Pierre Charron

Pierre Charron , 1541-1603, French Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher. He was an important contributor to 17th-century theological thought, combining an individual form of skepticism with a strict adherence to Catholicism based on the emphasis of the importance of faith over reason. After practicing law for several years, he took orders and soon gained a reputation as an eloquent preacher. He became chaplain to Margaret, wife of Henry IV. His Traité des trois vérités (1594) set forth proofs, first, that there is a God and that a true religion exists; second, that no other religion than that of the Christians is true; and, third, that in the Roman Catholic Church alone is salvation found. In 1600 he published a collection of 16 sermons. In his most famous work, the Traité de la sagesse (1601), the influence of Montaigne, with whom he had a close relationship, appears. The skepticism of that work awoke criticism and later a summary and apology, Petit traité de la sagesse, was published.

Charron, Pierre (1541–1603), French preacher and philosopher. Influenced by M. Montaigne, Charron doubted whether human reason, unaided, could reach any certainty about God and His properties, but he held that the RC Church was the vehicle of revealed truth. His main work, De la Sagesse (1601), was put on the Index.