Enlightenment or Counter-Enlightenment in Russia? Freemasons Writing History in the Late Eighteenth Century by Prof. Natalie Bayer, Ph.D.

The article explores the themes of Enlightenment and Counter-

Enlightenment through the lens of Freemasonry, and, more specifically,

Freemasons in Russia who wrote history. It tests the approaches of

Masonic history writers against Berlin’s definitions of the Enlightenment

and Counter-Enlightenment. Whilst a definitive break between the

Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment seems attractive, the article

advances a more nuanced picture of the plurality of religious and

secular discourse in Russia. Instead of opposing the Enlightenment,

many late eighteenth-century Masonic writers of history provided their

own, alternative interpretative models of history as a way out of the

perceived crisis between the mind and the soul.

Keywords: counter-enlightenment, eighteenth century, enlightenment,

freemasonry, Russia

Read by the Author

Natalie Bayer specializes in European intellectual history and Russian/Soviet history, offering courses on European Enlightenment, nationalism in Modern Europe, the French Revolution, freemasonry and fraternalism in Modern European history, Russian Imperial history, the history of the USSR, and Soviet experience. She also teaches world history.

Published in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR HISTORY, CULTURE AND MODERNITY Vol 7, 2019 : 1089-1120,