# Esotericism in Western Culture

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- Authors: [Wouter J. Hanegraaff](https://www.bookquiver.com/wouter-j-hanegraaff)
- Language: en_US
- Published: 2025-05-29
- Genres: Philosophy

## Description

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."

## Editions

### Esotericism in Western Culture

- Publisher: Bloomsbury
- ISBN: 978-13-5045-969-4
- Pages: 344
- Published: 2025-05-29
- Language: en_US