French Literature Reviews - 2026
V. Zuber, Le Culte des droits de l'homme
History, Politics and Society
Review published in Acta Fabula (January 2015, vol. 16, no. 1): "From the French Revolution to Western "Human-Rights-Ism"" by Chloé Chaudet.
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Valentine Zuber, Le Culte des droits de l'homme
Paris: Gallimard, coll. "Bibliothèque des sciences humaines", 2014.
EAN 9782070142507.
416 p.
Price 26EUR
Publisher's overview:
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a visionary creation of August 1789, became one of the most popular revolutionary symbols in France and abroad almost immediately upon its proclamation. Serving as a veritable gospel for the sacred principles of the French Republic, it was instantly embraced as an essential summary and catechism for the political education of future citizens. The persistent effort to display and disseminate it throughout France from the Revolution to the present day highlights the exceptional status bestowed upon this remarkable text, which was ultimately enshrined in the Constitution.
The implicit sacralization of the Declaration of Rights—a revolutionary creed that evolved into a republican one—raises the question of whether a form of civil religion exists within the Republic, notwithstanding its staunchly proclaimed secularism. The cult of human rights, forged in the opening months of 1789, has indeed been continuously perpetuated throughout the republican tradition, from the centenary in 1889 to the bicentenary in 1989, and up to the more contemporary exaltation of France as the "land of human rights".
The institutional history of modern democracies frequently intersects with the symbolic and ritualistic dimensions of political philosophy. Since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the codification of fundamental liberties has often relied on a rhetoric of universality that transcends mere legal pragmatism. Scholars of political theology and secularism have long examined how modern states appropriate religious idioms to legitimize foundational texts and civic institutions, transforming philosophical ideals into objects of veneration and patriotic pedagogy across generations of citizens.
Valentine Zuber examines the sacralization of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen within the French republican tradition. The volume addresses the elevation of this foundational text into a quasi-religious gospel, tracing its dissemination from 1789 through republican commemorations up to contemporary political discourse regarding France as the land of human rights. Readers interested in the intersection of politics, religion, and republican ideology in modern France may find this study relevant.