Eranos: An Alternative Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

"This is a book that no one interested in the history of the study of religion or in the religious history of the twentieth century can afford to miss." Gustavo Benavides, Villanova University "Written on the basis of sound and exhaustive scholarship, in a well-organized and highly readable fashion - despite the complexity of the subject-matter - and benefiting from a fluent translation, this landmark volume has long been needed by the English-speaking world. The author shows himself to be the foremost scholar of Western esoteric and spiritual currents and those persons who have carried them forward since the turn of the twentieth century." Mac Linscott Ricketts, Louisburg College, NC "This is the most balanced and well-informed history of the Eranos Conferences where, once a year, some of the most provocative thinkers of the world gathered to discuss the most pressing issues of the times: religious symbolism, the nature of spirit, art

From 1933 and for a period of almost seventy years, Italy's Lake Maggiore region was the gathering place for some of the world's foremost philosophers. Once a year, illustrious thinkers such as Carl Jung, Erich Neumann, Mircea Eliade, D.T. Suzuki, and Adolph Pormann gathered there for Eranos - a meeting of the minds for elite intellectuals. Hans Hakl presents the only complete study of what is arguably the single most important gathering of scholars in the twentieth century. Eranos chronicles the golden years of Jung, Corbin, Eliade, and Scholem, tracing the roots of the Ascona movement in Theosophy, its later branches, and many lesser-known but no less fascinating figures. Distilling decades of archival research and interviews with Eranos participants, Hakl illuminates the trialogue of religion, esotericism, and scholarship that began with Eranos and continues to the present day. This finely crafted history shows how Eranos played an important counterpart to the dominant spiritual and intellectual history of the twentieth century by encouraging freedom of thought and radicality. Detailing the development and influence of a movement that set the course of contemporary philosophical thought, Eranos is a landmark volume that will draw readers interested in the history of ideas, psychology, religious and cultural studies, Jewish and Islamic studies, the history of science, mysticism, and the development of new age religions.