Project Details
Projekt
Esoteric currents, pietism and the early enlightenment in Halle around 1700
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Monika Neugebauer-Wölk
Subject Area
Modern and Contemporary History
Term
from 2004 to 2011
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5470689
The aim of this subproject is a historical analysis and depiction of the formative period of the Early Enlightenment in Halle under the rubric of an examination of esoteric currents. With respect to a `genius loci´, the two central points of emphasis - Early Enlightenment and Esotericism - are supplemented and mediated through an incorporation of Pietism. This constellation materialized through Halle´s becoming a vanishing point of the heterodoxy as of 1690. On the one hand, the crux of the investigation lies in the complex connection between Esotericism and the Early Enlightenment a la Christian Thomasius, contextualized against the group-specific dynamics of the law faculty. On the other hand, the innovative appropriation of 17th-Century Rosicrucian and Alchemical traditions in August Hermann Francke´s expanding orphanage foundation is probed.This theme of a tripolar historical relation between Esotericism, Early Enlightenment and Pietism is innovative and cannot be affiliated with any tradition of research, unlike the relation between Pietism and the Early Enlightenment which has attracted widespread attention. For the first time a third referential dimension will be probed to supplement this duality: In what manner did esoteric currents influence enlightened thought and social behaviour as well as the pietistic mentality? Does the key to understanding the interface between these two movements lie in a shared third aspect, namely the relation to esoteric knowledge and conceptions of belief? The point of departure espoused maintains that the often cited affinity between Enlightenment and Pietism can be investigated more concretely and understood more precisely through the incorporation of an esoteric dimension.
DFG Programme
Research Units
