Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born 10 April 1961) is full professor of History of

Hermetic Philosophy Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...

and related currents at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bei ...

, the Netherlands. He served as the first president of the

European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism The European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) is Europe's only scholarly society for the study of Western esotericism. Founded in 2002, the society promotes academic study of the various manifestations of Western esotericism f ...

(ESSWE) from 2005 to 2013.

Life

Hanegraaff was raised as the son of a theologian. He originally studied

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of ...

at the Municipal Conservatory at

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is ...

from 1982 to 1987, and

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enroll ...

from 1986 to 1990. From 1992 to 1996 he was a Research Fellow at the department for the Study of Religions at the University of Utrecht. From 1996 to 1999 Hanegraaff held a postdoctoral fellowship from th
Dutch Association for Scientific Research
(NWO), during which time he spent a period working in Paris. In 1999 he became professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the

. From 2002 to 2006 he has been president of th
Dutch Society for the Study of Religion
and, from 2005 to 2013, president of the

. In 2006 he was elected member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, and he is now an honorary member of the ESSWE. HermesTrismegistusCauc

Partial bibliography

Monographs

* -----''New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought'', Brill, Leiden 1996,

State University of New York Press The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by ...

, Albany 1998. ; . * ----- and R.M. Bouthoorn ''Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500): The Hermetic Writings and Related Documents'', Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Tempe, 2005. * -----''Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven'', The Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, Pennsylvania 2007 (Swedenborg Studies Series, no. 18) . * -----''Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pres ...

, Cambridge 2012, . * -----''Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed'',

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

, London 2013.

Edited volumes

* (ed., with Peter J. Forshaw & Marco Pasi), ''Hermes Explains: Thirty Questions about Western Esotericism''. Amsterdam University Press 2019, . * (ed., with Ria Kloppenborg), ''Female Stereotypes in Religious Traditions''. Brill, Leiden 1995, . * (ed., with Roelof van den Broek), ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. State University of New York Press, Albany 1998. * (ed., with

Antoine Faivre Antoine Faivre (5 June 1934 – 19 December 2021) was a French scholar of Western esotericism. Until his retirement, he held a chair in the École Pratique des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne, University Professor of Germanic studies at the Univ ...

), ''Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion'', Peeters, Louvain 1998. * (ed., with Richard Caron, Joscelyn Godwin & Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron), ''Ésotérisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique: Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre'', Peeters, Louvain 2001. * (ed. in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek, Jean-Pierre Brach, ''Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism'', Brill, Leiden 2005. . * (ed. with Jeffrey J. Kripal), ''Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism''. Brill, Leiden 2008. * (ed. with Joyce Pijnenburg), ''Hermes in the Academy: Ten Years' Study of Western Esotericism at the University of Amsterdam''.

Amsterdam University Press Amsterdam University Press (AUP) is a university press that was founded in 1992 by the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is based on the Anglo-Saxon university press model and operates on a not-for-profit basis. AUP publishes scholarl ...

, 2009.

References

Footnotes

Sources

: : :

External links

Wouter J. Hanegraaff Personal Website

European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanegraaff, Wouter 1961 births Living people 20th-century Dutch philosophers 21st-century Dutch philosophers Religion academics New Age writers Utrecht University alumni University of Amsterdam faculty Writers from Amsterdam Western esotericism scholars Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences