Conference: Religion, Nature & Progress

The program of the conference Religion, Nature, and Progress (23-26 July at the University of Amsterdam) is now available online. The extensive program includes several papers which deal particularly with issues of Western esotericism:

- William R. Newman, Indiana University (USA): "Isaac Newton and the Perfecting of Nature" (keynote lecture);
- Nina Witoszek, University of Oslo (Norway): "Leonardo da Vinci Our Contemporary? The 'Other' Renaissance and Its Views on Religion and Progress" (keynote lecture);
- Egil Asprem, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands): "Utopia and the Paranormal: Degeneration and Progress in the Parapsychology of William McDougall and J. B. Rhine";
- Patrick Curry, University of Kent (UK): "Enchantment and the Paradox of Progress";
- Michael York, Bath Spa University (UK): "Full of Sound and Fury; Signifying Nothing: Earth Religion and the Experiential";
- Colin Campbell, York University (UK): "The Easternization of the West and the Rehabilitation of Nature" (keynote lecture);
- Graham Harvey, Open University (UK): "Progressive Animism: Sustaining Diversity among the Co-Creators of the World" (keynote lecture);
- Eric Katz, New Jersey Institute of Technology (USA): "The Paradox of Pro-gress: Domination and Autonomy" (keynote lecture).

The Conference Book (complete with introduction, paper abstracts, maps, etc.) will be available online on Friday, 17 July. Online registration for the conference is open until 21 July 2009, either for the entire conference or for a single day.

Conference: Hermes in the Academy

How time flies! It is already ten years ago that the Chair for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents was founded at the University of Amsterdam. During the last decade, the chair has made a considerable contribution to the field of study by setting up a BA- and MA-trajectory on the history of Western Esotericism, by publishing the succesfull Aries journal and book series in cooperation with Brill Academic Publishers, by organizing numerous conferences and by stimulating the foundation of ESSWE. Not to mention the many publications produced by the chair's research team...
To mark this milestone, the chair will host a conference on the theme of Hermes in the Academy on 28th August 2009 in Amsterdam, and will also present a book on the subject.
More information and the full program are available at the chair's website. Please note that early registration is required.