This volume is based upon papers read during the innovative section "Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion" organized at the 17th International Congre

Max Weber famously characterized the ongoing process of intellectualization and rationalization that separates the natural world from the divine (by excluding m

Recent years have seen a spectacular rise of the New Age movement and an ever-increasing interest in its beliefs and manifestations. This fascinating work prese

Esotericism is the search for an absolute but hidden knowledge accessed through mystical vision, the mediation of higher beings, or personal experience. In West

Western esotericism has been a pervasive presence in Western culture from late antiquity to the present day, but until recently it was largely ignored by schola