Constructing tradition : means and myths of transmission in Western esotericism / edited by Andreas B. Kilcher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The question of constructing tradition, concepts of origin, and memory as well as techniques and practices of knowledge transmission, are central for cultures in general. In esotericism, however, such questions and techniques play an outstanding role and are widely reflected upon, in its literature. Esoteric paradigms not only understand themselves in elaborated mytho-poetical narratives as bearers of older, hidden, higher knowledge. They also claim their knowledge to be of a particular origin. And they claim this knowledge has been transmitted by particular (esoteric) means, media and groups.

Print version record.

Introduction: Constructing Tradition in Western Esotericism; Master Narratives of Tradition; Das Verspätete Wissen. Zur Epigonalen Disposition der Esoterischen Tradition; Note sur la Transmission des Traditions dans le Contexte des Courants Ésotériques Occidentaux Modernes; Gewachsene Traditionen. Zur Formierung hermetischer Überlieferungen im Mittelalter; Die Überlieferung der Zukunft. Esoterische Traditionsbildung als Mantische Textfunktion; Western Esotericism in Enlightenment Historiography: The Importance of Jacob Brucker.

The Coming of the Masters: The Evolutionary Reformulation of Spiritual Intermediaries in Modern TheosophyHelena Petrovna Blavatsky's Esoteric Tradition; Tradition in Zwei Gestalten? Wissenschaftlicher Traditionsbegriff und Esoterische Traditionslinien in der Deutschen Geschichtsschreibung des 19. Jahrhunderts; The Sociology of the Construct of Tradition and Import of Legitimacy in Freemasonry; Secrecy as Social Capital; Kabbalistic Concepts of Tradition; Revelation and the 'Crisis of Tradition' in Kabbalah: 1475-1575.

Giovanni Pico and the Ideal of Concordia Discors: Disharmony as a Way to Esoteric WisdomSpiritual Authority and the Transmission of Knowledge in Christian Kabbalah: The Case of Guillaume Postel (1510-81); The Kabbalah as Primordial Tradition in Russian Secret Societies; Myths of Origin; Traditionskonkurrenzen. Eine Kreditgeschichte Offenbarter Ursprungsgeschichten; Ägypten und der Ursprung der Esoterik. zur Geschichte und Genese eines Mythos; Ex oriente lux. Zur Funktion Indiens in der Konstruktion der abendländischen esoterischen Tradition im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert.

Sufis as Mythic Bearers of Esoteric TraditionAthanasius Kircher's Construction of the Hieroglyphic Tradition; Vom dämonischen Archetyp zur Konstruktion einer Urtradition. Die Kontroverse über das Geschlecht der Giganten an den Barocken Universitäten; Index of Persons.

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