He argues that from the beginning of it’s life the church has practised contextualisation.

It is, however, only fairly recently that this essentially contextual nature of the faith has been recognised (Bosch 1991:421)

Continuing with his historical overview he observes that every movement that deviated from a declared form of orthodoxy and the participants in the movement were either “excommunicated, persecuted or banned” (Bosch 1991:421). None of the social, political or cultural factors were recognised or considered when the movements were tested for orthodoxy. He observes two major and significant developments in church history where orthodoxy provided the boundariy for who was part of the movement and who was not. No cultural, social or political explanations for the differences were given.

• The Schism of 1054 when the Eastern and Western Churches declared each other unorthodox.
• The Reformation where Protestants and Catholics separated.

He differentiates between contextual theology and traditional theologies by suggesting that since Constantine the majority of theology has been passed down from an elitist enterprise to the educated believer. Contextual theology is theology that is worked out from below, from “the underside of history” (Bosch 1991:423). This kind of contextual theology is found in the lives of the “poor or the culturally marginalised” (Bosch 1991:423).

He draws upon three approaches, all published in the 1980s, including Schrieter (1985), Ukpong (1987) and Waldenfiels (1987). Using Ukpong’s Indiginization and Socio-economic models of contextualisation he develops them further by subdividing them. Indiginization is subdivided into indiginization and inculturation. Socieconomic is subdivided into evolutionary and revolutionary. As far as he is concerned only the Socioeconomic-revolutionary model and the Inculturation-indiginsation can be considered fully contextualised models of theology (Bosch 1991:421). He turns his attention to these two models in later sections (Pages 432-446 and 447-456 respectively).

It would be very difficult to understand the first section of this introduction to models of contextualisation if you had not read the authors he refers to at the beginning (My summary of Schriter here). He does not describe what he considers the Indiginization or Sosioeconomic model to be.

Pages 1-2
Rowland (2007) “Introduction: the theology of liberation.” The Cambridge Companion to Liberation Theology: Second Edition. Ed. Christopher Rowland. Cambridge University Press

I kept in mind that I would like to do a Phd and decided to keep working towards it as though it was a Phd. In my review today, we agreed that there wasn’t a convincing potential to turn it into a Phd. The original idea (here) didn’t work and I need to submit a revised proposal with an explanation as to why it didn’t work. I have now two years to complete which fits in quite nicely with my upcoming sabbatical in 2010.

I confess to being a bit disappointed, but not much. I would have liked to reach a Phd without having to have done a second degree, but I am quite happy to accept that you can’t always take short cuts in life! The good news is that I should have completed by the end of 2010 instead of the end of 2013 and that it is the research that interests me more than the degree.

I have come up with a fairly tight schedule running up until the end of the year:

6th November : the research Comittee will review my revised proposal.
6th December : to have completed a pilot of data gathering, concentrating on the North West of England.
6th January : need a 5000 word paper describing and beginning to analyse my initial pilot research gathering.

• The group that organised it were originally known as BACUP and became known as the 1.3.6 group in 1992 when another organistaion using the acronym BACUP objected.
• As far as I can make out, in the early 1990′s there was an expectation that Church Planting would become part of the Baptist Unions Official Stratgy.
• BACUP was oficially closed when the Baptist Union Mission Department formed the “Church Planting Strategy Task Group” (Cartwright, 1993, Editorial Issue 9, p1).
• The task group has somewhere vanished into the depths of history.  Hopefully I will be able to find where it went as my research continues.

I have digitised the editions of “Planting Papers” (it is a posh way of saying photographed them).  There are a couple of gaps, but I have posed the images here: http://newconnexion.info/planting-papers/.  Hopefully we will be able to integrate them into a more coherant historical archive at the http://incarnate-newtork.eu/ web site, but for the moment we can’t decide how best to do that.

Complete list of all the articles in Planting Papers:
Arn, A. (1992). Seven reasons to start new churches. Planting Papers, 5, 9–10.  [Bigliographic Details]
Barlow, G., Hill, S., & Cartwright, C. (1992). 2001 by 2001: The mathmatics. Planting Papers, 5, 1–4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Barlow, G. (1993). Talks to "the president": Interview with b.u. president, eric westwood. Planting Papers, 7, 8–11.  [Bigliographic Details]
Barlow, G. (1993). Consultants in church planting. Planting Papers, 7, 11.  [Bigliographic Details]
Berry, J. (1992). Church planting in rural areas. Planting Papers, 4, 6.  [Bigliographic Details]
Cartwright, C. (1993). Facing a task unfinished. Planting Papers(8), 9–12.  [Bigliographic Details]
Cartwright, C. (1993). Flogging an imaginary hoby horse: Editors reply to phil jump. Planting Papers(8), 16–17.  [Bigliographic Details]
Cartwright, C. (1993). Ediorial (issue 9). Planting Papers(9), 1–2.  [Bigliographic Details]
Christine, S. (1991). Editorial: The planting decade? Planting Papers, 1, 1–2.  [Bigliographic Details]
Claydon, J. (1992). Church planting in the east midlands. Planting Papers, 6, 5–9.  [Bigliographic Details]
Claydon, J. (1993). A challenge to the associations. Planting Papers(9), 6–8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Coffe, D. (1991). From the bac room. Planting Papers, 1, 8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Dennision, J. (1991). Willow creek – a new philosophy for ministry. Planting Papers, 3, 7–9.  [Bigliographic Details]
Doubleday, C. (1992). Church planting in eastern europe. Planting Papers, 5, 12–14.  [Bigliographic Details]
Drummond, I. (1992). Seed, vegetable or landscape. Planting Papers, 4, 7–8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Fanstone, M. (1993). Why people leave churches. Planting Papers(8), 7–8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Finnell, D. (1991). Power planting. Planting Papers, 2, 2–3.  [Bigliographic Details]
Forster, C. (1993). Dawn update. Planting Papers, 7, 12–14.  [Bigliographic Details]
Forster, R. (1991). The primacy of pioneering over pastoring. Planting Papers, 1, 2–3.  [Bigliographic Details]
Frost, R. (1991). From the sharp end: A community approach to church planting. Planting Papers, 1, 6–7.  [Bigliographic Details]
Hearn, M. (1991). Planting people, the human factor. Planting Papers, 3, 1-–3.  [Bigliographic Details]
Hill, S., & Barlow, G. (1991). From the bac room: A 10 point manifesto for the centrality of church planting in the denominational mission policy. Planting Papers, 2, 9–10.  [Bigliographic Details]
Hill, S., & Barlow, G. (1991). From the sharp end: The church for the unchurched. Planting Papers, 2–3.  [Bigliographic Details]
Hooton, M. (1992). B.i.c.e.c. conference review. Planting Papers, 5, 8–9.  [Bigliographic Details]
Hopkins, B. (1992). The significance of the sent-unit size. Planting Papers, 4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Jackson, P. (1991). Bacup conference review. Planting Papers, 3, 10–11.  [Bigliographic Details]
James, J. (1993). From the sharp end: Plans, pains and progress. Planting Papers, 7, 5–7.  [Bigliographic Details]
Jenkins, G. (1992). Report ona sabbatical church planting course at spurgeons college – spring 1991. Planting Papers, 4, 7–8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Jump, P. (1993). Mainstream or back-water? Planting Papers, 7, 15–16.  [Bigliographic Details]
Maile, J., & Woolgar, G. (1992). From the sharp end: Planting shrublands. Planting Papers, 5, 6–8.  [Bigliographic Details]
Misselbrook, L. (1991). To build or not to build: A checklist for church planters. Planting Papers, 3, 4–5.  [Bigliographic Details]
Murray, S. (1992). Inner cities: A church planting priority. Planting Papers, 4, 4–5.  [Bigliographic Details]
Murray, S. (1993). More churches or new churches? Planting Papers, 7, 1–4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Nicholls, M. (1991). Spurgeon and church planting. Planting Papers, 2, 4–6.  [Bigliographic Details]
Parkes, R. (1991). From the sharp end: Using community networks. Planting Papers, 3, 3–4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Pawley, P. (1992). A shinig example: Growing and multiplying churches in st. helens. Planting Papers, 6, 1–4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Radcliffe, B. (1993). The human cost of new churches. Planting Papers(9), 3–5.  [Bigliographic Details]
Reynolds, G. (1993). From the sharp end: Small is beautiful – a case study. Planting Papers(8), 5–6.  [Bigliographic Details]
Roberts, J. (1993). From the sharp end: Stubbingdon – a case study from john roberts research. Planting Papers(9), 9-11.  [Bigliographic Details]
Roberts, J. (1993). Looking back. Planting Papers(9), 12–15.  [Bigliographic Details]
Shepherd, P. (1992). Our ignorance, god’s wisdom: Lessons learned from coulby newham, middlesborough. Planting Papers, 6, 14–18.  [Bigliographic Details]
Spriggs, D. (1993). Planting authentic churches. Planting Papers(8), 1–4.  [Bigliographic Details]
Sutton, R. (1991). Failure factors: Reflections on a church planting survey. Planting Papers, 2, 6–7.  [Bigliographic Details]
Tidball, D. (1991). Letter to the editor from derek tidball (b.u. secretary for mission and evangelism). Planting Papers, 3, 9–10.  [Bigliographic Details]
Tidball, D. (1992). From the bac room: Views from the mission office for 1992. Planting Papers, 4, 11–12.  [Bigliographic Details]
Warner, R. (1991). The folly of photocopying. Planting Papers, 1, 3–6.  [Bigliographic Details]
Wright, N. (1992). Evangelism and religious liberty. Planting Papers, 5, 4–6.  [Bigliographic Details]

1. List all the churches established with the B.U. in the period 1970-2008.
   I have begun but not completed the list.
2. Identify Church Planters that might be targets for an initial investigative questionnaire.
   Not started.
3. Read and review two books significant in the Baptist Church Planting World (Christine, Nodding)
   Christine is on my desk and I have read Nodding:
   This is a manual for people thinking about church planting and preparing a church to plant a new church. It concentrates of planting a Sunday Service in a new geographical area, using a Mother Daughter model. It contains various summaries of Peters research among people who are church planting. He is in favour of DAWN and the organisation is mentioned at several places. Peter is aware of the need to plant churches that are outside the cultural monochrome that is proposed here, but examination of the possibilities are outside the scope of his book.
   Bibliographic Data : My Notes
4. Set up two more initial conversations with people who have been significant in the Church Planting world.
   Not done as yet.

I have also conducted two preliminary interviews with people who have been significant in the church planting world over the last 20-30 years. I will not be publishing the transcript of those interviews here because I haven’t asked permission.

Next months targets are fairly simple:

1. List all the churches established with the B.U. in the period 1970-2008.
2. Identify Church Planters that might be targets for an initial investigative questionnaire.
3. Read and review two books significant in the Baptist Church Planting World (Christine, Nodding)
4. Set up two more initial conversations with people who have been significant in the Church Planting world.

The books and articles I have read are:

Allen, D. (1994). Planted to grow. Didcot: Baptist Union.  (Bibliographic Details)
This book is a comment on Derek’s research into fifty church plants planted between 1984 and 1994. His analysis occasionally lack coherence and has an anecdotal tone. Sometime the comments appear to have nothing to do with the research, and are often repetitive. Although a useful summary of the general position of church planting over the period it is anecdotal in style. (My Notes)

Christine, S. (1991). Editorial: The planting decade? Planting Papers, 1, 1–2.  (Bibliographic Details)

Coffe, D. (1991). From the bac room. Planting Papers, 1, 8.  (Bibliographic Details)

Dennision, J. (1991). Willow creek – a new philosophy for ministry. Planting Papers, 3, 7–9.  (Bibliographic Details)

Faircloth, S. (1991). Church planting for reproduction. Grand Rapids: Baker.  (Bibliographic Details)
Samuel is providing a manual for church planters. He attempts to provide theological rationale as well as drawing together what he sees as useful resources for the church planter. He is focused on planting churches in a geographical area. (My Notes)

Feeney, J. (1988). Church planting by the team method. Anchorage: Abbott Loop.  (Bibliographic Details)

Finnell, D. (1991). Power planting. Planting Papers, 2, 2–3.  (Bibliographic Details)

Forster, R. (1991). The primacy of pioneering over pastoring. Planting Papers, 1, 2–3.  (Bibliographic Details)

Frost, R. (1991). From the sharp end: A community approach to church planting. Planting Papers, 1, 6–7.  (Bibliographic Details)

Hearn, M. (1991). Planting people, the human factor. Planting Papers, 3, 1-–3.  (Bibliographic Details)

Helen, W. ((1995). The role of english associations/districts in church planting.). Unpublished BA dissertation, Spurgeons College, London.  (Bibliographic Details)

Hill, S., & Barlow, G. (1991). From the bac room: A 10 point manifesto for the centrality of church planting in the denominational mission policy. Planting Papers, 2, 9–10.  (Bibliographic Details)

Hill, S., & Barlow, G. (1991). From the sharp end: The church for the unchurched. Planting Papers, 2–3.  (Bibliographic Details)

Jackson, P. (1991). Bacup conference review. Planting Papers, 3, 10–11.  (Bibliographic Details)

Misselbrook, L. (1991). To build or not to build: A checklist for church planters. Planting Papers, 3, 4–5.  (Bibliographic Details)

Nicholls, M. (1991). Spurgeon and church planting. Planting Papers, 2, 4–6.  (Bibliographic Details)

Parkes, R. (1991). From the sharp end: Using community networks. Planting Papers, 3, 3–4.  (Bibliographic Details)

Sutton, R. (1991). Failure factors: Reflections on a church planting survey. Planting Papers, 2, 6–7.  (Bibliographic Details)

Tdball, D. (1991). Letter to the editor from derek tidball (b.u. secretary for mission and evangelism). Planting Papers, 3, 9–10.  (Bibliographic Details)

Warner, R. (1991). The folly of photocopying. Planting Papers, 1, 3–6.  (Bibliographic Details)

A Vision of the Possible: Pioneer Church Planting in Teams
Sinclair, 2005
My summary: Daniel is trying to provide a manual for the pioneer church planter introducing the gospel to an unreached people group, particularly where there might be resistance to the gospel. This book is a useful resume from someone who appears to be an experienced team leader. The experience of the author provides the authority for the principles presented. He helpfully draws on resources he has found useful but does not critically engage with them.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

The Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World
Bauckham, 2003
My summary: Richard Bauckham sets the scene for the Missional response to the post-modern worldview. Offering a critique of the Loytardian resistance to Meta-narratives he proposes that the biblical narrative is suited to engagement with both the meta-narrative of globalisation and the cultural diversity of the emerging postmodern generation.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Evangelism – Which Way Now?: An Evaluation of Alpha, Emmaus, Cell Church and Other Contemporary Strategies for Evangelism
Booker and Ireland, 2003
My summary:Mike and Mark review a wide range of approaches to evangelism. Each chapter contains careful analysis and suggests resources for pursuing the topic further.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Changing Mission
Murray, 2006
My summary: Stuart Murray surveys the the perspectives and emphases of the churches that are emerging in the changing culture of the west. It is an ideal introduction to the emerging churches and presents questions for both those within the inherited and emerging perspective alike.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Changing World, Changing Church
Moynagh, 2001
My summary: Michael Moynagh surveys the developments in consumer attitudes and approaches. He tells stories about the way in which churches are responding to those changes. Setting it all into the context of church decline he sets out a vision for the future of mission in the post denominational church of 2020.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Church Without Walls: A Global Examination of Cell Church
Green, 2002
My summary:This book tries to pull together that way Cell Church has been used in an Anglican Context across the globe. It is anecdotal in style and appears to be designed to be an easy read.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Emerging Evangelism
Finney, 2004
My summary:John Finney reviews the approaches to Evangelism that have been prevalent in the United Kindom. He charts the significant shifts since the Billy Graham Crusades of the 1980′s and proposes some helpful approaches for the future.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Evangelism That Really Works
Clarke, 1995
My summary:John uses the results of a two year research project to identify helpful approaches to building a strategy for evangelism within an established church. This book has a grating style and the analysis of the statistics are poor. It does contain stories of evangelism in churches and suggestions of approaches that might help a church develop an evangelistic strategy.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

Who’d Plant a Church?: Human Face of Church Planting
Archer, 1998
My summary:Diana anecdotally sketches the highs and lows of starting a church from scratch as the wife of a Minister. Stories of people coming to faith are interwoven between the personal account. It becomes clear that a building a church building is central to this account.
Bibliographic data, my notes.

My method has been to identify the association letters that might contain something of interest to me and then read them and make a few notes about the argument the letter takes along with a few quotes that I think might be interesting.

The problem I’m having is that Mission, Evangelism and Church Planting is taken as a given. They do not seem to reflect on what they are doing, or how it relates to the world around them. There are one or two snippets of information that give a clue to how they were thinking, I hope to find more.

List of Association Letters Addressed to the New Connexion of General Baptists: Association Letter for the New Connexion

My very brief notes on the letters I have identified as relating to my subject: Notes on Association Letters

1. Does the question you are asking reflect the contents of your proposal?
2. In the historical area of your study, will their be enough reflection by the church planters to give you enough to go on?

There were other questions, but these two are the ones that have set the direction for my Study leave. Richard and Stuart set me a deadline of March 13 to come up with some answers. If there is not enough primary material then I will have to refocus my proposal in time for my progress review with the university.

Stuart gave me most opportunity for reflection when he suggested that the question I am asking is “fundamentally uninteresting”. I must admit his words caught me off guard, because having spent nearly a year framing my question, I am very interested in it! Having re-visited my proposal, the question I have used to is:

How might revisiting the Church planting characteristics and techniques of the New Connexion of General Baptists (1770-1891) inform and challenge the reality of Church planting within the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1988-2008).

Unfortunately that question does not reflect what is in the proposal. I wrote the question and then wrote the proposal and didn’t go back and check that the two agreed with each other. It would be better to ask:

What were the philosophical, social, political and theological themes that influenced the Church planting characteristics and techniques of the New Connexion of General Baptists (1770-1891), and how might they inform and challenge the reality of Church planting within the Baptist Union of Great Britain (1988-2008).

That question better reflects what is in the proposal and provides a more interesting basis for discussion. Unfortunately I began to look at the history of the New Connexion of General Baptists with the question that headed my proposal in mind, not the substance of the proposal. Which means that the work that I have done so far needs totally re-working. But that’s not the end of the world!

The second question is a little more difficult to answer. The most significant histories on the New Connexion of General Baptists are ancient and not particularly analytical (with the exception of Frank Rinaldi’s thesis which is due for publication later this year). They tend to concentrate on description of the events and are interested only in where the New Connexion sit in the theological framework of their time. What I need to know s what the people who were starting the churches thought about how they were responding to the philosophical, political, social and theological themes of their day. The only way I am going to find that out is if they have written something about it. My trips to the archives should help me do that.

Author: Dorinda Outram
Publication: Cambridge University Press (1995)

Contents

1. What is Enlightenment?, p.1
2. Coffee houses and consumers: the social context of the Enlightenment, p.14
3. The rise of modern paganism: Religion and the Enlightenment, p.31
4. Science and the Enlightenment: God’s order and man’s understanding, p.47
5. Europe’s mirror? The Enlightenment and the exotic, p.63
6. Enlightenment thinking about gender, p.80
7. Enlightenment and government: new departure or business as usual?, p.96
8. The end of the Enlightenment: conspiracy and revolution? p.114

What is Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment should be seen as an intersection of debates, rather than one unified stream of thought. In this introduction Dorinda Outram presents the different ways the term “enlightenment” has been interpreted as it relates to this period of history. She starts with the way dominant Enlightenment thinker present their own understanding of the term in essays written for the Berlin newspaper Berlinische Monatsschrift. She notes that the interpretation of Enlightenment as a value system based on rationality was predominant in the interpretation of the Enlightenment.

This Line of interpretation of the Enlightenment saw it as an intellectual movement by great thinkers in Western Europe and displayed little interest in its social or political context or in the impact of these ideas.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.3-4

She observes that the way Enlightenment has been interpreted by historians has changed significantly since the 1960′s. She points to Peter Gay’s works on the enlightenment published in the late 1960′s as significant in preparing the way for the impact of the social and political context of the Enlightenment to be considered in it’s interpretation. Authors Alderidge, Venturi and Darnton are sighted examples of the widening understanding of the political and social context in relation to the geographic spread of Enlightenment ideas far beyond the homogeneous white and male interpretations that had dominated its study.

Dorinda follows the changing interpretation of the Enlightenment through to the work of Habernmas and Foucault who saw the progression of ideas from the Enlightenment, through Modernity into their own emerging thinking.

She concludes her introduction by setting her understanding of her framework for interpretation:

… think of the Enlightenment, not as an expression which has failed to encompass a complex historical reality, but rather as a capsule containing sets of debates, stresses and concerns, which however differently formulated or responded to, do appear to be characteristic of the way in which ideas, opinions and social and political structures interacted and changed in the eighteenth century.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.12

Coffee houses and consumers: the social context of the Enlightenment

Economic expansion, increasing urbanisation, rising population and improving communications contributed to the rise of public lectures, coffee houses, lending libraries, art exhibitions operatic and theatrical performances. These led to an increase in social integration and the public debate of ideas. Observing that only 1% of borrowing in lending libraries was of a religious nature, she suggests that the novel was the main was in which the readers encountered new ideas and attitudes.

The Enlightenment was an era where dramatic shifts occurred in the production and accessibility of ideas and especially in the case of print media. New social institutions were constructed based on the interchange of idea, rather than to mark or display social and political rank.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.29

The Rise of modern paganism? Religion and the Enlightenment

A complex picture of religion in the eighteenth century is painted. While on the one hand the discovery of reason led to much question of accepted religious norms there was an increasing interest in religion from an alternative perspective. The enlightenment is seen as the natural continuation of the reformation (Hegel) and the debate about toleration of non standard religious practice as a debate about the place of monarchy. She suggests that there were many voices that tried to tackle the problem of religious belief with the growing Enlightenment reason:

One way out was Deism, with its total hostility to revelation. Another was to reject the attempt to make Christianity ‘reasonable’, and return to a view of religion which emphasised faith, trust in revelation, and personal witness to religious experience.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.43

Science and the Enlightenment: God’s order and man’s understanding

The development of “Natural Philosophy” which became known as “Science” after the term was coined in the 1830′s is significant in the Enlightenment. Initially it was treated with suspicion and attracted none of the central funding that it has attracted in the last 100 years. However its development in this period paved the way from the shift from religion to science as the dominant cultural force. Science began to offer people the opportunity to become independent in knowledge of the world form the traditional claims of religion. She also observes that Foucault’s view of the role of science in the Enlightenment was to change all the structures of knowledge.

Thus, for some historians science is the cultural category of the Enlightenment, rather than that of religion, which seems so central to Hegel.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.48

Europe’s mirror? The Enlightenment and the exotic

The existing knowledge of far lands and other cultures grew during the eighteenth century along with colonisation and colonial attitudes. The inequality between races that colonisation presented were contrary to the ideas dominating the Enlightenment. Rousseau challenged the idea of the European civilisation being the dominant cultural form to which other cultures were to conform to.

Enlightenment views of a single grand movement of progress lying behind human history could not grapple with the idea of each cultural identity being driven by its own cultural dynamic.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.79

She suggests with Herder that the central failure of the Enlightenment was the way it dealt with difference.

Enlightenment thinking about gender

The debate about gender was a dominant theme of Enlightenment thinking. There was a rise in female engagement in the exchange of ideas through the french “salon”. However the make dominated world was reluctant to accept the female intellectual capability. The result was a measure of confusion:

Enlightenment thinkers seemed to assert, on the one hand, that women, as human beings, could have rights; but also, on the other, that because of their alleged irrationality and lack of autonomy, they should not be allowed to take part in politics.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.95

Dorinda suggests that although during the Enlightenment period there was little change in the way women were treated, the argument of Enlightenment thinkers paved the way for those who were to bring about significant change in this realm.

Enlightenment and government: new departure or business as usual?

The change in dominant thought form that the Enlightenment heralded meant that it was impossible for kings to rule in the manner they once had. The people they ruled demanded rights. It is impossible to find a king who ruled without some form of restriction (in England it was Parliament). Towards the end of the eighteenth century most governments had engaged programs of reform involving education and welfare. There had the unintended result of increasing social mobility. They were aimed, however, to produce a population cable of giving rational ascent to the measures of the monarch.

In the end, Enlightenment was able to raise major problems for monarchies, as well as being of major importance in reform
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.112

The end of the Enlightenment: conspiracy and revolution?

Dorinda asks if the French Revolution was a consequence of Enlightenment and suggests that Enlightenment was a consequence of revolution:

One could even say that Enlightenment began with Revolution, that which occurred in England in 1688, which created the conditions for the emergence of the philosophy with which John Locke discussed new thinking about the relationship between ruler and ruled.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.120

what the Enlightenment contributed was not only a great number of new, non-traditional ways of defining and legitimating power, through ideas such as ‘natural law’, ‘reason’, and so on, it had also mobilised sections of society into ‘public opinion’, which Kant had earlier identified as requiring tight control if it were not to disrupt social and political order.
Outram (1995) The Enlightenment, C.U.P. p.127

Notes to Self

Interesting that the fairly recent writers look at the Enlightenment ans see some connections with the way they are thinking. Reading this book made me think of some of the similarities between the cultural shift that is happening in the Enlightenment and the cultural shift that is happening in the (so called) Post-Modern era.