Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Latest Episodes:

Brian Copenhaver on the Hermetica Sep 23, 2020

Show notes

We speak with Brian Copenhaver, translator of the Corpus Hermeticum and general man of parts vis á vis all things hermetic, to get some orientation on the ancient Hermetica and what they are all about.

Thrice-Greatest Hermes Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

We introduce the sage of sages, the barbarian philosopher of philosophers, the one and only (unless there were more of him) Thrice-Greatest Hermes. We also introduce his copious literary output, the Hermetica, and discuss these writings in an introductory way.

Total War: Polemical Esotericism in the Contra Celsum Sep 02, 2020

Show notes

We explore the polemics and counter-polemics of Origen's Contra Celsum, with a particular eye toward the use (and abuse) of the esoteric as a strategy of tradition-building, exclusion, and totalising interpretation.

The True Account: Celsus, Origen, and Ideological Esotericism in Late Antiquity Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

An almost-unknown Middle Platonist philosopher named Celsus wrote the first-known anti-Christian polemical pamphlet some time in the later second century. This is The True Account. It is esoteric.

Aron Reppmann Introduces Origen of Alexandria Jul 21, 2020

Show notes

Professor Aron Reppmann introduces the life, thought, and esotericism of Origen of Alexandria, one of the greatest church-fathers, Platonist theologian par excellence, and revolutionary scriptural exegete.

From Word to Silence: The Rise of the Apophatic in Late Antiquity Jun 27, 2020

Show notes

As antiquity progressed, certain esoteric religious thinkers and philosophers came increasingly to doubt whether the nature of the highest reality could be expressed in words. They developed a new form of language to deal with the problem of talking about the ineffable: apophasis. We discuss speaking the silence in late antiquity.

The Third Century and (the Long) Late Antiquity Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

As the podcast enters the third century, we discuss the parameters of ‘late antiquity’, and what makes something ‘late-antique’. Special bonus material: the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire!

Becoming Gods: Divinisation and Angelomorphic Transformation in Clement Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

We discuss Clement's endgame, where the Gnostic encounters god face-to-face after a lengthy transformative evolution into higher and higher spiritual forms. Things get seriously esoteric.

Henny Fiskå Hägg on Clement’s Apophatic Writing Jun 06, 2020

Show notes

We speak with Professor Henny Fiskå Hägg about the apophatic theory and writing-practice of Clement of Alexandria, one of antiquity's finest exponents of the art of writing about that-about-which-nothing-can-be-written.

Lifting the Veil: Esoteric Reading in Clement’s Stromateis Jun 06, 2020

Show notes

Clement stays esoteric. We examine the esoteric wisdom-lineages constructed by Clement, how he reads them, in the context of how he hides his reading of them. Plus, there seems to have been some genuine, contemporary esotericism going on in early Christianity.