Author: Zhorzheta Cholakova
Paisiy Hilendarski University of Plovdiv
Published in Slavyanski dialozi, XVII, 2020, 26
Abstract: The article attempts an atypical interpretation of the concept of alternative spirituality. Unlike the dominant tendency to associate this concept primarily with noncanonical religious movements and esoteric concepts, what is outlined here is the process in which the concept of spirituality doubles and even multiplies its meanings by creating a conceptual field that is an alternative to its religious genetic code. By doing so, however, it still preserves the inclination towards the metaphysical spaces of being in terms of both transcendence and intersubjectivity. Our attention is focused on the encyclopedic projects of the Enlightenment, projects created in the native language and reflecting in a specific way not only the processes of secularization of the cultural consciousness but also of the formation of a prestigious public discourse that shows the new attitudes towards such key concepts as religion, God, spirit, soul. What was used for the purposes of this analysis was a collection of the representative encyclopedic projects in the Slavic world from the mid-18th century up until the mid-19th century, as well as the French encyclopedia edited by Diderot and the German one edited by Brockhaus.
Key words: alternative spirituality, encyclopedias of the Enlightenment, I. Krasicki, J. Jungmann, J. Pr. Koubek, Brockhaus, N. N. Glech, Fr. L. Riegе