Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781350459687)

This accessible introduction by the world's leading expert explains why the study of esotericism is not a marginal pursuit but belongs at the center of modern research in the humanities. Reflecting updates in the field since the foundational publication Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed(2013), Wouter J. Hanegraaff demonstrates that the exclusion of "rejected knowledge" from normative accounts of Western civilization is the reflection of a narrow Eurocentric ideology that became the template for discrediting and ultimately destroying so-called "primitive" cultures associated with "superstition" and "pagan idolatry" during the global colonial age.

Rejecting this "rejection of rejected knowledge" means restoring the suppressed to its legitimate place in history and cultural analysis. Through this approach, Wouter J. Hanegraaff depicts a radically inclusive vision of the Greater West and its forgotten histories, from pagan antiquity through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures up to secular modernity and beyond.

Author: Wouter J. Hanegraaff
ISBN-10: 1350459682
ISBN-13: 9781350459687
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 05/29/2025
Pages: 346
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.81d