The special issue features an introduction by Dr. Julian Strube on "Transgressing Boundaries. Social Reform, Theology, and the Demarcations Between Science and Religion". This editorial argues for a methodological move away from dichotomous constellations toward a concept of entangled history. Although the study of esotericism seeks to highlight the cultural importance of its subject, its leading approaches are reiterating the very polemical dichotomies that led to its marginalization. This can be seen as the grand paradox of the study of esotericism. Therefore it is necessary to transgress both disciplinary and geographical boundaries and understand “esotericism” as a deeply entangled element of complex global discourses about “religion,” “science,” and “politics.” This opens up new opportunities for the study of esotericism to not only better comprehend the emergence of “esotericism” as an integral part of “Western” culture, but also to contribute to an understanding of the emergence of “Western” identity in general.
Further articles include a contribution by Prof. Michael Bergunder (project MC7 "Political Legitimation") with the title "'Religion' and 'Science' Within a Global Religious History".
Dr. Julian Strube is coordinator and member of project MC7 "Political Legitimation". He is pursuing his postdoctoral studies in a project on "Tantra and the Global Religious History of the 19th and 20th Century," funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Aries is an academic journal devoted to a long-neglected but now rapidly developing new domain of research in the humanities, usually referred to as "Western Esotericism". Aries is a peer-reviewed journal publishing articles and book reviews in English, French, German and Italian.
For more information visit the website of Brill Publishing House.
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