Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture

480 Pages·2012·4.03 MB·English

by  Wouter J. Hanegraaff

ESOTERICISM AND THE ACADEMY
Academics tend to look on “esoteric,” “occult,” or “magical” beliefs
withcontempt,butareusuallyignorantaboutthereligiousandphilo-
sophical traditions to which these terms refer, or their relevance to
intellectualhistory.WouterJ.Hanegraafftellstheneglectedstoryof
how intellectuals since the Renaissance have tried to come to terms
withaclusterof“pagan”ideasfromlateantiquitythatchallengedthe
foundationsofbiblicalreligionandGreekrationality.Expelledfrom
theacademyonthebasisofProtestantandEnlightenmentpolemics,
thesetraditionshavecometobeperceivedastheOtherbywhichaca-
demicsdefinetheiridentitytothepresentday.Hanegraaffgroundshis
discussion in a meticulous study of primary and secondary sources,
takingthereaderonanexcitingintellectualvoyagefromthefifteenth
centurytothepresentday,andaskingwhatimplicationstheforgotten
historyofexclusionhasforestablishedtextbooknarrativesofreligion,
philosophy,andscience.
wouter j. hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic
Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam.
HeistheauthorofNewAgeReligionandWesternCulture(1996)and
LodovicoLazzarelli(1447–1500)(withR.M.Bouthoorn,2005).Heis
editoroftheDictionaryofGnosisandWesternEsotericism(2005),and
co-editor of six other books including Hidden Intercourse: Eros and
SexualityintheHistoryofWesternEsotericism(co-editedwithJeffrey
J.Kripal,2008).

ESOTERICISM AND
THE ACADEMY
Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture
WOUTER J. HANEGRAAFF
cambridge university press
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Firstpublished2012
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Hanegraaff,WouterJ.
Esotericismandtheacademy:rejectedknowledgeinwesternculture/WouterJ.Hanegraaff.
pages. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-19621-5(hardback)
1.Occultism–History. 2.Philosophy,Renaissance. 3.Cabala–History. 4.Cabalaand
Christianity. 5.Psychology–History. I.Title.
bf1411.h363 2012
130.9–dc23 2011045460
isbn978-0-521-19621-5Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
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Contents
Chapterepigraphs pagevii
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction:Hicsuntdracones 1
1 Thehistoryoftruth:recoveringancientwisdom 5
7
Competingmacrohistories
12
PlatonicOrientalism
17
TheChristianapologists
28
ThewisemanfromtheEast:GeorgeGemistosPlethon
41
Theplatonictheologian:MarsilioFicino
53
SecretMoses:GiovanniPicodellaMirandolaandChristiankabbalah
68
TheuniversalCatholic:AgostinoSteuco
73
Theendofacycle
2 Thehistoryoferror:exorcizingpaganism 77
78
Againstthepagans
93
AgainsttheFathers
101
Theanti-apologist:JacobThomasius
107
Theheresiologist:EhregottDanielColberg
114
Thepietistreaction
120
Thebirthofreligionism:GottfriedArnold
127
Enlightenmentandeclipse
137
Thehistorian:JacobBrucker
148
Thepartingoftheways
3 Theerrorofhistory:imaginingtheoccult 153
Taintedterminologies1:superstition 156
Taintedterminologies2:magic 164
Taintedterminologies3:occult 177
191
Alchemybetweenscienceandreligion
207
Theorganizationofsecrecy
218
Theoccultmarketplace
v
vi Contents
222
Elementalfiction
230
Compendiaofrejectedknowledge
239
Secrettraditionsandhiddenhistories
252
TheWasteLand
4 Thetruthofhistory:enteringtheacademy 257
260
Magnetichistoriography:GermanRomanticmesmerismandevolutionism
277
ThearchetypeofEranos:CarlGustavJungandtheWesternunconscious
295
Eranosandreligionism:Scholem,Corbin,Eliade
Thereturnofthehistorians:fromPeuckertandThorndiketo
314
FrancesYates
334
AntoineFaivreandWesternesotericism
355
Esotericismintheacademy
Conclusion:Restoringmemory 368
Bibliography 380
Personindex 448
Subjectindex 462
Chapter epigraphs
Page 1, quotation from Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos iii.5. “Merely
pointingoutthatwhichisconcealedsocarefully,meansdestroyingit.”
Page 5, quotation from John Crowley, The Solitudes. Copyright (cid:2)c 1987,
2007 by John Crowley. Published by The Overlook Press in 2007. All
rightsreserved.
Page77,quotationfromJeanBaudrillard,“Lapartmaudite.”Copyright(cid:2)c
TheUNESCOCourier.Allrightsreserved.“Exorcizingmeansproducing
somethinginordertocurseit.”
Page 257, quotation from Gershom Scholem, “Reflections on Modern
JewishStudies.”Copyright(cid:2)c 1997GershomScholem.ReprintedfromOn
thePossibilityofJewishMysticisminOurTime&OtherEssays,TheJewish
PublicationSociety,withthepermissionofthepublisher.
Page 368, quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche, Zur Genealogie der Moral
ii.13.“Onlythatwhichhasnohistorycanbedefined.”
vii
Acknowledgments
Thisbookistheoutcomeofmorethantwentyyearsofintenseinvolvement
inanewfieldofresearchthatiscarriedbyalargeandrapidlygrowinginter-
nationalcommunityofscholars.Thebibliographydocumentstheimpact
thattheyhavehadthroughtheirpublications;butbehindthisformalarray
are memories of innumerable personal encounters, conversations, collab-
orativeenterprises,andfriendships.Iamdeeplygratefultomycolleagues
from all over the world for how they have enriched my life on both the
intellectualandthepersonallevel.IfImentiononlyafewofthemhereby
name,thisisbecausetheircontributionstothisbookhavebeenparticularly
concreteandindispensable.
The Foundation for the Chair of History of Hermetic Philosophy and
RelatedCurrentsattheUniversityofAmsterdammadeitpossibleforme
to take a sabbatical during the academic year 2009–2010, and it is only
because of their generosity that I have been able to finish the manuscript
atall.Thisistherightplacetoexpressmygratitudetothefounderofthe
Chair,RosalieBasten,forallthethingsthatshehasdone,throughtheyears,
toenablethisfieldofresearchtoflourish.Nexttoher,Iwishtothankthe
othermembersandformermembersoftheFoundation(WillemKoudijs,
Frans Tilman, Sijbolt Noorda, Roelof van den Broek, Ernestine van der
Wall, Karel van der Toorn, Jan Bremmer, and Pieter van Onzenoort) for
theircontinuingsupport.
Secondly, I want to thank my colleagues (permanent Staff and Ph.D.
candidates)attheCenterforHistoryofHermeticPhilosophyandRelated
Currents: Marco Pasi, Peter J. Forshaw, Egil Asprem, Tessel M. Bauduin,
Gemma Kwantes, Joyce Pijnenburg, and Osvald Vasicˇek. It is a pleasure
to work with such a warm and committed group of people, and I am
grateful for the many larger and smaller ways in which they have all
helpedme–perhapssometimeswithoutrealizingit–tobringthisproject
to completion (in the cases of Marco and Peter, I particularly want to
mention their reading and commenting upon the final manuscript under
viii