Restoring Paradise: Western Esotericism, Literature, Art, and Consciousness

Suggestions for Further Study

Suggestions for Further Study A standard reference for scholars and a general introduction to Western esotericism as a field of study is Antoine Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994), along with its companion book, Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000). A useful historical overview is Jean-Paul Corsetti’s Histoire de l’ésotérisme et des sciences occultes (Paris: Larousse, 1992). Important anthologies of scholarship in the field include Antoine Faivre and Jacob Needleman , eds., Modern Esoteric Spirituality (New York: Crossroad, 1992), and Antoine Faivre and Wouter Hanegraaff, Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion (Leuven: Peeters, 1998), as well as Roelof van den Broek and Wouter Hanegraaff, Gnosis and Hermeticism: FromAntiquity to ModernTimes (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998). In the voluminous Ésotérisme, Gnoses, and Imaginaire Symbolique: Mélange offerts á Antoine Faivre edited by Joscelyn Godwin et al. (Leuven: Peeters, 2001), readers will find many further avenues of research by a wide variety of contributing scholars. An exceptionally wide-ranging book is Wouter Hanegraaff’s New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998). Earlier, important if sometimes a bit uneven background works in the field include the books of Will-Erich Peuckert, notably Gabalia (Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1967) and Pansophie (Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1956), as well as the series by Karl Frick titled Die Erleuchteten (Graz: Akademische, 1973) and Licht und Finsternis, 2 vols. (Graz: Akademische , 1975). Readers may also wish to consult the journals ARIES and Esoterica (www.esoteric.msu.edu) and to visit the Web site of the Association for the Study of Esotericism [ASE] at www.aseweb.org. I should note that the two volumes by Cecil Collins cited in Restoring Paradise have subsequently been 173 combined into a single volume entitled The Vision of the Fool and Other Writings , enlarged edition (Ipswich: Golgonooza, 2002), edited by Brian Keeble. This is a beautifully produced book and highly recommended. Many of my own previous and forthcoming books also deal with themes and subjects touched on in Restoring Paradise—in particular, Wisdom’s Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (Albany: State University of NewYork Press, 1999), Wisdom’s Book: A Sophia Anthology (St. Paul: Paragon House, 2000), and Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity (Hudson: Lindisfarne, 1994), as well as The Mysteries of Love: Eros and Spirituality (St. Paul: Grail, 1996), Gnosis and Literature (St. Paul: Grail, 1996), and The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001). 174 S U G G E S T I O N S F O R F U R T H E R S T U D Y ...