Master program

When: 1st semester, block 3 Instructor: Wouter J. Hanegraaff Language of instruction: English Course description: This module is concerned with the notion of historicity and its relation to religious universalism. While modern notions of “religion” typically imply a claim of universal truth and validity grounded in the true nature of reality, a consistent emphasis on historicity implies questioning and relativizing such claims by emphasizing historical specificity, unicity, contingency, contextuality, and unpredictable change. In short, while religion makes general claims about an ultimate truth (e.g. “God”, “the Divine”, “the Absolute”, or “the Sacred”) that by definition cannot be touched by the forces of history and social change, it is in the very nature of historicity to question and undermine such claims. Sooner or later, all students of religion find themselves confronted with this conflict, and have to work out its implications with respect to the very meaning and significance of studying “religion” from an academic point of view. The objective of this course is make students aware of these problematics and experiment with existing attempts at resolving it.  

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Program Religionism and Historicism 2018

When: 1st semester, block 1-2 Instructor: Wouter J. Hanegraaff Language of instruction: English Course description: The study of Western esotericism has been emerging as a new field in the Humanities since the 1990s, and this development is accompanied by a lively debate about questions of method and theory. In this module we will investigate the historical origins and intellectual backgrounds of esotericism research since the period of the Enlightenment, while concentrating on the theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that have been advocated by its chief representatives after the period of World War II. Special attention will go to the relation between “religionist” scholarship and its implicit spiritual agendas, more sceptical “reductionist” types of research inspired by specific philosophical and social scientific theories, and the “historical/empirical” type of scholarship that has become dominant in recent decades and is central to the program of the University of Amsterdam. Special attention will go to current debates about the cultural/geographical and disciplinary boundaries of “esotericism” as a field of study that problematizes conventional boundaries between religion, philosophy, natural science, popular culture, and the arts.

Suggestions

On Tuesday mornings, 9.00-12.00, Prof. Hanegraaff teaches a lecture course “Western Culture and Counter Culture” in the Bachelor program. Master students in the program Western Esotericism or the Research Master Study of Religion are very welcome to attend this course as auditors, as it will provide them with a useful historical overview from antiquity to the present. While not mandatory, it is recommended to combine the module “Contested Knowledge” with the 6-point module “Religionism and Historicism” (First semester, block 3), which forms a natural extension of it (resulting total: 18 pts). If you plan to do so, you are advised to read the course book Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury: London 2013) already during blocks 1-2. This will help you contextualize the texts and lectures and understand their relevance to Western esotericism as a field of study.

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Study guide Contested Knowledge  

When: 1st semester, block 1-2 Instructors: Dr. Peter Forshaw Language of instruction: English Course description: Renaissance Esotericism I: Medieval & Early Modern Alchemy   Alchemy is an important strand in the story of Western esotericism, with roots stretching back to late antiquity in Greco-Roman Alexandria. It first made an appearance in Europe in the twelfth century in the form of Latin translations from Arabic manuscripts, which in its turn had adopted, adapted and transmitted ideas from previous Greek authorities. This course focuses on the Renaissance and Early Modern periods which witnessed a growth of interest in the ‘divine art of alchemy’ due to the advent of printing and the eventual production, in the seventeenth century, of the elaborately illustrated alchemical emblem books that were to provide such a fascination for the psychologist Carl Jung in the twentieth century. During the course we shall consider significant primary texts and examine the arguments of influential voices in the current history of alchemy. We shall become acquainted with various kinds of alchemy, from the medieval interest in gold-making and the enthusiasm for chemical medicine in the sixteenth century to later, controversial notions of ‘spiritual’ alchemy. We shall investigate the way the alchemists communicated their secrets by way of image and text, the claims they made regarding transmutation, the Quintessence, Elixir, and the Philosophers’ Stone, and the relation between alchemy and other esoteric strands such as astrology, cabala and magic. Students will be expected to participate actively in class, present and discuss articles from the reading list, and write an academic paper.  

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Study Guide 2018-2019

When: 2nd semester, block 1-2 Instructor: Dr. Marco Pasi Language of instruction: English Course description Occult Trajectories II : The course focuses on different aspects of the historical evolution of western esotericism in the modern period, from the eighteenth century up to the present days. The aim is to follow both the internal development, understood from the specific perspective of the field, and the broader cultural context in which western esotericism has taken shape, in order to understand both the inside logics of esotericism and its responses to external social pressure. Every year a different theme is chosen that offers a unique entry point in this historical development. For this year, the subject will be modern western esotericism and politics. Esotericism has been often identified with right-wing or reactionary politics. Authors such as Theodor Adorno and Umberto Eco have argued that there is an essential link between esotericism and political movements of the 20th century such as nazism and fascism. Esotericism is therefore supposed to be reactionary by nature. Is this idea tenable, or does it call for a more complex picture? Starting in the 1960s authors such as Frances Yates have argued that esoteric ideas may have played a role in the origins and the development of modern science. The connection between freemasonry and Enlightenment ideas in the 18th century, on the other hand, has been emphasized by a number of authors. During the 19th century, movements such as spiritualism and occultism were more often identified with liberal, progressive, and generally left-wing ideas, than with conservatism. Finally, even in the 20th century, it is not hard to find movements and authors associating esoteric concepts and practices with political ideas that are at the antipodes of the organicist, totalitarian vision of nazi-fascism. Indeed, as this course shall show, a number of highly influential esoteric movements are linked directly to the anarchist tradition. Finally, we shall investigate a number of esoteric currents that allege to represent a post-political form of politics. The course will focus on these problematic issues, and will try to highlight their complexity through the use of both primary sources and secondary literature.

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Study guide 2017-2018 Occult Trajectories I will be offered in 2018-2019.