Work · Sociology & Social Theory
New Christianity
Religion reduced to one principle: society must work for the fastest possible improvement of the lot of the poorest class.
Introduction
Saint-Simon’s last work appeared in April 1825, a few weeks before his death, as a dialogue between a “conservative” and an “innovator”. It reduces Christianity to the principle that all people should treat one another as brothers, and argues that in modern conditions this means organising society for the speediest possible improvement of the moral and physical existence of the poorest class. Catholicism and Protestantism alike, in his view, have betrayed this principle. After his death his followers, led by Prosper Enfantin and Saint-Amand Bazard, turned his ideas into a quasi-religious movement, the Saint-Simonians, which influenced French engineers, bankers and early socialists.
More works by Henri de Saint-Simon
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