Overview

This work shows that the collapse of the post-reformation confessional state was more the result of religious dissent from within, much of it orthodox, than attacks of an anti-religious Enlightenment. In sharp contrast to the Reformation-era religious conflicts which tended to pit Protestant and Catholic confessions and states against each other, the 18th century religious conflicts described in this work took place within the various confessional establishments and states that founded and maintained them, such as Russian Orthodoxy in the East and the Anglican Establishment in England and Ireland. In the course of its analysis, this work destroys the notion of any kind of privileged relationship between ""religion"" and political or social ""reaction"". This work reveals the religious roots of modern ideas of individual rights and limitations on government, as well as the imperative of political order and the need for social hierarchy.

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9780268040529

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Reviews

These timely essays focus on conflicts within confessions and the way in which they could become the seedbed of enhanced religious freedom. . . . This invaluable publication affords abundant evidence of what a cockpit for debate the Churches were, very much primary centres of intellectual life in eighteenth-century Europe. --European History Quarterly, Vol. 33 No. 3, 2003 .. . fascinatingly clear. The whole collection therefore constitutes a landmark in the recent rehabilitation of religion into our understanding of the eighteenth century and how it worked. --French History, September 2002, Vol. 16 No. 3 Bradley and Van Kley's splendid introduction provides a fascinating overview of the earlier literature on the subject and draws credible connections between the diverse accounts that follow. Each of the chapters is a substantial piece of work, written by seasoned scholars who command a broad array of primary sources in making their arguments. --The Journal of Religion These essays are united by the idea that notions of civic rights and representative government so dear to us and so central to our social and political life are not derived from heretical and enlightened sources that challenged orthodox Christianity and polity, but rather from debates within both religious orthodoxy and political status quo. While the Reformation era religious conflicts tended to pit Protest and Catholic confessions and states against each other, the 18th-century religious conflicts took place within various individual confessional establishments and states that founded and maintained them. In their focal coherence, these essays provide us with a model of the comparative study of religion during the Enlightenment. --Virginia Quarterly Review, 2002, Vol. 78 No. 3 The editors, Dale Van Kley, a professor of history at Ohio State University, and James E. Bradley, a professor of church history at Fuller Seminary, have produced a remarkably coherent collection that should interest serious students of the Enlightenment. It is a carefully crafted book and will reward thoughtful reading --History: Reviews of New Books, Fall 2001

These timely essays focus on conflicts within confessions and the way in which they could become the seedbed of enhanced religious freedom. . . . This invaluable publication affords abundant evidence of what a cockpit for debate the Churches were, very much primary centres of intellectual life in eighteenth-century Europe. --European History Quarterly, Vol. 33 No. 3, 2003

In a lengthy introduction and seven essays this scholarly work asserts the seminal influence of religion on the Enlightenment in eighteenth-century Europe. The editors . . . have produced a remarkably coherent collection that should interest serious students of the Enlightenment. . . . It is a carefully crafted book and will reward thoughtful reading. -- History: Reviews of New Books

Author Information

James E. Bradley is Geoffrey W. Bromiley Professor of Church History at Fuller Theological Seminary. Dale K. Van Kley is professor of early modern European history at Ohio State University.

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