Hermes in the Academy

165 Pages·2009·3.7 MB·English

by  Wouter J. Hanegraaff

In 1999, an innovative chair and expertise center was created at the Faculty w
o
of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam, focused on the history of u
t
e
Western esotericism from the Renaissance to the present. The label “Western r
j
esotericism” refers here to a complex of historical currents such as, notably, . h
a
n
the Hermetic philosophy of the Renaissance, mystical, magical, alchemical
e
g
and astrological currents, Christian kabbalah, Paracelsianism, Rosicrucianism, r
a
a
Christian theosophy, and the many occultist and related esoteric currents that f
f
a
developed in their wake during the 19th and the 20th centuries. This complex n
d
of “alternative” religious currents is studied from a critical historical and j
o
y
interdisciplinary perspective, with the intention of studying the roles that they c
e
have played in the history of Western culture. pi
j
n
In the past ten years, the chair for History of Hermetic Philosophy and e
n
b
Related Currents has succeeded in establishing itself as the most important u
r
center for study and teaching in this domain, and has strongly contributed g
(
e
to the establishment of Western esotericism as a recognized academic field d
s
.)
of research. This volume is published at the occasion of the 10th anniversary.
H
It contains a history of the creation and development of the chair, followed
e
by articles on aspects of Western esotericism by the previous and current r
m
staff members, contributions by students and Ph.D. students about the study
e
program, and reflections by international top specialists about the field of s

i
research and its academic development. n

t
h
Prof. Dr. Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy e

A
and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam.
c
Joyce Pijnenburg M.A. is a Ph. D. student, affiliated with both the Bibliotheca
a
Philosophica Hermetica and the University of Amsterdam. d
e
m
y
HHeerrmmeess iinn tthhee AAccaaddeemmyy
TTeenn YYeeaarrss’’ SSttuuddyy ooff WWeesstteerrnn EEssootteerriicciissmm
aatt tthhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff AAmmsstteerrddaamm
isbn 978 90 5629 572 1
WWoouutteerr JJ.. HHaanneeggrraaaaffff aanndd JJooyyccee PPiijjnneennbbuurrgg ((eeddss..))
AAMMSSTTEERRDDAAMM UUNNIIVVEERRSSIITTYY PPRREESSSS
Amsterdam University Press • www.aup.nl
Hermes in the Academy

Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 1 03-08-09 09:01
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 2 03-08-09 09:01
Hermes in the Academy:

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

Wouter J. Hanegraaff
and Joyce Pijnenburg, eds.

Amsterdam University Press
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 3 03-08-09 09:01
Cover illustration: Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer, 1943 (ms. BPH 308),
courtesy of Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam
Cover: Studio Jan de Boer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Design: Prografici, Goes, the Netherlands

ISBN 9789056295721
E-ISBN 9789048510597
NUR 730

© Hanegraaff and Pijnenburg / Amsterdam University Press, 2009

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part
of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, re-
cording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and
the author of the book.
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 4 03-08-09 16:52
Table of Contents
Preface / 7
José van DiJck

Part 1
History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents:
Origins and Development / 9

The Birth of a Chair / 11
Roelof van Den BRoek
Ten Years of Studying and Teaching Western Esotericism / 17
WouteR J. HanegRaaff

Part 2
Glimpses of Research / 31

The Pagan Who Came from the East: George Gemistos Plethon and Platonic
Orientalism / 33
WouteR J. HanegRaaff
Astrologia Hermetica: Astrology, Western Culture, and the Academy / 51
kocku von stuckRaD
The Modernity of Occultism: Reflections on Some Crucial Aspects / 59
MaRco Pasi
Mathematical Esotericism: Some Perspectives on Renaissance Arithmology / 75
Jean-PieRRe BRacH
Danish Esotericism in the 20th Century: The Case of Martinus / 91
olav HaMMeR

Part 3
Studying Western Esotericism in Amsterdam / 103

On First Looking into the Halls of Hermeticism / 105
MaRieke J.e. van Den Doel
An Unlikely Love Affair: Plato, the Netherlands, and Life after Westotericism / 107
Dylan BuRns
Heterology in Amsterdam: The Academy Takes the Other Out to Dinner / 109
osvalD vasicˇek
| 5
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 5 03-08-09 09:01
The Copenhagen Connection / 111
saRa MølDRuP tHeJls
If You Seek / 113
susannaH cRockfoRD

Part 4
Western Esotericism in International Perspective / 114

From “the Hermetic Tradition” to “Western Esotericism” / 117
allison couDeRt
From Paris to Amsterdam and Beyond: Origins and Development
of a Collaboration / 123
antoine faivRe
Western Esotericism in the United Kingdom / 129
nicHolas gooDRick-claRke
From Talk about Esotericism to Esotericism Research:
Remarks on the Prehistory and Development of a Research Group / 135
Monika neugeBaueR-Wölk
Seven Epistemological Theses on Esotericism:
Upon the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Amsterdam Chair / 143
anDReas kilcHeR
Hermes and his Students in Amsterdam / 149
Joyce PiJnenBuRg

Contributors / 157

6 | hermeS IN the academy
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 6 03-08-09 09:01
PREFACE

José van DiJck
Creative innovation in the humanities is usually not a top-down but a bottom-
up phenomenon. It happens when individual scholars begin to ask questions
that have not been asked before, and come up with new approaches that chal-
lenge the academic status quo. But, in order to be successful, not only do such
new perspectives have to be recognized as fruitful by the wider academic com-
munity, they also need to become embedded in institutional contexts, which
allow them to actively participate in scholarly debate and educate new gen-
erations of students. The chair group for History of Hermetic Philosophy and
Related Currents (GHF) is a perfect example of such a successful combination
of scholarly innovation and academic institutionalization. As documented in
this anniversary volume, over the last ten years it has established itself as the
leading center of a new field of international research, referred to as the study
of Western esotericism.
By the end of the 1990s, that term still caused some eyebrows to be raised.
It was not yet so clear to everybody that, far from being a synonym for New Age,
the label “Western esotericism” covered a wide range of important and influen-
tial currents in intellectual history from the Renaissance to the present, with
roots in Late Antiquity; and there were still some suspicions, here and there,
that scholars of esotericism might in fact turn out to be closet esotericists...
But as the high quality of research in this domain became evident, such doubts
quickly began to vanish. GHF has been consistent in setting standards of excel-
lence through the many publications of its staff members, with the two-volume
Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (Brill, 2005) as a highlight that deserves
to be mentioned here in particular. As documented in this anniversary volume,
the study of Western esotericism has succeeded in becoming a normal presence
on the international academic scene, with professional research organizations,
peer-reviewed journals and monograph series, many conferences and, of course,
teaching programs. The field is generating great enthusiasm and commitment
not only among established scholars, but also among students and burgeoning
academics, many of whom have received their education in this field at GHF and
are now pursuing Ph.D. projects both in Amsterdam and at other universities
worldwide.
In short, the first ten years of the chair for History of Hermetic Philosophy
and Related Currents have been a success story. The chair is at the very center
of an exciting new development in international academic research, and for me,
as dean of the Faculty of Humanities, this is a source of great pride and satisfac-
| 7
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 7 03-08-09 09:01
tion. On behalf of the Board of the Faculty and of the University of Amsterdam, I
wish to thank the former and present staff members of GHF for their efforts, and
congratulate them on all that has been achieved. Of course, none of it would
have happened without the more-than-generous donation by Mrs. Rosalie Bas-
ten, and the professionalism of the Foundation that was put in charge of it: their
collaboration with the Board of the Faculty has always been excellent, and our
appreciation extends to them as well. Given the intellectual ambitions that are
obvious from this anniversary volume, I am sure that the first ten years of GHF
have been only the first beginning of a development that will continue to flour-
ish and expand in the decades to come.

8 | hermeS IN the academy
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 8 03-08-09 09:01
Part 1

History of Hermetic Philosophy
and Related Currents:
Origins and Development
Hermes academy_hanegraaff.indd 9 03-08-09 09:01