The DOI matches its Crossref record.
The Torment of Secrecy: Ethical and Epistemological Problems in the Study of Esoteric Traditions
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The double bind of secrecy entails epistemological and ethical problems: without initiation, whatever one can say about esoteric traditions is only ever incomplete; if one does become initiated to gain full insight, then one is betraying the very tradition one studies by sharing it; or one's presence influences the data obtained and is likely to result in a distorted representation.
“what Urban (1998, pp. 209-10;2021, pp. 14-15) has called the”
From Conserving the ‘Container’ of Tantric Secrecy: A Discussion with Western Sākta Practitioners (2021) · cites this paper as Urban 1998
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Spiritual Capital: Theorizing Religion with Bourdieu against Bourdieu
Verter, B. (2003) · Sociological Theory · doi:10.1111/1467-9558.00182 · Cited by 390
Musgrave, S. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.026 · Cited by 266
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · doi:10.1093/0195150589.001.0001 · Cited by 202
Secretism and the Apotheosis of Duvalier
Johnson, P. C. (2006) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfj088 · Cited by 106
“…useful comparative issue lies not in determining and publicizing the specific content of restricted knowledge—which is either impossible or immoral (Urban 1997)—but rather in accounting for how and why some secrets, or the reputation of their possession, acquire social significance as sources of…”
BackgroundThe Place of Devotion: Siting and Experiencing Divinity in Bengal-Vaishnavism
Sarbadhikary, S. (2015) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/luminos.2 · Cited by 77
Terrorism: A Positive Feedback Game
Douglas, M., & Mars, G. (2003) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/00187267030567001 · Cited by 65
“aura of power to those in command, thus stabilizing the fragile community (Urban, 1998).”
BackgroundNew Approaches to the Study of Esotericism
Asprem, E., & Strube, J. (2021) · doi:10.1163/9789004446458 · Cited by 63
States of secrecy: an introduction
Vermeir, K., & Margócsy, D. (2012) · The British Journal for the History of Science · doi:10.1017/s0007087412000052 · Cited by 58
Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America
Urban, H. B. (2006) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfj084 · Cited by 43
Self-citationRūmī and the Hermeneutics of Eroticism
Tourage, M. (2007) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/ej.9789004163539.i-260 · Cited by 42
‘Explaining the Unknowable’: Accessibility of Meaning and the Exegesis of Mali Baining Songs
Stebbins, T. N., & Planigale, M. (2010) · Australian Journal of Linguistics · doi:10.1080/07268600903134103 · Cited by 33
“This framework allows researchers to openly confront the ‘dilemma of secrecy’ which Urban ( 1998 : 210) characterizes as follows: ‘if one “knows”, one cannot speak; and if one speaks, one must not really “know”’.”
BackgroundFor the Love of Language: An Introduction to Linguistics
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cited by 23
Language, the mind and the brain
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.024 · Cited by 22
Asprem, E. (2015) · Religion · doi:10.1080/0048721x.2015.1072589 · Cited by 20
Urban, H. B. (2001) · The Journal of Asian Studies · doi:10.2307/2700021 · Cited by 19
Self-citationBetween Muslim Pīr and Hindu Saint
Kumar, M. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009423991 · Cited by 18
Making a Place To Take a Stand: Jonathan Z. Smith and the Politics and Poetics of Comparison'
Urban, H. B. (2000) · Method & Theory in the Study of Religion · doi:10.1163/157006800x00247 · Cited by 17
Self-citationHidden or Forbidden, Elected or Rejected: Sufism as ‘Islamic Esotericism’?
Sorgenfrei, S. (2018) · Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations · doi:10.1080/09596410.2018.1437945 · Cited by 19
The adornment of silence: secrecy and symbolic power in American Freemasonry
Urban, H. B. (2001) · Cited by 15
Self-citationSongs of Ecstasy: Mystics, Minstrels, and Merchants in Colonial Bengal
Urban, H. B. (2003) · Journal of the American Oriental Society · doi:10.2307/3217748 · Cited by 14
Self-citationCultural Tourism, Camel Wrestling, and the Tourism ‘Bubble’ in Turkey
Donlon, J. G., Donlon, J. H., & Agrusa, J. F. (2010) · Anatolia · doi:10.1080/13032917.2010.9687088 · Cited by 13
Lorea, C. E. (2018) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel9060172 · Cited by 12
“Urban (1998) unveils the mechanism, employed by Tantric and Bengali Sahajiẏā-type orders, of “advertising the secret”, for secrecy intensifies the “sexiness” of the doctrines.”
BackgroundHiding in Plain Sight: The Practical and Doctrinal Significance of Secrecy in Shi‘ite Islam
Dakake, M. M. (2006) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfj086 · Cited by 11
“…anger at Umayyad officials was occasionally fueled by economic grievances,29 a brief survey of the names found in Shi`ite biographical dictionaries suggests that many Shi`ites were drawn from the middle classes of merchants 24 See Urban 1998: 210–213; Wasserstrom 1999: 241 and Johnson 2001: 7–8.”
BackgroundInfluentialSecrecy and Display in the Quest for Transcendence in China, ca. 220 BCE–350 CE
Campany, R. F. (2006) · History of Religions · doi:10.1086/507857 · Cited by 10
Moore, E. (2011) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511976360.011 · Cited by 11
Eyl, J. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.001.0001 · Cited by 12
Secretly connected? Anonymous semen donation, genetics and meanings of kinship
Speirs, J. M. (2008) · ERA · Cited by 10
‘Allah has spoken to us: we must keep silent.’ In the folds of secrecy, the Holy Book of the Druze
Armanet, É. (2017) · Religion · doi:10.1080/0048721x.2017.1386370 · Cited by 8
“We could, to some extent, relate the nature of the Druze sense of secrecy built around the Book to the practice of ponderous speech in other religious traditions, referred to as initiatory, such as the Islamic Sufi tradition (Schimmel 1987), the Christian Quaker tradition (Baumann 1998), or the Tantric tradition in In…”
BackgroundCrockford, S. (2020) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/9789004446458_012 · Cited by 8
Dis/unity of Knowledge: Models for the Study of Modern Esotericism and Science
Asprem, E. (2015) · Numen · doi:10.1163/15685276-12341391 · Cited by 9
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108568753 · Cited by 7
Malesic, J. (2006) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfj057 · Cited by 5
Esoteric Theravada Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar
Foxeus, N. (2013) · Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis · doi:10.30674/scripta.67433 · Cited by 5
Harun al‐Rashid and the Terrorists: Identity Concealed, Identity Revealed
Suedfeld, P. (2004) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00381.x · Cited by 5
“Social scientists have suggested that secrets constitute a resource, which can be traded for status and social power (e.g., Simmel, 1950; Urban, 1998).”
BackgroundVentimiglia, A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108349444 · Cited by 5
Towards a conceptualization of secrecy in marketing
Berthon, P. R., Ferguson, S. L., Hannah, D. R., et al. (2021) · Journal of Strategic Marketing · doi:10.1080/0965254x.2020.1853200 · Cited by 4
“Thus, boundary creation can be a discursive strategy that builds symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1977; Urban, 1998).”
Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective
Lackner, M., Müller, D., Nehring, A., & Otto, B. (2025) · Method & Theory in the Study of Religion · doi:10.1163/15700682-bja10148 · Cited by 5
Conserving the ‘Container’ of Tantric Secrecy: A Discussion with Western Sākta Practitioners
Perkins, S.-A. (2021) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel12090729 · Cited by 3
“(p. 2) For the past decades, the works of Brooks (1990, 1992, 1996) and Urban (1997, 1998, 2003, 2010) have been staples within the sphere of scholarship on the function of secrecy in tantric traditions, especially Śrı̄vidyā within a Brahmanical context.”
BackgroundState Secrecy: A Literature Review
Lefebvre, S. (2021) · Secrecy and Society · doi:10.31979/2377-6188.2021.020209 · Cited by 3
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.004 · Cited by 4
Dutta, S. (2021) · Folklore · doi:10.1080/0015587x.2021.1889855 · Cited by 3
Language, the Mind, and the Brain
Garnham, A. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199585847.013.0031 · Cited by 3
Beben, D. (2019) · History of Religions · doi:10.1086/704929 · Cited by 3
A study of the central scripture of Laozi (Laozi zhongjing)
Iliouchine, A. (2011) · eScholarship@McGill (McGill) · doi:10.82308/30611 · Cited by 3
Springfield's Sacred Canopy: Religion and Humour in The Simpsons
Feltmate, D. (2010) · UWSpace (University of Waterloo) · Cited by 3
Morphology: the structure of words
Booij, G. (2015) · doi:10.4324/9781315718453-13 · Cited by 3
The Rhetorical Devices of the Keepers of State Secrets
Lefebvre, S. (2021) · Secrecy and Society · doi:10.31979/2377-6188.2021.020206 · Cited by 2
Translation and National Consciousness in Nigeria: A Socio-historical Study
Ajayi, O. F. (2018) · Spectrum Research Repository (Concordia University) · Cited by 2
Regulating Visibility: Secrecy and Surveillance in Insular Religious Communities
McDonald, D. (2018) · Surveillance & Society · doi:10.24908/ss.v16i4.6773 · Cited by 1
“Secrecy is also a mechanism through which information can be exchanged and accumulated, making it both a strategy and form of symbolic capital (Urban 1998; 2001b).”
Backgroundvan Gulik, L. A. (2014) · Pomegranate The International Journal of Pagan Studies · doi:10.1558/pome.v14i2.233 · Cited by 1
Orientalism in Iamblichus' The Mysteries
Veale, S. L. (2014) · Pomegranate The International Journal of Pagan Studies · doi:10.1558/pome.v15i1-2.202 · Cited by 1
Ethnography of the Homo Secretus: Inside Secret Societies and Societies with Secrets in Vietnam
Jammes, J. (2021) · Asia in transition · doi:10.1007/978-981-16-2438-4_6 · Cited by 1
Morphology: the structure of words
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.009 · Cited by 1
The metaphysical symbolism of the chinese tortoise
Chong, A. W. L. (2018) · doi:10.32657/10356/73204 · Cited by 1
Copyrighting God: Ownership of the Sacred in American Religion
Ventimiglia, A. (2018) · Cited by 1
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0008 · Cited by 1
Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold
America, W. (2006)
Al-Fartousi, M. (2013) · Contemporary Justice Review · doi:10.1080/10282580.2013.828915
“Urban (1998) negotiated the researchers’ responsibility in terms of determining what is appropriate for documentation or disclosure.”
BackgroundOut of Egypt and into England: Secrecy and the State in Samuel Pratt’s Family Secrets
Cruise, J. (2009) · Eighteenth-Century Fiction · doi:10.1353/ecf.0.0129
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0004
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0005
Signifying the Street in Outbound Rites
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0007
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0003
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0006
Johnson, P. C. (2002) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/0195150589.003.0002
"The authority of my servants" : authority in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Menzies, M., & Raymond, B. (2014)
Issues in Accessing a Gurdjieffian Tradition
Willmett, J., & Sutcliffe, S. J. (2016) · Fieldwork in Religion · doi:10.1558/firn.31888
Zhao, Y. (2018) · Narrative Culture · doi:10.13110/narrcult.5.2.0236
KITLV, R. (2012) · New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids · doi:10.1163/13822373-90002427
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0001
Discursive Claims to Divine Authority
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0006
Divinatory Practices and Palpability of the Gods
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0003
Paul, Pistis, and Divine Powers
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0007
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0008
Taxonomy and Pauline Uniqueness
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0002
A Taxonomy of Paul’s Divinatory Practices
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0004
A Taxonomy of Paul’s Wonderworking
Eyl, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190924652.003.0005
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108568753.016
Queerness, Secrecy, and Revelation
Manjikian, M. M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39894-1_5
Kavaleuskaya, A. (2020) · Etnografia · doi:10.31250/2618-8600-2020-4(10)-59-79
“Some researchers suggest that in spite of multiple meanings associated with each phoneme of the alphabet, many if not all Hindu traditions have a strong tendency for vacuous content of a secret, or ‘empty obfuscation’ (tiraskāra) of knowledge (Lorea 2018: 172; Black 2011: 118; Urban 1998: 360).”
BackgroundVentimiglia, A. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108349444.005
Latter-Day Saint Liturgy: The Administration of the Body and Blood of Jesus
Faulconer, J. E. (2021) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel12060431
“It should be noted, although it may surprise no one, that the secrecy of the endowment “transforms a given piece of knowledge into a scare and precious resource, a valuable commodity, the possession of which in turn bestows status, prestige, or symbolic capital on its owner” (Urban 1998, p. 210).”
BackgroundDorje, R. (2021) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel12070491
“In the form of legitimation tactics in South Asian tantric tradition, the esoteric discourse is first extensively explored in works by Hugh Urban (1997, 1998).”
BackgroundThe Doctrines of Religion and Law
Ventimiglia, A. (2018)
Chilson, C. (2014)
Carr, A. (2006) · The Sydney eScholarship Repository (The University of Sydney)
The Power of Beauty: Eleanor Kirk’s Feminine Esotericism
Shusko, C. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76889-8_6
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.025
Semantics: the meaning of words
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.010
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.021
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.022
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.013
Languages and cultures in contact
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.018
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.001
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.027
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.016
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.002
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.017
Syntax: the structure of sentences
Burridge, K., & Stebbins, T. N. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107445307.014
Metadata
- Authors
- Urban, H. B.
- Corresponding author
- Urban, Hugh B.
- ORCID
- Urban, Hugh B.
- Venue
- History of Religions
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1998-02
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 209-248
- ISSN
- 0018-2710 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-6935
- OpenAlex
- W2079859560
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 10.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- History of Religions (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
- Keywords
- secrecy, esoteric traditions, research ethics, epistemology, insider information, religious studies methodology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
