Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination:
Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity

The tradition of Hermetic spirituality that flourished in Roman Egypt was grounded in experiential techniques that had a powerful effect on the consciousness of practitioners. Their goal was to “heal the soul” of mental delusion and lead it to gnosis, ultimate salvational knowledge.

Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed

A short introduction to the modern academic study of Western esotericism. 

Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture

A historical analysis of the process in which the religious and intellectual mainstream in the history of Western culture has been defining its identity by means of excluding its polemical others.

Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven

An analysis of Emmanuel Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia and its early reception in Germany.

Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500):

The Hermetic Writings and related documents

With Ruud M. Bouthoorn.

The first complete edition with english translation and introduction of the Hermetic writings of Lodovico Lazzarelli, the first translator next to Marsilio Ficino of the Hermetica.

New Age Religion and Western Culture: 

Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought

The first complete intellectual history of New Age religion and its historical backgrounds in Western esotericism.

Hermes Explains: Thirty Questions about Western Esotericism

Edited with Peter J. Forshaw and Marco Pasi.

Thirty scholars answer questions and clear up misperceptions about what the study of Western esotericism is all about.

Hidden Intercourse:

Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism

Edited with Jeffrey J. Kripal.

Eighteen essays about the interwoven histories of eroticism, sexuality, and Western esotericism from antiquity to the present.

Hermes in the Academy:

Ten Years' Study of Western Esotericism at the University of Amsterdam

Edited with Joyce Pijnenburg.

About the history of the program at the University of Amsterdam, and the study of Western esotericism, with contributions by staff members, (ex)students and international colleagues. 

Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism

Edited with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek & Jean-Pierre Brach

The first comprehensive academic reference work devoted to the history of Western esotericism from antiquity to the present.

Ésotérisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique:

Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre

Edited with Richard Caron, Joscelyn Godwin & Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron.

Large Festschrift in honour of the founding scholar of the study of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre.

Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion:

Selected papers presented at the 17th congress of the IAHR, Mexico City 1995

Edited with Antoine Faivre. 

The sessions devoted to Western esotericism at the 17th congress of the International Association for the History of Religions in Mexico City, 1995, signalled the first major breakthrough of this field in the academic study of religion. 

Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times

Edited with Roelof van den Broek.

Eighteen essays about the history of Gnosis and Hermeticism, i.e. of Western esotericism, from antiquity to the present.

Female Stereotypes in Religious Traditions

Edited with Ria Kloppenborg.

Ten essays about the stereotypical depiction of women in a wide range of religious traditions.

​