October 9, 2024
Judith Noble and Bernd-Christian Otto on the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (RENSEP)
We discuss the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices, an initiative straddling the realms of academe and esoteric practice; RENSEP doesn’t belong among the university-based research-projects we have discussed here on the SHWEP, in that it is not based in an academic institution, yet it collaborates with such projects regularly, and as an equal; it isn’t exactly outside of the academy either, in that many of its initiatives – such as the new online journal – subsist within the academic ecosystem of peer-review and collegial critique; it is a meeting place for scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners. In short, a very liminal sort of project, and thus just the sort of thing you want for investigating the liminal phenomena of esoteric practices.
We discuss some of the many roles RENSEP plays, and others which it plans to develop in the near-term, some of the methodological considerations relevant to its character (e.g. what do we mean by ‘esoteric practices’?), cross-disciplinarity, the liberty that comes with institutional non-affiliation, and similar matters.
We discuss, finally, RENSEP’s exciting funding scheme, including the Art Prize, which might just be the place for certain SHWEP listeners to go to get their crazy projects off the ground. To join RENSEP, go here. RENSEP’s various grants can be viewed here.
Interview Bio:
Bernd-Christian Otto is permanent fellow on the project Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, acronymed as CAS-E (Center for Advanced Studies – Erlangen). His groovy CV can be viewed here (CV Bernd-Christian Otto 2024), and his more ‘academic’ CV here.
Judith Noble is Professor of Film and the Occult (!) at Plymouth Arts University.
Works Cited in this Episode:
Ann Taves’ Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE) is an ongoing project (as discussed on her faculty page). A preliminary study of findings is A. Taves, E. Ihm, M. Wolf, M. Barlev, M. Kinsella, and M. Vyas. The Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE): Evidence of Validity in the United States and India. PLoS One, 18(7), 2023. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287780.
Tanya Luhrman’s recent work on the importance of training in manifesting visions and similar experiences: Tanya Luhrman. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relation with God. New York. Borzoi Books, New York, NY, 2012, and Idem. How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2020.
Natasha Moody’s exhibition The Living Light of Other Worlds at the Seager Gallery in London can be found here.
The Venice conference The Aesthetics of Esoteric Practices: Materialities, Performances, Senses in November, 2024.
Jeff Howard and Steve Patterson’s paper To Reveal the Hidden Kingdom of Eld.
The Praxis Knowledge journal.
