Jean Bodin: Colloquium Heptaplomeres

The great French political philosopher (1530-1596), the creator of the »epochal term of sovereignty« (F. Meinecke), advocated the independence of religious confessions from the state and from positive religion in his work ›Colloquium of the Seven about Secrets of the Sublime‹. He called for religious tolerance and complete equality established by the state for all confessions. The form and the subject of the dialogue refer to Nicholas of Cusa (De pace fidei); the place and participants in the conversation demonstrate Erasmian traits.