manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
9858_173	"Practice of Concordance": The first of Faivre's secondary characteristics of esotericism was the
9858_174	belief—held by many esotericists, such as those in the Traditionalist School—that there is a
9858_175	fundamental unifying principle or root from which all world religions and spiritual practices
9858_176	emerge. The common esoteric principle is that attaining this unifying principle can bring the
9858_177	world's different belief systems together in unity.
9858_178	"Transmission": Faivre's second secondary characteristic was the emphasis on the transmission of
9858_179	esoteric teachings and secrets from a master to their disciple, through a process of initiation.
9858_180	Faivre's form of categorisation has been endorsed by scholars like Goodrick-Clarke, and by 2007
9858_181	Bogdan could note that Faivre's had become "the standard definition" of Western esotericism in use
9858_182	among scholars. However, in 2013 the scholar Kennet Granholm stated only that Faivre's definition
9858_183	had been "the dominating paradigm for a long while" and that it "still exerts influence among
9858_184	scholars outside the study of Western esotericism". The advantage of Faivre's system is that it
9858_185	facilitates comparing varying esoteric traditions "with one another in a systematic fashion."
9858_186	However, many scholars have criticised Faivre's theory, pointing out various weaknesses. Hanegraaff
9858_187	claimed that Faivre's approach entailed "reasoning by prototype" in that it relied upon already
9858_188	having a "best example" of what Western esotericism should look like, against which other phenomena
9858_189	then had to be compared. The scholar of esotericism Kocku von Stuckrad (born 1966) noted that
9858_190	Faivre's taxonomy was based on his own areas of specialism—Renaissance Hermeticism, Christian
9858_191	Kabbalah, and Protestant Theosophy—and that it was thus not based on a wider understanding of
9858_192	esotericism as it has existed throughout history, from the ancient world to the contemporary
9858_193	period. Accordingly, Von Stuckrad suggested that it was a good typology for understanding
9858_194	"Christian esotericism in the early modern period" but lacked utility beyond that.
9858_195	Esotericism as claims to higher knowledge
9858_196	As an alternative to Faivre's framework, Kocku von Stuckrad developed his own variant, though he
9858_197	argued that this did not represent a "definition" but rather "a framework of analysis" for
9858_198	scholarly usage. He stated that "on the most general level of analysis", esotericism represented
9858_199	"the claim of higher knowledge", a claim to possessing "wisdom that is superior to other
9858_200	interpretations of cosmos and history" that serves as a "master key for answering all questions of
9858_201	humankind." Accordingly, he believed that esoteric groups placed a great emphasis on secrecy, not
9858_202	because they were inherently rooted in elite groups but because the idea of concealed secrets that
9858_203	can be revealed was central to their discourse. Examining the means of accessing higher knowledge,
9858_204	he highlighted two themes that he believed could be found within esotericism, that of mediation
9858_205	through contact with non-human entities, and individual experience. Accordingly, for Von Stuckrad,
9858_206	esotericism could be best understood as "a structural element of Western culture" rather than as a
9858_207	selection of different schools of thought.
9858_208	Western esotericism as "rejected knowledge"
9858_209	Hanegraaff proposed an additional definition that "Western esotericism" is a category that
9858_210	represents "the academy's dustbin of rejected knowledge." In this respect, it contains all of the
9858_211	theories and world views rejected by the mainstream intellectual community because they do not
9858_212	accord with "normative conceptions of religion, rationality and science." His approach is rooted
9858_213	within the field of the history of ideas, and stresses the role of change and transformation over
9858_214	time.
9858_215	Goodrick-Clarke was critical of this approach, believing that it relegated Western esotericism to
9858_216	the position of "a casualty of positivist and materialist perspectives in the nineteenth-century"
9858_217	and thus reinforces the idea that Western esoteric traditions were of little historical importance.
9858_218	Bogdan similarly expressed concern regarding Hanegraaff's definition, believing that it made the
9858_219	category of Western esotericism "all inclusive" and thus analytically useless.
9858_220	History Late Antiquity
9858_221	The origins of Western esotericism are in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, then part of the
9858_222	Roman Empire, during Late Antiquity. This was a milieu that mixed religious and intellectual
9858_223	traditions from Greece, Egypt, the Levant, Babylon, and Persia—in which globalisation,
9858_224	urbanisation, and multiculturalism were bringing about socio-cultural change.
9858_225	One component of this was Hermetism, an Egyptian Hellenistic school of thought that takes its name
9858_226	from the legendary Egyptian wise man, Hermes Trismegistus. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a number
9858_227	of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus appeared, including the Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius,
9858_228	and The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. Some still debate whether Hermetism was a purely
9858_229	literary phenomenon or had communities of practitioners who acted on these ideas, but it has been
9858_230	established that these texts discuss the true nature of God, emphasising that humans must transcend
9858_231	rational thought and worldly desires to find salvation and be reborn into a spiritual body of
9858_232	immaterial light, thereby achieving spiritual unity with divinity.
9858_233	Another tradition of esoteric thought in Late Antiquity was Gnosticism. Various Gnostic sects
9858_234	existed, and they broadly believed that the divine light had been imprisoned within the material
9858_235	world by a malevolent entity known as the Demiurge, who was served by demonic helpers, the Archons.
9858_236	It was the Gnostic belief that people, who were imbued with the divine light, should seek to attain
9858_237	gnosis and thus escape from the world of matter and rejoin the divine source.
9858_238	A third form of esotericism in Late Antiquity was Neoplatonism, a school of thought influenced by
9858_239	the ideas of the philosopher Plato. Advocated by such figures as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus,
9858_240	and Proclus, Neoplatonism held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins into the
9858_241	material world, but that it could progress, through a number of hierarchical spheres of being, to
9858_242	return to its divine origins once more. The later Neoplatonists performed theurgy, a ritual
9858_243	practice attested in such sources as the Chaldean Oracles. Scholars are still unsure of precisely
9858_244	what theurgy involved, but know it involved a practice designed to make gods appear, who could then
9858_245	raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine.
9858_246	Middle Ages
9858_247	After the fall of Rome, alchemy and philosophy and other aspects of the tradition were largely
9858_248	preserved in the Arab and Near Eastern world and reintroduced into Western Europe by Jews and by
9858_249	the cultural contact between Christians and Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy. The 12th century
9858_250	saw the development of the Kabbalah in southern Italy and medieval Spain.
9858_251	The medieval period also saw the publication of grimoires, which offered often elaborate formulas
9858_252	for theurgy and thaumaturgy. Many of the grimoires seem to have kabbalistic influence. Figures in
9858_253	alchemy from this period seem to also have authored or used grimoires.
9858_254	Renaissance and Early Modern period
9858_255	During the Renaissance, a number of European thinkers began to synthesize "pagan" (that is, not
9858_256	Christian) philosophies, which were then being made available through Arabic translations, with
9858_257	Christian thought and the Jewish kabbalah. The earliest of these individuals was the Byzantine
9858_258	philosopher Plethon (1355/60–1452?), who argued that the Chaldean Oracles represented an example of
9858_259	a superior religion of ancient humanity that had been passed down by the Platonists.
9858_260	Plethon's ideas interested the ruler of Florence, Cosimo de Medici, who employed Florentine thinker
9858_261	Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) to translate Plato's works into Latin. Ficino went on to translate and
9858_262	publish the works of various Platonic figures, arguing that their philosophies were compatible with
9858_263	Christianity, and allowing for the emergence of a wider movement in Renaissance Platonism, or
9858_264	Platonic Orientalism. Ficino also translated part of the Corpus Hermeticum, though the rest was
9858_265	translated by his contemporary, Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500).
9858_266	Another core figure in this intellectual milieu was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), who
9858_267	achieved notability in 1486 by inviting scholars from across Europe to come and debate with him 900
9858_268	theses that he had written. Pico della Mirandola argued that all of these philosophies reflected a
9858_269	grand universal wisdom. However, Pope Innocent VIII condemned these ideas, criticising him for
9858_270	attempting to mix pagan and Jewish ideas with Christianity.
9858_271	Pico della Mirandola's increased interest in Jewish kabbalah led to his development of a distinct
9858_272	form of Christian Kabbalah. His work was built on by the German Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) who

9858_173

"Practice of Concordance": The first of Faivre's secondary characteristics of esotericism was the

9858_174

belief—held by many esotericists, such as those in the Traditionalist School—that there is a

9858_175

fundamental unifying principle or root from which all world religions and spiritual practices

9858_176

emerge. The common esoteric principle is that attaining this unifying principle can bring the

9858_177

world's different belief systems together in unity.

9858_178

"Transmission": Faivre's second secondary characteristic was the emphasis on the transmission of

9858_179

esoteric teachings and secrets from a master to their disciple, through a process of initiation.

9858_180

Faivre's form of categorisation has been endorsed by scholars like Goodrick-Clarke, and by 2007

9858_181

Bogdan could note that Faivre's had become "the standard definition" of Western esotericism in use

9858_182

among scholars. However, in 2013 the scholar Kennet Granholm stated only that Faivre's definition

9858_183

had been "the dominating paradigm for a long while" and that it "still exerts influence among

9858_184

scholars outside the study of Western esotericism". The advantage of Faivre's system is that it

9858_185

facilitates comparing varying esoteric traditions "with one another in a systematic fashion."

9858_186

However, many scholars have criticised Faivre's theory, pointing out various weaknesses. Hanegraaff

9858_187

claimed that Faivre's approach entailed "reasoning by prototype" in that it relied upon already

9858_188

having a "best example" of what Western esotericism should look like, against which other phenomena

9858_189

then had to be compared. The scholar of esotericism Kocku von Stuckrad (born 1966) noted that

9858_190

Faivre's taxonomy was based on his own areas of specialism—Renaissance Hermeticism, Christian

9858_191

Kabbalah, and Protestant Theosophy—and that it was thus not based on a wider understanding of

9858_192

esotericism as it has existed throughout history, from the ancient world to the contemporary

9858_193

period. Accordingly, Von Stuckrad suggested that it was a good typology for understanding

9858_194

"Christian esotericism in the early modern period" but lacked utility beyond that.

9858_195

Esotericism as claims to higher knowledge

9858_196

As an alternative to Faivre's framework, Kocku von Stuckrad developed his own variant, though he

9858_197

argued that this did not represent a "definition" but rather "a framework of analysis" for

9858_198

scholarly usage. He stated that "on the most general level of analysis", esotericism represented

9858_199

"the claim of higher knowledge", a claim to possessing "wisdom that is superior to other

9858_200

interpretations of cosmos and history" that serves as a "master key for answering all questions of

9858_201

humankind." Accordingly, he believed that esoteric groups placed a great emphasis on secrecy, not

9858_202

because they were inherently rooted in elite groups but because the idea of concealed secrets that

9858_203

can be revealed was central to their discourse. Examining the means of accessing higher knowledge,

9858_204

he highlighted two themes that he believed could be found within esotericism, that of mediation

9858_205

through contact with non-human entities, and individual experience. Accordingly, for Von Stuckrad,

9858_206

esotericism could be best understood as "a structural element of Western culture" rather than as a

9858_207

selection of different schools of thought.

9858_208

Western esotericism as "rejected knowledge"

9858_209

Hanegraaff proposed an additional definition that "Western esotericism" is a category that

9858_210

represents "the academy's dustbin of rejected knowledge." In this respect, it contains all of the

9858_211

theories and world views rejected by the mainstream intellectual community because they do not

9858_212

accord with "normative conceptions of religion, rationality and science." His approach is rooted

9858_213

within the field of the history of ideas, and stresses the role of change and transformation over

9858_214

time.

9858_215

Goodrick-Clarke was critical of this approach, believing that it relegated Western esotericism to

9858_216

the position of "a casualty of positivist and materialist perspectives in the nineteenth-century"

9858_217

and thus reinforces the idea that Western esoteric traditions were of little historical importance.

9858_218

Bogdan similarly expressed concern regarding Hanegraaff's definition, believing that it made the

9858_219

category of Western esotericism "all inclusive" and thus analytically useless.

9858_220

History Late Antiquity

9858_221

The origins of Western esotericism are in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, then part of the

9858_222

Roman Empire, during Late Antiquity. This was a milieu that mixed religious and intellectual

9858_223

traditions from Greece, Egypt, the Levant, Babylon, and Persia—in which globalisation,

9858_224

urbanisation, and multiculturalism were bringing about socio-cultural change.

9858_225

One component of this was Hermetism, an Egyptian Hellenistic school of thought that takes its name

9858_226

from the legendary Egyptian wise man, Hermes Trismegistus. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a number

9858_227

of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus appeared, including the Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius,

9858_228

and The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. Some still debate whether Hermetism was a purely

9858_229

literary phenomenon or had communities of practitioners who acted on these ideas, but it has been

9858_230

established that these texts discuss the true nature of God, emphasising that humans must transcend

9858_231

rational thought and worldly desires to find salvation and be reborn into a spiritual body of

9858_232

immaterial light, thereby achieving spiritual unity with divinity.

9858_233

Another tradition of esoteric thought in Late Antiquity was Gnosticism. Various Gnostic sects

9858_234

existed, and they broadly believed that the divine light had been imprisoned within the material

9858_235

world by a malevolent entity known as the Demiurge, who was served by demonic helpers, the Archons.

9858_236

It was the Gnostic belief that people, who were imbued with the divine light, should seek to attain

9858_237

gnosis and thus escape from the world of matter and rejoin the divine source.

9858_238

A third form of esotericism in Late Antiquity was Neoplatonism, a school of thought influenced by

9858_239

the ideas of the philosopher Plato. Advocated by such figures as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus,

9858_240

and Proclus, Neoplatonism held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins into the

9858_241

material world, but that it could progress, through a number of hierarchical spheres of being, to

9858_242

return to its divine origins once more. The later Neoplatonists performed theurgy, a ritual

9858_243

practice attested in such sources as the Chaldean Oracles. Scholars are still unsure of precisely

9858_244

what theurgy involved, but know it involved a practice designed to make gods appear, who could then

9858_245

raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine.

9858_246

Middle Ages

9858_247

After the fall of Rome, alchemy and philosophy and other aspects of the tradition were largely

9858_248

preserved in the Arab and Near Eastern world and reintroduced into Western Europe by Jews and by

9858_249

the cultural contact between Christians and Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy. The 12th century

9858_250

saw the development of the Kabbalah in southern Italy and medieval Spain.

9858_251

The medieval period also saw the publication of grimoires, which offered often elaborate formulas

9858_252

for theurgy and thaumaturgy. Many of the grimoires seem to have kabbalistic influence. Figures in

9858_253

alchemy from this period seem to also have authored or used grimoires.

9858_254

Renaissance and Early Modern period

9858_255

During the Renaissance, a number of European thinkers began to synthesize "pagan" (that is, not

9858_256

Christian) philosophies, which were then being made available through Arabic translations, with

9858_257

Christian thought and the Jewish kabbalah. The earliest of these individuals was the Byzantine

9858_258

philosopher Plethon (1355/60–1452?), who argued that the Chaldean Oracles represented an example of

9858_259

a superior religion of ancient humanity that had been passed down by the Platonists.

9858_260

Plethon's ideas interested the ruler of Florence, Cosimo de Medici, who employed Florentine thinker

9858_261

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) to translate Plato's works into Latin. Ficino went on to translate and

9858_262

publish the works of various Platonic figures, arguing that their philosophies were compatible with

9858_263

Christianity, and allowing for the emergence of a wider movement in Renaissance Platonism, or

9858_264

Platonic Orientalism. Ficino also translated part of the Corpus Hermeticum, though the rest was

9858_265

translated by his contemporary, Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500).

9858_266

Another core figure in this intellectual milieu was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), who

9858_267

achieved notability in 1486 by inviting scholars from across Europe to come and debate with him 900

9858_268

theses that he had written. Pico della Mirandola argued that all of these philosophies reflected a

9858_269

grand universal wisdom. However, Pope Innocent VIII condemned these ideas, criticising him for

9858_270

attempting to mix pagan and Jewish ideas with Christianity.

9858_271

Pico della Mirandola's increased interest in Jewish kabbalah led to his development of a distinct

9858_272

form of Christian Kabbalah. His work was built on by the German Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) who