for him.
The ministers know nothing of their master, yet they contradict one another and call each other impostors. Their decrees are riddles that need interpreters, and the interpreters never agree. He is called wise and good, yet he places people in circumstances that provoke offenses, then answers them with anger.
Theology deals only with what cannot be seen, and in that kingdom of darkness common sense is called delirium. The aim of the book is to defend common sense. Judge a ruler, human or divine, by what his rule produces.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of La superstizione in tutte le epoche
About 5 h to read.Questions about La superstizione in tutte le epoche
What is Superstition in All Ages about?
It is an argument against religion, presented as the last will of a French village priest. It examines belief in God, miracles, hell, the soul, and the roles of priests and kings, then proposes a morality based on reason.
Who wrote Superstition in All Ages?
The name on the book is Baron d'Holbach, though its pages present themselves as the testament of the priest Jean Meslier of Etrepigny. A short abstract at the end is credited to Voltaire, so readers meet several voices.
What is the main message of the book?
Religion rests on fear and habit, its God contradicts himself, and priests and kings use it for power. The author holds that morality and good government need reason, education, and just laws instead.
Is Superstition in All Ages easy to follow?
The chapters are short and often open with a pointed claim, though some simply continue the preceding argument. Vivid images such as the invisible king, the quarreling charlatans, and the sultan's loaded dice make the ideas easy to hold in mind.
What does the sultan and the dice story mean?
A sultan forces subjects to throw loaded dice, with gold for a six and a slow fire for any other number. The author says the sultan is God, the gold is heaven, the cell is hell, and we hold the dice.
Cite this edition
Holbach, Paul-Henri Thiry d'. Superstition in All Ages. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/superstition-in-all-ages.
Holbach, P.-H. T. d'. (2026). Superstition in all ages. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/superstition-in-all-ages (Original work published 1772)
Holbach, Paul-Henri Thiry d'. Superstition in All Ages. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/superstition-in-all-ages.
@book{holbach2026superstition,
author = {Holbach, Paul-Henri Thiry d'},
title = {Superstition in All Ages},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/superstition-in-all-ages},
note = {First published 1772}
}
