Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier (; 31 December 1718 – 9 April 1790) was a French Catholic theologian, known for his engagement with the atheist philosophes of eighteenth-century France.
Life Bergier was born at Darney in Lorraine. After a course of theology in the University of Besançon, he received the degree of doctor, was ordained priest, and went to Paris to finish his studies. Returning to Besançon in 1748, he was given charge of a parish and later became president of the college of the city, which had formerly been under the direction of the Jesuits. As a result of his bestselling polemic Deism Refuted By Itself (1765), Bergier was released from pastoral responsibilities by the French bishops in order to write full-time. In particular, his apologetics targeted the popular atheism of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron d'Holbach, although - somewhat unusual for a polemical writer - he sought to understand his opponents' viewpoints. He was a critic of the philosophes, accusing them in particular of distorting the facts on social life in China and Confucianism.Jonathan Israel, Enlightenment Contested (2006), pp. 661-2. He, however, frequented Enlightenment salons and was a personal friend of Diderot.
In 1769 the Archbishop of Paris, Christophe de Beaumont, appointed him canon of the cathedral, and from then on Bergier resided at Paris. He died at Versailles.
Works The works of Bergier are in the fields of apologetics and theology, except for (Besançon, 1764) and (Paris, 1767).
Bergier agreed to correct certain articles of the , but found himself obliged to write entirely original articles which then formed the as a part of the . This has been often edited, especially by Gousset in 8 vols. (Besançon, 1838) and Migne (Paris, 1850).
Other major works of Bergier include:
(Paris, 1765; translated to English by Charles Cordell, 1775); (Paris, 1767, also published in Migne's , XI); (Paris, 1771, also in Migne, ibid.); - against d'Holbach's (Paris, 1769); ; (Paris, 1771); (Paris, 1780, and 8 vols. 8vo., 1820).
Some of his writings concerning divorce, the question of the mercy of God and the origin of evil, and one volume of sermons were published after his death.
Notes
References
, as an introduction to the , ed. by Migne (Paris, 1850); Ferdinand Janner in , II, 408; Hugo von Hurter, (Innsbruck, 1895), III; Edmond Dublanchy in , s. v.