Montaigne's Gods

According to Montaigne, \u2018we cannot condignly conceive\u2019 the nature and actions of God \u2018if we are able to conceive them at all. To imagine them condignly, we must imagine them unimaginable, unutterable, incomprehensible\u2019. These criticisms, directed at Raymond of Sebond, lead implicitly to the promotion of a radically negative theology. Yet, even if \u2018human reason goes astray [\u2026] when she concerns herself with matters divine\u2019, it is still possible to elaborate a discourse on God which speaks \u2018condignly\u2019 of His nature as beyond our power to comprehend. Moreover, it is in the literature of pagan antiquity that Montaigne finds the elements of this more \u2018religious\u2019 theology. This chapter examines Montaigne\u2019s annotations on Lilio Gregorio Giraldi\u2019s treatise, De deis gentium varia et multiplex historia (\u2018The Varied and Manifold History of the Pagan Gods\u2019, 1548), as well as the comparison between Christian and pagan theology sketched out in the Essais