Comparing Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective - (Aries Book) (Hardcover)

About the Book

This is a collection of "tandem papers" inspired by the following questions: how can contemporary esoteric practices be meaningfully compared even if they are embedded in very diverse geographic, cultural and religious contexts?

Book Synopsis

This volume is a collection of cross-disciplinary papers co-authored by scholars from different academic fields. Readers will be intrigued to discover unexpected parallels between contemporary practices across diverse cultural and religious contexts. These include, for example, the casting of lots in Chinese temple oracles and the African-Yoruba divination system; ritual consultations in Senegal and Brazil; the marginalization of ritual practices in Indonesia, Bhutan, and Nigeria; the crossroads of late Soviet and US-based esoteric milieus; adaptations of Buddhist, Hindu, and Daoist practices in a modern esoteric movement (Thelema); and the spread of the Solomonic art of conjuring spirits in both scriptural and non-scriptural practice traditions. These examples offer rich opportunities for meaningful comparison.

About the Author

Bernd-Christian Otto is Permanent Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies 'Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective' at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. He has published extensively on magic and esotericism, including Magie: Rezeptions- und diskursgeschichtliche Analysen von der Antike bis zur Neuzeit (De Gruyter, 2011).

Michael Lackner is Senior Professor of Sinology at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. He has published extensively on the intellectual and religious history of China, including Coping with the Future. Theories and Practices of Divination in East Asia (Brill, 2018).