ABBADIE, JACQUES. - Born at Nay in Béarn in 1654 or 1658, died in London in 1727. He studied at the Protestant universities of Saumur and Sedan, and at the latter, at the age of seventeen, obtained the degree of Doctor Divinitatis. In 1680 he was pastor of the French Calvinist colony in Berlin, enjoying the favor of the Elector Frederick (1640-88). Upon the latter’s death he moved to England, where he opposed the government of James II. The new king, William III, appointed him chaplain to the longed-for Savoy Chapel and also granted him the Irish chaplaincy of Killaloe, which he retained, though absent, until his death in Marylebone (London).
He was a man of great learning and maintained relations with Bossuet, Malebranche, and Bayle. He wrote many works: his sermons and panegyrics fill three volumes; his L'ouverture des sept sceaux par le Fils de Dieu, ou le triomphe de la providence et de la religion (Amsterdam 1723) is regarded by Protestants as one of the boldest commentaries on the Apocalypse; but his most famous works were the Traité de la vérité de la religion chrétienne (Rotterdam 1674) and the Traité de la Divinité de N.-S. Jésus Christ (Rotterdam 1689), both written against unbelievers and atheists. At first they were even well received by some Catholics; but later, upon examination, they were placed on the Index (in 1695 and 1702 respectively).
V. Oblet (DThC, I, col. 8) notes that according to Abbadie, faith and reason, theology and philosophy, differ essentially from one another, and the efforts made by the Fathers of the Church and especially by the Scholastics to arrive at a deeper knowledge of the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, Grace, and Predestination were proud and vain attempts.
Against Catholic doctrine he wrote: Réflexions sur la présence réelle du corps de J. C. dans l'Eucharistie (The Hague 1685) and La Vérité de la religion réformée (Rotterdam 1718).