The Problem of Disenchantment

The Problem of Disenchantment PDF Author: Egil Asprem
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438469926
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 662

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Book Description
Challenges the conventional view of a “disenchanted” and secular modernity, and recovers the complex relation that exists between science, religion, and esotericism in the modern world. Max Weber famously characterized the ongoing process of intellectualization and rationalization that separates the natural world from the divine (by excluding magic and value from the realm of science, and reason and fact from the realm of religion) as the “disenchantment of the world.” Egil Asprem argues for a conceptual shift in how we view this key narrative of modernity. Instead of a sociohistorical process of disenchantment that produces increasingly rational minds, Asprem maintains that the continued presence of “magic” and “enchantment” in people’s everyday experience of the world created an intellectual problem for those few who were socialized to believe that nature should contain no such incalculable mysteries. Drawing on a wide range of early twentieth-century primary sources from theoretical physics, occultism, embryology, radioactivity, psychical research, and other fields, Asprem casts the intellectual life of high modernity as a synchronic struggle across conspicuously different fields that shared surprisingly similar intellectual problems about value, meaning, and the limits of knowledge. “The Problem of Disenchantment is, in its entirety, extraordinarily well researched, argued, and written—representing at once the most complete and nuanced treatment of the notion of disenchantment within this network of scientific, religious, philosophical, and esoteric discourses and currents.” — Nova Religio

The Problem of Disenchantment

The Problem of Disenchantment PDF Author: Egil Asprem
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438469926
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 662

Get Book Here

Book Description
Challenges the conventional view of a “disenchanted” and secular modernity, and recovers the complex relation that exists between science, religion, and esotericism in the modern world. Max Weber famously characterized the ongoing process of intellectualization and rationalization that separates the natural world from the divine (by excluding magic and value from the realm of science, and reason and fact from the realm of religion) as the “disenchantment of the world.” Egil Asprem argues for a conceptual shift in how we view this key narrative of modernity. Instead of a sociohistorical process of disenchantment that produces increasingly rational minds, Asprem maintains that the continued presence of “magic” and “enchantment” in people’s everyday experience of the world created an intellectual problem for those few who were socialized to believe that nature should contain no such incalculable mysteries. Drawing on a wide range of early twentieth-century primary sources from theoretical physics, occultism, embryology, radioactivity, psychical research, and other fields, Asprem casts the intellectual life of high modernity as a synchronic struggle across conspicuously different fields that shared surprisingly similar intellectual problems about value, meaning, and the limits of knowledge. “The Problem of Disenchantment is, in its entirety, extraordinarily well researched, argued, and written—representing at once the most complete and nuanced treatment of the notion of disenchantment within this network of scientific, religious, philosophical, and esoteric discourses and currents.” — Nova Religio

A History of the Netherlands

A History of the Netherlands PDF Author: Friso Wielenga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350087327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
This is the most comprehensive history of the Netherlands available in the English language. It surveys Dutch history from the 16th century, when the nation took shape as a geographical, administrative and political entity, right through to the Netherlands of today. Examining domestic politics and wider international contexts, as well as economic and cultural history, Friso Wielenga provides a varied and in-depth investigation that will lead to a rich understanding of the country's past. The book also challenges misplaced preconceptions regarding political consensus and religious toleration in the country and offers a balanced assessment of developments across the early modern, modern and contemporary eras. This new edition includes: * One brand new chapter on the Netherlands since 1945 * Much more material on colonial history, slavery, the decolonisation of Indonesia and the contemporary legacy of colonialism * Historiographical updates throughout * A wealth of new images, maps, tables and figures This book is essential reading for anyone seeking a knowledge of Dutch history since 1500.

Esotericism and the Academy

Esotericism and the Academy PDF Author: Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521196213
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
The neglected history of how intellectuals since the Renaissance have approached ideas of the occult which challenged biblical religion.

Things:

Things: PDF Author: Dick Houtman
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823239454
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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Book Description
The relation between religion and things has long been conceived in antagonistic terms, privileging spirit above matter, belief above ritual and objects, meaning above form and 'inward' contemplation above 'outward' action. This book addresses these issues.

Radical Secularization?

Radical Secularization? PDF Author: Stijn Latr�
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501322680
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
What does it mean for a society to be secular? Answering this question from a philosophical angle, Radical Secularization? delves into the philosophical presuppositions of secularization. Which cultural evolutions made secularization possible? International scholars from different disciplines assess the answers given by many leading philosophers such as, among others, L�with, Blumenberg and Habermas (Germany), Gauchet and Nancy (France), Taylor and Bellah (North America). They examine the theory that secularization cannot only be regarded as a cultural change that was forced upon religion from an external source (e.g. science), but should also be considered as a phenomenon triggered by motives internal to religion. If religions are indeed capable of inner transformations, the question arises whether religions can persist in the secular societies they inadvertently helped to bring about, and how secular societies may accommodate religion.

Germany's Conscience

Germany's Conscience PDF Author: Reinbert Krol
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839451353
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Questions of truth, ethics, state power, and propaganda, of how to render account of catastrophes and reconcile oneself with one's past are not only crucial to our time, they were also central to the German historian Friedrich Meinecke (1862-1954). Probably no generation of historians before Meinecke had lived through more unsettling transformations, during which these questions were most pressing. Reinbert Krol's analysis of Meinecke's intellectual development does not only give us insight into his philosophy of history - which turns out to be more conciliatory than previously assumed - it can also be a source of inspiration for scholars of history today.

Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe PDF Author: Kocku von Stuckrad
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004184236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
One characteristic of European history of religion is a two-fold pluralism—a pluralism of religious identities on the one hand, and a pluralism of various societal systems that interact with religious systems on the other. Addressing discourses of perfect knowledge in Western culture between 1200 and 1800, this book integrates the study of Western esotericism in a larger analytical framework of European history of religion. Viewed from a structuralist perspective, ‘esoteric discourse’ provides an analytical framework that helps to reveal genealogies of modern identities in a pluralistic competition of knowledge. Experiential philosophy, kabbalah, astrology, Hermeticism, philology, and early modern science are linked to knowledge claims that shaped the way in which Western culture defined itself.

How Modern Science Came Into the World

How Modern Science Came Into the World PDF Author: H. F. Cohen
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9089642390
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 825

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Book Description
Once upon a time 'The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century' was an innovative concept that inspired a stimulating narrative of how modern science came into the world. Half a century later, what we now know as 'the master narrative' serves rather as a strait-jacket - so often events and contexts just fail to fit in. No attempt has been made so far to replace the master narrative. H. Floris Cohen now comes up with precisely such a replacement. Key to his path-breaking analysis-cum-narrative is a vision of the Scientific Revolution as made up of six distinct yet narrowly interconnected, revolutionary transformations, each of some twenty-five to thirty years' duration. This vision enables him to explain how modern science could come about in Europe rather than in Greece, China, or the Islamic world. It also enables him to explain how half-way into the 17th century a vast crisis of legitimacy could arise and, in the end, be overcome.

Political Religion Beyond Totalitarianism

Political Religion Beyond Totalitarianism PDF Author: J. Augusteijn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137291729
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
The success of fascist and communist regimes has long been explained by their ability to turn political ideology into a type of religion. These innovative essays explore the notion that all forms of modern mass-politics, including democracies, need a form of sacralization to function.

DE FILOSOFIE VAN GOTTFRIED BENN

DE FILOSOFIE VAN GOTTFRIED BENN PDF Author: Prof. Freddy Verbruggen
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1470992663
Category : Philosophy
Languages : nl
Pages : 248

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Book Description
VOOR ASJA EN YOR "Wie vandaag progressief wil zijn, moet conservatief denken" "Wer glaubt, dass man mit worten lügen könne, könnte meinen, dass es hier geschähe" Benn