Strayer, Brian E.

About the author: Brian E. Strayer is currently Professor of History at Andrews University, Michigan. Earlier publications include Lettres de cachet and Social Control in the Ancien Regime, 1659-1789 (Peter Lang, 1992) and Where the Pine Trees Softly Whisper: The History of Union Springs Academy (Patterson Press, 1993) and dozens of articles on French and Seventh-Day Adventist history. He received his PhD in history from The University of Iowa.

Huguenots and Camisards as Aliens in France, 1589-1789 the Struggle for Religious Toleration

2001 0-7734-7370-X
This volume provides a revisionist interpretation and scholarly overview of the struggle for religious toleration in France, focusing on the Huguenots and Camisards. It demonstrates, from a close examination of contemporary writings (many never before explored), local experiences, and quantitative data, that there were other possibilities to the Revocation; it then analyzes why France did not take that road less traveled. Each chapter provides updated historiographic revision on misunderstood aspects of French religious history, showing that the enemy of tolerance was not intolerance, but the drive for unity. Several new features include highlighting the role of the General Assembly of the Clergy, the Company of the Most Holy Sacrament, and other groups who lobbied the Bourbons to crush dissident groups. Equally emphasized are groups philosophes, writers, government and church administrators, clergy who fought for religious toleration over two centuries. Includes a 70-page bibliography of sources.