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Article: Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe.
- Article from:
- Journal of Social History
- Article date:
- September 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Journal of Social History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In this suggestive study, Margaret Jacob, who is known for her scholarship abou eighteenth-century scientific and civic culture, explores Enlightenment ideologies and their connections to Masonic elites in western Europe. The book is topically arranged and revolves around several stimulating theses. Jacob maintains that the ritualism of Speculative Freemasonry served as an effective vehicle for explaining important tenets of classicism, deism, Newtonianism, constitutional government and civil liberties to aristocratic and middle-class members in England, France, and Holland. She argues that this new organization fostered sociability among its members and became identified ...