Scott Berg's book, Finding Order in Diversity, is a very welcomed addition to studies of the Habsburg Monarchy and the question of toleration in east central Europe. The period under investigation—the half century prior to 1848 (1792 to 1848)—as well as much of Habsburg history is often portrayed as dominated by an alliance between throne and alter—between the Catholic Church and the state. Berg's book corrects that story and demonstrates that in the early nineteenth century governing conservatives continued policies of religious reform and toleration, which would be reversed only after 1848.
From the sixteenth to the late eighteenth century, the House of Habsburg was ideologically and politically Catholic. Berg describes it as a Catholic dynasty par excellence—a leader of the Counter Reformation, striving for religious homogeneity. When Joseph II came to power in 1780 he began a series of reforms throughout the Monarchy—the most progressive Church reforms of any major country in Europe. He halted the Counter Reformation, rescinded Maria Theresa's Religionspatent, and stopped Catholic missions to Protestant lands. Joseph II issued his Edit of Toleration in 1781, which legalized Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Greek Orthodoxy. He also issued a Marriage Patent in 1783 that transferred marriage to civil authorities. However, troubles led Joseph II by the end of his life to repeal many of his reforms, making his attempt at toleration a political failure.
This is where Berg begins. At the moment when it seemed that Joseph II's reforms, specifically regarding religious toleration, had failed, they found supporters, mainly among conservative leaders. The book examines both Catholic confessionalism and toleration policies for Protestants, Jews, and Orthodox Christians. It is important to keep in mind that despite the work of the Counter Reformation in the period before Joseph II's reign, the Austrian Empire was only 70 percent Catholic.
The first two chapters look at the Catholic revival and the state's response. Whereas in the German states and in the Western Hemisphere Catholics made gains, in Austria they did not. Starting with Chapter 3, Berg turns to the shift in the late eighteenth century toward toleration of religious minorities in the Monarchy. He focuses on the issue of mixed marriages and apostasy. Berg provides separate chapters looking at the toleration of Protestants, the state's efforts to regulate Catholic-Orthodox relations, and the integration of Jews into Habsburg society. The book ends with the revolutions of 1848 when the whole system to establish tolerant policies collapsed. As Berg writes, the new alliance of throne and altar removed the Josephists from power and ended the Monarchy's only attempt to disassociate itself politically from Catholicism.
It is worth emphasizing that this period of religious toleration was conducted by conservative leaders. This demonstrates that enlightenment thought had made deep inroads into the ruling class and bureaucracy in Austria, and it influenced even conservative policies, which we usually do not associate with the Enlightenment. Berg argues that one of the reasons for this was the conservatives’ desire to prevent culture wars and to prevent showing an interest in the wishes of the masses, since the majority of inhabitants were Catholic. Berg argues that in this scenario censorship and absolutism were not universally negative. “Toleration and censorship went hand in hand and were instrumental to maintaining stability. This lack of freedom differentiated Josephism from Liberalism” (201).
Berg ties his arguments to the present by pointing out how the idea of authoritarian and nondemocratic regimes, like the Habsburg Monarchy, pioneered human rights. The Habsburgs in the early nineteenth century were a bridge in terms of human rights from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. He argues that the model that led to the present was built on an altered Old Regime, not on the French Revolution or the American experience.
This book will be of interest to scholars of the Habsburg Monarchy as well as to scholars of early modern and modern Europe. The focus is on the Austrian empire and policies originating from Vienna, yet it also describes the developments in the Hungarian half of the Monarchy, especially since that is where many non-Catholics lived.
