Conference: Let There Be Enlightenment: The Religious and Mystical Sources of Rationality
16-17 May 2014, Stanford University
The field of Enlightenment studies has recently undergone a series of debates regarding the role of religion in 18th-century thought, leading to reconsiderations of the supposed predominance of secular rationalism during this period. The traditional definition of “the Enlightenment” as a secular “Age of Reason” has been challenged by studies that have demonstrated the persistent importance of religious ideas. Such major revisions call for new explorations into the origins of the intellectual transformations of early-modern thought.
This interdisciplinary conference will explore the intellectual origins of the European Enlightenment by investigating the deployment of the terms “light” and “darkness” between the Reformation and the French Revolution. The metaphor of bringing light and enlightenment to humankind that was nearly ubiquitous in the 18th century had theological origins and was intimately tied to religious mysticism and to the intense disputes of the Reformation. An analysis of the uses of these terms in the context of actual lived debates will thus shed light on how early-modern thinkers perceived the relationship between faith and reason.
The conference also seeks to bring together scholars who focus on diverse chronological periods and geographical areas, in order to discover similarities and differences in the use of the terms “light” and “darkness” in a variety of contexts. It will expand the discussion to areas that have often not figured in studies of the Enlightenment (such as Eastern Europe, Spain, and the Americas) in order to offer a truly transnational perspective.
Further Information is available on the conference website.
