Esotericism In Western Culture Counter Normativity And Rejected Knowledge Wouter Hanegraaff
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Esotericism and the Academy
Author: Wouter J. Hanegraaff
language: en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date: 2012-01-19
Academics tend to look on 'esoteric', 'occult' or 'magical' beliefs with contempt, but are usually ignorant about the religious and philosophical traditions to which these terms refer, or their relevance to intellectual history. Wouter Hanegraaff tells the neglected story of how intellectuals since the Renaissance have tried to come to terms with a cluster of 'pagan' ideas from late antiquity that challenged the foundations of biblical religion and Greek rationality. Expelled from the academy on the basis of Protestant and Enlightenment polemics, these traditions have come to be perceived as the Other by which academics define their identity to the present day. Hanegraaff grounds his discussion in a meticulous study of primary and secondary sources, taking the reader on an exciting intellectual voyage from the fifteenth century to the present day and asking what implications the forgotten history of exclusion has for established textbook narratives of religion, philosophy and science.
Esotericism in Western Culture
This expanded new edition of Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013) brings foundational text up to date, providing readers with the knowledge and tools that will enable them to explore further. Wouter J. Hanegraaff surveys key topics for which “esotericism” has become the preferred label: gnosticism and hermetism in antiquity, the so-called “occult sciences” (astrology, alchemy, magic), Renaissance hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Christian theosophy, occultism, spiritualism, and related currents up to and including the New Age. The scholarship and coverage in this edition has expanded to cover not just the primarily “pagan” and Christian but also the Jewish and Islamic dimensions, as well as the global dissemination of esotericism. New sections in the book include Jewish Esotericism, Islamic Esotericism, global perspectives and politics, as well as a new final chapter on The Future of Esotericism. The book has been updated throughout to reflect current scholarship and increased accessibility for non-specialists.
New Age Religion and Western Culture
Recent years have seen a spectacular rise of the New Age movement and an ever-increasing interest in its beliefs and manifestations. This fascinating work presents the first-ever comprehensive analysis of New Age Religion and its historical backgrounds, thus providing the reader with a means of orientation in the bewildering variety of the movement. Making extensive use of primary sources, the author thematically analyses New Age beliefs from the perspective of the study of religions. While looking at the historical backgrounds of the movement, he convincingly argues that its foundations were laid by so-called western esoteric traditions during the Renaissance. Hanegraaff finally shows how the modern New Age movement emerged from the increasing secularization of those esoteric traditions during the 19th century. This ground-breaking publication is compulsive reading for all those involved or interested in the New Age movement.