New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought

«During the 1980s, and continuing into the 1990s, there has been much talk in western society about the New Age movement. The term "New Age" has entered the standard vocabulary in discussions about ideas and practices regarded as alternative vis a vis dominant cultural trends, especially if these ideas and practices seem to be concerned with "spirituality". In spite of the popularity of the term, its actual content remains extremely vague.» — el punto de partida: el término circula sin contenido estable, y Hanegraaff atribuye la vaguedad a que el New Age no es una organización identificable.

«The initial fact about the "New Age" is that it concerns a label attached indiscriminately to whatever seems to fit it, on the basis of what are essentially pre-reflective intuitions. As a result, the New Age means very different things to different people.» — la etiqueta se aplica por intuiciones pre-reflexivas.

«My purpose will be to characterize and delineate the New Age movement on the basis of an analysis and interpretation of its implicit structure of beliefs.» — el propósito declarado, que es analizar la estructura implícita de creencias.

«defining the term "New Age" is a necessary condition for finding out how it may be understood. That this apparent paradox is not insurmountable» — la paradoja metodológica que el libro se plantea: hay que definir el término antes de poder averiguar cómo entenderlo.

«First, there are the products of journalistic activity. New Age frequently attracts the attention of the media, and this has given rise to a proliferation of information. The popular image of the New Age among outsiders is largely based on these sources, which have an inherent proclivity to the sensational and the controversial and seldom attempt to go beyond the surface aspects of the movement.» — primera de las cinco categorías de literatura que censa: el periodismo, con inclinación a lo sensacional.

«there are many publications written from the perspective of religiously committed outsiders, almost always of a Christian persuasion3. This body of texts is extremely diversified both in general approach and in quality. We find here the whole gamut between attempts at a serious theological dialogue between the churches and the New Age on the one hand, and extremely hostile attempts to unmask the movement as satanic on the other.» — segunda categoría: los cristianos comprometidos, entre el diálogo teológico y la denuncia satánica.

«A third category of literature is written from the "skeptical" point of view. In the U.S.A., this perspective has been represented since 1976 by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) which has its own publishing firm and runs a popular magazine» — tercera: los escépticos, con el CSICOP fundado en 1976 como su representante estadounidense.

«Only nominally committed to scientific research, skeptics have in fact concentrated on influencing the popular media7. They have extended their attention from claims of the paranormal to alternative religious views and tend to criticize religion in general on the basis of a secular-humanistic ideology.» — y el juicio que hace de esa tercera categoría: influye en los medios más que investiga, y critica la religión desde una ideología secular-humanista.

«we could add a fourth one consisting of studies in which New Age is studied less in itself than as an illustration of sociological theories; and a fifth consisting of literature written from New Age perspectives.» — cuarta y quinta categorías: el New Age como ilustración de teorías sociológicas, y la literatura escrita desde dentro.

«in the overwhelming majority of writings the subject has been approached from strongly committed religious or ideological positions, and that scholarly standards of research have seldom been observed. If we look for serious scholarly studies written from a detached point of view, we find comparatively few10. It is this unsatisfactory situation which has provided the motivation for the present study.» — el balance del campo y el motivo declarado del libro.

«There exists a marked lack of (1) in-depth analyses of the worldviews and theologies of alternative movements11 and (2) a historical perspective on their origins and cultural background» — las dos lagunas que imputa a la investigación sobre movimientos religiosos nuevos.

«I will look at the New Age movement from the perspective of the history of (religious) ideas. An effort will be made to put the movement into its proper historical context, as a necessary presupposition for adequately interpreting its worldview and theology.» — la perspectiva que adopta: historia de las ideas religiosas, con el contexto histórico como presupuesto de la interpretación.

«considerable attention will be given to certain religious traditions in western culture which have largely been neglected by historians of ideas and of religion.» — y el compromiso con las tradiciones descuidadas, que es lo que la Tercera Parte cumple.

«As a matter of principle, sociological and anthropological research methods, like interview or participation techniques, have not been used.» — la restricción a fuentes escritas, declarada como principio.

«This is not because these methods are regarded as less important. Quite the reverse: they are essential for a complete view of the New Age movement in which all its different aspects and dimensions are taken into account. The aims of the present study, however, are more modest.» — con su límite dicho en la misma plana: los métodos sociológicos no se descartan por menores, sino por ambición del estudio.

«the choice to work from an analysis of written sources was in no way inspired by a conviction that researchers should remain clinically detached from their subjects. No chance has been left unused to get to know the New Age as well as possible, including frequent contacts and discussions with adherents and sympathizers as well as occasional participation in New Age activities.» — y la aclaración de que la restricción no es distancia clínica: hubo trato y participación ocasional.

«my arguments and discussions will refer to the written sources alone, and will have to justify themselves without recourse to other kinds of infor» — la regla que se impone, aun así: el argumento se justifica solo por las fuentes escritas.

«The empirical study of religions can be distinguished from theological, positivist-reductionist or religionist approaches by its practice of permanent epoche (suspension of normative judgment), also known as method» — la definición del enfoque empírico por la epoché permanente.

«According to the positivist-reductionist approach, the religious views under study are delusions. This view (represented in the case of New Age research by the skeptical literature) rests on an ideological foun» — y lo que le imputa al enfoque positivista-reduccionista, que adjudica a la literatura escéptica.

«the empirical approach to the study of religions holds that it is impossible to answer the question of ultimate religious or metaphysical truth on scientific grounds, and that it cannot therefore be the business of the researcher to adjudicate on the validity of the believer's truth.» — el núcleo del método: la verdad metafísica última no se decide por vía científica, y el investigador no arbitra sobre la verdad del creyente.

«it is sometimes suggested by adherents of the "religionistic" approach that the empirical mode of research is itself reductionist or positivist, because it adopts an agnostic position with regard to ultimate questions and restricts itself to what can be objectively asserted by scientific and scholarly means. This is a misunderstanding of both the» — la objeción religionista que recoge —que el método empírico sería reduccionista— y su respuesta, que la llama malentendido.

«this criticism fails to recognize that the empirical approach is inspired by the wish to do full justice to the integrity of the believer's worldview, to an extent which is not possible for positivist-reductionists.» — su argumento contra esa objeción: el método empírico busca hacer justicia a la integridad de la visión del creyente.

«The information offered by empirical research can assist in discarding incorrect perceptions among outsiders (resulting from lack of familiarity with the religion in question), but it may also unveil aspects of that religion which are unknown and surprising (and not necessarily welcome) to the believers themselves.» — lo que el método puede dar a los de fuera y lo que puede quitarle al creyente, dicho en la misma frase.

«In view of the heated but often poorly informed controversies surrounding the New Age movement and its religious views, empirical research certainly has an important mission to fulfill.» — la misión que le adjudica al método empírico en esta controversia concreta.

«The principal theoretical tool to safeguard scientific legitimacy in this situation is the distinction between emic and etic» — la herramienta que sostiene la legitimidad del método.

«An accurate presentation of the religion under study as expressed by the believers themselves must be the basis of research. On the part of the researcher, the reconstruction of this emic perspective requires an attitude of empathy which excludes personal biases as far as possible.» — la reconstrucción de lo emic y la empatía que exige.

«Scholarly discourse about religion, on the other hand, is not emic but etic. This means that it may involve types of language, distinctions, theories, and interpretive models which are considered appropriate by scholars on their own terms. Scholars may introduce their own terminology and make theoretical distinctions which are different from those of the believers themselves.» — y la contraparte etic: el investigador puede introducir su propia terminología.

«The structure of this study reflects the order in which the actual research was done. First, a representative sample of New Age literature was analyzed in detail; the results of this descriptive analysis make up Parts One and Two of the book. Second, an attempt was made to interpret the material of Parts One and Two from a historical perspective, in order to reach a comprehensive view of the nature of New Age religion25. This concluding synthesis is presented in Part Three.» — la estructura del libro declarada como orden de la investigación: análisis descriptivo primero, interpretación histórica después.

«the systematic (re)construction of a historical context for interpretation was deliberately undertaken after the analytic part had been concluded, in order to minimize the risk of the interpretative context influencing the analysis—or even the choice of sources—» — y por qué en ese orden: para que el contexto interpretativo no contaminara el análisis ni la elección de fuentes.

«I will take care to present my research in such a way as to make it evident to the reader at each point whether it is the New Age movement or the present author whose opinions are being expressed.» — el compromiso de deslinde de voces que el libro se impone en nota, y que esta ficha sigue al repartir sus secciones.

«The use of the term "New Age Religion" is not meant in any way as a premature statement about the measure of internal coherence of the New Age movement (such as would be implied by speaking about "The New Age religion", which is not done here» — la advertencia sobre el propio título: llamarlo religión New Age no adelanta ningún juicio sobre su coherencia interna.

«Because my complete argument will rest on the representative value of the written sources selected for analysis, the criteria used for selection are crucial to the whole endeavour.» — el peso que carga la selección de fuentes.

«we are not dealing with the relatively comfortable situation of a religious movement the boundaries of which can be defined beforehand on the basis of normative doctrines, generally recognized leaders, and organizational structures or common practices.» — y por qué la selección es difícil: el New Age no tiene doctrina normativa, líderes reconocidos ni estructura.

«What is required is a dialectical approach which starts with a well-founded but sufficiently inclusive preliminary demarcation while allowing for adjustments in the course of the research process.» — la salida que propone: demarcación preliminar inclusiva, ajustable sobre la marcha.

«The first approach would imply that we start discussing the New Age movement as if no problem of definition exists. The second approach would entail the paradox of studying "specific examples" of a movement yet to be defined. Starting with a definition, finally, would mean defining the New Age before investigating it.» — el diagnóstico de los tres métodos estándar aplicados a este caso.

«we may therefore start with a preliminary demarcation of the New Age movement provided it is sufficiently inclusive» — la conclusión operativa del rodeo metodológico.

«It is not impossible that the results of this analysis will lead to the conclusion that some materials which were included first will have to be excluded from the field of "New Age" later.» — el carácter revisable de la demarcación, dicho en las dos direcciones.

«It is in defining the boundaries of the New Age, then, rather than its core, that we encounter difficulties.» — dónde está la dificultad: en los bordes, no en el núcleo.

«Nor do we need to draw the radical conclusion that "anything goes" in the sense that any use of the term is equally valid.» — y el límite que le pone al relativismo de la etiqueta.

«If M. Gorbachev's political reforms in the former Sovjet Union are hailed by some New Age-believers as a sign of the corning of the New Age, and Gorbachev himself as the chosen instrument of higher powers, this must be noted as part of New Age beliefs31. It would obviously be an error, however, to infer from this that we need to study Gorbachev's bestselling book Perestrojka as a statement of New Age doctrine.» — el primer ejemplo del criterio de exclusión: que algunos creyentes New Age saluden a Gorbachov como instrumento de poderes superiores es dato del New Age, no razón para estudiar la Perestroika como doctrina.

«ESOTERICISM IN THE MIRROR OF SECULAR THOUGHT BY WOUTER J. HANEGRAAFF E.J. BRILL LEIDEN» — la portada, que da el subtítulo, el autor y el sello.

«New Age religion and Western culture : esotericism in the mirror of secular thought / by Wouter J. Hanegraaff.» — la ficha de la Library of Congress, en la página de derechos.

«Studies in the history of religions, ISSN 0169-8834; v. 72» — la serie en que el volumen aparece; el troceo no imprime en ningún sitio la denominación Numen Book Series.

«ISBN 90-04-10695-2 Gewebe ISBN 90-04-10696-0 kart.» — los dos ISBN, en la ficha alemana de la Deutsche Bibliothek: encuadernado y en rústica.

«This research was supported by the Foundation for Research in the Field of Philosophy and Theology in the Netherlands, which is subsidized by the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Research (NWO).» — el financiamiento declarado en la página de derechos; el volumen no se declara en ninguna parte tesis doctoral.

«Denn die einen sind im Dunkel Und die andern sind im Licht Und man siehet die im Lichte Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht Bertold Brecht, Dreigroschenoper» — el epígrafe del volumen, en alemán y sin traducir, con la atribución tal como la imprime la plana.

«my attention was drawn by a book on "gnosticism", written by Hans Jonas, and I asked my father (a theologian) what this word meant. I do not remember his explanation, but I do recall a vague feeling of fascination.» — el prefacio narra el origen del interés del autor en una escena de infancia ante un libro de Hans Jonas.

«I stumbled across a book, the title of which claimed that "the third component" (besides "faith" and "reason") of the European cultural tradition consisted in something which the editor referred to as "gnosis".» — y el hallazgo que da la pregunta rectora: la gnosis como tercer componente de la tradición cultural europea, junto a la fe y la razón.

«I had been frustrated for some years by the fact that the Christian faith of my upbringing and the rationalism dominant in western culture and society were unable to account for my conviction that music, art, and literature—my principal interests at the time—dealt in some sort of "truth" rather than merely in "beauty".» — la frustración de la que sale la pregunta, en la voz autobiográfica del prefacio.

«this particular manifestation of the "third component" is conspicuously lacking in artistic sensitivity. This conclusion is irrelevant to the argument of my book, which restricts itself to empirical and historical questions» — el juicio privado que el prefacio declara y aparta: la espiritualidad New Age le parece falta de sensibilidad artística, y el autor advierte que eso no entra en el argumento del libro.

«Many people have helped me during the years in which this book was written, and their support has taken various forms.» — el arranque de los agradecimientos, que dan una lista de nombres en orden alfabético.

«In addition, I want to mention all my colleagues at the Faculty of Theology, Utrecht University, and especially those with whom I had the pleasure to share room 1014b while working on this book. And finally I want to mention three more people: my parents, and Hester Munniksma, for reasons best known to them. Cliche or not, the truth is that without them this book could not have been written.» — el cierre de los agradecimientos, que sitúa la escritura en la Facultad de Teología de la Universidad de Utrecht.

«The trouble with most writings on the new ... religious groups is that their authors seem to have forgotten, or never learned, history» — la reprimenda es de Zwi Werblowsky, citada en nota.

«among the first to offer a sustained description and analysis of the religious thought of these communities without reflecting the normative bias of an apologist, an opponent, or an apostate» — el elogio a Bednarowski es de Catherine L. Albanese, en el prólogo que Hanegraaff cita en nota.

«This does not imply that a religion can only be studied in its externals, and not 'in itself ... But it does imply that a religion 'in itself can be studied only indirectly: i.e., on the basis of statements of belief, ritual actions and other religiously inspired behaviour of the believers. The meta-empirical part of a religion is as such completely outside the grasp and scope of an empirical scientist of religions. He can make no statement, affirmative or negative, about its ontological qualities: whether or not it is real and active. Nor can he pronounce on the truth-claims of a religion. He must not, therefore, introduce any prejudiced argument, or personal belief, or probability reasoning that 'proves', or tends to 'prove', any opinion which he may hold privately about religion or about a particular religion. But he must also show that the meta-empirical beings of a religion are very real to its adherents» — la formulación del agnosticismo metodológico es de Platvoet, citada en bloque; los puntos suspensivos y la comilla simple sin cerrar están en la fuente.

«Its methods of collecting data and interpreting them have a hermeneutical setting: they are operated in a two-way framework of interpretation intimately linked to the person of the investigator and necessarily involving his or her subjectivities in their operation.» — también de Platvoet: el marco hermenéutico de las humanidades, con la subjetividad del investigador dentro.

«in the absence of definitions there can be no inquiry—for it is the definition ... which designates the phenomenon to be investigated» — la tercera actitud, la que arranca por la definición, se cita de Spiro.

«The methodological error in all three approaches is that they see definition as an analytical process, whereas in fact it is usually a dialectical one.» — la crítica a los tres métodos estándar es de J.A.M. Snoek, citado en bloque; Hanegraaff anota que Snoek investiga términos etic y él creencias emic.

«Most progress in insight is often reached precisely by studying border-line cases, explicitly allowing for adjustment of the originally assumed» — el cierre del mismo bloque de Snoek, ya en la plana siguiente: el avance viene de los casos límite.

«This school subscribes to what it perceives as the "transcendent unity of religions", or to a universal core of truth to be found in all religions, and uses this as the basis for research.» — la caracterización de la escuela perennialista en estudios de la religión, en nota.

«I would rather take the risk of bringing something into the discussion that afterwards turns out to have to be excluded, than that I run the risk of missing an aspect or element. I would rather be a little too liberal, than that I am opinionated and want to know from the start what 1 can only take in in its full breadth and depth in the end.» — la preferencia por la demarcación amplia es de Van Baaren, citada en nota por Snoek y traducida ahí; el *1* por *I* es del OCR.

«Spangler claims that the New Age as represented by MacLaine and others is a degeneration of the original movement» — la disputa interna la resume Hanegraaff en nota: David Spangler tiene por degeneración el New Age de Shirley MacLaine.

«especially an American-Canadian-British-Dutch-West German-Australian-New Zealand phenomenon» — el inventario geográfico es de Michael York, citado en nota.

«Given that cultic groups have a tendency to be ephemeral and highly unstable, it is a fact that new ones are being born just as fast as the old ones die. There is a continual process of cult formation and collapse which parallels the high turnover of membership at the individual level. Clearly, therefore, cults must exist within a milieu which, if not conducive to the maintainance of individual cults, is clearly highly conducive to the spawning of cults in general. Such a generally supportive cultic milieu is continually giving birth to new cults, absorbing the debris of the dead ones and creating new generations of cult-prone individuals to maintain the high levels of membership turnover. Thus, whereas cults are by definition a largely transitory phenomenon, the cultic milieu is, by contrast, a constant feature of society. It could therefore prove more viable and illuminating to take the cultic milieu and not the individual cult as the focus of sociological concern» — la descripción del milieu cúltico es de Colin Campbell, citada en bloque y en extenso; la grafía *maintainance* es de la fuente.

«At the basis of the unifying tendencies is the fact that all these worlds share a common position as heterodox or deviant items in relation to the dominant cultural orthodoxies. This fact gives rise to a common consciousness of deviance and the need to justify their own views in the light of the expressed ridicule or hostility of the larger society. The spokesmen for the various cultic movements thus have a common cause in attacking orthodoxy and in defending individual liberty of belief and practice. Arising from this there is a prevailing orientation of mutual sympathy and support, such that the various cultic movements rarely engage in criticism of each other.» — el mismo Campbell sobre lo que unifica el milieu: la conciencia común de desviación y la causa común contra la ortodoxia.

«the fragmentary tendencies present in the milieu because of the enormous diversity of cultural items are more than counteracted by the continuing pressure to syncretization.» — el cierre del bloque de Campbell, ya en la plana siguiente: la presión sincretizante vence a la fragmentación.

«More than anything else, the cultic world is kept alive by the magazines, periodicals, books, pamphlets, lectures, demonstrations and informal meetings through which its beliefs and practices are discussed and disseminated.» — Campbell sobre las estructuras de comunicación que sostienen el milieu.

«persons who have adopted a problem-solving perspective while defining conventional religious institutions and beliefs as inadequate» — la definición de seekership que Campbell toma, según nota, de Lofland & Stark.

«possibly an attempt to unify to some extent the great diversity and amorphousness which is that milieu» — Michael York, a quien Hanegraaff acredita como de los primeros en ligar el New Age con el milieu cúltico.

«she explicitly says that it is not in fact a "movement" at all but a collection of phenomena grouped together on the basis of Wittgenstein's celebrated concept of "family resem» — Eileen Barker, en nota: lista el New Age entre los movimientos religiosos nuevos y a la vez niega que sea un movimiento.

«Wittgenstein's concept lays at the basis of the distinction between polythetic classes (i.e., classes based on family resemblance) and monothetic classes (i.e., classes based on a minimal number of required characteristics) in general classification theory.» — la distinción entre clases politéticas y monotéticas se acredita a Snoek, en la misma nota.

«it would appear as if the organizational form most typical of the cultic milieu is not the cult but the 'society of seekers'. Indeed the cult, in the form of a group offering a particularized and detailed revealed truth, represents something of an aberration from the basic principle of tolerance and eclecticism which is prevalent in the milieu in general» — Campbell otra vez: la forma típica del milieu no es el culto sino la sociedad de buscadores; los puntos suspensivos están en la fuente.

«which have adherents rather than seekers and promulgate the truth as it has already been revealed» — Campbell sobre los cultos revelatorios.

«one can no longer simply ask respondents in a straightforward manner whether they consider themselves part of the New Age» — Lewis, citado en nota, sobre la retirada de la etiqueta a principios de los noventa.

«Marilyn Ferguson's Aquarian Conspiracy can be considered the most typical expression of this development» — la nota adjudica a The Aquarian Conspiracy de Marilyn Ferguson la expresión más típica del momento en que el milieu se reconoce movimiento.

«has called attention to the important distinction between what he calls association by contiguity and association by similarity. A cluster of phenomena which are associated by contiguity do not need to be similar at all. They are associated not on the basis of shared characteristics, but on the basis of the structural or functional relationships between them, which bring them together in a single Gestalt» — el distingo entre asociación por contigüidad y por semejanza se acredita en el cuerpo a Snoek.

«Joan: I hear voices telling me what to do. They come from God. Robert: They come from your imagination. Joan: Of course. That is how the messages of God come to us. G.B. Shaw, Saint Joan» — el epígrafe del capítulo sobre la canalización, tomado de la Santa Juana de G.B. Shaw.

«oral or written communications from a deity to the world, in which the former uses a human being as medium.» — la definición de inspiración es de Th.P. van Baaren, en su disertación de 1951; los puntos suspensivos están en la fuente.

«The concept of inspiration ... indicates a form of revelation, which is ultimately based on the conception of a substantial conveyance of the divine spirit .... As immediate divine action, inspiration results in knowledge and communication of supernatural insights.» — la confirma G. Lanczkowski, citado en traducción propia de Hanegraaff según la nota.

«Channeling is the communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical as we know it, and that is not from the normal mind (or self) of the channel» — la definición abstracta de channeling es de Jon Klimo.