Esotericism, Mysticism, and the Politics of Transcendence in Modern Asia

Edited by Soumen Mukherjee, Toshio Akai

Publication date:

15 July 2025

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781839990427

This invaluable anthology examines histories of esotericism, mysticism and occultism in modern Asia, understood here as the period roughly stretching from the late-nineteenth through the twentieth century, and paving eventually the way for the so-called ‘New Age’. The idea of ‘histories’, in plural, has to do with the complexities of their lineages, the many pathways through which their affinities, encounters and entanglements flowed and/or developed during the period under review. The contributors hail from different disciplines – history, literature and religious studies, for instance and, in what accounts for a cutting edge of the book, provide truly multidisciplinary insights on the subject in one single volume. Their select case studies illuminate key aspects of contemporaneous socio-religious processes. They explicate how aspects of mysticism, esotericism and occultism were closely tied to wider socio-political and intellectual processes of the period that were at once transregional, even global, and frequently transcultural and/or cosmopolitan in character. Postgraduate students, research scholars and academics in general working in the fields of religious studies and/or Asian religions in modern times will find this collection to be of great interest.

Esotericism, Mysticism, and Spiritual Imaginaries in Modern Asia: An Introduction- Soumen Mukherjee (Presidency University, Kolkata) and Toshio Akai (Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe); PART I. MYSTICISM, POLITICS, AND THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY: THE SEARCH FOR ROOTS, Chapter 1. Sufism and Gandhi: A Historical Perspective- Amit Dey (University of Calcutta); Chapter 2. The Four Prisons of Man: ‘Ali Shari‘ati and the Sufi Undercurrents of a Hosseini Shi‘i- Kingshuk Chatterjee (University of Calcutta); Chapter 3. Understanding Satpanth Ismāʿīlī Identity: Transhistorical Perspectives- Hussain Jasani (Institute of Ismaili Studies, London); PART II. MODERN ESOTERICISM, THEOSOPHY, AND FLOWS ACROSS CULTURES AND RELIGIONS, Chapter 4. James Henry Cousins: Theosophy, Aesthetics, and Literary Internationalism- Sirshendu Majumdar (Bolpur College, Bolpur); Chapter 5. Mystics, Theosophists, and Vijñāna as Scientia Sacra: Gopinath Kaviraj, His Yogīs, and Their Indo-Tibetan Peregrinations- Soumen Mukherjee (Presidency University, Kolkata); Chapter 6. Jesus in India?: Interreligious Reflections on a Fascinating Claim- Jeffery D. Long (Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania); Chapter 7. Discerning the Heart of the Matter: The Christian Visions of Bede Griffiths, Henri Le Saux, and Sara Grant-Ankur Barua (University of Cambridge) and Daniel Soars (Eton College); Notes on Contributors and Editors; Index

‘This volume offers a valuable and innovative scholarly perspective on Asian esotericism, mysticism, and spiritual imaginaries within a global religious history. Critically engaging Eurocentric epistemolo-gies and moving beyond diffusionist frameworks, the essays meticulously reconstruct individual histor-ical cases, demonstrating the multi-directional nature of esoteric traditions and their complex entan-glements on a global scale.’ — Michael Bergunder, University of Heidelberg