New Age Religion and Western Culture : : esotericism in the mirror of secular thought / / Wouter J. Hanegraaff

• Superior document: Studies in the history of religions ; Volume 72
• Author: Hanegraaff, Wouter J.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden,, Boston: : Brill,, 1996
• Year of Publication: 1996
• Language: English
• Series: Numen Book Series 72.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 580 pages) :; illustrations
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

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.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Channeling -- Healing and Personal Growth -- New Age Science -- Neopaganism -- New Age in a Restricted and in a General Sense -- The Nature of Reality -- Meta-Empirical and Human Beings -- Matters of the Mind -- Death and Survival -- Good and Evil -- Visions of the Past -- The New Age -- Towards a Historical Perspective on New Age Religion -- A Historical Framework -- The Mirror of Secular Thought -- Conclusions: The New Age Movement and the Nature of New Age religion -- Primary New Age Sources (in alphabetical order) -- Bibliography -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Names -- Studies in the History of Religions Numen Book Series.