 The tension with French clerical authorities worsened when the abbé de Prades, a friend of Diderot’s and contributor to the Encyclopédie—he wrote the entry “Certitude”—successfully defended what was later deemed to be a theologically suspect doctoral thesis. The controversy led the crown to temporarily suspend the publication privilège for the Encyclopédie, but thanks to the favor that Diderot and his partners enjoyed in higher places, publication was resumed and Volumes II–VI appeared without pause between 1751–1756 even though accompanied by ongoing criticism from the Jesuits.