[PDF] Occult Roots Of Religious Studies eBook

Author : Yves Mühlematter
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 24,13 MB
Release : 2021-06-08
Category : History
ISBN : 3110660334

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The historiographers of religious studies have written the history of this discipline primarily as a rationalization of ideological, most prominently theological and phenomenological ideas: first through the establishment of comparative, philological and sociological methods and secondly through the demand for intentional neutrality. This interpretation caused important roots in occult-esoteric traditions to be repressed. This process of “purification” (Latour) is not to be equated with the origin of the academic studies. De facto, the elimination of idealistic theories took time and only happened later. One example concerning the early entanglement is Tibetology, where many researchers and respected chair holders were influenced by theosophical ideas or were even members of the Theosophical Society. Similarly, the emergence of comparatistics cannot be understood without taking into account perennialist ideas of esoteric provenance, which hold that all religions have a common origin. In this perspective, it is not only the history of religious studies which must be revisited, but also the partial shaping of religious studies by these traditions, insofar as it saw itself as a counter-model to occult ideas.

Author : Lukas Pokorny
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 442 pages
File Size : 41,24 MB
Release : 2021-01-09
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3030553183

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The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation of alternative religious currents and practices, appropriating earlier traditions, entangling geographically distinct spiritual discourses, and crafting a repository of mindscapes eminently suitable to be accommodated by later generations of thinkers and practitioners. Penned by specialists in the field, this volume examines important themes and figures pertaining to this occult amalgam and its resonance into the twentieth century and beyond. Global guises of the occult, ranging from the Americas and Europe to India, are variously addressed, with special attention to the crucial role of mesmerism and the origins of modern yoga.

Author : Carole M. Cusack
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 40,34 MB
Release : 2016
Category : Anthropology of religion
ISBN : 9781138917682

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The field encompassed by 'Religion, the Occult, and the Paranormal' is both fascinating and frustrating. The fascination stems from the contested nature of the content, and the multi-disciplinary nature of the existing scholarly literature. The frustration stems chiefly from the misunderstood and much-maligned nature of the content, and the way in which specific elements are taken out of context, or treated in a frivolous manner as is often the case with tabloid journalism. This new collection from Routledge addresses these and other urgent questions by bringing together the best foundational and cutting-edge scholarship on religion, the occult, and the paranormal.

Author : H. P. Blavatsky
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 30 pages
File Size : 18,93 MB
Release : 2018-07-31
Category :
ISBN : 9781724599797

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Studies in Occultism by H. P. Blavatsky: A Series of Reprints from the Writings. According to religious studies scholar Mark Bevir, Blavatsky "adapted the occult tradition to meet the challenge of Victorian science and morality". Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was a Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy, the esoteric religion that the society promoted.

Author : Christopher Partridge
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 1017 pages
File Size : 30,54 MB
Release : 2014-12-05
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1317596757

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This volume presents students and scholars with a comprehensive overview of the fascinating world of the occult. It explores the history of Western occultism, from ancient and medieval sources via the Renaissance, right up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and contemporary occultism. Written by a distinguished team of contributors, the essays consider key figures, beliefs and practices as well as popular culture.

Author : Kocku von Stuckrad
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 25,13 MB
Release : 2016-04-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1134957270

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Esotericism is the search for an absolute but hidden knowledge accessed through mystical vision, the mediation of higher beings, or personal experience. In Western cultural history esoteric approaches to religion have often been in conflict with - and suffered at the hands of - more established forms of religious belief and practice. 'Western Esotericism' presents a very broad and engaging history of the people and ideas which have shaped occult history from antiquity to today. Throughout the history of esotericism the dynamic of concealment and revelation has characterized the search for secret knowledge. Pursued both publically and privately, esotericism has come to influence more mainstream religious practice and culture and has significantly shaped our understanding of modernity. Today, esotericism continues to be practised by a range of both established and new religious movements. 'Western Esotericism' presents the essential guide to one of the most fascinating, provocative, and sustained of religious traditions.

Author : Rudolf Steiner
Publisher : SteinerBooks
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 11,29 MB
Release : 2002-11
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 0880109823

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This work builds on the foundation of the Popol Vuh, the document that retraces in mythical language the four ages, or stages of civilization, that all of America has undergone to some degree. It also moves from the Popol Vuh into later times through myths and legends of the Aztec and Iroquois. Myth and history are placed side by side in a scientific and imaginative approach that documents the correlation between pre-historical and historical periods and the spiritual events that ushered them in, as narrated in the myths and legends of North America. This approach reconciles Western analytical consciousness with the Native American language of myths and legends. All of this is placed first in the perspective of Maya spiritual tradition, and then from the perspective that the twentieth-century research of Rudolf Steiner brought to light, especially in relation to the events that took place in Central America two thousand years ago, about which only Rudolf Steiner has spoken. The first part of the work explores events of 2,000 years ago and their consequences in the onset of Maya civilization. The second part researches the rise of new spiritual influences around the time just before the arrival of Columbus in America. At the extremes of the spectrum, we find Aztec and Iroquois worldviews. Both cosmologies have links, subtle or obvious, with the Popol Vuh, whether continuing or reinterpreting its original message. This polarity carries momentous consequences for global social trends in modern world history. Spiritual Turning Points of North American History brings a fresh perspective to North American history and the meeting of European and First Nations worldviews.

Author : Georgiana D. Hedesan
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 358 pages
File Size : 21,10 MB
Release : 2021-05-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 3030679063

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This collection explores the role of innovation in understanding the history of esotericism. It illustrates how innovation is a mechanism of negotiation whereby an idea is either produced against, or adapted from, an older set of concepts in order to respond to a present context. Featuring contributions from distinguished scholars of esotericism, it covers many different fields and themes including magic, alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Tarot, apocalypticism and eschatology, Mesmerism, occultism, prophecy, and mysticism.

Author : Eric Kurlander
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 411 pages
File Size : 50,43 MB
Release : 2017-06-06
Category : History
ISBN : 0300190379

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“A dense and scholarly book about . . . the relationship between the Nazi party and the occult . . . reveals stranger-than-fiction truths on every page.”—Daily Telegraph The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire. “[Kurlander] shows how swiftly irrational ideas can take hold, even in an age before social media.”—The Washington Post “Deeply researched, convincingly authenticated, this extraordinary study of the magical and supernatural at the highest levels of Nazi Germany will astonish.”—The Spectator “A trustworthy [book] on an extraordinary subject.”—The Times “A fascinating look at a little-understood aspect of fascism.”—Kirkus Reviews “Kurlander provides a careful, clear-headed, and exhaustive examination of a subject so lurid that it has probably scared away some of the serious research it merits.”—National Review

Author : Lee Irwin
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 475 pages
File Size : 32,63 MB
Release : 2017-07-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1498554083

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Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History surveys the complex history of reincarnation theories across multiple fields of discourse in a pre-American context, ranging from early Greek traditions to Medieval Christian theories, Renaissance esotericism, and European Kabbalah, all of which had adherents that brought those theories to America. Rebirth theories are shown in all these groups to be highly complex and often disjunctive with mainstream religions even though members of conventional religions frequently affirm the possibility of rebirth. As a history of an idea, reincarnation theory is a current, vital belief pattern that cuts across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific domains in a long, complex history not reducible to any specific religious or theoretical explanation. This book is cross-disciplinary and multicultural, linking religious studies perspectives with science based research; it draws upon many distinct disciplines and avoids reduction of reincarnation to any specific theory. The underlying thesis is to demonstrate the complexity of reincarnation theories; what is unique is the historical overview and the gradual shift away from religious theories of rebirth to new theories that are therapeutic and trans-traditional.