Treatise on Toleration

by Voltaire

Book Overview

A new translation of Voltaire's Treatise on Toleration, one of the most important essays on religious tolerance and freedom of thought

A powerful, impassioned case for the values of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance, Treatise on Toleration was written after the Toulouse merchant Jean Calas was falsely accused of murdering his son and executed on the wheel in 1762. As it became clear that Calas had been...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0241236622
• ISBN13: 9780241236628
• Release Date: February 2017
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Great Writings on Freedom of religion and against tyranny

Voltaire's Treatiste on Tolerance is a brilliant account of the judicial murder of French Protestant Jean Calas who was accused of murdering his son who had converted to Roman Catholism. Voltaire details the case : the lack of counsel, the breaking on the wheel, burning at the stake and strangulation. Calas suffered this and continued to maintain his innocence. Through Voltaire's effort Calas was rehibilitated in 1766 and his innocence vindicated. Interspersed in the text are Voltaire's historical observations of the tolerance of the Roman Empire, the Thirty Years War, the massacre of St. Bartholmew's day were thousands perished due to religious fanaticism. Also chronicled is the case of a young nobleman accused of not taking his hat off as a religious procession passed. He was further accused of mutilating a cruxifix that was placed on a bridge. This young man, and his friend were convicted of blasphamy and heresy and sentenced to be broken on the wheel, have his tongue torn out with pincers, and then burned at the stake. The account Voltaire provides is both enlightening and frightful. If you are interested in freedom of religion, tolerance, and freethought this is a must buy!