Religio Laici (a layman’s religion)

Religio Laici (a layman’s religion) represents John Dryden’s tentative and candid examination of major religious issues of his day. From the title, one might expect a personal confession of faith. Instead, Dryden examines the principal contemporary religious currents in England and, although he reveals only general points about his own beliefs, he clearly expresses his adherence to the Church of England. The poem, consisting of 456 lines of heroic couplets, divides into several logical sections.

In the beginning, Dryden eloquently points to limitations on the power of reason in religion, stressing that even the ancient philosophers, despite all their wisdom, could discover no adequate foundation for religion through their intellectual efforts. Because he shared with his contemporaries a profound respect for the intellectual attainments of the classical Greeks and Romans, this line of reasoning effectively prepares the groundwork for Dryden’s rejection of Deism, the rational religion of his own day. A summary of basic Deistic tenets (lines 42-61) precedes a formal rejection of natural religion.

Dryden suggests that any light the Deist sees originates in revelation, not from man’s intuitive knowledge as the Deists assumed, and that, in any case, a lesser being such as man cannot atone for his own sins through his own efforts (lines (62-125). Only an unfallen being, Dryden urges, would be adequate to the task. Defending the Bible as the true source of religious revelation (lines 126-167), Dryden cites specific factors that support its authority: its antiquity, its narrative consistency, the conviction and courage of its authors, external confirmation from other sources, its style, its success despite its demanding ethics, and its acceptance despite persecution.

The Deist renews the debate that it is unjust that so many who never had an opportunity to receive revelation have been lost. Dryden agrees that this is a grave charge, yet he thinks that through divine mercy many who never knew the true religion might yet have been saved (lines 168-223).

As this point, the poem takes a different approach to the question of scriptural authority by discussing Father Richard Simon’s Histoire critique du Vieux Testament (Critical History of the Old Testament), first published in 1678 and translated into English in 1682 by Henry Dickinson. In a note in his text, Dryden explains that this portion is a digression, though it returns him to the authority of Scripture versus tradition, a central difference between Protestants and Catholics. Since he has already argued for the authority of the Bible, Dryden has laid the groundwork for parrying a newer and more recent challenge. Through meticulous scholarship, Simon demonstrated that translators had so loosely and inaccurately translated biblical books that their claim to serve as a basis for faith was seriously compromised. His purpose was to induce readers to turn to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church as an infallible guide. Dryden acknowledges that Simon’s points are cogent in many instances but believes that the translations are sufficiently accurate on matters of genuine importance. He asserts that Scripture is clear on essential points and rejects the view that an infallible church exists. While Dryden does not entirely exclude reliance upon tradition, he points out that generally the most reliable is the most ancient. Thus, tradition should be considered, but more trust should be placed in the authority of the most ancient church fathers.

Excessive reliance on tradition, Dryden charges, has caused the Catholic Church to deny the laity access to the Bible (lines 356-397). Yet making the text available had the unfortunate effect of causing individuals to become overzealous and to run to extremes of contention and sectarianism (lines 398-426). Rejection of tradition thus led to extremes of private interpretation and ensuing religious strife.