Wouter J. Hanegraaff

Wouter J. Hanegraaff is a Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. He has been instrumental in establishing Western Esotericism as a legitimate and rigorous academic field.

Core Methodology: Hanegraaff advocates for a 'discursive' approach that avoids the pitfalls of 'perennialism' and 'religionism'. His 2022 monograph, Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination, revolutionizes the understanding of the Hermetica by demonstrating that these texts were experiential manuals designed to induce altered states of knowledge, rather than mere theoretical philosophy.