This dissertation examines how the implementation of Enlightenment ideas in the French Revolution gave birth to a new secular conception of the state and the invention of a new
religion. I argue that Jean-Jacques Rousseau, representing shared assumptions across the Enlightenment, interpreted religion to be a human construct and thus subject to human intervention.
With the onset of 1789 revolutionaries employed this conception to reorganize the Gallican Church and institute the radical Cults of Reason and the Supreme Being. When these endeavors
failed revolutionaries refocused on two solutions: the secular laws of 1795 and Theophilanthropy. Revolutionary secularization separated Church and state and confined worship to the
private sphere. Consequently Theophilanthropy acquired an independent status and the Revolution acted as a catalyst for the invention of a new religion based on Enlightenment principles.
This study explores how Theophilanthropy stood at the foundation of French secularization, modern civil religion and subsequent New Religious Movements (NRM). The historical significance
of Theophilanthropy was critical in its own time and bequeathed a legacy that long outlasted the Revolution. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 27, 2015. / Civil Religion, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Rousseau, Secularization, Theophilanthropy / Includes bibliographical references. / Darrin McMahon, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Rafe Blaufarb, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Martin Kavka, University Representative; George
Williamson, Committee Member; Jonathan Grant, Committee Member; Ron Doel, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_291356 |
| Contributors | Deverse, Jonathan Douglas (authoraut), McMahon, Darrin M. (professor co-directing dissertation), Blaufarb, Rafe (professor co-directing dissertation), Kavka, Martin (university representative), Williamson, George S. (committee member), Grant, Jonathan A., 1963- (committee member), Doel, Ronald Edmund (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of History (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (255 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Coverage | Europe |
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