Religion and the Historical Imagination: Esoteric Tradition as Poetic Invention (2017) By Wouter J. Hanegraaff

https://www.academia.edu/30438845/Religion_and_the_Historical_Imagination_Esoteric_Tradition_as_Poetic_Invention_2017_?nav_from=f3ea4f92-50cd-4b95-bbb1-a36b2e87e501 In this contribution, it is argued that the concept of 'imagination' should be restored to the status of ac rucial keyt ermi nt he studyo fr eligion. More specifically, attention is focused here on the importance of the historical imagination as an object of research (as distinct from its importance as af actor in research) and its relation to strict historicity.T he dynamics of the historical imagination can be analyzedi nt erms of ad ouble polarity:f actualityv ersus non-factuality and poeticity versus non-poeticity.H istorical narrativesw ith a highd egree of poeticity tend to be remembereda nd have an impact on readers even if they are factuallyinaccurate, while narrativeswith alow degree of poet-icity tend to be disregarded or forgotten even if they are factuallya ccurate. Against this background, four influential historical 'grand narratives' are analyzed: (1) the Renaissance and predominantlyCatholic story of 'ancient wisdom' through the ages; (2)its negative counterpart inspired by Protestant polemics, referred to as the story of 'pagan error' through the ages; (3) the Enlightenment story of progress through rational 'Enlightenment';a nd (4) its counterpart more congenialt oR omantic sentiments, the story of ap rogressive 'education of Humanity.' Such imaginative narrativesh aveas trongi mpact because they are able to engagethe emotions, and hence we need to analyze how specific nar-rativesafford specific economies of emotionality. Because religious grand narra-tivesare the reflection of highlyeclectic types of historiography, they need to be countered by an anti-eclectic historiographyt hat does not sacrifice factuality to poeticity.A nd yet, it is at least as important for historians to accept the task of tellingn ew 'true stories' about religion too:n arrativest hat engaget he imagination of their readersw ithout sacrificing nuance, complexity,a nd factual accuracy. ..