Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities

Naslovnica
BRILL, 2010 - Broj stranica: 240
One characteristic of European history of religion is a two-fold pluralism a pluralism of religious identities on the one hand, and a pluralism of various societal systems that interact with religious systems on the other. Addressing discourses of perfect knowledge in Western culture between 1200 and 1800, this book integrates the study of Western esotericism in a larger analytical framework of European history of religion. Viewed from a structuralist perspective, esoteric discourse provides an analytical framework that helps to reveal genealogies of modern identities in a pluralistic competition of knowledge. Experiential philosophy, kabbalah, astrology, Hermeticism, philology, and early modern science are linked to knowledge claims that shaped the way in which Western culture defined itself. "Von Stuckrad s sophisticated and stimulating reevaluation of the place of esotericism in Western culture should be of great interest to anyone concerned with the complex religious, social, political, and intellectual developments that mark the transition from the medieval to the modern world. The dialogue he proposes between modern theories and ancient, medieval, and early modern texts raises important questions and offers further evidence that the nineteenth and twentieth century divisions between religion, magic, and science and between science, philosophy, and occultism have outlived their usefulness." Professor Allison P. Coudert Paul and Marie Castelfranco Chair in the Religious Studies Program University of California at Davis
 

Odabrane stranice

Sadržaj

Introduction
3
From Singularization to Pluralism
7
Christian Occident?
13
The TwoFold Pluralism
18
Chapter Two The Polemical Construction of Tradition
25
The Construction of Prisca Theologia
26
Genealogies of Wisdom
30
Jewish Perspectives
33
Universal Languages and the Quest for the Ursprache
110
Astrology and Sacred History
115
Christian Astrology
126
Part Three Interferences
135
Introduction
137
Chapter Seven Scientific Encounters
139
A Scholar Gone Mad?
146
Natural Philosophy in an Apocalyptic Age
152

Beyond Tradition
41
Chapter Three Conceptualizing the Study of Esoteric Discourse
43
Approaches to Esotericism
45
Secrecy as Social Capital
54
Discourses of Perfect Knowledge
59
Part Two Shared Passions
65
Introduction
67
Wisdom beyond Demonstration
71
Neoplatonism and Theurgy in Late Antiquity
72
Experiential Knowledge in Suhrawardīs Illuminationist Philosophy
82
Esoteric Hermeneutics
89
The Textile of the Divine in Early Kabbalah
93
Linguistic Ontologies in Christian Kabbalah
103
Chapter Eight Visual Seductions
157
The Problem of Renaissance Paganism
158
Image Acts and Visual Culture
163
The Presence of Images as Visual Practice
168
Chapter Nine Political Consideration
175
Hermeticism and Universal Reform
177
Alsteds Encyclopaedia
186
Locations of Knowledge
195
Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities
200
Bibliography
205
Index
233
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O autoru (2010)

Kocku von Stuckrad, Ph.D. (1999) in the Academic Study of Religion, University of Bremen, is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. He has published extensively on European history of religion, esotericism, shamanism, and astrology.

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