New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought

by Wouter J. Hanegraaff

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 presents the first-ever comprehensive analysis of New Age Religion and its historical backgrounds, thus providing the reader with a means of orientation in the bewildering variety of the movement.
Making extensive use of primary sources, the author thematically analyses New Age beliefs from the perspective of the study of religions. While looking at the historical backgrounds of the movement, he convincingly argues that its foundations were laid by so-called western esoteric traditions during the Renaissance. Hanegraaff finally shows how the modern New Age movement emerged from the increasing secularization of those esoteric traditions during the 19th century.
This ground-breaking publication is compulsive reading for all those involved or interested in the New Age movement.

Genres: Religion, History, New Age, Nonfiction, Mysticism, Spirituality, Academic

596 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Wouter J. Hanegraaff (1961) studied classical guitar at the Municipal Conservatory at Zwolle (1982-1987) and Cultural History at the University of Utrecht (1986-1990), with a specialization in alternative religious movements in the 20th century. From 1992-1996 he was a research assistant at the department for Study of Religions of the University of Utrecht, where he defendedhis dissertation New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought on 30 november 1995 (cum laude). From 1996 to 2000 he held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dutch Assocation for Scientific Research (NWO), and spent a period working in Paris. On 1 september 1999 he was appointed full professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. From 2002-2006 he was president of the Dutch Society for the Study of Religion (NGG). From 2005-2013 he was President of the EuropeanSociety for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE). In 2006 he was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, KNAW); since 2013 he is an honorary member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism.

Editorial Activities

From 2001-2010 Hanegraaff was editor (with Antoine Faivre and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke) of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism (Brill publ.) and from 2006-2010 editor of the " Aries Book Series: Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism" (Brill publ.). He is member of the editorial board of the journals Aries (Brill), Numen (Brill), Religion Compass and Esoterica , and of the advisory board of Journal of Contemporary Religion (Carfax) and Nova Religio (University of California Press).

Reviews

[Jessica]

Okay I've read big portions, but never the whole thing.... Apparently I didn't read those portions very carefully, as was discovered during the only really embarrassing moment of my thesis orals.

That must be why I lug it around with me everytime I move, and feel the flush of shame whenever I see it glittering smugly on the shelf.

[Roger Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly researched and well-written description of a vast subject. Hanegraaf is able to give rough definitions of New Age religion and extended historical analyses. Lots of literature reviews of both scholarly books about the subject and popular books associated with the New Age movement.

[Christopher Plaisance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hanegraaff's doctoral dissertation explores the phenomenon of New Age religiosity in terms of the greater field of Western esotericism and examines it via the etic lens of objective analysis pioneered by previous scholars such as Frances Yates (1899-1981) and Antoine Faivre (b. 1934). There were three things about this book that I found to be particularly illuminating. First, Hanegraaff surveys the field of New Age literature in such a thorough way as to give the reader a comprehensive understanding of the ideational underpinnings of the movement. This is done both by presenting appropriate excerpts from key texts along with critical analysis of the ideas presented. Second, the investigative methodology Hanegraaff uses is more fully developed in this book than in many of the previously written seminal works in Western esotericism. In adhering to such strict scholarly standards, Hanegraaff is able to approach a subject which is widely taken lightly by outsiders with a degree of seriousness achieved no where else. Third, the book's final section succeeds in integrating the New Age phenomenon within the historiography of Western esotericism—demonstrating that it is not, as it often presents itself, something wholly new, but is rather a logical continuation of older idea which have been adapted to suit the secular field of thought within which they now rest.

[Charlotte Wenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it is a very lengthy tome, and a few sections in the exposition sometimes provide more information than absolutely necessary, the reader is amply rewarded by the conclusions drawn in Part 4! This book is truly a must-read for any who seek a clear analysis of the New Age.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information