Religious Comparativism, Esotericism, and the Global Occult: A Methodological Outline

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.

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Abstract

This article scrutinizes the history of “esoteric” and “occult” as comparative terms and outlines a concrete methodology for their examination and potential practical application, based on the theoretical framework of Global Religious History. My main argument is that “esoteric” and “occult” are today de facto comparative terms that are employed worldwide within and beyond academia. Similar to the case of “religion,” they are not the result of the unilateral diffusion of “Western” knowledge but of globally entangled exchanges that can serve as concrete objects of research. Their synchronic and diachronic historical contextualization forms the basis of the development of substantiated comparative terms and their (experimental) application in different contexts. Departing from scholarship on “Western esotericism,” “esoteric Buddhism,” and “the global occult,” the article outlines a five-step methodology that illustrates the practical use of Global Religious History for religious comparativism based on concrete historical examples.