The Occult Nineteenth Century: Roots, Developments, and Impact on the Modern World

ISBN-13: 9783030553203 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 458 str.

Pokorny, Lukas

Opis

The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation of alternative religious currents and practices, appropriating earlier traditions, entangling geographically distinct spiritual discourses, and crafting a repository of mindscapes eminently suitable to be accommodated by later generations of thinkers and practitioners. Penned by specialists in the field, this volume examines important themes and figures pertaining to this occult amalgam and its resonance into the twentieth century and beyond. Global guises of the occult, ranging from the Americas and Europe to India, are variously addressed, with special attention to the crucial role of mesmerism and the origins of modern yoga.

Recenzje

"This impressive volume makes an important contribution to the understanding of occult concepts in the nineteenth century, their origins, and their influence on modern culture. ... The volume represents a compilation of highly original scholarship, being a valuable and muchrecommended addition to the study of occultism and esotericism." (Nicole Maria Bauer, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 47 (1), March, 2021)

Spis treści

Table of Contents

1. Introductory Remarks
Lukas Pokorny and Franz Winter

Part I: Mesmerism

2. Carl August von Eschenmayer and the Somnambulic Soul
Wouter J. Hanegraaff

3. Priest-doctors and Magnetisers: Mesmerism, Romantic Medicine, and Catholic Thought in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century
Maren Sziede

4. Animal Magnetism and Its Psychological Implications in Hungary
JúliaGyimesi

5. From Fluidum to Prāṇa: Reading Mesmerism through Orientalist Lenses
Dominic S. Zoehrer
 

PartII: Occultism in America and Europe

6. Total Recall: The “Panoramic Life Review” near Death as Proof of the Soul’s Timeless Self-Presence in Western Esotericism of the Nineteenth Century
Jens Schlieter

7. Stages in the Development of an Occult Linguistics
Olav Hammer

8. The Art of Esoteric Posthumousness
Marco Pasi

9. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie and Sexual Regeneration
John Patrick Deveney

10. The Theosophical Maitreya: On Benjamin Creme’s Millenarianism
Lukas Pokorny

11. Martial Arts Spirituality in Sweden: The Occult Connection
Per Faxneld

Part III: Occultism in Global Perspective

12. A Study into a Transreligious Quest for the Ultimate Truth: Indian, Muslim, and European Interpretations of the Upanishads
Franz Winter

13. Occult’s First Foot Soldier in Bengal: Peary Chand Mittra and the Early Theosophical Movement
Mriganka Mukhopadhyay

14. Re-Imagining an Ancient Greek Philosopher: The Pythagorean Musings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho)
Almut-Barbara Renger

15. African and Amerindian Spirits: A Note on the Influence of Nineteenth Century Spiritism and Spiritualism on Afro- and African-American Religions
Hans Gerald Hödl

Part IV: Occultism and Modern Yoga

16. Sri Sabhapati Swami: The Forgotten Yogi of Western Esotericism
Keith EdwardCantú

17. Tracing Vivekananda’s Prāṇa and Ākāśa: The Yogavāsiṣṭha and Rama Prasad’s Occult Science of Breath
Magdalena Kraler

18. Guru and Messiah: On the First Yoga Handbook in Polish Language: Wincenty Lutosławski’sThe Development of the Power of Will by Means of Psychophysical Exercises (1909)
MarlisLami

 

 

O autorze

Lukas Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.

 Franz Winter is Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria.

Blurb

The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation of alternative religious currents and practices, appropriating earlier traditions, entangling geographically distinct spiritual discourses, and crafting a repository of mindscapes eminently suitable to be accommodated by later generations of thinkers and practitioners. Penned by specialists in the field, this volume examines important themes and figures pertaining to this occult amalgam and its resonance into the twentieth century and beyond. Global guises of the occult, ranging from the Americas and Europe to India, are variously addressed, with special attention to the crucial role of mesmerism and the origins of modern yoga.

Lukas Pokorny is Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.

Franz Winter is Professor of Religious Studies at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria.