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Romanticism and the Esoteric Connection
Roelof van den Broek & Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, SUNY Press: Albany 1998, 237-268.
In this article I analyze theories of "Romanticism" (Arthur O. Lovejoy, René Wellek, Morse Peckham, M.H. Abrams, Ernest Lee Tuveson) to shed light on how Romanticism related to Western esotericism. NO PDF AVAILABLE
The New Age Movement and the Western Esoteric Tradition
Roelof van den Broek & Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, SUNY Press: Albany 1998, 237-268.
A general statement, based on my dissertation, of how I see the relation between the New Age movement and Western esotericism as field of historical currents from antiquity to the present. NO PDF AVAILABLE
Introduction: The Birth of a Discipline
Antoine Faivre & Wouter J. Hanegraaff (eds.), Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, Peeters: Louvain 1998, vii-xvii.
Introduction to a collective volume (based on the innovative section on "Western esotericism" convened by us at the 17th international congress of the IAHR, Mexico City 1995) through which Antoine Faivre and I wanted to make the case for Western esotericism as a new field in the academic study of religion.
On the Construction of "Esoteric Traditions"
Antoine Faivre & Wouter J. Hanegraaff (eds.), Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, Peeters: Louvain 1998, 11-61
A large and ambitious overview article comparing some of the most important constructs of Western esotericism, under three categories: "pro-esoteric" (Gilles Quispel, Pierre Riffard, Perennialism), "anti-esoteric" (Eric Voegelin, Carl Raschke, Marcello Truzzi) and "historical" (Antoine Faivre, Gershom Scholem & Joseph Dan, Dan Merkur).
The Emergence of the Academic Science of Magic:
The Occult Philosophy in Tylor and Frazer
Arie L. Molendijk & Peter Pels (eds.), Religion in the Making: The Emergence of the Sciences of Religion, Royal E.J. Brill: Leiden/Boston/Köln 1998, 253-275.
An analysis of how "magic" was construed in the extremely influential works of the founder of anthropology Edward Burnett Tylor and his successor James G. Frazer. I argue that the category of "animated" statues (basic to the concept of "idolatry") radically undermines their attempts to keep "magic" apart from "religion".
Reflections on New Age and the Secularization of Nature
Joanne Pearson, Richard H. Roberts & Geoffrey Samuel (eds.), Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh 1998, 22-32.
With reference to Thomas Mann, Jacob Boehme and Annie Dillard (picture), in this article I problematise the notion of "Nature Religion" by comparing early modern understandings of nature to secular interpretations as found notably in the New Age movement.