Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western CultureAcademics 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. |
Contents
recovering ancient wisdom | 5 |
exorcizing paganism | 77 |
imagining the occult | 153 |
entering the academy | 257 |
Frances Yates | 314 |
Restoring memory | 368 |
| 380 | |
| 448 | |
| 462 | |
Other editions - View all
Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture Wouter J. Hanegraaff Limited preview - 2012 |
Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture Wouter J. Hanegraaff No preview available - 2014 |
Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture Wouter J. Hanegraaff No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
academic alchemy ancient wisdom narrative antiquity astrology authors basic Brucker century Chaldaean chapter Christian kabbalah Christian theosophy Church Colberg concept concerned context Corbin critical culture demons discourse discussion divine doctrine dominated Egyptian emphasized Enlightenment Ennemoser Eranos esoteric example Faivre Faivre's Ficino Frances Yates Freemasonry Gemistos George Gemistos Plethon German Geschichte gnosis gnosticism Greek Hanegraaff Hankins Hermes Hermes Trismegistus hermeticism hidden historians historiography history of philosophy human Ibid important influence intellectual Jacob Jewish Jung Jung's kabbalistic Kurze Fragen Lehmann-Brauns Lodovico Lazzarelli Magi magia magic Marsilio Ficino mesmerism Mircea Eliade modern Moses mysteries mystical nature Naturphilosophie neoplatonic notion occult occult sciences occultist original pagan Paracelsus Perennial Philosophy perspective philosophia perennis Pico Platonic Platonic Orientalism Plethon prisca theologia reference religion religious Renaissance Roman Rosicrucian scholars Scholem secret sources spiritual Steuco Stuckrad superstition symbolism Tambrun term theology theosophy Thomasius true truth understanding universal Weisheit Western esotericism worldview Zoroaster