New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism

Egil Asprem is Associate Professor in History of Religions at Stockholm University. He is the editor-in-chief of Aries and has published widely on esotericism and its study, including The Problem of Disenchantment: Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900-1939 (Brill, 2014).Julian Strube is a Research Fellow at the University of Münster, Germany. He has published a range of monographs, edited volumes, and articles on the relationship between religion, esotericism, and politics since the nineteenth century from a global historical perspective.

• ContentList of SchematicsNotes on ContributorsEsotericism’s Expanding Horizon: Why This Book Came to Be Egil Asprem and Julian StrubeReceptions of Revelations: A Future for the Study of Esotericism and Antiquity Dylan BurnsTowards the Study of Esotericism without the “Western”: Esotericism from the Perspective of a Global Religious History Julian Strube“That I Did Love the Moor to Live with Him”: Islam in/and the Study of “Western Esotericism” Liana SaifThe Occult among the Aborigines of South America? Some Remarks on Race, Coloniality, and the West in the Study of Esotericism Mariano Villalba“Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels”: Western Esotericism, Yoga, and the Discourse of Authenticity Keith CantúRejected Knowledge Reconsidered: Some Methodological Notes on Esotericism and Marginality Egil AspremRace and (the Study of) Esotericism Justine Bakker“What Can the Whole World Be Hiding?” Exploring Africana Esotericisms in the American Soul-Blues Continuum Hugh R. Page, Jr. and Stephen C. FinleyDouble Toil and Gender Trouble? Performativity and Femininity in the Cauldron of Esotericism Research Manon Hedenborg WhiteWhat do Jade Eggs Tell Us about the Category “Esotericism”? Spirituality, Neoliberalism, Secrecy, and Commodities Susannah CrockfordInterpretation Reconsidered: The Definitional Progression in the Study of Esotericism as a Case in Point for the Varifocal Theory of Interpretation Dimitry OkropiridzeAfterword: Outlines of a New Roadmap Egil Asprem and Julian StrubeIndex

"The book argues for a global approach to the study of esotericism and emphasizes its relevance for broader theoretical and methodological debates in the humanities and social sciences to encourage an open and serious exchange with other perspectives. This is indeed an essential contribution to the study of esotericism, which will undoubtedly elicit fruitful further discussion within and beyond the field." - Nicole Maria Bauer, University of Innsbruck, in: Religious Studies Review 47.1 (2021)