Newsletter 1/2005
Review of
The Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism
by Pauline Tiben
ISBN 9004141871
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Hey look, this Gurdjieff of yours is in the newspaper’ my
father said a few weeks ago, and shoved a full-page article
under my nose. And indeed, Gurdjieff’s face looked
at me under a heading ‘Toast of the Idiots’,
as part of a grand announcement of a remarkable new encyclopaedia
to be published on March the 8th.
Today, on Easter Sunday, the said encyclopaedia is on my
desk and I have clearly seen for myself that the article
as appeared in the NRC (Dutch newspaper catering for a more
intellectual readership) has not been exaggerating. The Dictionary
of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, compiled and edited by
Professor Dr. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, a religious scientist,
is an impressive reference work which places gnosis and esotericism
in historical perspective. Its 1200 pages are divided into
two volumes, beautifully bound and executed. It is the first
comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of ‘Gnosis
and Western Esotericism’ from the period of Late Antiquity
to the present. All those strange and often half-understood
ideas and phenomena which are usually ignored or only receive
marginal treatment in religious science are central in the
Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. I think it
is of major importance that these religious undercurrents
are finally taken out of their murky corners and receive
serious scientific attention, mapping out historical developments,
their influences, and what they are about anyway.
To quote from the newspaper article: “Not only the
scope of the described phenomena is surprising. No, also
the fact that the subjects are described in a neutral way.
This lack of rethorics is not often the case when it is about
occultism, gnosis or esotericism. That is a battle field
of biased polemists (such as all the fuss around the novel ‘The
Da Vinci Code’) where until recently science could
hardly be bothered to take a look. In the Dictionary any
negative sides are not covered up, nor, however, used to
disqualify a particular phenomenon as a whole.” According
to Wouter Hanegraaff, the reader is quite capable himself
to decide what is true of not, or what is right or wrong.
Indeed, when reading bits and pieces, the neutral, factual
tone is striking and very agreeable. No judgements anywhere,
just the carefully formulated results of ‘cool’ observation.
The entries concerning Gurdjieff are excellent. It contains
a five-page entry about Gurdjieff, a four-page entry about
the Gurdjieff Tradition, a two-page entry about Ouspensky.
The Dictionary describes Gurdjieff as “incontestably
among the most influential 20th century esotericists”.
To quote from the Dictionary: “Often, his ideas are
applied without acknowledgement, and a study of this aspect
of the reception of his teaching needs to be undertaken to
show the surprising extent to which his ideas and terminology,
in widely varying interpretations and alterations, have become
a significant cultural and philosophical influence in contemporary
arts, letters and various forms of therapeutic praxis, including
such unexpected areas as corporate management training.”
Wouter Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy
and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. He is co-responsible for the Bachelor Minor ‘Westerse
Esoterie’and the Master trajectory ‘Mysticism
and Western Esotericism’. At the moment, the University
of Amsterdam is the only academic institution in the world
that offers a complete program in this field.
Subdepartment History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related
Currents
http://www.amsterdamhermetica.com
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