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Cited by 23Religious Studies and Spiritual PracticesStudy and Philosophy of ReligionHistorical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies

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Towards the Study of Esotericism without the “Western”: Esotericism from the Perspective of a Global Religious History

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Strube, Julian·2020·New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism
DOI 10.1163/9789004446458_004
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Abstract

This chapter argues for abandoning the “Western” demarcation of the study of esotericism because, first, it was created by nineteenth-century occultists who rejected a supposedly “Eastern,” Theosophical esotericism. This underlines the heavy historical baggage of this polemical demarcation and the fact that debates about the meaning of esotericism unfolded within a global context from the beginning. Second, theoretical and methodological reflection of this baggage remains insufficient and even resulted in a Eurocentric “diffusionist reaction,” which not only refrained from engaging with global and postcolonial perspectives, but polemically misconstrued them. The chapter will hence introduce such perspectives and propose the approach of “global religious history” as a constructive way forward.

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  • The individuals from the Indian subcontinent who made an important contribution to the early Theosophical Society have been largely overlooked.

    “Although acknowledgment of Theosophy's Western influences and biases is indispensable, an unfortunate repercussion of emphasizing them exclusively is that the individuals from the Indian subcontinent who made such an important contribution to the early Society have been largely overlooked.”

    From Nothing Personal: Blavatsky and Her Indian Interlocutors (2021) · cites this paper as Strube 2020:59

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Metadata

Authors
Strube, J.
Corresponding author
Strube, Julian
ORCID
Strube, Julian
Venue
New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism
Publisher
BRILL
Published
2020-12-03
Pages
45-66
DOI
10.1163/9789004446458_004
OpenAlex
W3131948697
Cited by
23
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 9
FWCI
40.11
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
BRILL eBooks (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
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
esotericism, Western esotericism, Theosophy, occultism, Eurocentrism, diffusionism, postcolonial perspectives

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