New Age Religion and Western Culture

Wouter J. Hanegraaff is a Research Fellow at the Department for the Study of Religions at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. He is coeditor of Gnosis and Hermeticism: From Antiquity to Modern Times, also published by SUNY Press.

"There will be no book like this for some time to come. It should be on the reading list of any student of religion and brings into the foreground a needed agenda for those in the humanities and social sciences, and will be valued by all those who appreciate fine, clear writing. I wish I had written it myself." — Antoine Faivre, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Sorbonne"Finally, someone has mastered the vast literature of, and reality which is the New Age movement, and produced a comprehensive and authoritative survey of its major themes and most important leaders. Hanegraaff's effort should immediately become the foundation upon which future research of the movement will be constructed." — J. Gordon Melton, Institute for the Study of American Religion, Santa Barbara"This is the best critical study of New Age thinking hitherto available. An outstanding achievement." — Garry W. Trompf, School of Studies in Religion, University of Sydney

• Introduction MethodologyA Preliminary Demarcation of the Field Part One: ORIENTATION: MAJOR TRENDS IN NEW AGE RELIGION 1. Channeling A Brief CharacteristicChanneling as Articulated RevelationsChanneling Modes and Developmental ProcessesThe Sources (Edgar Cayce; Eva Pierrakos; Jane Roberts; A Course in Miracles; David Spangler, Ramala; JZ Knight; Sanaya Roman; Shirley MacLaine) 2. Healing and Personal Growth The Alternative TherapiesHealing as a Religious PhenomenonMain CurrentsThe Sources (Eva Pierrakos; Ken Keyes, Leonard Orr & Sondra Ray; Shakti Gawain; Sanaya Roman; Henry Reed/Edgar Cayce; Jean Houston; Stanislav Grof; Ken Wilbur; Michael Harner; Roger Walsh; Louise L. Hay; Chris Griscom; Shirley MacLaine; Fritjof Capra) 3. New Age Science The Quest for a Unified WorldviewNew Age Science as NaturphilosophieMain OrientationsThe Sources (David Bohm; F. David Peat; Michael Talbot; Ilya Prigogine; Erich Jantsch; Rupert Sheldrake; Fritjof Capra; Ken Wilbur; Arthur M. Young) 4. Neopaganism The Phenomenon of NeopaganismNeopaganism as MagicMain OrientationsThe Sources (Janet & Stewart Farrar; Vivianne Crowley; Starhawk; Zsuzsanna Budapest; Marian Green; Caitlin & John Matthews; Murry Hope) 5. New Age in a Restricted and in a General Sense IntroductionAn Historical SketchNew Age sensu stricto: The Mellenarian VisionNew Age sensu latoThe Sources ( David Spangler; George Trevelyan; Gary Zukav; Marilyn Ferguson; Fritjof Capra; Peter Russell; Willis Harman; Shirley MacLaine; Matthew Fox) Part Two: EXPOSITION: THE VARIETIES OF NEW AGE EXPERIENCE 6. The Nature of Reality 1. Introduction: Attitudes to Experiential Reality2. The Meanings of Holism A. The Ultimate Source of ManifestationB. Universal InterrelatednessParallellism and Bootstrap Philosophy—Systems Thinking—The Holographic ParadigmC. Other Meanings of Holism 3. The Evolutionary Perspective4. Some Additional Issues The Transcendence of Space-Time—Mind and Matter—The Wilbur Controversy 7. Meta-Empirical and Human Beings 1. Introduction2. Divine Beings A. GodB. Christ 3. Intermediate Beings A. Beings of Amibiguous StatusB. Entities, Angels, and Other Intermediate Beings 8. Matters of the Mind 1. Introduction2. Human Beings A. The "I am God" ThemeB. The Constitution of Human BeingsThe (Higher) Self—The Unconscious—Ego and Personality—Subtle Bodies—The Brain 3. The Metaphysics of Mind A. The Psychologization of Religion and Sacralization of PsychologyB. Creating Our Own RealityThe Law of Manifestation and its Implications—Self-Responsibility—The Mechanics of Changing Reality —Creating Illness and HealthC. Inner RealmsCartographies of Consciousness—Journeys through Inner Space 9.Death and Survival 1. Introduction: The Experience of Death2. Other Realities3. Reincarnation and Beyond New Age Reincarnation and its Attractions—The Process and "Mechanics" of Reincarnation—Past-Life Recovery 10. Good and Evil 1. Introduction: The Paradox of Ethical Holism2. The Structure of Cosmic Justice Non-Dual Ethics and the Problem of Relativism —Evolutionist Karma 3. The Negative Limited Consciousness—Psychological "Negativities": Sin, Guilt, Fear 4. The Positive Holistic Consciousness—The Positive: Love, Surrender, Forgiveness 11. Visions of the Past 1. Introduction2. Beginnings Cosmogonic Myths—The Descent of Man 3. From Atlantis to the Holy Land Atlantis—Egypt and the "Great White Brotherhood"—The Essenes and Jesus 4. The Age of Pisces Christianity—The Rejection of Reincarnation—Cartesian/Newtonian Thinking 5. Historical Religious versus Universal Spirituality Exoteric Religious—Perennial Wisdom 12. The New Age 1. Introduction2. The Age of Aquarius The Timing of the New Age—The "Pathos of Change"—The "Moderate" New Age—The Age of Light 3. The Shift from Old to New The Potentials of Crises—Evolution of Consciousness—The Human Contribution: Creating Critical Mass—Images of Intervention 4. Epilogue: Controversies over the New Age Seneu Lato Part Three: INTERPRETATION: NEW AGE RELIGION AND TRADITIONAL ESOTERICISM 13. Towards a Historical Perspective on New Age Religion 1. A Short Evaluation2. Perspectives on the New Age Hans Sebald—Christof Schorsch—J. Gordon Melton (cum suis)—Christopher Bochinger 3. Desiderata for Academic Research 14. A Historical Framework 1. The Modern Hermeticist Revival and The Emergence of Western Esotericism A. "Esotericism" as Technical TerminologyB. The Origins of Western EsotericismC. The Components of West EsotericismPhilosophical Frameworks: Neoplatonism and Hermeticism—The "Occult Sciences": Magic, Astrology, Alchemy—The Theosophical Component: Christian KabbalahD. The Worldview of Western Esotericism 2. Esotericism between Renaissance and Enlightenment A. The "Inner Church" and EsotericismB. The Factor of Reformation "Spiritualism"3. A Clash of Worldviews 15. The Mirror of Secular Thought 1. Esotericism Between Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment A. The Emergence of RomanticismB. The Emergence of OccultismEmanuel Swedenborg—Franz Anton Mesmer—Modern Spiritualism—Conclusion 2. The Impact of the Study of Religions A. The Theosophical SynthesisProto-Theosophical Perspectives—The New TheosophyB. The Orient and American Transcendentalism 3. Evolution as Religion A. The "Metaphysical" ContextB. The Theosophical ContextSpiritual Progress after Death—Reincarnation—The Law of Evolution 4. The Psychologization of Esotericism A. Harmonial ReligionAmerican Mesmerism and the Rise of New Thought—Functionalist Psychology—Harmonial Religion and the Sacralization of the PsycheB. Carl Gustav JungJung and German Romanticism—The Cult of the Interior Sun—Gnosticism, Alchemy, and Jungi