Western Esotericism and New Religious Movements

Bogdan, Henrik,1972Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion,Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion (author)

The study of Western esotericism is a comparatively new field of research that covers a wide range of currents, notions and practices from late antiquity to the present. Esotericism is often understood as the “rejected knowledge” of Western culture, which often centers on claims of absolute knowledge or gnosis. This chapter discusses four discourses that can be found in many esoteric NRMs, namely “secrecy and unveiling”, “initiation and progress”, “the higher self”, and “Secret Masters”. In the second part of the chapter four examples of esoteric NRMs are briefly discussed, Spiritualism, Theosophy, Thelema, and Wicca.

Göteborgs universitetInstitutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion (creator_code:org_t)

In:The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (Vol. II). Edited by James R. Lewis and Inga B. TøllefsenNew York : Oxford University Press, s. 455-4689780190466176

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