ISSN 2047-7058
9 papers in the library · 1 citation · publishing 2009-2026
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion October 30, 2026 Tue Ravn
This article proposes a methodological intervention in the academic study of visionary texts, utilising Jacob Boehme’s Mysterium Magnum as a primary case study. It identifies a methodological gap within the standard historical-critical paradigm of Western esotericism: while highly capable of describing the cultural and biographical conditions of visionary claims, this approach often stops short...
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion April 21, 2026 Alessandro Cancian
Milad Milani, The Nature of Sufism: An Ontological Reading of the Mystical in Islam. London and New York: Routledge, 2022, pp. 152, $66.74, ISBN 9781032079059 (pbk).
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion September 9, 2019 Anna Lutkajtis
The current popularity of ‘secular’ meditation has been due in large part to its promotion in the mainstream Western media. In 1975 Time magazine ran a cover featuring an image of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation (TM) along with the headline: ‘Meditation: The Answer to All Your Problems?’ Ever since, stories about meditation have captured the attention of a...
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion February 5, 2019 Anna Lutkajtis
In contemporary Western society, meditation techniques that were previously taught within the context of Eastern religious traditions are now increasingly being practiced in secular settings. While the boundary between the secular and the religious is blurred, popular meditation techniques such as Transcendental Meditation, vipassana, and mindfulness are generally promoted as being derived from...
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion May 31, 2018 Tara Blue Moon Smith
What do the lizard illuminati and esotericism have in common? At firstglance, perhaps, very little. The former belongs in the world of David Ickeand a myriad of other conspiracy theorists, whilst the other is a fluid termnormally used to designate a distinct way of thinking in a context confinedto early fifteenth-century Europe until the twentieth century. However, oncloser inspection and by...
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion June 13, 2010 Jay Johnston 1 citation
Kochu von Stuckrad, Western Esotericism: A Brief History of Secret Knowledge. Equinox, London and Oakville, 2005, pp. xii +167, ISBN: 1845530330 (hbk); 1845530349 (pbk).
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion June 13, 2010 Jay Johnston
Wouter J. Hanegraaff and Jeffrey J. Kripal (eds.), Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism. Brill, Leiden and Boston, 2008, pp. 544, ISBN: 978 90 04 16872 2; ISSN: 1871 1405.
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion October 27, 2009 Gregg Lahood
I present narratives from nine women describing the special events of consciousness they experienced during childbirth. These narratives are discussed in terms of transpersonal psychology. Most of the women interviewed spoke of a meaningful encounter with death and this will be explored as the primary catalyst for such events. I will also outline how these events seem to suggest a unique...
Journal for the Academic Study of Religion March 4, 2009 Carole M. Cusack
Hugh B. Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 2006, pp. xi + 336, ISBN 978-0-520-24776-5 (Hbk). R