L’Esprit du Judaisme ou Examen Raisonne de la Loi de Moyse [“The Spirit of Judaism, or, A Reasoned Examination of Moses’ Law and its Influence on the Christian Religion.”]

Anthony Collins (1676-1729) was an English deist, best known for his friendship with John Locke. His work, first published in 1724, sought to dispel claims that the Old Testament was edited by Jews to erase prophecies indicating the events of Jesus’ life. Collins further ventures that while while he disagreed with the claims of textual tampering, the New Testament was just as susceptible to such foul play. The work triggered a firestorm of responses defending the Christian faith from the perceived attack. The discourse was translated by Paul Henri Thiry (1723-1789), known as the Baron d’Hol’bach, a philosopher and intellectual. Born in Germany, Thiry spent his most active years in Paris, where he operated a salon. He was an atheist and vehemently opposed Christianity, seeing it as the impediment to progress. He spent considerable amounts of his fortune secretly disseminating anti-religious works and apparently translated this work to further weaken the standing of Christianity in Europe.