2/25/2009

More bloggers!

The Chair for the freemasonry as an intellectual current and socio-cultural European phenomenon at the Leiden University has started a new blog. We have added the link to the list of blogs in the field of study in the column on the right hand side of this page.
Do you know a blog which also deserves to be added? Please feel free to let us know: info@stichtingovn.nl

Mechanics

In an earlier message on this blog, we've announced the new publication by OVN board member dr. Jan Snoek (Heidelberg University: Ritual Dynamics in the Independent United Order of Mechanics (Forum Ritualdynamik 16); Heidelberg: SFB 619 Ritualdynamik der Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg (x + 80).
The publication can be downloaded from the following link:
http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/frontdoor.php?source_opus=8973. Click on 'pdf-Format: Dokument 1.pdf (30.838 KB)'. The file will then download and open on the screen, after which it can be saved to the computer hard disk.

2/23/2009

OVN board members

There have been some changes in the board of the OVN Foundation earlier this year. Drs. Anat Harel stepped back as board member on 1 January 2009. Her PhD fellowship at the Leiden University was concluded. Harel is currently working at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam on a project which will integrate the collections with the Digital Monument for the Jewish Community in the Netherlands. This is why she has taken a break from the subject of freemasonry for now. The remaining board members are very gratefull for her support in previous years and wish her success in her new endeavors.

The vacancy has since been filled by André Hanou, emeritus professor at in Early Dutch Literature at the Nijmegen University. Hanou specializes in Ditch literature of the Enlightenment, including the works of Johannes Kinker and Jacob Campo Weyerman. His publications on the history of freemasonry within that context include:

- De Naakte Waarheyt der Vrije Metselaars. Teksten van de 18de eeuwse schrijver Jacob Campo Weyerman over de Vrijmetselarij (The Naked Truth of Free Masons. Texts by the 18th century author Jacob Campo Weyerman), Introduction by André Hanou, Fama Masonic Publishers 2004;
- ‘Aandachtspunten bij onderzoek naar vrijmetselarij in Nederland’ (Focus points in research of freemasonry in the Netherlands), in: Andrea Kroon (ed.), Vrijmetselarij in Nederland. Een kennismaking met de wetenschappelijke studie van een ‘geheim’ genootschap, (Conference 14 March 2003, University of Leiden) Stichting OVN, Den Haag 2003, 51-58;
- 'Weyerman en de Vrijmetselarij, Een bouwsteen’ (Weyerman and freemasonry. A building block), Mededelingen St. Jacob Campo Weyerman 26 (2003) 49-58;
- ‘Kumpels adem. Ontstaan en vergaan van Concordia Vera, 1787-1790’ (Kumpels breath. The emergence and fall of lodge Concordia Vera, 1787-1790), Acta macionica 7 (1997), 375-385;
- Onder de acacia. Studies over de Nederlandse vrijmetselarij en vrijmetselaarsloges vóór 1830 (Beneath the acacia. Studies on Dutch freemasonry and masonic lodges before 1830), Astraea, Leiden 1997 (Paddemoesreeks 3);
- ‘De Vrijmetselarij in stukken’ (Freemasonry in pieces), in: D.P. de Graaf, E.P. Kwaadgras, D.C.J. van Peype (red.), De stijl der Vrije Metselaren, Een maçonniek platenboek, ‘s-Gravenhage 1996, 20-23;
- ‘De Loge Parterre’ (The lodge on ground level), in: Anton van de Sande en Joost Rosendaal (red.), ‘Een stille leerschool van deugd en goede zeden’. Vrijmetselarij in Nederland in de 18e en 19e eeuw, Verloren, Hilversum 1995, 41-61;
- ‘Drift en deugd. Literatuur van vrijmetselaars in de loge Vicit Vim Virtus voor 1830’ (Vice and virtue. Literature of freemasons in the lodge Vicit Vim Virtus before 1830), in: W. van den Berg/Henk Eijssens/Ton van Kalmthout (red.), Haarlemse kringen. Vijftien verkenningen naar het literair-culturele leven in een negentiende-eeuwse stad, Hilversum 1993, 27-46;
- Sluiers van Isis. Johannes Kinker als voorvechter van de Verlichting, in de vrijmetselarij en andere Nederlandse genootschappen (The veils of Isis. Johannes Kinker as a champion of the Enlightenment, in freemasonry and other societies), Deventer 1988 (Dissertation Nijmegen, 2 dln);
- many articles in the masonic study magazine Thoth, including the series ‘Beelden van de vrijmetselarij’ (Images of freemasonry).

Hanou is co-founder of the journal Spektator (1971), the Jacob Campo Weyerman Foundation(1977) and Astraea Publishers(1994). He writes columns for AmsterdamFM radio station and the Herkauwer blog. His knowledge and experience in the field of study are a welcome addition to the board of the OVN.

2/08/2009

Call for papers: Enlightenment and Esotericism

The next International Conference of the DFG Research Group 'The Enlightenment in the referential Context of modern Esotericism (Die Aufklärung im Bezugsfeld neuzeitlicher Esoterik)' will address the theme Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity. The call for papers is as follows:

'Following the conferences “Enlightenment and Esotericism” (Aufklärung und Esoterik) in 1997 at the Herzog-August Library in Wolfenbüttel and “Esotericism in the Enlightenment” (Esoterik in der Aufklärung) in 2006 at the IZEA, now a third conference on this subject will pose the question: To what extent can the multi-faceted relationship between Enlightenment and Esotericism in the eighteenth century be considered as constitutive for Modernity?
The influence of the Enlightenment on Modernity has been much postulated and is an intrinsic constituent in the self-validation of Modernity. At the same time it is clear that Esotericism has also played an important role, right up to the present day. Yet what has been little known up to now is just what significance the mutual reciprocity between Enlightenment and Esotericism in the eighteenth century (and the resulting transformations from this relationship) have had.
Esotericism, as an aggregate of different historical streams of thought, can be identified through the reception of Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism and Cabbala, as well as through the assimilation of the so-called old sciences of Alchemy, Magic and Astrology from the Renaissance on. During the course of the Early Modern period, related movements such as Paracelsianism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and Freemasonry developed out of these streams of thought. As the first two conferences have shown, these various esoteric currents continued to have an impact during the Enlightenment, whether they were negated, integrated or transformed.
What role then did the Enlightenment play in the rise of “modern” Esotericism? What about the Enlightenment itself, which developed its profile not least by engaging with esoteric streams of thought? Through which paths – whether through continual or interrupted transmission – did the resulting manifestations of the encounter between the Enlightenment and Esotericism arrive at the later Modern period? What accounts for the affinity between Modernity and the artistic-literary, philosophical, theological, scientific or historical-political expressions of the exchange between Enlightenment and Esotericism?
The conference Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity would like to dedicate itself to these questions. Contributions are encouraged from all history-oriented disciplines which investigate the major issues, which reflect on methodical approaches to answering the questions posed or which offer concrete case studies for discussion. The main focus will be on the “long eighteenth century,” that is, on topics dealing with the age of the Enlightenment itself as well as on topics addressing the transition into the first decades after 1800. Nonetheless contributions which treat the nineteenth or twentieth centuries exclusively are also welcome if they take the main theme of the conference into consideration.
Proposals are requested by 31/03/2009 and should include a lecture title, a short abstract of one-half to a full page and a brief vita. Please address all submissions to: IZEA, Franckeplatz 1/54, D–06110 Halle, izea@izea.uni-halle.de'.


Conference: 'Enlightenment and Esotericism – Ways into Modernity', 9-12/03/2010, Interdisciplinary Center for European Enlightenment Studies Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für die Erforschung der Europäischen Aufklärung (IZEA), Halle, Germany.