Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria by Paul Gottfried is an account of the various individuals in early nineteenth century Bavaria whose thinking may be described as conservative, romantic, and utopian. These individuals were often part of a revival in Catholicism and expressed admiration for the Middle Ages and Christian mysticism. They were utopian, yet reactionary, seeking to restore a lost past from which the modern age was believed to have fallen. They may be described as counter-revolutionaries, opposing the French Revolution, defined by the Catholic traditionalist and reactionary Joseph de Maistre as "not a contrary revolution, but the contrary of revolution". Gottfried begins his book by discussing the Catholic revival, the rise of millenarianism and romanticism. Prime among the figures involved in the Catholic romantic revival include Novalis (pen name of Friedrich von Hardenberg, poet, scientist, and philosopher), Adam Muller (Protestant convert to Catholicism and romantic economic theorist advocating a corporativist state, based on medieval society), Friedrich Schlegel (expositor of romanticism, originally a radical individualist and admirer of the ancient Greeks, Indians, and other pagans who became a convert to Catholicism), Joseph von Gorres (early proponent of the revolution who grew disenchanted and became a defender of Catholicism), and Franz von Baader (romantic and social philosopher, a Catholic who was influenced by mysticism particularly the thought of the Lutheran apostate Jakob Boehme). While these Catholic revolutionaries shared political ideals with such thinkers as Burke (the father of conservativism and opponent of revolution), Joseph de Maistre (reactionary traditionalist Catholic), and de Toqueville (Catholic writer on the "ancien regime" and opponent of democracy), they also were influenced heavily by mysticism and German idealism, including such mystics as Jakob Boehme, Jung-Stilling, Saint-Martin, and the Pietists. Gottfried next turns his attention to the age of Montgelas, in which various laws were enacted which resulted in oppression for the church and clergy. Here, Gottfried notes the influence of various rationalists, including the Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt and the Rosicrucians, who plotted against throne and altar. Weishaupt, a professor of canon law, created the Illuminati modeling his society after the Jesuits in 1776, actively conspiring to murder the king and adhering to rationalist beliefs. Weishaupt along with Adolf von Knigge (a fellow Illuminatus) actively opposed other mystical doctrines such as those of the Swedenborgians and the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucians were another initiatory society, whose presence was revealed in the various manifestos which appeared at the time. Believed to have been founded by Christian Rosenkreuz, the Rosicrucians were an invisible society of elite scientists and philosophers who would create a utopia. The chief Rosicrucian manifesto to appear is believed to have been authored by the Lutheran minister Johann Valentin Andreae, who actively opposed the papacy and Catholic reaction. Other individuals actively influenced by Rosicrucian mysticism, along with the writings of Paracelsus, include Karl von Eckarthausen and Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert whose book _The Symbolism of Dreams_ was to play an important role in the romantic movement. Indeed, many romantics were especially influenced by Rosicrucianism as well as Martinism (the mysticism of Saint-Martin) and the Jewish Cabbala, though they often denied this influence. The thought of Schelling, who although a Protestant was much admired by Catholics, also played a prominent part in the development of the romantic movement. Throughout this discussion, Gottfried demonstrates the various conflicts which arose particularly between Catholics and Protestants as well as conflicts involving the Jews. Another important component of the romantic movement was that of "the Awakening", a movement started by many Catholic parish priests who sought to imitate Protestant pietism within Catholicism but were also repulsed by Enlightenment rationalism. Individuals involved in this movement included Johann Michael Sailer and Johann Ringseis, Catholic priests who sought an Awakening. In the era of Ludwig I, Catholicism witnessed a revival and romantics led the way in propagating the faith. In such journals as the Athenaeum, romantics actively sought the origins of human existence, often dabbling in non-Western religions, including the Vedas, as well as ancient Greek myth (arguing that the ancient Greeks were precursors of Christianity). Romantics also exposited an eschatology in which a coming conflict with modernism would bring about the reign of Antichrist. Romantics actively made war with both liberalism and modernism, advocating a corporativist medieval state as an alternative to class conflict. For thinkers such as Muller and von Baader, the role of the worker played an important part in their economic theories. Indeed, Gottfried notes the influence that romanticism may have played on the thought of early socialists including Karl Marx. This book is an important source of information, providing much material on an otherwise neglected historical topic. The conservative romantics, although frequently maligned because of baseless associations with the Third Reich, presented an important alternative to the decadence of modernity. Their thinking will continue to live on in those who believe that traditional society is superior to the alternative of decadent modern civilization.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Paul Edward Gottfried (born 1941) is Horace Raffensperger Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and a Guggenheim recipient. He is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and Mencken Club President. He is the author of numerous books and articles in several languages on intellectual history, paleoconservatism, ancient historiography, and political theory.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just about Bavaria,
By Ashtar Command "Seeker" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria (Hardcover)
"Conservative Millenarians" is a book by Paul Gottfried about the Romantic experience in Bavaria. In other words, the book deals with certain religious and philosophical developments in early 19th century Bavaria, a kingdom in southern Germany.
Sounds like an obscure, boring subject, does it not? Actually, "Conservative Millenarians" has a much broader scope. It deals with the Romantic movement as a whole, especially with the influence of esoteric ideas on German Romanticism. The relationship between the Romantics and the Catholic Church is covered, as is their political ideas and entanglements. Gottfried also describes the Awakening, a pan-European religious revival after the Napoleonic Wars. The Bavarian setting is no co-incidence, however. Many well-known Romantics lived or taught in Bavaria, and the kingdom was rocked by both the Awakening and various conflicts between Catholics and supporters of the Enlightenment. I always wondered where the Romantics got their curious religious-philosophical ideas from, so strikingly similar to Hermeticism. Apparently, a Hermetic-occultist subculture existed in Germany since the Renaissance. It's main exponents before the Romantic period were the Rosicrucians. While no leading Romantic thinker joined an actual Rosicrucian lodge, their ideas and agendas were often strikingly similar. For some reason, Gottfried never investigates the relationship between Rosicrucians and Freemasons. Unless I'm mistaken, some Romantics were Masons. The author asks some hard questions about how "conservative" all these people really were. In many ways, the Counter-Enlightenment seems to have been a parallel development to the Enlightenment, not just a counter-reaction to it. The Rosicrucians originally recruited both opponents and proponents of the Enlightenment, before hardening to a conservative sect. The anti-Enlightenment mystic Karl von Eckhartshausen was heavily indebted to Kant, whom he admired quite openly. The Awakening in Bavaria was to some extent plebeian, and its leaders got in trouble with the Catholic hierarchy. The author also points out that to many intellectual seekers (including the Bavarian king Ludwig I), Catholicism and Romanticism was pretty much the same thing. A final chapter is devoted to Franz von Baader, who attempted to create a conservative-worker alliance and called for Christian labour unions! When the Enlightenment challenged Christian confessionalism, it simultaneously unleashed the Hermetic-occultist stream. With Church interference gone, the stage was set for Pietistic revivals, as well. (Of course, similar processes had been at work already during the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation.) Both Romantics and Pietists were opposed to Enlightenment rationalism, but in their own way, they were the unnatural children of the Enlightenment itself. Even their millenarianism was probably a mimic of Enlightenment belief in progress. Hence the strange phenomenon of "conservative millenarians". To sum up, "Conservative millenarians" is an excellent overview both of Romanticism in general, and of its Bavarian experience.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
German Romantic Millenarians.,
By New Age of Barbarism "zosimos" (EVROPA.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria (Hardcover)
_Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria_ by Paul Gottfried is an account of the various individuals in early nineteenth century Bavaria whose thinking may be described as conservative, romantic, and utopian. These individuals were often part of a revival in Catholicism and expressed admiration for the Middle Ages and Christian mysticism. They were utopian, yet reactionary, seeking to restore a lost past from which the modern age was believed to have fallen. They may be described as counter-revolutionaries, opposing the French Revolution, defined by the Catholic traditionalist and reactionary Joseph de Maistre as "not a contrary revolution, but the contrary of revolution".
Gottfried begins his book by discussing the Catholic revival, the rise of millenarianism and romanticism. Prime among the figures involved in the Catholic romantic revival include Novalis (pen name of Friedrich von Hardenberg, poet, scientist, and philosopher), Adam Muller (Protestant convert to Catholicism and romantic economic theorist advocating a corporativist state, based on medieval society), Friedrich Schlegel (expositor of romanticism, originally a radical individualist and admirer of the ancient Greeks, Indians, and other pagans who became a convert to Catholicism), Joseph von Gorres (early proponent of the revolution who grew disenchanted and became a defender of Catholicism), and Franz von Baader (romantic and social philosopher, a Catholic who was influenced by mysticism particularly the thought of the Lutheran apostate Jakob Boehme). While these Catholic revolutionaries shared political ideals with such thinkers as Burke (the father of conservativism and opponent of revolution), Joseph de Maistre (reactionary traditionalist Catholic), and de Toqueville (Catholic writer on the "ancien regime" and opponent of democracy), they also were influenced heavily by mysticism and German idealism, including such mystics as Jakob Boehme, Jung-Stilling, Saint-Martin, and the Pietists. Gottfried next turns his attention to the age of Montgelas, in which various laws were enacted which resulted in oppression for the church and clergy. Here, Gottfried notes the influence of various rationalists, including the Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt and the Rosicrucians, who plotted against throne and altar. Weishaupt, a professor of canon law, created the Illuminati modeling his society after the Jesuits in 1776, actively conspiring to murder the king and adhering to rationalist beliefs. Weishaupt along with Adolf von Knigge (a fellow Illuminatus) actively opposed other mystical doctrines such as those of the Swedenborgians and the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucians were another initiatory society, whose presence was revealed in the various manifestos which appeared at the time. Believed to have been founded by Christian Rosenkreuz, the Rosicrucians were an invisible society of elite scientists and philosophers who would create a utopia. The chief Rosicrucian manifesto to appear is believed to have been authored by the Lutheran minister Johann Valentin Andreae, who actively opposed the papacy and Catholic reaction. Other individuals actively influenced by Rosicrucian mysticism, along with the writings of Paracelsus, include Karl von Eckarthausen and Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert whose book _The Symbolism of Dreams_ was to play an important role in the romantic movement. Indeed, many romantics were especially influenced by Rosicrucianism as well as Martinism (the mysticism of Saint-Martin) and the Jewish Cabbala, though they often denied this influence. The thought of Schelling, who although a Protestant was much admired by Catholics, also played a prominent part in the development of the romantic movement. Throughout this discussion, Gottfried demonstrates the various conflicts which arose particularly between Catholics and Protestants as well as conflicts involving the Jews. Another important component of the romantic movement was that of "the Awakening", a movement started by many Catholic parish priests who sought to imitate Protestant pietism within Catholicism but were also repulsed by Enlightenment rationalism. Individuals involved in this movement included Johann Michael Sailer and Johann Ringseis, Catholic priests who sought an Awakening. In the era of Ludwig I, Catholicism witnessed a revival and romantics led the way in propagating the faith. In such journals as the _Athenaeum_, romantics actively sought the origins of human existence, often dabbling in non-Western religions, including the Vedas, as well as ancient Greek myth (arguing that the ancient Greeks were precursors of Christianity). Romantics also exposited an eschatology in which a coming conflict with modernism would bring about the reign of Antichrist. Romantics actively made war with both liberalism and modernism, advocating a corporativist medieval state as an alternative to class conflict. For thinkers such as Muller and von Baader, the role of the worker played an important part in their economic theories. Indeed, Gottfried notes the influence that romanticism may have played on the thought of early socialists including Karl Marx. This book is an important source of information, providing much material on an otherwise neglected historical topic. The conservative romantics, although frequently maligned because of baseless associations with the Third Reich, presented an important alternative to the decadence of modernity. Their thinking will continue to live on in those who believe that traditional society is superior to the alternative of decadent modern civilization.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
