Eschatology in Preaching on the Eve of the French Wars of Religion: The Case of François Le Picart

This article examines the eschatological dimension of the sermons of François Le Picart (1504–1556), a prominent Parisian preacher and a precursor who established the codes that enabled the gradual maturation of a theophanic tension of violence in which human beings were destined to become its instruments. Through a close reading of his sermon collections, this study analyzes how Le Picart interwove Pauline soteriology, divine love, repentance, and apocalyptic imagery to construct a moral and affective pedagogy. His eschatological language—linking love with fear and salvation with punishment—transformed anxiety about the end times into a form of spiritual yet emotional collective mobilization. By associating divine justice with anti-heretical rhetoric, Le Picart’s preaching turned theology into an instrument for defending both faith and social order. This article situates his sermons within the broader Catholic renewal of sixteenth-century France, highlighting the imagery and rhetoric of eschatology as key components of early modern anti-Protestant propaganda prior to the religious wars.