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Cited by 611Religious Studies and Spiritual PracticesHistorical, Religious, and Philosophical StudiesStudy and Philosophy of Religion

Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture

Hanegraaff, Wouter J.·2012·Cambridge University Press eBooks
DOI 10.1017/cbo9781139048064
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Abstract

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.

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  • The study of Western esotericism charts the complex reception-history and related developments, from the Renaissance through today, regarding the sources Dillon refers to as the Platonic Underworld.

    “One could argue that the study of “Western esotericism” simply charts the complex reception-history and related developments, from the Renaissance through today, regarding the sources that Dillon refers to as “some loose ends” in the study of Middle Platonism: the aforementioned “Platonic Underworld””

    From New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism (2021) · cites this paper as Hanegraaff, 2012

  • Hanegraaff is correct that narratives identifying ultimate wisdom as both primordial and derived of some eastern or barbarian provenance are central to both the notions of the Platonic Underworld and the greater relationship of esotericism to antiquity.

    “Hanegraaff is of course correct that narratives which identify ultimate wisdom as being both primordial and derived of some “eastern” (or better, “barbarian”-see below) provenance are central to both the notions of the “Platonic Underworld” and the greater relationship of esotericism to antiquity.”

    From New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism (2021) · cites this paper as Hanegraaff, 2012

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Authors
Hanegraaff, W. J.
Affiliations
University of Amsterdam (NL)
Corresponding author
Hanegraaff, Wouter J.
ORCID
Hanegraaff, Wouter J.
Venue
Cambridge University Press eBooks
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2012-01-19
DOI
10.1017/cbo9781139048064
OpenAlex
W4235179627
Cited by
354
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 100 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 3
FWCI
18.87
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 46 d)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
Keywords
esotericism, occultism, magic, pagan traditions, late antiquity, intellectual history, Protestant polemics, Enlightenment, biblical religion, religious otherness, history of religions, history of philosophy, history of science

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