The seminar is cancelled :MODERN ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY: BETWEEN DEVIANCE AND INNOVATION

Everyone is welcome, for more information contact Henrik Bogdan (henrik.bogdan@lir.gu.se)

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During the latter part of the 19^th century and well into the 20^th century an innovative fusion of modern occultism and Christianity emerged in the writings of authors such as Eliphas Levi, Helena P. Blavatsky, Anna B. Kingsford, James M. Pryse, Annie Besant, C. W. Leadbeater, A. E. Waite, Rudolf Steiner, Max Heindel, Corinne Heline, and many others. This development might be termed modern esoteric Christianity. The terms esotericism and occultism have often been used to classify deviant groups or ideas supposedly different from or even antagonistic towards Christianity. This paper will, however, show that this distinction is far from accurate. Core to modern esoteric Christianity are both innovative and deviant interpretation strategies used in attempts to renegotiate what true Christianity is and how the bible should be understood. This paper will explore these innovative and so called deviant renegotiations, reinterpretations and will connect them with the longer history of negotiations and interpretation strategies, in and outside Christianity, in order to historically understand what the transformation of Christianity in the form of modern esoteric Christianity represents.