Contents

pp.：  5 – 8

Preface

pp.：  9 – 14

Part One Esoteric Discourse and the European History of Religion

pp.：  15 – 16

Introduction

pp.：  17 – 20

Chapter One Europe and the Christendom Narrative: From Singularization to Pluralism

pp.：  21 – 20

The Secularization Theory Revisited

pp.：  21 – 26

Christian Occident?

pp.：  27 – 31

The Two-Fold Pluralism

pp.：  32 – 38

Chapter Two The Polemical Construction of Tradition

pp.：  39 – 39

The Construction of Prisca Theologia

pp.：  40 – 43

Genealogies of Wisdom

pp.：  44 – 46

Jewish Perspectives

pp.：  47 – 54

Beyond Tradition

pp.：  55 – 56

Chapter Three Conceptualizing the Study of Esoteric Discourse

pp.：  57 – 58

Approaches to Esotericism

pp.：  59 – 67

Secrecy as Social Capital

pp.：  68 – 72

Discourses of Perfect Knowledge

pp.：  73 – 78

Part Two Shared Passions

pp.：  79 – 80

Introduction

pp.：  81 – 84

Chapter Four The Secrets of Experience: Wisdom beyond Demonstration

pp.：  85 – 85

Neoplatonism and Theurgy in Late Antiquity

pp.：  86 – 95

Experiential Knowledge in Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist Philosophy

pp.：  96 – 102

Chapter Five The Secrets of Texts: Esoteric Hermeneutics

pp.：  103 – 102

The Readability of the Cosmos: Europe’s Obsession with Words

pp.：  103 – 106

The Textile of the Divine in Early Kabbalah

pp.：  107 – 116

Linguistic Ontologies in Christian Kabbalah

pp.：  117 – 123

Humanistic Philology: Universal Languages and the Quest for the Ursprache

pp.：  124 – 128

Chapter Six The Secrets of Time: Astrology and Sacred History

pp.：  129 – 128

Critical Response to Ancient Traditions: Medieval Arabic Astrology

pp.：  129 – 139

Sharing Muslim Knowledge: Christian Astrology

pp.：  140 – 148

Part Three Interferences

pp.：  149 – 150

Introduction

pp.：  151 – 152

Chapter Seven Scientific Encounters

pp.：  153 – 152

“Occult Sciences”: The Science-Religion Divide Revisited

pp.：  153 – 159

John Dee: A Scholar Gone Mad?

pp.：  160 – 165

Natural Philosophy in an Apocalyptic Age

pp.：  166 – 170

Chapter Eight Visual Seductions

pp.：  171 – 171

The Problem of ‘Renaissance Paganism’

pp.：  172 – 176

Image Acts and Visual Culture

pp.：  177 – 181

The Presence of Images as Visual Practice

pp.：  182 – 188

Chapter Nine Political Consideration

pp.：  189 – 190

Johann Heinrich Alsted: Hermeticism and Universal Reform

pp.：  191 – 199

Perfect Knowledge in the “Circle of Learning”: Alsted’s Encyclopaedia

pp.：  200 – 208

Chapter Ten Conclusion: Locations of Knowledge

pp.：  209 – 208

Writing Histories, Narrating Pasts

pp.：  209 – 213

Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities

pp.：  214 – 218

Bibliography

pp.：  219 – 246

Index

pp.：  247 – 254