Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism
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Subject: Religious Studies
Edited by: Wouter J. Hanegraaff, in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach
Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online is the comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of “Gnosis and Western Esotericism” from the period of Late Antiquity to the present. Containing around 400 articles by over 180 international specialists, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online provides critical overviews discussing the nature and historical development of all its important currents and manifestations, from Gnosticism and Hermetism to Astrology, Alchemy and Magic, from the Hermetic Tradition of the Renaissance to Rosicrucianism and Christian Theosophy, and from Freemasonry and Illuminism to 19thcentury Occultism and the contemporary New Age movement. Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online also contains articles about the life and work of all the major personalities in the history of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, discussing their ideas, significance, and historical influence.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
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Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online is the comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of “Gnosis and Western Esotericism” from the period of Late Antiquity to the present. Containing around 400 articles by over 180 international specialists, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online provides critical overviews discussing the nature and historical development of all its important currents and manifestations, from Gnosticism and Hermetism to Astrology, Alchemy and Magic, from the Hermetic Tradition of the Renaissance to Rosicrucianism and Christian Theosophy, and from Freemasonry and Illuminism to 19thcentury Occultism and the contemporary New Age movement. Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism Online also contains articles about the life and work of all the major personalities in the history of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, discussing their ideas, significance, and historical influence.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Comenius, Jan Amos
(1,109 words)
Comenius (Komenski), Jan Amos, * 28 Mar 1592 (Niwitz (Moravia)), † 15 Jan 1670 (Amsterdam) Comenius' family belonged to the Fraternity commonly known as the Moravian Brothers and named
Jednota Bratska in Czech, that is, Unity of Brethren. From the 15th century, this
ecclesiola had greatly developed despite persecutions, and it had received some of the Vaudois driven out of Brandenburg. After studying Latin and theology, Comenius went to Hess, in Herborn, then to the Palatinate, in Heidelberg, and experienced the double influence of Calvi…
Corbin, Henry
(2,208 words)
Corbin, Henry, * 14 Apr 1903 (Paris), † 7 Jan 1978 (Paris) A philosopher by training, as early as 1925 Corbin developed a strong interest in Islamology, under the influence of Étienne Gilson, whose course on Latin Avicennism in the Middle Ages he took at the École pratique des Hautes Études (Vth section). A graduate in scholastic and general philosophy, with diplomas from the École pratique des Hautes Études and the École des langues orientales, librarian at the Bibliothèque Nationale, friend of, among othe…
Correggio, Giovanni da
(1,523 words)
Correggio, Giovanni da, * ca. 1451? (Bologna)?, † after 1503 (place unknown) Apocalyptic prophet and hermetic messiah. We know about Correggio's activities from an anonymous “Epistola Enoch” and three dedicatory epistles written by his pupil → Lodovico Lazzarelli, and from scattered references in the works of contemporaries, including the famous abbot → Johannes Trithemius. Correggio's year of birth cannot be established with any certainty: all we know is that Lazzarelli describes him as being ‘about thirty…
Correspondences
(3,251 words)
1. Introduction The idea that reality consists of multiple “levels” which in some manner mirror one another is extremely widespread in all traditional societies: it is basic to the various → divinatory arts, → magic, and → astrology; but can also be found e.g. in the architectural design of premodern villages, cities, temples and court complexes; in the ways that the orders of gods, angels or demons are imagined; in systems of → number symbolism; and in various cosmologies, including notions of th…
Court de Gébelin, Antoine
(1,390 words)
Court de Gébelin, Antoine (Antoine Court), * 1725 (near Nimes), † 12 May 1784 (Paris) Son of a pioneer of Protestant restoration in France, Antoine Court (1695-1760), Court is a figure typical of the late European Enlightenment. He lived in Lausanne until 1763, when he moved to Paris. In Switzerland he associated with Charles Bonnet and Isaac Iselin. The latter maintained relations with → Lavater and → Kirchberger, and was a member, like Court and Johannes Rudolf Frey, of the Economic Society of Bern; his theo…
Crowley, Aleister
(5,786 words)
Crowley, Aleister (born Edward Alexander), * 12 Jan 1875 (Leamington), † 1 Jan 1947 (Hastings) One of the main figures in the history of English occultism [→ occult / occultism]. Despite his bad reputation and the controversies that have marked his life, his ideas have heavily influenced contemporary new religious movements of a magical [→ Magic] and neo-pagan bent [→ Neopaganism]. Crowley has left an enormous literary output, including almost any genre: from poetry and fiction to essay and autobiography. Apar…
Cryptography
(3,150 words)
1. Introduction Cryptography in the context of Western esotericism can be understood simply as a means to preserve the confidentiality of a message (as in 18th-century → Freemasonry, which used ciphers deprived of any specific magical meanings as a means of communication). In its more specific sense, however, it aims at establishing a contact between the earthly realm and the heavenly one. Angels and men are supposed to use cryptography, understood in this sense, as a medium enabling them to achie…
Cudworth, Ralph
(1,505 words)
Cudworth, Ralph, * 1617 (Aller (Somerset)), † 26 Jun 1688 (Cambridge) Cudworth was the leading philosopher of the group known as the Cambridge Platonists. He was born in Aller, Somerset, in 1617, the third son of Ralph Cudworth († 1624). He was educated at Emmanuel College, where he was elected to a fellowship in 1635. His contemporaries at the college included many of the Cambridge Platonists: Benjamin Whichcote, John Smith, Peter Sterry, Nathaniel Culverwell. Cudworth's friends at Emmanuel included Samue…
Cusa, Nicholas of
(2,560 words)
Cusa, Nicholas of (Niklaus Krebs), * 1401 (Kues), † 11 Aug 1464 (Todi) Born in 1401 in Kues, a small village on the banks of the Moselle not far from Trier, Nicolas Krebs studied the liberal arts at Heidelberg, law at Padua and theology at Cologne. He played an important part in the Council of Basel, which he joined in 1432 as a member of the conciliar party. This party considered the Pope to possess supreme authority in the Church, but to be nonetheless subject to the general Council, which better represent…