Esotericism, Mysticism and the Politics of Transcendence in Modern Asia
A novel, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary contribution that critically examines histories of esotericism,mysticism and occultism in modern Asia, paving eventually the way for the so-called ‘New Age’.
In this seminal edited collection, scholars from different fields critically examine histories of esotericism, mysticism and occultism in modern Asia, understood here as the period roughly stretching from the late nineteenth through the twentieth century, paving eventually the way for the so-called ‘New Age’.
Soumen Mukherjee (Dr. phil. 2010, University of Heidelberg) teaches History at Presidency University, Kolkata. His publications are in the fields of religious and intellectual history of modern South Asia, and include the Karim and Rosemin Karim prize-winning book two monographs: Religion, Mysticism, and Transcultural Entanglements in Modern South Asia: Towards a Global Religious History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), and Ismailism and Islam in Modern South Asia: Community and Identity in the Age of Religious Internationals (Cambridge University Press, 2017), two edited collections, and several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Toshio Akai is Professor of Humanities at Kobe Gakuin University with expertise in and publications on Theosophist activities in Ireland and India, and Irish impact on the interwar years Japanese culture. He is the co-author of The Cosmic Movement:Sources, Contexts, Impact (Ben Gurion University of the Negev Press, 2020) and other books.
