Research on esotericism in Scandinavia

Authors

• Henrik Bogdan University of Gothenburg
• Olav Hammer University of Southern Denmark, Odense

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67325

Keywords:

Esotericism, Occult sciences, Secret societies, Scandinavia, Sweden, Romanticism

Abstract

The title of this paper can be understood in two senses. In the sense of ‘research on esotericism carried out by Scandinavian scholars’, the field is blossoming. Several dozen individuals, at various points in their academic careers, are pursuing research on some aspect of Western esotericism however the concept is defined. In the other conceivable sense, ‘research on Scandinavian esotericism’, the availability of academic studies is generally more limited. The purpose of the present article is to survey the state of the art of this research field, especially pertaining to esotericism in Sweden (the country we are most familiar with), and to provide a rough map of the Scandinavian-language literature, especially for the benefit of non-Scandinavian readers.