Faculty of Humanities
W.J. Hanegraaff
prof.dr. W.J. (Wouter) Hanegraaff
Capaciteitsgroep Geschiedenis van de Hermetische filosofie en verwante stromingen University of Amsterdam


Oude Turfmarkt 147
1012 GC Amsterdam
Room: 304

Telephone
0205253570
0205253571

http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/w.j.hanegraaff/
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Wouter J. Hanegraaff

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New Publication (2012)

Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture
Academics tend to look on “esoteric,” “occult,” or “magical” beliefs with contempt, but are usually ignorant about the religious and philosophical traditions to which these terms refer, or their relevance to intellectual history. Wouter J. Hanegraaff tells the neglected story of how intellectuals since the Renaissance have tried to come to terms with a cluster of “pagan” ideas from late antiquity that challenged the foundations of biblical religion and Greek rationality. Expelled from the academy on the basis of Protestant and Enlightenment polemics, these traditions have come to be perceived as the Other by which academics define their identity to the present day.Hanegraaff grounds his discussion in a meticulous study of primary and secondary sources, taking the reader on an exciting intellectual voyage from the fifteenth
century to the present day, and asking what implications the forgotten history of exclusion has for established textbook narratives of religion, philosophy, and science.
x + 468 pp.


Contact Cambridge University Press

Professional Information

Wouter J. Hanegraaff  (1961) studied classical guitar at the Municipal Conservatory at Zwolle (1982-1987) and Cultural History at the University of Utrecht (1986-1990), with a specialization in alternative religious movements in the 20th century. From 1992-1996 he was  a research assistant at the department for Study of Religions of the University of Utrecht, where he defended his dissertation New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought on 30 november 1995 (cum laude). From 1996 to 2000 he held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dutch Assocation for Scientific Research (NWO), and spent a period working in Paris. On 1 september 1999 he was appointed full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam (see link). From 2002-2006 he was president of the Dutch Society for the Study of Religion (NGG,see link), and since 2005 he is president of the EuropeanSociety for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE, see link). In 2006 he was elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, KNAW).

Editorial Activities

From 2001-2010 he was editor (with Antoine Faivre and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke) of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism (Brill publ.) and from 2006-2010 editor of the "Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism" (Brill publ.). He is member of the editorial board of the journals Aries (Brill), Numen (Brill), Religion Compass and Esoterica, and of the advisory board of  Journal of Contemporary Religion (Carfax) and Nova Religio (University of California Press).

Book publications

[For full descriptions and cover pictures, see button"books" at top of page]

          Books

  • Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture, Cambridge University Press 2012.
  • Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven, West Chester: Chrysalis Books 2007.
  • Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500):TheHermetic Writings and Related Documents (with R.M.Bouthoorn),Tempe:ArizonaCenter for Medieval andRenaissance Studies 2005.
  • New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought, Leiden etc.: Brill 1996 / Albany: State University of New York Press 1998.
        
          Edited volumes

  • Hermes in the Academy: Ten Years' Study of Western Esotericism at the University of Amsterdam (with Joyce Pijnenburg), Amsterdam University Press 2009.
  • Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism (with Jeffrey J. Kripal), Leiden / Boston: Brill 2008 & New York: Fordham University Press 2011.
  • Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek & Jean-Pierre Brach), 2 vols., Leiden etc.: Brill 2005.
  • Esoterisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique: Melanges offerts a Antoine Faivre (with Richard Caron, Joscelyn Godwin & Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron), Louvain: Peeters 2001.
  • Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion (with Antoine Faivre), Louvain: Peeters 1998.
  • Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times (with Roelof van den Broek), Albany: State University of New York Press 1998.
  • Female Stereotypes in Religious Traditions (with Ria Kloppenborg), Leiden etc.: Brill 1995.

For a complete list of publications, including articles and book reviews, CV,and some relevant links,see here:

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE)

CURRICULUM VITAE

Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents