“all humans [that accept the revelation of the Bible] are not only united with Christ, but also mutually


with each other, and hence they are parts of the same society. Secondly, because this union in essence is an inner and spiritual, and hence is not perceivable with the eyes, the society is called an invisible church, even if the people who constitute the same are visible and their community with Christ and each other must be perceivable through their actions. Thirdly that the invisible church in the society of all


believers or true Christians exists on the whole surface of the world […]”23 This definition of an invisible global community sounds much like Wieland.


Invisibility is a prerequisite of cosmopolitanism; any attempts to make the organisation visible will corrupt its essence. The concept of the invisible church as a representation of true and universal Christianity was widespread in Protestant theology. The predecessor of the Royal Society was called the “Invisible College”, because as it is stated in Francis Bacon’sNewAtlantis (1626)acollege, the Salomon’s house, is devotedto the exploration of newknowledge.


Novalis Romantic Vision of a Cosmopolitan European Space The era of change in Europe around 1800 triggered visions of a new order. If the


old order had to be replaced (which basically everybody agreed upon), why not dream back to a state of a perceived golden age when the Sacred could be experienced? Around 1800 Europe was seen not only as a laboratory for the establishment of French revolutionary and secular principles, but also as a cathedral, founded on a joint order of values, spirituality and emotions. Early political writings of German romantics with authors such as Schlegel, Herder, Schleiermacher and Novalis contributed substantially to the political discourse during the formative period of romantic thought (1797 to 1803). Their ambition was to find a middle path between conservatism and liberalism, between a community ethic and individual freedom. In the writings of the German romantics we find a profound critique of the Enlightenment for disregarding the most essential components of truly human life: love, emotional bonds, beauty, faith and mutual trust. Although they share many of the ideals of the Enlightenment such as individuality, freedomandequality, they accused the philosophers of Enlightenment of perverting and misusing these ideals. This becomes perfectly clear in the work of Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg,


1772-1801). In 1799 he gave a talk to a Romantic circle of friends in Jena that posthumously received the title “Christianity or Europe”24. The basic topic of the talk is the religious and spiritual renewal of human being through the revival of “the holy sense”, a sense for invisible dimensions like beauty, harmony, peace and truth. Most certainly the idea of the “holy sense” has to do with the emergence of Kantian idealism, although


23 Zedlers Universallexicon, Vol. 49, pp. 1020–1021 24 For a good account of Novalis and his talk on Europe see Philipp W. Hildmann: “Von Novalis für Europa lernen?”


in Stimmen der Zeit 5 (2006), p. 334-343. An extended version is also available at goethezeitportal.de/db/wiss/novalis/christenheit_hildmann.pdf (accessed 2006-11-10).


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