A negative hermeneutics—one that begins with gaps, failures, and limits—offers a productive framework for studying mysticism. The concept of 'travail of the negative' highlights how mystical expressions continuously 'unsay' and 'subvert' traditional faith and religious practice. This approach connects practical and theoretical negativity in mystical theology, urging theology to take negation seriously as a fundamental characteristic. The essay argues that such a perspective enriches broader theological discourse by centering the dynamic of negation rather than positive affirmations.
The terms “esoteric” and “occult” function today as comparative categories used worldwide, both inside and outside academia. Rather than being simply Western concepts that spread elsewhere, they emerged through globally entangled exchanges, similar to the history of “religion.” The article argues that these terms can be studied concretely through synchronic and diachronic historical contextualization. Drawing on scholarship on “Western esotericism,” “esoteric Buddhism,” and “the global occult,” it proposes a five-step methodology for applying Global Religious History to religious comparativism, using historical examples to illustrate the approach.