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

到目前为止，对光照派的研究主要集中在当代印刷材料、教团的计划产出、教团的“学位”和主要成员的通信上。我们在修道会使用论文方面的工作从根本上改变了我们对该组织的了解。这项新的研究重新评估了一系列材料，这些材料被证明是理解该组织的关键。然而，这些研究光照派的核心文献至今仍被忽视。大多数讨论中的文章都是由小组成员撰写并供小组会议使用的。它们涉及到那个时代的辩论，并在哥达、鲁道尔施塔特、埃尔福特、魏玛和耶拿的当地光明会上被大声朗读和讨论。大约150份(而不是预期的114份)文件揭示了这个秘密秩序的内部运作。其中一些文章是每个成员与他各自的“不知名的上级”保持的亲密通信的一部分--在我们的案例中是与约翰·约阿希姆·克里斯托夫·博德，他的档案提供了这些材料的细致背景。第一次，我们可以详细地重建教团内部的沟通渠道、地方会众的辩论文化以及通过无形的等级制度实施的领导方式。在进行彻底的主题分析的同时，我们不仅能够确定该秩序对后期启蒙辩论的开放程度，而且能够确定该秩序实际上是如何通过团体成员和他们自己的出版物影响这些辩论的。本申请建立在前一份申请(MU 1005/9-1，见附录)的基础上，该申请的期限为36个月，其中只有24个月获得资金。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，我们要求额外的资金。我们实际上是在重建“Schwedenkiste”的片段，这是18世纪末萨克森-哥达-阿尔滕堡的Bode和Ernst II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来编制索引(Erschlieçung)，而且还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彻底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，我们将最后确定两本专著和一卷会议记录。此外，我们还将扩大2014年启动的在线门户网站，为国际研究人员提供访问权限。我们的发现指向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，那里对光明会的迷恋是猖獗的。

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.