The unique historical study on Anticlericalism during the period of the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment. A collective volume that reveals unknown aspects of Greek history. It is hardly known that Anticlericalism constituted (beyond the European) a key feature of the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment, something that is evident from the work and actions of a large number of Greek scholars from the pre-revolutionary period, as well as from the content of a significant number of informative print materials of the time.
The paradox lies in the fact that although studies on the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment began to flourish in our country from the 1960s, in the previous decades no relevant event or conference "happened" to address the issue of the development of Anticlericalism in the pre-revolutionary period.
In February 2024, under the initiative of the Lux Orbis Series and the Movement of Greek Citizens for the Secularization of the State (KEPEK), a conference titled "Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment and Anticlericalism" was organized at the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, with the participation of esteemed academics and historical researchers. The outcome of this successful event is the volume you hold in your hands.
Readers of the book have the opportunity to engage with themes such as the pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary ideological confrontations in the Greek territory, the role of radical Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment in the preparation for the great uprising, the reactions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the arrival of modern ideas, the conditions under which the excommunication against the revolutionaries was issued, the questioning of the historicity of Jesus by Greek scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as the meaning of Secularization during the Otto period.
The volume includes contributions from the following scholars: Georgios Dritsas, Aris Katopodis, Eleni Kourmantzi, Stelios Lamnis, Giannis Bandekas, Minas Papageorgiou, Petros Pizanias, Christos Reppas, Alexandros Sakellariou, Alexandra Sfini, Petros Tatzopoulos, and Elissavet Tsakanika.
