1. THE ENLIGHTENMENT,
DEISM, AND RIZAL
RAUL J. BONOAN, S.J.

2. RAUL J. BONOAN, S.J.
• TOFIL Awardee for
Education, 1997
• He was a teacher, counselor
and friend to generations of
students in Ateneo de
Manila.
• He became Admissions
Director in 1976 and
Graduate School and
College Dean in 1980.

3. RAUL J. BONOAN, S.J.
• In 1989, he assumed the
presidency of Ateneo de
Naga.
• Bonoan is also a leading Rizal
scholar.
• The Rizal-Pastells
Correspondence (Ateneo de
Manila University Press, 1994) is
recognized as a major
contribution to the study of
Rizal and Philippine intellectual
history.

4. RAUL J. BONOAN, S.J.
• Describing himself “first and
always a priest,” Bonoan
went about his work in his
adopted city of Naga “for
the greater glory of God.”
• Bonoan died of a heart
attack on April 6, 1999 at the
age of 63.

5. TIME FRAME IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
• This particular article talks of the academic life of
Jose Rizal in Spain. It basically covers the Late
Spanish period in Philippine History, specifically, the
Rizaliana period.

6. SUMMARY
• Rizal arrived in Spain 1882
• Spanish was moving to enlightenment and the
focus of this movement is Universidad Central de
Madrid where Rizal studied for three years.

7. SUMMARY
• Immanuel Kant:
Enlightenment was
man’s emergence from
age of immaturity ,
marked by indecision
and lack of courage, to
reliance on his own
reason.
• Sapere aude, “Use your
reason, think your own”.

8. SUMMARY
• With enlightenment, religious beliefs was reduced to
the existence of God and the immortality of the
soul, religious practice to ethical behavior, the role
of Church and her ministers to that of moral guides
in what concerns private life.
• Deism – new theology which is basically about
“natural revelation” rather than Christian revelation.
• “Religion of nature” or “Natural religion”.

9. SUMMARY
• Voltaire (Francois
Marie Arouet, 1694-
1778)
• Obsessed to the
eradication of all
religions (but he
mainly aims to
eradicate
Catholicism).

10. SUMMARY
• Jean Jacques
Rousseau (1712-78)
• Focused on the role
of the heart,
conscience,
sentiments, feelings
and moral intuition in
the conduct of moral
life.
• Against
intellectualism

11. SUMMARY
• At UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DE MADRID.
• Liberals vs. Traditional Catholics
• Miguel Morayta and Giner del Rios vs. Menendez
Pelayo and Orti y Lara
• Rizal met two thinkers whom he had special
relationship.

12. SUMMARY
• Miguel Morayta
Sagario (1833-1917) –
chair of Spanish History
at the University and
masonic Grandmaster
of the Gran Oriente
Español.
• Professor of Rizal

13. SUMMARY
• Francisco Pi y
Margall (1824-1901) –
president of the
short-lived First
Republic, became
Rizal’s friend.

14. SUMMARY
• Academic freedom was one of the first lessons Rizal
learned ate the Universidad Central.
• Rizal participated in a protest led by Morayta which
ended with the arrest of the participants. Among
the few who managed to escape the arrest was
Rizal.
• Rizal became a deist.

15. SUMMARY
• Evidence of Rizal’s deism:
• Rizal-Pastell correspondence
• Tasio el Filosofo
• Rizal was more of a Rousseau deist than a
Voltairean.
• Rizal was initiated in Masonry at London. He
began to attack friars with his writings.

16. SUMMARY
• Critique of Rizal’s deism:
• Rizal’s view of nature was one-sided.
• Rizal presupposes that the study of nature is an easy one.
• Rizal’s “revelation of nature” is not true revelation.
• Rizal’s rupture with the Catholic Church was not
easy or complete.
• Despite of enlightenment and deist ideas, Rizal’s
psyche has always been flavoured with Catholic
religiosity.

17. SIGNIFICANT POINTS RAISED IN THE
ARTICLE
• The influence of western thinkers (Kant, Voltaire,
Rousseau, etc.)on the enlightenment of Rizal.
• Rizal’s transformation to being a deist and
arguments against Catholicism evident in Rizal-
Pastells correspondence.
• Rizal’s incomplete withdrawal from Catholic ways.

18. RELEVANCE/IMPORTANCE TO OUR
SUBJECT
• It is important to know things about Rizal as he is one
of the famous heroes of 18th century Philippines.
Also with this article about his deism, we are able to
form ideas and possible answers to the issue about
Rizal’s claimed retraction.