Illuminism was a European religious and philosophical movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
It was influenced by Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Swedenborgianism and Eastern religions and was often syncretic in its approach to them.
Man has a special role in the redemption of the fallen cosmos because he is free and the divine Word is in him.
[2] The Illuminists should not be confused with their contemporaries, the Illuminati of Bavaria, who had an expressly political purpose.
The Illuminists, by contrast, interpreted contemporary events providentially and included both revolutionaries and reactionaries.