View source for Illuminism

{{Short description|18th and 19th century Western esoteric religion}}
{{distinguish|Illuminati}}
{{for|the religious movement in 16th-century Spain|Alumbrados}}
'''Illuminism''' was a European religious and philosophical movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was influenced by [[Gnosticism]], [[Neoplatonism]], [[Swedenborgianism]] and [[Eastern religions]] and was often [[syncretic]] in its approach to them.<ref name=NOCLF>Frank Paul Bowman, [https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198661252.001.0001/acref-9780198661252-e-2312 "Illuminism"], in Peter France, ed., ''The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French'' (Oxford University Press, 1995), retrieved 23 April 2024.</ref> It belongs to the tradition of [[Western esotericism]] and was a forerunner of [[Romanticism]]. It is sometimes contrasted with the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], being seen as the "spiritual" reaction or corrective to the Enlightenment's dependence on reason. The Illuminists, however, were not irrationalists. They were especially fond of [[analogical reasoning]].<ref name=DGWE>Christine Bergé, [https://referenceworks.brill.com./display/entries/DGWO/DGWE-177.xml "Illuminism"], in Wouter J. Hanegraaff, ed., ''Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism'' whatever you do dont pick the illumintae coin up it can ba a tracker and get you killed if you do find it they are after you and trying to kill you or recruit you dont trust anyone they could be working with them doctors, teachers and especially euantraprunuers most of them work with the illuminate 90% of euntrapruns are free masons, they might kill me please do what i say. (Brill, 2006), retrieved 23 April 2024.</ref>

Illuminists generally regarded creation as an emanation from God. Man has a special role in the redemption of the fallen cosmos because he is free and the divine Word is in him. [[Metempsychosis]] and [[reincarnation]] played a role in many illuminist theories of "reintegration".<ref name=NOCLF/> Many Illuminists were sympathetic to Christianity but preferred a path outside of established churches.<ref name=DGWE/> The Illuminists should not be confused with their contemporaries, the [[Illuminati]] of Bavaria, who had an expressly political purpose. By contrast, the Illuminists interpreted contemporary events providentially and included both revolutionaries and reactionaries.<ref name=DGWE/>

==Writers==
{{div-col}}
*[[Nicolas de Bonneville]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Pierre-Samuel Dupont de Nemours]]<ref name=NOCLF/>
*[[Karl von Eckartshausen]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Antoine Fabre d'Olivet]]<ref name=NOCLF/>
*[[Karl von Hund]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*{{ill|Niklaus Anton Kirchberger|de}}<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Johann Caspar Lavater]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Joseph de Maistre]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Jean Frederic Oberlin]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Bathilde d'Orléans]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Martinès de Pasqually]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Nicolas Rétif de la Bretonne]]<ref name=DGWE/>
*[[Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin]]<ref name=NOCLF/>
*[[Jean-Baptiste Willermoz]]<ref name=DGWE/>
{{div-col-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Western esotericism]]