ABSTRACT
The strain that the philosophes put upon the Company during this period is conspicuous. The eventual success in establishing a permanent theater would come to represent the triumph of the French intrusion into the social life of the so-called 'prudish republic'. Exploring Genevan sermons and liturgies provides an important means for gauging the religious content of the public arena from a source that has largely been left untouched by scholarship. Emphasizing the relationship between reason and Christianity during the age of Enlightenment was widespread in clerical and philosophical circles alike. Finally, true to the religious Enlightenment approach, this reasonable Calvinism affirmed that even the mysteries of God are not unreasonable, though they are still beyond human reason. The clergy also highlighted the benefits of religion in other appealing ways to the cultural currents of the time.
