Western Esoteric Traditions

Catalog description

Taught by GTU/CSS. A critical study of Western esoteric traditions from its origins in ancient Egypt and Greece, through its modern foundations in the Renaissance and Enlightenment and into contemporary expressions of continuing traditions and new religious movements. Manifesting in broad yet concrete historical contexts such as ancient Hermetism, Jewish and Christian kabbalah, Renaissance and Enlightenment theosophy, Masonic rites, Rosicrucianism, Jungism and New Age movements, the field is located especially in the history of ideas in specific ways of understanding cosmology, anthropology, and soteriology. Students will learn to identify the distinctive currents of thought around which the panorama of movements have cohered and will analyze the sociological, historical, and philosophical reasons for esotericism's continuing appeal. Readings will include primary sources and secondary literature in every session, and students will become functionally familiar with the research methodologies of the field. Lecture/seminar, class presentations, final paper. MDiv, MA/MTS, DMin, PhD/ThD.