Description
In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of ancient wisdom. While many of their writings are lost, those that survived have been interpreted primarily as philosophical treatises about theological topics. Wouter J. Hanegraaff challenges this dominant narrative by demonstrating that Hermetic literature was concerned with experiential practices intended for healing the soul from mental delusion. The Way of Hermes involved radical alterations of consciousness in which practitioners claimed to perceive the true nature of reality behind the hallucinatory veil of appearances. Hanegraaff explores how practitioners went through a training regime that involved luminous visions, exorcism, spiritual rebirth, cosmic consciousness, and union with the divine beauty of universal goodness and truth to attain the salvational knowledge known as gnosis.
Hermetic spirituality in late antiquity was an experiential practice and personal transformation grounded in powerful techniques for consciousness alteration.
About the Author
Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of six monographs, including New Age Religion and Western Culture (1996) and Esotericism and the Academy (2012), and editor of eight collective works, including the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (2005).
Reviews
'This book contains much that will matter to historians and others interested in visionary practices from late antiquity to the present.' Claire Fanger, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
'This impressively learned monograph is a welcome addition to the steady stream of recent scholarship on the Hermetic writings, a testimony to a rekindled interest in this most extraordinary collection of texts.' Christian Wildberg, Aries - Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism
Book Information
ISBN 9781009124232
Author Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Format Paperback
Page Count 454
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Hermetic spirituality in late antiquity was an experiential practice and personal transformation grounded in powerful techniques for consciousness alteration.
About the Author
Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of six monographs, including New Age Religion and Western Culture (1996) and Esotericism and the Academy (2012), and editor of eight collective works, including the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (2005).
Reviews
'This book contains much that will matter to historians and others interested in visionary practices from late antiquity to the present.' Claire Fanger, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
'This impressively learned monograph is a welcome addition to the steady stream of recent scholarship on the Hermetic writings, a testimony to a rekindled interest in this most extraordinary collection of texts.' Christian Wildberg, Aries - Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism
Book Information
ISBN 9781009124232
Author Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Format Paperback
Page Count 454
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
