The word esotericism, even though it dates back to 1828, covers very old notions, Since the 15th century, intellectuals: humanists philosophers, Rabbis, ecclesiastics, reacting to a teaching more and more academic of theology, by the discovery of neoplatonicians and of the Corpus Hermeticum, tried to establish a Philosophia Perennis: a medium universal line between radical Aristotelean philosophy and a scholastic theology.
Their researches aimed at establish relations between Man, God and Nature: - What influence does the stars have on human body and nature? (Marsile Ficin) - To what correspond the hidden virtues we find in nature? (Pico della Mirandola) - Below a medieval magic, natural and lawful. What authority can fix the frontier of natural and supernatural: incantatory magic, theurgy... illicit.
The debate which gathers Jean-Pierre Laurant, Jérôme Rousse-Lacordaire and Emmanuel Kreis gives us a historical panorama - from the High Middle Ages to our days - complex relations and clashing that Church (mainly Roman) and Esotericism had. Centuries after centuries, esotericism which was at th beginning reserved to an intellectual elite which became more and more popular... but also commonplace: the separation which began in the 15th century resulted in an official divorce in the 19th century.
- Where are we now? How does Church manages this "last one" which is New Age? - What path did history of ideas follow during these six centuries? - The discovery of Egypt and Far East and the many syncretisms which came from it: did they have an influence on Christian way of thinking? - What links did Esotericism and Metaphysic had?
Jean-Pierre Laurant wrote "esotericism is like a bus, where people cross each other without ever speaking"...