Initiating the Millennium

The Avignon Society and Illuminism in Europe
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-090337-4
Verlag: OXFORD UNIV PR

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 570 g

In Initiating the Millennium, Robert Collis and Natalie Bayer fill a substantial lacuna in the study of an initiatic society--known variously as the Illuminés d'Avignon, the Avignon Society, the New Israel Society, and the Union--that flourished across Europe between 1779 and 1807. Based on hitherto neglected archival material, this study provides a wealth of fresh insights into a group that included members of various Christian confessions from countries spanning the length and breadth of the Continent. The founding members of this society forged a unique group that incorporated distinct strands of Western esotericism (particularly alchemy and arithmancy) within an all-pervading millenarian worldview. Collis and Bayer demonstrate that the doctrine of premillennialism--belief in the imminent advent of Christ's reign on Earth--soon came to constitute the raison d'être of the society.

Using a chronological approach, the authors chart the machinations of the leading figures of the society (most notably the Polish gentleman Tadeusz Grabianka). They also examine the way in which the group reacted to and was impacted by the tumultuous events that rocked Europe during its twenty-eight years of existence. The result is a new understanding of the vital role played by the so-called Union within the wider millenarian and illuministic milieu at the close of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Collis, Robert

Bayer, Natalie

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Sonstige Religionen: Spiritualität, Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Acknowledgements

- Abbreviations

- Introduction

- Chapter 1

- In the Beginning was the (Holy) Word: The Foundation

- of the Initiatic Society and its early years in Berlin, Rheinsberg and Podolia,

- 1779-1784

- Chapter 2

- In Search of Guidance: Grabianka, Swedenborgians and the Prophecies

- of Samuel Best in London, 1785-1786

- Chapter 3

- The Era of the Seven Brothers in Avignon, 1783-1790

- Chapter 4

- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing? The Rise and Fall of Ottavio Cappelli in Rome,

- 1789-1800

- Chapter 5

- Trials, Tribulations and Transformation: The Illuminés d'Avignon

- in Revolutionary France, 1791-1802

- Chapter 6

- Light from the North: The New Israel Society Revived in the

- Russian Empire, 1802-1807

- Chapter 7

- The Legacy of the New Israel Society: The Pleshcheeva Circle,

- 1807-1830s

- Chapter 8

- The Prophetess Madame Bouche and the Triune

- of Emperor Alexander, A. N. Golitsyn and R. A. Koshelev, 1810-1822

- Conclusion

- Appendix

- Bibliography

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Robert Collis is the author of The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Science, and Esotericism at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725. He is a Visiting Professor of History at Drake University.

Natalie Bayer is Associate Professor of History at Drake University.