The more than 30 essays in this volume examine the engagement of the Enlightenment with esoteric traditions of the Early Modern Era and the transformative pathways by which Hermeticism, magic, alchemy, and Kabbalah influenced Spiritualism, Occultism, and Theosophy. The contributors explore intersections between the Enlightenment and Esotericism and identify the concerns and preoccupations that made possible the transition to modern esotericism.

Der Band dokumentiert die Veranstaltungen des Historikertages in Halle: Kurzfassungen der etwa 300 Referate und zusammenfassende Berichte uber die Sektionen, erschlossen durch ein Verzeichnis der Referenten."

Recently, societies have come in for increasing attention in research on the 18th century. Earlier the emphasis was on the so-called 'Enlightenment societies' but now a broader range of societalization processes have attracted the interest of humanities scholars and cultural studies experts. Common to them all is an interest in the emergence of sociability, networks and communication structures. This is reflected programmatically in the title of the volume. Studies on individual societies and their members join with analyses of personal and institutional networks to form the basis for an emergent picture of the communicative history of societalization in the 18th century.