Asprem, E. and Granholm, K. (eds) (2013) Contemporary Esotericism. Sheffield, Bristol: Equinox Publishing. - 448 p.

The study of esotericism in the West has been an institutionalized academic discipline for more than twenty years. Over the years, many studies have been published, but they all have one thing in common - these books are mainly devoted to the study of esoteric teachings of the past using the methods of historical science. This situation can be understood, because it was historicism that at one time was the main reference point for those who tried to make the study of esotericism completely scientific and objective, separating it from the concepts of "traditionalists", " perennialists "and"religionists"1. However, over time, historicism has largely turned into historicism, detached from the study of the present or understanding this present as just a continuation of the past, which has no independent value. The authors of the collective monograph "Modern Esotericism"call for a revision of this state of affairs.

It is symbolic that this monograph was published by the Anglo-American publisher Equinox in a completely new series Gnostica: Texts and Interpretations, founded in 2012. This is probably not a simple coincidence, because the authors claim to be innovative in their field. Indeed, the oldest and most authoritative European publishing house Brill has been publishing the series "Texts and Studies on Western Esotericism" since 2006, and the New York University Press (SUNY-Press) has been publishing the series "Western Esoteric Traditions" since 1993. However, most of the research published in these well-known publishing houses was created within the framework of the same paradigm of historicism, beyond which the authors of this monograph are trying to go. It is also characteristic that of the eighteen European and American authors who have contributed to the book, only seven are professors, the rest are masters, postgraduates, assistants and junior researchers, in other words, young scientists, like the editors of the book themselves. Who, if not young researchers, can claim to be able to-

1. See about it, for example: Hanegraaf V. Ya. Western esotericism: the next generation / / Aliter. 2012. N 1. p. 7-23.

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to make a "revolution" in the scientific discipline?

The essence of this upheaval is that editors are calling on the academic community to face the present "face the wind, "as the founder of the Annals school, Lucien Fevre 2, once put it. To do this, in their opinion, it is necessary, first of all, to actively introduce the methods of sociology and other social sciences into the study of esotericism, so that "esoteriology" becomes a truly interdisciplinary and relevant form of knowledge. From the authors ' point of view, this is also important because the study of esotericism still remains a marginal occupation, existing somewhere on the periphery of "normal" science, without having a worthy place even within the framework of religious studies. However, not only can the study of esotericism benefit from active interaction with other humanities and social sciences, but these sciences themselves can in turn be enriched with new facts and ideas. Similarly, not only can the history of esotericism be redefined through an appeal to modernity, but the very understanding of modernity can be reinterpreted through a connection with the history of esotericism. Thus, the authors ' goal turns out to be even more global - to influence the state of modern humanities and change the perception of modernity as such.

To fulfill their tasks, the authors consider a variety of topics, referring to various esoteric traditions and "discourses" (this vague term is especially often found on the pages of the book, obviously symbolizing the very "relevance" and "interdisciplinarity"). The book consists of four sections. The first of them is called " Tradition "and is devoted to the analysis of the construction of the esoteric tradition, based on the material of Satanism," Chaos Magic "and the ideology of"Afrocentrism". Based on the well-known works of Eric Hobsbawm3 and Benedict Anderson4, the authors conclude that esoteric traditions are mostly "invented", and esoteric communities are not. -

2. Fevr L. Facing the wind// Fevr L. Fighting for history, Moscow: Nauka Publishing House, 1991, pp. 39-48.

3. Hobsbawm, E. and Ranger, T. (ed.) (1983) The Invention of Tradition. London: Cambridge University Press.

4. Anderson, B. R. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections On The Origin And Spread Of Nationalism, London: Verso.

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"imaginary" ones. At the same time, the" invention of traditions "is necessary to legitimize various innovations in the field of esoteric" discourse"; to combat this discourse with the" big polemical narrative " that pushes esotericism to the margins of European culture; and also to have a suggestive impact on the participants of esoteric communities.

The second section of the book is called "Popular Culture and New Media". This section covers such fascinating topics as the existence of esoteric communities on-line (on the example of Satanism); the use of the Internet in esoteric practices (on the example of "astral projections" performed in a virtual environment); the survival of esotericism in the context of "information wars" (on the material of Scientology); the mutual influence of esotericism and " culture a conspiracy." The main thesis of this section is that esoteric culture loses its status as a subculture or counterculture and becomes an integral part of mass culture.

The third part of the monograph - "Esoteric Transfers" - is devoted to the influence of esoteric culture on other spheres of society, as well as their mutual interweaving. Here you can find articles about the relationship between esotericism and science (on the example of "transhumanism" and "deep ecology"), politics (on the material of the "new right" movement) and literature (a unique and provocative comparison of New Age mentality and fundamentalism on the material of "The Book of the Warrior of Light" by Paulo Coelho and" The Book of the Mujahideen " by Shamil Basayev)..

Finally, the last section - "Crossing Borders" - attempts a sociological examination of esotericism. This includes a study on the social distribution of belief in the paranormal in the West; the results of a "field study" of esoteric practices at a Swedish provincial medical center; a study of the role of children in modern esotericism (using the example of "indigo children"); a review of works on "gender and esotericism"; and, finally, an article by the coryphaeus of esoterology Wouter Hanegraaf's "Enthiogenic Esotericism", which analyzes the connection between esotericism and the"psychedelic revolution".

As you can see, the monograph is built very logically, all sections are connected by the principle of expanding the perspective: from the study of the construction of traditions within esotericism, through the analysis of communication

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esotericism with mass culture and other spheres of social life, to a sociological understanding of the phenomenon. Thus, "esoterology" seems to gradually fit into the broader and broader context of modern social knowledge. Each section is also structured according to a very clear scheme: the first article offers a methodological and theoretical framework for interpreting certain problems, and all subsequent articles address specific empirical material, "dissecting" it using the stated methods, concepts and categories. Thus, despite the many diverse and seemingly unrelated topics, the monograph turned out to be quite complete, representing a kind of truly interdisciplinary "polyphonic unity", which is also based on numerous mutual references.

However, did the authors manage to achieve their goal and change their ideas about esotericism and its role in culture, modernity and the humanities in general? It is difficult to give a definite answer to this question. On the one hand, there is really a lot of new, interesting and provocative things in the choice of topics and methods of their analysis. The curious reader will find many fascinating stories and unexpected interpretations in the book. On the other hand, reading many articles leaves a sense of understatement. Some texts are too descriptive and are not accompanied by any real analysis, limiting themselves only to its visibility, which is created by using various fashionable terms (especially "discourse", "narrative" and their derivatives). Such works include, for example, Daniel Kline's article "New Children: Indigo Children and New Age Discourse" and Jacob Senholt's work on the adaptation of esoteric discourse in the far-right movement. Perhaps the superficial nature of these texts is due to the fact that the authors only recently received a master's degree and are aspiring scientists. Alas, the same can be said about the study of the luminary of esoteriology Wouter Hanegraaf "Enthiogenic Esotericism", which introduces an allegedly innovative concept of a new type of esotericism, which nevertheless captures the long - known mutual influence of the psychedelic counterculture of the 60s-70s and various esoteric movements. Dru-

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some texts are clearly of an overview nature: a review of occult sites on the Internet, a review of scientific works on gender aspects of esotericism, a review of conspiracy media materials, etc. In this sense, this work is unlikely to make a significant contribution to the development of the methodology of the humanities, since it does not use the potential of even traditional methods.

An undoubted achievement of the book is an attempt to link esoteric research with the most debated modern religious studies topics, primarily with the debates about the "secular" and "post-secular", to which two whole articles are devoted: "Discursive Transfers and Reconfigurations: The Religious and Esoteric in Secular Culture" by Kokku von Stukrad (pp. 226-244) and "The Secular, post-secular and Esoteric in the Public sphere" by Kenneth Granholm (pp. 309-330). They analyze in some detail the various concepts of "secular" and "post-secular". But most importantly, it is within the framework of this topic that it becomes clear that the study of esotericism can really make a contribution to the overall development of religious studies and other humanities, using their theoretical arsenal. The authors of both articles clearly show that the process of modernization and secularization did not at all lead to the displacement of religious phenomena from the main stream of social processes. On the contrary, the example of esotericism and occultism makes it clear that the so-called secularization became a catalyst for their development, contributing rather to the flourishing of "occultism" (the term of one of the authors of the book - Christopher Partridge, see pp. 113-134); rather than its suppression. The authors believe that the analysis of the development of esotericism in modern and postmodern society is a strong argument in favor of rejecting too one-sided understanding of secularization as a process of gradual" withdrawal " of religion from the public sphere. The occult revival and even a kind of "occult explosion" rather indicate that secularization is a multidimensional and complex process in which religious phenomena do not disappear, but are transformed, which is, in the authors ' view, the essence of the "post-secular" approach to secularization.

Thus, despite the different quality of articles, the result of reading the book is quite a complete picture, based on

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based on an abundance of facts and modern theoretical constructions. It rather convincingly expresses the main provocative idea of the book: esotericism is modern, and modernity is esoteric. The authors of the book believe that modern culture is "occult"; the modern world is an esoteric world; Western civilization, having ceased to be Christian, has not become completely rationalistic, it is an occult civilization. Whether this is true or not is for the reader to judge, but we can safely say that without studying esotericism, it is impossible to fully understand what we call "modernity".

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