Western Esotericism: A Concise History

Bibliography

Bibliography This bibliography contains only a few titles selected from among historical and critical works of a general character, published since 1964. For a detailed bibliography (through 2000) pertaining to particular authors or currents, cf. infra, our work Accès de l’ésotérisme occidental, vol. 2. pp. 371–414, and addenda in its English translation: Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition, pp. 249–259. Bogdan Henrik, Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation, Albany (NY), State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions), 2007 (1st ed., 2003, titled From Darkness to Light. Western Esoteric Rituals of Initiation). Insightful study bearing on the relationships between rites and initiatic societies of an esoteric type (modern West). French translation 2010 (Paris, Edidit). Brach Jean-Pierre, La Symbolique des nombres, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France (Que Sais-Je?), 1995. Expanded version, Il Simbolismo dei numeri, Rome, Aekekios, 1999. While presenting the history of arithmosophy in the West, the author also furnishes time-pertinent surveys on several esoteric currents. Bonardel Françoise, L’Hermétisme, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France (Que Sais-Je?), 2002 (revised and expanded edition; 1st ed., 1985). In fact, by “hermetism” the author means a general field extending beyond that of neo-Alexandrian Hermetism and that of alchemy. This is a historical albeit rather personal approach to the subject. 111 112 ❖ B I B L I O G R A P H Y (Le) Défi magique, Massimo Introvigne and Jean Baptiste Martin (ed.), vol. 1: Ésotérisme, occultisme, spiritisme, Lyon, Presses Universitaires de Lyon I, 1994 (Proceedings of the international conference held in Lyons in April 1992). Contains interesting contributions, both on specific points and on methodology. Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, J. W. Hanegraaff, A. Faivre, J.-P. Brach, R. van den Broek (ed.), 2 vol., Leyden, E. J. Brill, 2005. This is certainly the most indispensable work of the entire list. Written by some 180 collaborators, it covers the historical field of Western esotericism from late Antiquity to the present. Dictionnaire critique de l’ésotérisme, Jean Servier (ed.), Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1998. The editor intended to devote this dictionary to a sort of “universal esotericism,,” dividing it into “sectors” of which the whole is supposed to relate to almost all the cultures of the world. Let us nevertheless mention the presence of the sector “Modern Western esotericism,” whose contents correspond, essentially, to the main purpose of the present book. Epochen der Naturmystik, Antoine Faivre and Rolf Christian Zimmermann (ed.), Berlin, Erich Schmidt, 1979. This book treats the Nature philosophies in the context of the modern Western esoteric currents. Ésotérisme, gnoses et imaginaire symbolique (Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre), Richard Caron, Joscelyn Godwin, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron (ed.), Louvain, Peeters (Gnostica. Texts and Interpretations), 2001. This collective work is recommended as much for its contributions on specific currents as for those on questions of methodology. Études d’histoire de l’ésotérisme (Mélanges offerts à Jean-Pierre Laurant), Jean-Pierre Brach and Jérôme Rousse-Lacordaire (ed.), Paris, Le Cerf, 2007. Fine collection of articles. Faivre Antoine, Accès de l’ésotérisme occidental, 2 vols., Paris, Gallimard (Bibliothèque des sciences humaines), 1996. Contains various B I B L I O G R A P H Y ❖ 113 historical and methodological studies on the subject, both specific and general. English translation: Access to Western Esotericism, Albany (NY), State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions), 1996, for vol. 1; and Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition, trans. Christine Rhone, (same publisher), 2000, for vol. 2. Form e correnti dell’ esoterismo occidentale, Alessandro Grossato (ed.), Venice, Medusa /Fundazione Giorgio Cini, 2008. Proceedings of the international conference held in Venice in October 2007. Besides its interest with regard to specific currents, this collective work contains important, up-to-date contributions in methodology. Frick Karl R. H., Die Erleuchteten, 3 vol., Graz, Ak. Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1973, 1975, 1978. Very well documented particularly for what concerns the Western societies (masonic, paramasonic, etc.) of an esoteric nature. Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, Roelof Van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.), Albany (NY), State University of New York Press, 1998. Proceedings of the international conference held in Amsterdam in August 1994. One of the very first important collective works published, pertaining specifically to the specialty. Godwin Joscelyn, The Theosophical Enlightenment, Albany (NY), State University of New...