New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism

Abstract

the Netherlands). In May 2020, she obtained her PhD in Religion from Rice University (Houston, TX) with a dissertation that aimed to rethink the categories of and relationship between "the human" and "religion."

Family Constellation Therapy in the Context of Esotericism

“…Apart from the issues surrounding Faivre's system and Hanegraaff's approach, many further questions arise regarding the current state of the study of Western esotericism (e.g., Granholm, 2013a;Partridge, 2013;Podolecka & Nthoi, 2021). One critical voice points to the relative lack of research in the field of contemporary esotericism (Asprem & Granholm, 2013b). This is true: Most researchers of Western esotericism follow a historical approach that tends to result in an overshadowing of esoteric traditions' contemporary manifestations.…”

Untitled

“…The object of study is not ìesoteric Eurasiaî. Definitions of esotericism have been developed in Western academic discourse (Hanegraaff 2013) and recently challenged for lack of a globally applicable conceptual framework (Asprem and Strube 2020). Rather than developing a new theoretical approach, a more modest aim is pursued here by giving a survey of material which may inspire future comparative analyses.…”

Introduction

“…Throughout the chapter, I use the term occult to signify hidden ways, intentional or not, to escape or side-step modern rationality and its logics, ranging from rituals that scholars often uncritically call esoteric, to logics invoked in contemporary conspiracy theories. Furthermore, until recently, the academic study of esotericism and the occult has mainly been an historical affair, meaning they have been treated as historical and discursive topics, rather than lived experience (Crockford and Asprem, 2018).…”