Jesuit Missions of Paraguay and a Cultural History of Utopia (1568–1789)

Girolamo Imbruglia, is professor of Modern History at the University of Naples “l’Orientale”. He has published monographs, and many articles on history of historiography, the European culture of the Enlightenment and the history of the Society of Jesus.

"This is an excellent and well-read piece of thinking, and an interesting approach to the longue durée of belief and practice." Sarah Barber, in: Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 70 (2019)."The invaluable contribution of Imbruglia’s monograph is obvious: While the numerous tracts, reports and pamphlets about the Jesuit missions in Paraguay were used until recently only as arsenals for isolated pro-Jesuit or anti-Jesuit arguments, Imbruglia has instead analysed them as part of a dialogue which reaches far beyond mission history, deep inside the history of the underlying ideas that informed it. Paraguay has once more moved closer to Europe." - Fabian Fechner, Fernuniversität, Hagen, in: Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu Volume LXXXVII.174, 2018-II, pp. 517-518."The concept of utopia belongs to a very long tradition, and the Christian and civic humanist—not only Platonic but also Ciceronian—contexts would have benefited from a more in-depth exploration. This of course does not deny the impressive contribution of this book in correcting the tendency in the historiography to ignore the broader horizons of European political thought; it is a valuable addition for anyone interested in the history of the Jesuit missions and ideal-society tropes." - Catherine Ballériaux, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, in: Renaissance Quarterly Volume LXXII.1, pp. 317-318.

• IntroductionThe Hybrid Society of the MissionsThe Indians Life in the missions ReligionInstitutionsThe end Missions and Modern Public Opinion: The Cultural History of Utopia1 Europeans and Religious Orders in AmericaThe Jesuit Reducciones of ParaguayCompelle IntrareDe VitoriaFray Martin de ValenciaLas Casas Quiroga and Cabrera The Barbarians from EuropeThe First Jesuit Missions in PeruAcosta and the Jesuit Strategy of AccommodationA ‘new type of mankind’ Religion and Superstition The Missionary Strategy of Accommodation 2 The Society of Jesus – Missionaries and MissionsReligionPreachingBeyond Millenarism The Jesuit Missionary The ‘State’ of ParaguayReason of State SuárezThe People of the MissionsThe Litterae Annuae The Missions and Their Nations The Imago primi saeculi Societatis Jesu Miracles, Missionaries, and Sanctity 3 The Missions and Public Opinion in the Crisis of European Conscience – Utopias and RepublicanismReligion and Public OpinionThe Lettres édifiantes et curieuses and the Missions The Mémoires de Trévoux The ‘real’ Paraguay at the Start of the Eighteenth CenturyLudovico Antonio Muratori The Metamorphosis of the Missions into UtopiaThe Apostolic Community TheocracyThe Missions as Utopia – A Literary Genre After More’s Utopia Utopia between Police and Sovereignty 4 Montesquieu, Republican Utopia and CivilisationMontesquieu and the Political Theory of UtopiaRepublic and Freedom in the Jesuit Missions; Montesquieu’s Silence Republics without Virtue The Birth of the State ColonisationMontesquieu and the Jesuits After the Esprit des Lois CivilisationCivilisation and Colonisation Morelly’s Ideal Republic 5 The Age of the Encyclopédie and Rousseau: New Paths and New Needs to Rethink Utopianism The Encyclopédie ParaguayTheocracyRousseauWhich Utopia?6 1750s–1770s: Political and Social ConflictsNews from ParaguayVoltaire – Politics without UtopiaThe Parliaments and the End of the Society of JesusD’AlembertThe Social Problem of Utopia: A Debate at the End of the 1760sThe People of the Missions and the People of Paris – Mably Physiocracy’s Opposition to Mably LinguetThe Reformist Utopia of Helvétius7 Utopias and Human Sciences – Diderot’s Analysis of SocietyEchoes of TravelBessner and MalouetDe PauwBougainvilleDeleyreThe Histoire des deux Indes RaynalDiderot. Happiness and Politics The Society of Jesus and the Science of the Legislator8 Beyond the LumièresHistory, Civilisation, and the End of UtopiaCommunities and Rebels without a RevolutionPhilosophical Communities BibliographyIndex