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The present volume offers an interdisciplinary collection of twenty-four
studies to readers interested in the religious, philosophical and artistic as¬
pects of initiation. In itself, the concept of initiation presupposes that there
is an initiator, someone to be initiated, and a secret rite or knowledge - in
short, a mystery - into which the elect few would be admitted and which
must not be revealed to the rest. Initiation is thus very personal, as it en¬
compasses — in Christian theology at least — an encounter with God but
also involves a communal experience.
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 Renais¬
sance esotericism also find a place among the studies published here.
Religion and philosophy are not the only viewpoints adopted by our au¬
thors, however; the section on art and literature discusses initiation as it
appears on stage, in novels, short stories, and drama as well as poetry,
especially in modem European literature.
ISBN 978-2-343-20654-7