Illuminati essays in the context of the German late enlightenment.Debate culture, members guidance and public outreach of the Illuminati order 1783-1788

德国晚期启蒙运动背景下的光明会论文。1783-1788 年光明会的辩论文化、成员指导和公众宣传

• 批准号: 222346431
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Martin Mulsow
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Forschungszentrum Gotha
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2011-12-31 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/222346431?language=en
• 关键词: Illuminati; essays; context; German; late

Studies on the Illuminati have thus far focused on contemporary printed materials, the order's programmatic output, its "degrees" and the correspondence of leading members. Our work on the order's use of essays fundamentally changes what we know about the organization. This new research reevaluates a body of materials that turn out to be the key to understanding the group. Yet these central documents for the study of the Illuminati have remained neglected to now. Most of the essays in question were written by and for members for use in the group's meetings. They dealt with debates of the era and were read aloud and discussed in the regular local Illuminati gatherings in Gotha, Rudolstadt, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena. The approximately 150 (instead of the expected 114) documents shed new light on the inner workings of the secretive order. Some of the essays were part of the intimate correspondence each member maintained with his respective "unknown superior" - in our case with Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, whose archive offers a meticulous contextualization of these materials. For the first time, we can reconstruct in detail the channels of communication within the order, the debate culture in local congregations and the modalities of leadership exerted through the invisible hierarchy. Pursuing at the same time a thorough thematic analysis, we are able to determine not only to what extent the order was open to late enlightenment debates, but also how the order actually influenced these debates through group members and their own publications. The present application builds on an earlier one (MU 1005/9-1, see appendix), which had a 36-month horizon, of which only 24 months were funded. We have actually exceeded that 24-month work plan, but are asking for additional funding due to the discovery of unexpected archival materials. We are virtually reconstructing segments of the "Schwedenkiste", the original collection of Illuminati and Masonic materials collected by Bode and Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg at the end of the eighteenth century. These materials have required more time for indexing (Erschließung) and also called for deeper analysis than we anticipated. Yet we believe these materials have the potential to completely change the reigning paradigm for explaining such secret societies. We are requesting a further 20 months of funding, during which time we will finalize two monographs and a volume of conference proceedings. Moreover, we will expand the online portal initiated in 2014 to provide international researchers access. Our findings point to a fundamentally new evaluation of the order - an order shrouded in romanticization, mystification and conspiracy legends. This work is sure to stimulate new interest, not only among scholars, but in the public at large, where fascination with the Illuminati is rampant.

迄今为止，对光照派的研究主要集中在当代印刷材料，该命令的纲领性输出，其“学位”和领导成员的通信。我们的工作对秩序的使用论文从根本上改变了我们所知道的组织。这项新的研究重新评估了一系列材料，这些材料是理解这个群体的关键。然而，这些研究光照派的核心文献至今仍被忽视。大部分有问题的文章都是由成员写的，供成员在小组会议上使用。它们涉及到那个时代的辩论，在哥达、鲁道夫斯塔特、埃尔富特、魏玛和耶拿的定期地方光照派集会上被大声朗读和讨论。大约150份（而不是预期的114份）文件揭示了秘密命令的内部运作。其中一些文章是每个成员与各自“不知名的上级”保持的亲密通信的一部分--在我们的例子中，是与约翰·约阿希姆·克里斯托弗·博德（Johann Joachim Christoph Bode）保持的，他的档案为这些材料提供了细致的语境化。这是第一次，我们可以详细地重建秩序内的沟通渠道，在地方教会的辩论文化和领导模式，通过无形的等级制度。同时，通过深入的主题分析，我们不仅能够确定该教团在多大程度上对启蒙运动后期的辩论开放，而且还能够确定该教团如何通过团体成员和他们自己的出版物实际影响这些辩论。目前的申请是以较早的一份申请（MU 1005/9-1，见附录）为基础的，该申请的期限为36个月，其中只有24个月获得了资金。我们实际上已经超过了24个月的工作计划，但由于发现了意想不到的档案材料，我们正在要求额外的资金。我们实际上正在重建“Schwedenkiste”的部分，这是由萨克森-哥达-阿尔滕堡的波德和恩斯特二世在十八世纪末收集的光照派和共济会材料的原始集合。这些材料需要更多的时间进行索引（Erschließung），也需要比我们预期的更深入的分析。然而，我们相信这些材料有可能完全改变解释这种秘密社团的主导范式。我们要求再提供20个月的资金，在此期间，我们将完成两本专著和一卷会议记录。此外，我们将扩大2014年启动的在线门户网站，为国际研究人员提供访问。我们的研究结果指出了对秩序的一种全新的评价--一种笼罩在浪漫化、神秘化和阴谋传说中的秩序。这项工作肯定会激发新的兴趣，不仅在学者中，而且在广大公众中，对光照派的迷恋是猖獗的。