The Virtues of Abandon

France in the eighteenth century glittered, but also seethed, with new goods and ideas. In the halls in Versailles, the streets of Paris, and the soul of the Enlightenment itself, a struggle was being waged over the question of ownership - of property, of position, even of personhood. Those who championed the possession of material, spiritual, and existential goods faced the assaults of Christian mystics, philosophical materialists, and political revolutionaries. Charly Coleman traces the aims and activities of these seemingly disparate groups, and the current of anti-individualism that permeated theology, philosophy, and politics throughout the period. Fired by the desire to abandon the self, men and women sought new ways to relate to God, nature, and nation. They joined illicit mystic cults, induced consciousness-altering dreams, railed against unfettered consumption, and ultimately renounced the privileges that defined their social existence. The denouement was the French Revolution, during which God and king were toppled from their thrones. We credit the Enlightenment and the Revolution with enshrining the individual as an autonomous, rights-bearing subject. This book contends, however, that such an outcome owes as much to calls for self-sacrifice as to the pursuit of happiness. Revealing the religious underpinnings of the Enlightenment even in its atheistic forms, The Virtues of Abandon offers an original, audacious history of eighteenth-century France. -- from dust cover.