Intellectual history, Religious studies, Visual studies:

The Dignity of Man in Western Intellectual History, Esotericism, and Art

In cooperation with the Center for Religious Studies and the Visual Studies Platform at Central European University

Course Director(s):

Gyorgy Endre Szonyi

English Department, University of Szeged/Department of History and Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

Carsten Wilke

Department of History, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

Course Faculty:

Brian Copenhaver

Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of California in Los Angeles, USA

Moshe Idel

Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Urszula Szulakowska

formerly at Leeds University, UK

Guest Speaker(s):

Dora Bobory

Independent scholar

Julia Gyimesi

Department of Educational Psychology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest, Hungary

The ambition of humans to elevate themselves beyond their natural means and to acquire transcendental insight and power is as ancient as our cultural history. The goal of this course is to highlight some aspects of this ambition that are related to Western Esotericism, thus to provide a solid picture of some key phenomena of mysticism, magic, and occult trends in intellectual history. Special attention will be paid to the historical period of late Antiquity to the early modern, as well as the post-Romanticism era. The topics of esotericism discussed in the course relate to cultural history, art history, film studies, and religious studies tracing the Judeo-Christian heritage. The learning outcome should be the acquisition of methodological tools in order to approach and assess the highlighted phenomena in a reliable scholarly way: close reading of texts; interpretation of images and films; placing cultural representations in social and historical contexts.

APPLY NOW: https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/dignity-2018

Download brochure (jpg file): http://esswe.org:80/resources/pdf/program/Dignity-flyer-2018.jpg

Date: February 20, 2018

Time: 09.00

Place: Stockholm University; Room U29, Geovetenskapens hus

Description:

Western esotericism is usually encountered in texts and images and studied in its ideational and aesthetic aspects. We know a lot about esoteric ideas, worldviews, and aesthetic conventions; but what were the people engaged in esoteric ideas doing? From magic and alchemy to mediumship and channeling, esotericism has an emphatically practical orientation. Accessing and analyzing esoteric practice, however, invites challenges that are rarely addressed in the field.

This year’s ESSWE Thesis Workshop will focus on the methodological and theoretical challenges of studying esoteric practice. What kinds of textual and non-textual sources can we use to address practices of the past? Can we access practice through philology? How do we conduct responsible ethnographic work with contemporary esoteric groups? Can we connect historical research with social science methods? What sort of theoretical frameworks might help us grasp esoteric practices, past and present? How does one write a thesis about esoteric practices? The workshop will address these and other questions through a combination of (I) masterclasses with three specialists focusing on different historical periods, and (II) thematic discussion groups where MA students and PhD candidates get the opportunity to talk about their own work with leading scholars in the field. The workshop also includes a career advice session led by a panel of early-career esotericism researchers.

Workshop organizer: Egil Asprem (egil.asprem@rel.su.se)

The workshop is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

SCHEDULE

OPENING

09.00-09.15: Registration and Coffee

09.15-09.30: Welcome by ESSWE President + Workshop organizer

PART ONE: ORATORY (Masterclass lectures by invited speakers)

09.30-10.15: Masterclass 1: Dr. Emmanouela Grypeou (Stockholm University)

Accessing Esoteric Practice in Late Antiquity

10.30-11.15: Masterclass 2: Dr. Liana Saif (Oxford University; Warburg Institute)

Accessing Esoteric Practice in the Middle Ages

11.30-12.15: Masterclass 3: Dr. Kennet Granholm (independent scholar)

Problems and Challenges with accessing Contemporary Esoteric Groups

12.30-13.30: Lunch at the Faculty Club (Manne Sigbahnvillan, Frescativägen 22)

PART TWO: LABORATORY (Thematic discussions in expert groups w/board members)

13.45-15.00: Group discussions in expert groups. Each student gets to present their research topic and formulate questions to the group. Confirmed participants from the ESSWE board: Andreas Kilcher (ETH, Zurich), Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Egil Asprem (Stockholm University), Henrik Bogdan (Gothenburg University), Wouter J. Hanegraaff (University of Amsterdam), Bernd-Christian Otto (University of Erfurt), Christine Ferguson (Stirling University), Yuri Stoyanov (Warburg Institute), Nemanja Radulovic (University of Belgrade), and Olav Hammer (University of Southern Denmark).

15.00-15.15: Plenum Session: Each group summarizes the most important challenges and topics that surfaced during their discussions.

15.15-15.45: Coffee break

PART THREE: PhD and Early Career Advice

15.45-16.30: Per Faxneld and Manon Hedenborg-White lead a discussion of job/career related issues (application processes, job opportunities, alternative career paths) relevant to early-career scholars.

16.30-16.45: Wrapping up and formal end to workshop

***

16.45-17.15: ESSWE Members’ Meeting

18.00: Field trip with wine reception at the Swedenborg Memorial Church and Swedenborg Research Library (Tegnérlunden 7)

19.45: Dinner and drinks at Babajan Bar (Katarina Bangata 75) – N.B. at own expense!

Fondazione Giorgio Cini in collaboration with the Centre d’Études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques (CETOBaC - EHESS) will host the inaugural conference of the European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism (ENSIE) to be held on San Giorgio Island, Venice, on 12-14 June 2018.

For further information, please visit: http://ensie.site/conferences.html?

On the 6-7 June 2018 the Faculty of Arts, Religious Studies Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic will organize a conference on the topic of Western Esotericism. The title is “Consciously Illicit: Transgression in Western Esotericism”. The themes of the conference will address the breaking of taboos and the transgression of social and religious boundaries by part of dissident groups and individuals within the field of Western Esotericism. This will include researching their practices, beliefs, traditions, self-perception and how they relate and conflict with societal and religious norms. Finally, it will also address the interpretations of taboo violation in relation to the various historical eras.

Abstract submission deadline: 31 January 2018

For more information please visit: http://religionistika.phil.muni.cz/consciously-illicit/

The electronic voting for new ESSWE Board Members is now open. If you are a dues current member but have not received a notification to vote, please get in contact with me.

Best wishes,

Henrik Bogdan

Secretary ESSWE

Email: henrik.bogdan@lir.gu.se

Please find the Fall 2017 issue of The Newsletter of the Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE) on the below link in pdf format:

http://esswe.org/resources/pdf/newsletter/ASE_Newsletter_Fall_2017.pdf

 

Yves Mühlematter M.A., PhD-Candidate at the Lehrstuhl für Vergleichende Religionsgeschichte und Interreligiösen Dialog, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, has been elected the new ESSWE Student Representative 2018-19. Mühlematter will be succeeding Manon Hedenborg-White on January 1, 2018. His email address is: yves.muehlematter@unifr.ch

Henrik Bogdan
Secretary ESSWE

Baltic Alliance for Asian studies, Latvian Society for the Study of Religion, Centre for Korean Studies of the University of Latvia announces a call for papers for the 3rd BAAS Conference / 3rd LSSR Conference.

Location: University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

Date: April 13-15, 2018

By placing Asia at the centre of attention, this conference intends to discuss religious issues as well. For more information please visit: http://www.dynamicasia.lu.lv/call-for-papers/

The ESSWE Sponsorship Programme for Independent Scholarly Initiatives is now taking applications for the 2018 bid. Deadline January 15, 2018. For more information, please check the Sponsorship page!

Date and place: February 20, 2018, Stockholm University; Room U29, Geohust (Geology)

Description: Western esotericism is usually encountered in texts and images and studied in its ideational and aesthetic aspects. We know a lot about esoteric ideas, worldviews, and aesthetic conventions; but what were the people engaged in esoteric ideas doing? From magic and alchemy to mediumship and channeling, esotericism is not only theoretical but practical in nature. Accessing and analyzing esoteric practice, however, invites challenges that are rarely addressed in the field.

This year’s ESSWE Thesis Workshop will focus on the methodological and theoretical challenges of studying esoteric practice. What kinds of textual and non-textual sources can we use to address practices of the past? Can we access practice through philology? How do we do responsible ethnographic work with contemporary esoteric groups? Can we connect historical methods and social science methods? What sort of theoretical frameworks might help us grasp esoteric practices, both past and present? How does one write a thesis about esoteric practices? The workshop will address these and other questions through a combination of (I) masterclasses with three specialists focusing on different historical periods, and (II) thematic discussion groups where MA and PhD students get the opportunity to talk about their own work with leading scholars in the field. The workshop also includes a career advice session led by a panel of early-career esotericism researchers.

Workshop organizer: Egil Asprem (egil.asprem@rel.su.se)

Open for: MA and PhD students [note: membership of ESSWE required]. 35 slots available. Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. First come, first served!

To reserve a spot: please fill in the online registration form and await confirmation.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE

OPENING

09.00-09.30: Registration and Coffee

09.30-09.45: Welcome by ESSWE President + Workshop organizer

PART ONE: ORATORY (Masterclass lectures by invited speakers)

09.45-10.30: Masterclass 1: Dr. Emmanouela Grypeou (Stockholm University)

Accessing Esoteric Practice in Late Antiquity

10.45-11.30: Masterclass 2: Dr. Liana Saif (Oxford University; Warburg Institute)

Accessing Esoteric Practice in the Middle Ages

11.45-12.30: Masterclass 3: Dr. Kennet Granholm (independent scholar)

Problems and Challenges with accessing Contemporary  Esoteric Groups

12.30-13.30 Lunch break

PART TWO: LABORATORY (Thematic discussions in expert groups w/board members)

13.45-14.45: Group discussions in expert groups. Each student gets to present their research topic and formulate questions to the group. Experts from the ESSWE board anticipated to be present: Andreas Kilcher (ETH), Boaz Huss (Ben Gurion), Egil Asprem (Stockholm University), Henrik Bogdan (Gothenburg University), Wouter J. Hanegraaff (University of Amsterdam, Birgit Menzel (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz), Bernd-Christian Otto (University of Erfurt), Yuri Stoyanov (Warburg Institute), and Helmut Zander (University of Fribourg) [changes may occur!].

14.45-15.15: Plenum Session: Each group summarizes the most important challenges and topics that surfaced during their discussions.

15.15-15.45 Coffee break

PART THREE: PhD and Early Career Advice

15.45-16.30: Per Faxneld and Manon Hedenborg-White lead a discussion of job/career related issues (application processes, job opportunities, alternative career paths) relevant to early-career scholars.

16.30-16.45: Wrapping up and formal end to workshop

***

16.45-17.15: ESSWE Members’ Meeting

18.00: Visit to the Swedenborg Library and the New Church, Tegnérlunden 7 [not confirmed]

19.00: Dinner and drinks (at own expense)