Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Kocku von Stuckrad, Ph.D. (1999) in the Academic Study of Religion, University of Bremen, is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. He has published extensively on European history of religion, esotericism, shamanism, and astrology.

"Von Stuckrad’s sophisticated and stimulating reevaluation of the place of esotericism in Western culture should be of great interest to anyone concerned with the complex religious, social, political, and intellectual developments that mark the transition from the medieval to the modern world...., this is an exceptionally interesting book eminently worthy of critical attention." - Allison P. Coudert, in: Religion 42:3, 489-492"This volume will be of benefit to scholars interested in European religious and intellectual history, especially those focusing on esoteric traditions. For students of Jewish intellectual history, this study presents an engaging model for examining the “discursive unit” that Jews helped create through their direct and indirect engagement with the Christian majority. Stuckrad’s work demonstrates that Jewish texts and ideas are essential components of the discursive matrix of the West, and thus assume a central rather than marginal role in the study of European intellectual history. The comprehensive bibliography and index, as well as the rich footnotes, further enhance the value of Stuckrad’s contribution." - Hartley Lachter, Muhlenberg College, in: H-Judaic (August, 2011)"Von Stuckrad’s sophisticated and stimulating reevaluation of the place of esotericism in Western culture should be of great interest to anyone concerned with the complex religious, social, political, and intellectual developments that mark the transition from the medieval to the modern world. The dialogue he proposes between modern theories and ancient, medieval, and early modern texts raises important questions and offers further evidence that the nineteenth and twentieth century divisions between religion, magic, and science and between science, philosophy, and occultism have outlived their usefulness." - Professor Allison P. Coudert, Paul and Marie Castelfranco Chair in the Religious Studies Program, University of California at Davis

• PrefacePART ONE: ESOTERIC DISCOURSE AND THE EUROPEAN HISTORY OF RELIGIONIntroduction1. Europe and the Christendom Narrative: From Singularization to PluralismThe Secularization Theory RevisitedChristian Occident?The Two-Fold Pluralism2. The Polemical Construction of TraditionThe Construction of Prisca TheologiaGenealogies of WisdomJewish PerspectivesBeyond Tradition3. Conceptualizing the Study of Esoteric DiscourseApproaches to EsotericismSecrecy as Social CapitalDiscourses of Perfect KnowledgePART TWO: SHARED PASSIONSIntroduction4. The Secrets of Experience: Wisdom beyond DemonstrationNeoplatonism and Theurgy in Late AntiquityExperiential Knowledge in Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist Philosophy5. The Secrets of Texts: Esoteric HermeneuticsThe Readability of the Cosmos: Europe’s Obsession with WordsThe Textile of the Divine in Early KabbalahLinguistic Ontologies in Christian KabbalahHumanistic Philology: Universal Languages and the Quest for the Ursprache6. The Secrets of Time: Astrology and Sacred HistoryCritical Response to Ancient Traditions: Medieval Arabic AstrologySharing Muslim Knowledge: Christian AstrologyPART THREE: INTERFERENCESIntroduction7. Scientific Encounters“Occult Sciences”: The Science-Religion Divide RevisitedJohn Dee: A Scholar Gone Mad?Natural Philosophy in an Apocalyptic Age8. Visual SeductionsThe Problem of ‘Renaissance Paganism’Image Acts and Visual CultureThe Presence of Images as Visual Practice9. Political ConsiderationJohann Heinrich Alsted: Hermeticism and Universal ReformPerfect Knowledge in the “Circle of Learning”: Alsted’s Encyclopaedia10. Conclusion: Locations of KnowledgeWriting Histories, Narrating PastsEsoteric Discourse and Western IdentitiesBibliographyIndex