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INTRODUCTION
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The present volume offers an interdisciplinary collection of studies to readers
interested in the religious, philosophical and artistic aspects of initiation.
In itself, the concept of initiation (Greek nuotaywyia) presupposes that there
is an initiator, someone to be initiated, and a secret rite or knowledge—in
short, amystery—into which the elect few would be admitted and which must
not be revealed to the rest. In turn, the mystery is supposed to hide a salvific
yet incommunicable experience of the divine, which at the same time
implies the adherence to acommunity of the initiated. Initiation is thus very
personal, as it encompasses—in Christian theology at least—an encounter
with God but also involves a communal experience. Initiation is invariably
viewed as a spiritual elevation or empowerment whereby an individual has
more immediate access to what is considered to be the meaning of life, and
may attain salvation. It is, hence, a transformative event or a transfiguration,
the exact meaning of which depends on how a particular religious or
philosophical tradition understands the divine.
While in a European context, initiation is an essentially Christian idea,
not all the papers of the present volume turn to the Christian tradition for
sources. Hermetism, Neoplatonism, pre-Christian paganism and Renaissance
esotericism also find a place among the studies published here. Religion and
philosophy are not the only viewpoints adopted by our authors, however; the
section on art and literature discusses initiation as it appears in novels, short
stories, and drama as well as poetry, especially in modern European literature.
In chronological terms, the papers span late antiquity, the Middle Ages and
early modern and modern times, with a particular emphasis on late ancient,
late medieval, renaissance and contemporary authors and sources. In terms
of methodology, besides literary, historical and philosophical approaches,
some of our authors address this protean topic from an archaeological,
psychological or hermeneutical point of view.
The volume is divided into three parts concerning, respectively, religion,
philosophy, and the arts. Part 1, covering religion and spirituality, begins
with Endre Adam Hamvas’s paper on “Initiation in the Hermetica.” Getting
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