The Study of Western Esotericism in East-Central Europe—With a Focus on the Last Decades

Summary

Since the early 2000s, the academic study of Western esotericism has grown considerably, aided by the founding of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) in 2005. In East-Central Europe, the collapse of communist regimes between 1989 and 1991 allowed scholars to pursue research in fields previously only tolerated. Scholars from the region formed the Central and Eastern European Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism (CEENASWE) under ESSWE. This article introduces a special issue surveying recent research, moving geographically from north to south, and reviews work from Poland, Czechia, and Hungary in the form of a Forschungsbericht, a term recalling Jürgen Habermas.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Since the early 2000s the study of (Western) esotericism has gone through a great development, partly boosted by the establishment of ESSWE in 2005. In East-Central Europe an upsurge in interest started with the changing of the communist regimes in 1989–1991 and scholars became liberated to enhance their studies in fields previously at best tolerated in those countries. Scholars from our region not only joined ESSWE but even organized a network under its aegis, CEENASWE, the Central and Eastern European Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism. The present collection of articles intends to provide a panorama of the wide-ranging research, focusing on the past few decades in a geographical order, moving from the north to the south. This article, while serving as a general introduction to the special issue, reviews Poland, Czechia and Hungary in particular, in a form that recalls Jürgen Habermas’s famous term, a Forschungsbericht.