âA Mystery in the Process of Revelationâ: Reconstructing the Development of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age. Part I: Toynbee, Jaspers and a New Configuration of History (1958â1963)

Matthias Schmid

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âA Mystery in the Process of Revelationâ: Reconstructing the Development of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age. Part I: Toynbee, Jaspers and a New Configuration of History (1958â1963)

In: The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

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Matthias Schmid

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Pages:: 49â107

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.30965/9783846769607_003

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Abstract

Eric Voegelinâs sophisticated project of a philosophy of politics and history entitled Order and History came to a standstill after the first three volumes had been completed. Volume IV, planned for 1958 under the title Empire and Christianity, was not published until 17 years later â with the new title The Ecumenic Age.

This first part of a broader study examines the continuities and ruptures in the process, in that not only the structure of Volume IV itself changed completely, but also the project as a whole. The focus here is on the development phase between the mid-1950s and around 1963. Here, a fundamental change in the orientation of the work takes place along the questions of a comparative history of civilizations. The two most important reference authors for Voegelin were Arnold J. Tonybee and Karl Jaspers. It is shown how Voegelin affects Toynbeeâs Study of History, especially in that Voegelin, despite all criticism of Toynbeeâs premises, picks out ecumenism as the guiding idea of an ascension movement. This aspect finds its way into Voegelinâs typology of empires as well as into the central characteristic of an age of its own, the âEcumenic Ageâ. Voegelin derives his own variant of a âconfiguration of historyâ with three constitutive features from Jaspersâ concept of the Axial Period: (1) spritual outbursts, (2) ecumenic empires, and (3) historiography. Voegelin expands his view from a unilinear Western history of rise and decline to parallel inter-civilizational phenomena, in particular with the inclusion of India and China. But whether this really breaks with Eurocentrism, it is argued in conclusion, can ultimately be doubted.

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The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

Series:Â Eric Voegelin Studies: Yearbook, Volume: 4

Cover The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

E-Book ISBN:: 9783846769607

Publisher:: Brill | Fink

Print Publication Date:: 22 Jul 2025

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - Social & Political Philosophy

Front Matter

Part I The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations. Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

Part II Voegelinâs Intellectual Environment

Part III Selected Book Reviews

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âA Mystery in the Process of Revelationâ: Reconstructing the Development of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age. Part I: Toynbee, Jaspers and a New Configuration of History (1958â1963)

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The Unity of Mankind and the Conversation of Civilizations

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age

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âA Mystery in the Process of Revelationâ: Reconstructing the Development of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age. Part I: Toynbee, Jaspers and a New Configuration of History (1958â1963)

Reflections on the Basis of Eric Voegelinâs The Ecumenic Age