Date of Award

Fall 12-20-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.)

First Reader

Jennifer A. Herdt

Second Reader

Bryan Garsten

Abstract

This paper examines Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar, paying particular attention to the metaphysics and philosophic influences of the Vicar. This thesis fills a void in the scholarship, as there is not much scholarship in general–and especially in recent years–on the relationship between Neoplatonism, Plutarch, Calvin, and Rousseau. Indeed, although Rousseau’s love for Plutarch is often acknowledged, it is seldom explored; when it is explored, it is typically only with an eye to the political realm, and never the metaphysical dimension. Calvin, when mentioned in association with Rousseau at all, is typically interpreted as favorable in Rousseau’s eyes with regards to the Reformer’s political enterprise, and unfavorable with regards to his theological project. My thesis argues instead that Calvin played a critical role in shaping the epistemological views of the Savoyard Vicar. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates that the Profession of Faith is not, as is typically posited by Straussian scholars, intended by Rousseau to be merely a salutary teaching for political utility, devoid of sincere religious conjectures; rather, I posit that the Vicar’s Profession is a highly informed epistemological and metaphysical work. Although I do not fully answer the question of the exact relationship between the Vicar’s religious views and whether or not they are shared by Rousseau himself, I nonetheless indicate that by laying the groundwork for an original and novel approach to the Profession of Faith as a serious work of epistemology, metaphysics, and even theology.

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