Overview

Traces the historical development of Western Esotericism--religious traditions which emphasize the importance of inner enlightenment or gnosis.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roelof van den Broek ,  Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.526kg
ISBN:  

9780791436127

ISBN 10:   0791436128
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   13 November 1997
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface 1 Gnosticism and Hermetism in Antiquity: Two Roads to Salvation Roelofvan den Broek 2 Gnostic and Hermetic Ethics Jean Pierre Mahe 3 Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western Christianity Johannes van Oort 4 A Christian Gnostic Text: The Gospel of Truth Jan Helderman 5 The Asclepius: From the Hermetic Lodge in Alexandria to the Greek Eucharist and the Roman Mass Gilles Quispel 6 A Reading of the Discourse on the Ogdoad and the Ennead (Nag Hammadi Codex VI.6) Jean Pierre Mahe 7 The Cathars: Medieval Gnostics? Roelof van den Broek 8 Renaissance Hermeticism and the Concept of Western Esotericism Antoine Faivre 9 Francesco Patrizi's Hermetic Philosophy Cees Leijenhorst 10 Spiritual Alchemy: Interpreting Representative Texts and Images Karen Claire Voss 11 Music and the Hermetic Tradition Joscelyn Godwin 12 Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism Roland Edighoffer 13 Christian Theosophic Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Arthur Versluis 14 Romanticism and the Esoteric Connection Wouter J. Hanegraaff 15 William Blake and His Gnostic Myths Jos van Meurs 16 Western Esoteric Schools in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Daniel van Egmond 17 Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht and Gnosticism Joscelyn Godwin 18 The New Age Movement and the Esoteric Tradition Wouter J. Hanegraaff List of Contributors Indexes

Reviews

This collection presents in a clear and concise way a series of critical distinctions that collectively map the field: Hermetism, Gnosticism, gnosis, Manichaeism, Hermeticism, Catharism, Esotericism, Romanticism, and the New Age. These often confused and misperceived phenomena have been delineated crisply, in a way that permits this collection to serve nicely as a general introduction to the field. This book articulates a new standard of precision and clarity. -- Dan Merkur, author of Gnosis: An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions This work meets the current demand for scholarly, empirico-historical research in what the editors rightly denominate the 'third current' (the others are biblical faith and Greek rationality) of Occidental thought, i.e., Western Esotericism. -- Ralph Slotten, Dickinson College

Author Information

Roelof van den Broek is Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He has also written The Myth of the Phoenix: According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions and Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity. Also at the University of Utrecht, Wouter J. Hanegraaff is a Research Fellow in the Study of Religions. He is the author of New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought.

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