Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge
This accessible introduction by the world's leading expert explains why the study of esotericism is not a marginal pursuit but belongs at the center of modern research in the humanities. Reflecting updates in the field since the foundational publication Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013), Wouter J. Hanegraaff demonstrates that the exclusion of “rejected knowledge” from normative accounts of Western civilization is the reflection of a narrow Eurocentric ideology that became the template for discrediting and ultimately destroying so-called “primitive” cultures associated with “superstition” and “pagan idolatry” during the global colonial age.

Rejecting this “rejection of rejected knowledge” means restoring the suppressed to its legitimate place in history and cultural analysis. Through this approach, Wouter J. Hanegraaff depicts a radically inclusive vision of the Greater West and its forgotten histories, from pagan antiquity through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures up to secular modernity and beyond.

1145929559
Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge
This accessible introduction by the world's leading expert explains why the study of esotericism is not a marginal pursuit but belongs at the center of modern research in the humanities. Reflecting updates in the field since the foundational publication Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013), Wouter J. Hanegraaff demonstrates that the exclusion of “rejected knowledge” from normative accounts of Western civilization is the reflection of a narrow Eurocentric ideology that became the template for discrediting and ultimately destroying so-called “primitive” cultures associated with “superstition” and “pagan idolatry” during the global colonial age.

Rejecting this “rejection of rejected knowledge” means restoring the suppressed to its legitimate place in history and cultural analysis. Through this approach, Wouter J. Hanegraaff depicts a radically inclusive vision of the Greater West and its forgotten histories, from pagan antiquity through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures up to secular modernity and beyond.

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Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge

Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge

by Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge

Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge

by Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Paperback(2nd ed.)

$29.95 
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Overview

This accessible introduction by the world's leading expert explains why the study of esotericism is not a marginal pursuit but belongs at the center of modern research in the humanities. Reflecting updates in the field since the foundational publication Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (2013), Wouter J. Hanegraaff demonstrates that the exclusion of “rejected knowledge” from normative accounts of Western civilization is the reflection of a narrow Eurocentric ideology that became the template for discrediting and ultimately destroying so-called “primitive” cultures associated with “superstition” and “pagan idolatry” during the global colonial age.

Rejecting this “rejection of rejected knowledge” means restoring the suppressed to its legitimate place in history and cultural analysis. Through this approach, Wouter J. Hanegraaff depicts a radically inclusive vision of the Greater West and its forgotten histories, from pagan antiquity through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures up to secular modernity and beyond.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781350459694
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 05/29/2025
Edition description: 2nd ed.
Pages: 344
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of
Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, and President of the European Society for the Study of Western
Esotericism.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 What do we mean by Esotericism?
2 A Short History of Rejected Knowledge
3 Internal Eurocentrism
4 Worldviews
5 Knowledge
6 Practice
7 Modernization
8 Esoteric Transdisciplinarity
9 The Importance of Esotericism

Appendix 1: Glossary of Technical Terms
Appendix 2: Sources and Resources

Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Subjects

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