I just received notice this morning of a call for papers from Canterbury Christ Church University for a conference titled “Re-Enchanting the Academy” to be held in Canterbury in the United Kingdom. This looks like a particularly interesting conference related to occultism and Western esotericism as it explores the potential significance of non-rational modes of knowledge within academic work. Jeff Kripal, a featured speaker at the conference, argued in his book The Serpent’s Gift, that the academic study of religion should be more significantly informed by what he labeled gnostic ways of knowing, experiential ways of knowing grounded in altered states of consciousness, ritual, and the arts. Looks like an a good conference either to contribute to or to attend.
