Selected Book Chapters, Articles, and Papers
Articles and Recent Keynote Addresses:
“Schmitt, Modernity, and the Secret Roads Inward,” Telos, 148(Fall 2009): 28-38.
“Secession and American Federalism,” Modern Age 49(Summer 2007)3: 304-315 See also www.vermontrepublic.org/secession_and_american_federalism
Keynote Address, “The New Heresies,” with Alexander Cockburn, at the Battle of Ideas, London, Royal College of Art, 28 October, 2007.
See www.fora.tv/2007/10/28/Battle_of_Ideas_New_Heresies
Keynote Address, “Blake, Esotericism, and Literary Criticism 1948-2007,” William Blake Symposium, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 2 November, 2007
See www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/history/news-events/Blake.pdf
“Mining Water in the Desert,” December 12, 2007 in Counterpunch, www.counterpunch.org/verluis12072007.html
“Mysticism and Politics: Contemplative Life in a Chaotic World,” Lecture at the Temenos Academy, London, England. June 6, 2007.
“The Rootless Global Market,” in The American Conservative, 6(4 June 2007)11: 33-35
“Crusade for Consumerism: Inquisitional Pathology and the Bush, Jr. Administration”
“Antimodernism,” in Telos 137 (2006): 96-130.
“The Gnostic Narratives of Bernadette Roberts,” Studies in Spirituality 16 (2006): 1-8.
“The Revolutionary Conservatism of Jefferson’s ‘Small Republics,’” Modern Age 47 (2006) 1: 4-17.
“Carl Schmitt, the Inquisition, and Totalitarianism,” in Esoterica, VII (2005): 39-51.
“Antignosticism and the Origins of Totalitarianism,” Telos 124(2003): 173-182
“What is Esoteric? Method in the Study of Western Esotericism,” Esoterica, IV (2002): 1-15
“The Mystery of Böhme’s Ungrund,” Studies in Spirituality (11(2001): 205-211
“Western Esotericism and Consciousness,” The Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7(2000)6: 20-33
“The Red Thread of Gnosis,” Studies in Spirituality 9(1999): 5-12 [lead article out of 14 articles]
“Western Esotericism and the Harmony Society,” in Esoterica, I:i: 20-47, at http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/
“Christian Theosophy and Gnosticism,” Studies in Spirituality, 7(1997): 228-241
“Ficino’s Garden,” Parabola, 20 (1995) 4: 68-71
“The Alchemy of Art,” Alexandria, 3 (1995): 23-39
“Bronson Alcott and Jacob Böhme,” Studies in the American Renaissance, 16 (1993), Joel Myerson, ed., pp. 153-159
“Mysticism and Spiritual Harmonics in Eighteenth Century England,” Alexandria: A Journal of the Western Cosmological Traditions, II (1993): 183-194
“Printing, Memory, and the Loss of the Celestial,” Alexandria, II (1993): 205-214
“The Wheel of Traditional Education,” Educational Considerations, 19(Spring, 1992)2:26-28
“‘Gnosticism’ Ancient and Modern,” Alexandria I(1991): 307-320
“The Canon Debate Solv’d—A Modest Solution,” The University Bookman, 31(December 1991)4:4-10
“Piers Plowman, Numerical Composition, and the Prophecies,” Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate, I(July-December, 1991)2: 103-139
“From Transcendentalism to Universal Religion: Samuel Johnson’s Orientalism,” American Transcendental Quarterly, 5(June, 1991)2:109-123
“Cecil Collins and the Esoteric,” in Versluis, et al., eds., Esotericism, Art, and Imagination, (East Lansing: MSU Press, 2008).
“Sexual Mysticism in Nineteenth-century America: John Humphrey Notes, Thomas Lake Harris, and Alice Bunker Stockham,” in Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in Western Esotericism, W. Hanegraaff and J. Kripal, eds., forthcoming.
“The ‘Occult’ in Nineteenth-century America,” lead article in Cathy Gutierrez, ed., The Occult in Nineteenth-century America, (Denver: Davis, 2005), 1-29.
“Magical Fiction” in Ésotérisme, Gnoses and Imaginaire Symbolique: Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre, (Leuven: Peeters, 2001): 713-734.
“The Waters Under the Earth,” in Writing on Water, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001): 81-88.
“Alchemy and Christian Theosophic Literature,” in Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, A. Faivre and W. Hanegraaff, eds., (Leuven: Peeters, 1998), pp. 131-144
“Christian Theosophic Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” in R. van den Broek and W. Hanegraaff, eds., Gnosis and Hermeticism: From Antiquity to Modern Times, (Albany: SUNY, 1997), 217-236
Encyclopedia Articles:
Encyclopedia entries in W. Hanegraaff, ed., Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, (Brill: 2005); my entries include Franz von Baader, Antoinette Bourignon, Johann Georg Gichtel, William Law, Jane Leade, Pierre Poiret, John Pordage, and Leopold Ziegler—more than one hundred pages.
“Transcendentalism” in the Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century, (New York: Scribners, 2001) III.290-293
Selected Book Reviews:
Review of Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World (Oxford UP, 2004), in Esoterica VIII (2005): 186-190
Review of Cyril O’Regan, Gnostic Return in Modernity (SUNY, 2001) and Gnostic Apocalypse: Jacob Boehme’s Haunted Narrative (SUNY 2002) in Journal of the American Academy of Religion, (Summer, 2003): 712-714. This was a review invited by the editor of JAAR.
Review of Victorian Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets, (Harvard UP, 2002) in Esoterica, V(2003): 221-222.
Christopher Bamford, Voice of the Eagle, (Lindisfarne: 2001) reviewed in Parabola, 26(2001)3: 130-133
Steven Wasserstrom's Religion After Religion: Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos, (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1999) in Esoterica III(2001): 288-292
Russell Hvolbek's Mysticism and Experience, (Lanham: UPA, 1998) in Esoterica III(2001): 293-294
Antoine Faivre, The Eternal Hermes: From Greek God to Alchemical Magus, (Grand Rapids: Phanes, 1995) reviewed in Parabola 24(1999)1: 120-124
Brian Gibbons, Gender and Mysticism in Mystical and Occult Thought, (Cambridge UP: 1996) reviewed in Esoterica I(1999)i:242-243
Jean Servier, ed., Dictionnaire critique de L'Ésotérisme, (Presses Universitaires du France: 1998) reviewed in Esoterica I(1999)i:246-247
Andrew Weeks, Boehme: An Intellectual Biography, and German Mysticism reviewed in Alexandria 3(1995): 453-454
Cecil Collins, The Vision of the Fool and Other Essays, (Ipswich, Golgonooza: 1994), reviewed in Parabola, XXII:2 (Summer, 1995): 114-116.
Antoine Faivre, Jacob Needleman, eds., Modern Esoteric Spirituality, (New York: Crossroads, 1993), in the Journal of Religion, University of Chicago, 75 (July 1995)3:423-425
Henryk Skolimowski, A Sacred Place to Dwell, reviewed in Parabola, XIX(Summer, 1994)2:100-104
Ronald Jager, Eighty Acres: Elegy for a Family Farm, reviewed in The University Bookman, 32 (1992)4: 7-11
Basarab Nicolescu, Science, Meaning, and Evolution: The Cosmology of Jacob Böhme, (New York: Parabola, 1991), reviewed in ARIES, (Association pour la Recherche et l’Information sur l’Esotérisme), Paris, No. 16 (1993): 94-95
Wendell Berry, Remembering, (San Francisco: North Point P, 1989), reviewed in Temenos, 11 (Spring, 1990): 261-263
Papers:
“The Religious Dimensions of 1968 and the Counter-culture,” Telos Symposium, New York University, New York City, 20 January 2008 [For audio, click here]
Keynote address, “Blake, Esotericism, and Literary Criticism 1948-2007,” William Blake Symposium, Goldsmiths College, University of London, November, 2007
Keynote address, “The New Heresies,” with Alexander Cockburn, “Battle of Ideas,” Institute of Ideas, Royal College of Art, London, England, October, 2007
Co-organized First International Conference on Radicalism, MSU, January, 2007
“Secularity, Esotericism, and Intellectual History,” Keynote Address, International Society for Intellectual History International Conference, May 2005
“Mysticism and the Study of Western Esotericism,” Mysticism Section, American Academy of Religion Conference, November 2003
“Jacob Böhme and the Kabbalah,” Western Esotericism Section, International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Durban, South Africa, August, 2000.
“The Death of American Agriculture,” Biannual National Conference, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment,” June 5, 1999, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“Seventeenth Century Christian Theosophy in England, France, Germany, and North America,” American Academy of Religion Conference, Orlando, Florida, November, 1998
“The Esoteric Origins of American Transcendentalism,” American Literature Association, American Renaissance Conference, Cancun, Mexico, 12 December, 1997
“The Hermetic Origins of American Transcendentalist ‘Zen,’” in absentia, at the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment Conference, Missoula, Montana, July, 1997.
“The Meeting of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity in America,” Interfaith Dialogue Association Conference, October 6, 1995, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“Alchemy in Christian Theosophic Literature,” Presented at the International Association for the History of Religions, Mexico City, August 12,1995, published as “Alchemy and Christian Theosophic Literature,” in Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion, A. Faivre and W. Hanegraaff, eds., (Leuven: Peeters, 1998), pp. 131-144
“America Studies in a World Context,” America in Eastern Europe Conference, June 8, 1994, Lodz, Poland
“Native American Literature and Landscape,” Freiburg, Germany, June 18, 1994
“American Transcendentalism and the Theosophy of Jacob Böhme,” Sorbonne, Section des Sciences Religieuses, Paris, France, May 5, 1994
“Native American Literature and Visionary Narratives,” Friedrich-Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany, May 26, 1994
“American Transcendentalism and German-English Mysticism,” at Universität Heidelberg, New Light on American Transcendentalism Conference, February 4, 1994
“American Transcendentalism and Literary Colonialism,” [Chaired panel discussion] West Virginia Colloquium, West Virginia University, September 18, 1992
“In Novas Formas: Metamorphosis Ancient and Modern,” presented at the Eaton Conference on the Fantastic in Literature, Riverside California, April, 1989
“Emerson’s Vision of America,” presented at the Michigan Academy, March, 1989, Grand Valley State University
Selected Public Interviews, Talks, and Articles:
“Interview on Water Mining,” E.G. Hughes, Green Matters, Illinois Public Radio, WDBX, December 11, 2007
“Interview by Amol Rajan on New Inquisitions,” 4 November, 2007 The Independent, London, England, available at this url: www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/site/battles/1073/
“Interview with John Zerzan,” JSR: Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 2(2007)1: 155-168
Interview with Amol Rajan, The Independent, at www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/site/battles/1073/
“Mysticism and Politics,” Temenos Academy Lecture, June, 2007, London, England.
“Interview on Literature and Religion,” from New Grail
“Interview with Miguel Conner on The New Inquisitions,” webcast via Freethought Media, January, 2007
“Interview with Ian Masters on The New Inquisitions,” National Public Radio, Autumn, 2006
“Island Farm and Michigan Farming,” in Michigan Writer's Series
“Island Farm and Issues in Contemporary Family Farming,” Grand Valley State University, November, 2004
“Farming Families Must Be Included When Crafting Plans to Save Farmland,” Editorial, The Grand Rapids Press, 8 March, 2003: A11.
“Water: Public Good or Private Gain?” Counterpunch 19 January, 2004. See www.counterpunch.org
“Issues in Contemporary Family Farming,” invited talk, College of Arts & Sciences, Grand Valley State University, 30 October, 2001
“Western Esoteric Spirituality,” invited public lecture, Grail Institute, St. Paul, Minnesota, May 15, 2000
“The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance,” Lecture by invitation at the Temenos Academy, London, England, August, 1998. The hour-long lecture is available on cassette tape from Temenos Academy, 14 Gloucester Gate, London, England, NW14HG.