Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times (SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions)

It doesn't matter if the copy of this book that you get is print on demand, what matters is the content of the book. Anyhow...of all of the thousands of books I have bought and/or read on topics sympathetic to 'Esotericism,' this one always comes back to my mind, four essays in particular: There is an essay by van den Broek which compares and contrasts Gnosticism (proper) and Heremetism (and other late ancient thought), which is the conclusive and final word on the topic. Many, many other authors have attempted this topic but this essay has never been eclipsed. Absolutely essential reading.The second essay, likewise by van den Broek, concerns the Cathars, which despite the amount of ink that has been spilled over the years, we come to realize how little actual, valid information is available when source material is placed under the meticulous gaze of the scholar.Joscelyn Godwin summarizes and synthesizes all of his lifelong scholarship on the difficult and tenuous relationship between music and Hermeticism. We come to realize just how...vague that relationship is. This essay is worth thirty other large volumes on the topic, as it does away with all woo woo pretension and attacks directly and with utmost seriousness.Finally, Hanegraaff, one of the editors, provides a concise, much shorter version of his book on the New Age movement, a book I haven't yet read but definitely intend to one day.The other thing which stands out to me is the passion of the authors for esoteric topics, which is very scholarly but lacks the disparaging of the spiritual aspect which is common amongst non-esotericist scholars of Esotericism. Buy and read this book in any form available! Thank you as always.

Im reviewing bc the other review is ... not of the book. The book is great and has very worthwhile essays about the role of hermeticism in many different contexts throughout history and in certain societies. hanegraaff kills it (in a good way) as usual. Damn near essential reading for any student of hermeticism or historian of esoteric religion(s).

This a print on demand edition, printed in Great Britain by Amazon.co.uk, Ltd.I do not judge the content of this book. I criticise its aesthetic quality.The print quality is not very good. Inside the pages are printed well but it could be better.In my opinion the paper is like A4 and because of this I do not like the paper quality.I do not like the print quality of front and back cover and the binding.In my opinion the whole ensemble does not match well.I believe definitely that Amazon.co.uk, Ltd. could do it better.At the bottom of every page is printed the phrase "Copyrighted Material", this phrase is not aesthetic.

The book does a good job of presenting thousands of years of history on a very muddled and obscure topic. The great care taken to distinguish various sets of beliefs and examine their proper historical context is much appreciated. Even within the very recent "new age" movement, there are nuances and distinctions that I was unaware of. My impression was that they just grab anything and everything mystical, but it turns out that there are some with more rigid sets of beliefs, which revolve around specific ideas.

This is absolutly useful, and this collection of essays is well put together, and the analysis of the track of Western esoteric beliefs up to the current year (1990's for the editors) is a valuable set of knowledge, I have no idea who the makers of this book are (except Roelof van Den Broek wrote a few books about mythological ideas through history - see Myth of the Pheonix) or why this book was made, but this is the only indepth analysis I have seen.

This a print on demand edition, printed in Great Britain by Amazon.co.uk, Ltd.I do not judge the content of this book. I criticise its aesthetic quality.The print quality is not very good. Inside the pages are printed well but it could be better.In my opinion the paper is like A4 and because of this I do not like the paper quality.I do not like the print quality of front and back cover and the binding.In my opinion the whole ensemble does not match well.I believe definitely that Amazon.co.uk, Ltd. could do it better.At the bottom of every page is printed the phrase "Copyrighted Material", this phrase is not aesthetic.