Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet: The Life of One Political Dream

The author examines the political views of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, one of the recognized ideologists of absolutism in France, in the light of considering the approaches to studies of his works in Russian and foreign historiography. It is noted that neither Russian nor foreign authors always take into account the nuances of his political concept and the decisive infl uence that Bossuet’s political practice (the contestation against Protestantism and Quietism, as well as the advocacy of Gallicanism), and his own theological beliefs, in particular the doctrine of free will. The author argues that it was precisely the doctrine of free will that led Bossuet to recognize the essential element of the political doctrine of the 17th century, which was the idea of a Social contract (as a moral obligation of the parties) between the sovereign and the subjects, along with other elements of natural law theory of the 17th century, that is, the concepts of State of nature and Sovereignty.