Comparisons of Religions and the Rise of Skepticism

These two engravings come from Religious Customs and Ceremonies of the All the Peoples of the World, an influential encyclopedia published in French between 1723 and 1743 in Amsterdam. The artist Bernard Picart depicts a Brahmin who wears an iron collar to raise funds for a hospital and a Brahmin suspended over a fire in devotion. Picart and his fellow French Protestant refugee Jean Frédéric Bernard, the author and publisher, wanted to put Christianity and especially Catholicism in a comparative light; they emphasized the similarities in religious customs across the globe and in this way cast doubt on claims for the absolute truth of any one religion. Their book helped inspire the early Enlightenment. (From Religious Ceremonies and Customs, c. 1724 / Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images.)