History of Political Ideas, Volume 5: Religion and the Rise of Modernity

Collected Works of Eric Voegelin #23

by Eric Voegelin, James L. Wiser (Editor)

Examining the emergence of modernity within the philosophical and political debates of the sixteenth century, Religion and the Rise of Modernity resumes the analysis of the "great confusion" introduced in Volume IV of History of Political Ideas. Encompassing a vast range of events ignited by Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, this period is one of controversy, revolution, and partiality.

Despite the era's fragmentation and complexity, Voegelin's insightful analysis clarifies its significance and suggests the lines of change converging at a point in the future: the medieval Christian understanding of a divinely created closed cosmos was being replaced by a distinctly modern form of human consciousness that posits man as the proper origin of meaning in the universe.

Analyzing the most significant features of the great confusion, Voegelin examines a vast range of thought and issues of the age. From the more obvious thinkers to those less frequently studied, this volume features such figures as Calvin, Althusius, Hooker, Bracciolini, Savonarola, Copernicus, Tycho de Brahe, and Giordano Bruno. Devoting a considerable amount of attention to Jean Bodin, Voegelin presents him as a prophet of a new, true religion amid the civilizational disorder of the post-Christian era. Focusing on such traditional themes as monarchy, just war theory, and the philosophy of law, this volume also investigates issues within astrology, cosmology, and mathematics.

Religion and the Rise of Modernity is a valuable work of scholarship not only because of its treatment of individual thinkers and doctrines influential in the sixteenth century and beyond but also because of its close examination of those experiences that formed the modern outlook.

Genres: Philosophy

280 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 1998

About the author

German-born American political philosopher. He taught political theory and sociology at the University of Vienna after his habilitation there in 1928. While in Austria Voegelin established the beginnings of his long lasting friendship with F. A. Hayek. In 1933 he published two books criticizing Nazi racism, and was forced to flee from Austria following the Anschluss in 1938. After a brief stay in Switzerland, he arrived in the United States and taught at a series of universities before joining Louisiana State University's Department of Government in 1942. His advisers on his dissertation were Hans Kelsen and Othmar Spann.

Voegelin remained in Baton Rouge until 1958 when he accepted an offer by Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität to fill Max Weber's former chair in political science, which had been empty since Weber's death in 1920. In Munich he founded the Institut für Politische Wissenschaft. Voegelin returned to America in 1969 to join Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace as Henry Salvatori Fellow where he continued his work until his death on January 19, 1985. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society.

Reviews

[Anderson Paz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nesse volume, Voegelin analisa o espírito moderno do séc. XVI que se fecha à transcendência. Em continuação ao que discutia no volume IV - abertura à modernidade por meio da Renascença e Reforma -, Voegelin explica que diante de um cenário de cismas e sectarismo que geravam guerras e perturbações políticas, revoltas começaram a surgir contra os grilhões da religião e do poder temporal, como no caso do Discurso da servidão voluntária de Boétie.
Nesse contexto, vários antimonarquistas passaram a se manifestar em uma tendência secularista de organização política segundo a soberania popular. Até mesmo em Calvino e Knox, encontrava-se uma teoria de resistência ao poder temporal. Althusius contribuiu com uma abertura para a organização secular do povo com base no direito natural. E também jesuítas contribuíram para a defesa da soberania popular.
Voegelin, então, discute a noção de comunidade política inglesa - commonwealth - em Hooker, destacando sua defesa de uma comunidade autônoma, fechada ao papado e secularizada para conter o ímpeto puritano. Hooker defende uma commonwealth que integre a Igreja e o poder temporal como parte de uma ordem integral.
Ainda no século XVI surgem fortes relações intergovernamentais formando uma imagem do Ocidente como um todo. Francisco de Vitória defende a conquista dos espanhóis sobre as Américas com argumentos de direito natural, propagação da cristandade e superioridade civilizacional. Desenvolve-se um padrão de conquista intercivilizacional.
Voegelin discute também a nova consciência moderna sobre história: o homem é a origem e constituidor do significado do universo. E trata da busca de significado da história nos ritmos da natureza, na astrologia, na cosmologia, na matemática. Voegelin discute vários autores que buscam sentido da história na imanência do cosmos. Por fim, ele discute a obra e pensamento de Bodin e seu semimodernismo que misturava religiosidade não-institucionalizada e platonismo na compreensão da ordem social.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title interested me so I picked this book up in the library on a whim. The book is not an easy or enjoyable read, but it does provides interesting insights into a complex time. The author, in addition to presuming the reader has knowledge of certain areas of study, seems to make understanding more difficult by creating his own jargon. As a consequence, I kept "The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosphy" and Volume 6, "The Reformation", of Will Durant's "The Story of Civilization" close at hand. A Latin to English dictionary might also be a good idea. As preparation it could not hurt to have read Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire" and even "The Walking Drum" by Louis L'Amour. The latter book provides thumbnail sketches of some of the people mentioned by Voegelin. Wikipedia was also a help.

If I had it to do all over again I would read this book on Google Books, yes Google has it, and take notes via software tools such as OneNote or FreeMind. I really liked many of the authors "turns of phrase".