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List of contents
Part I. Antiquity: 1. Ancient mysteries Charles Stein; 2. Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism Joscelyn Godwin; 3. Parmenides and Empedocles Jessica Elbert Decker and Matthew Mayock; 4. Plato, Plotinus, and Neoplatonism Gwenaëlle Aubry; 5. Hermetism and Gnosticism Roelof van den Broek; 6. Early Jewish mysticism Daphna Arbel; 7. Early Christian mysticism April D. Deconick; Part II. The Middle Ages: 8. Sufism William C. Chittick; 9. Kabbalah Brian Ogren; 10. Medieval Christian mysticism Bruce Milem; 11. Hildegard of Bingen and women's mysticism Anne L. Clark; Part III. The Renaissance and Early Modernity: 12. Renaissance Hermetism Antoine Faivre; 13. Christian Kabbalah Peter J. Forshaw; 14. Paracelsianism Bruce T. Moran; 15. Rosicrucianism Hereward Tilton; 16. Jacob Boehme and Christian theosophy Glenn Alexander Magee; 17. Freemasonry Jan A. M. Snoek; 18. Swedenborg and Swedenborgianism Jane Williams-Hogan; 19. Mesmer and animal magnetism Adam Crabtree; Part IV. The Nineteenth Century and Beyond: 20. Spiritualism Cathy Gutierrez; 21. H. P. Blavatsky and theosophy Michael Gomes; 22. Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy Robert McDermott; 23. The Golden Dawn and the O.T.O. Egil Asprem; 24. G. I. Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way Glenn Alexander Magee; 25. C. G. Jung and Jungianism Gerhard Wehr; 26. René Guénon and traditionalism Mark Sedgwick; 27. Via Negativa in the twentieth century Arthur Versluis; 28. Contemporary Paganism Chas S. Clifton; 29. The new age Olav Hammer; Part V. Common Threads: 30. Alchemy Lawrence M. Principe; 31. Astrology Kocku von Stuckrad; 32. Gnosis Wouter J. Hanegraaff; 33. Magic Wouter J. Hanegraaff; 34. Mathematical esotericism Jean-Pierre Brach; 35. Panpsychism Lee Irwin; 36. Sexuality Hugh B. Urban.
About the author
Glenn Alexander Magee is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University, New York. He is the author of Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition (2001) and The Hegel Dictionary (2011), as well as many articles on German philosophy and its connections with mysticism and esotericism.
Summary
This Handbook brings together articles on two distinct but related subjects: Western mysticism and Western esotericism. Readers will be able to trace, in one volume, connections between mystical and esoteric currents of thought. The essays are accessible to novices, but will be of interest to seasoned scholars as well.
