A Little Pierre Deghaye Sampler – Part 1- A Contextual Introduction: The French School for the Study of Esotericism

Some of the institutions, periodicals & publications

professor Pierre Deghaye collaborated with

during his lengthy and influential career.

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of VIA-HYGEIA is part 1 of a planned series dedicated to honoring the memory of professor Pierre Deghaye (1924–2005), who stands as a major figure in the study of German theosophy and mysticism, shaping our comprehension of Paracelsus, Boehme, Oetinger and Zinzendorf-to name a few luminaries-and their literary reception. Deeply rooted in the soon to be foundational and influential French school for the study of Esotericism milieu and tradition, his work embodies a rigorous hermeneutic approach enriched by cross-cultural, symbolic, and imaginative insights.

It is a shame that no picture can be found, either individual or with a group, of the professor. This is when our duty of memory is blatantly failing. He is sadly not alone! So many important legacies of the past and their champions (who we owe so much) are slowly devoured by a silent black-hole limbo surrounded by a waste-land of garbage: Our society collective Alzheimer, caused by the mercantile aspect of information, education, learning & knowledge and our lack of care for others in a society in which competition & the lust for wealth have been pushed to in-human limits.

Sampler part 2 will be: ‘A Theology of the Image‘, excerpted from professor Deghaye trail-blazing, ‘La Doctrine Esotérique de Zinzendorf‘.

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A little biography

Pierre Deghaye was born in 1924 in France. He pursued studies in philosophy, theology, and the history of religions, developing a deep interest in Christian mysticism, esotericism, and the intersection of religion and philosophy.

He held an agrégation and obtained a doctorate on Count Zinzendorf (Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf), laying the foundations for a lifelong engagement with German theosophy and mystical-philosophical currents.

He taught at the Universities of Rouen and Caen. His academic work was profoundly influenced by the traditions of Hermeticism, Kabbalah and German Idealism-particularly the thought of Jacob Boehme.

Professor Deghaye passed away in 2005, leaving behind a rich scholarly legacy that continues to inspire.

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Legacy

Professor Pierre Deghaye’s scholarly contributions are:

Historical logic of German theosophy: His ‘Zinzendorf’ monograph filled a scholarly gap, using rigorous sources and detailed exegesis, enriching the understanding of Christian mysticism.

Hermeneutics & comparative method: Adopted a rigorous yet poetic reading of esotericism, weaving textual analysis with mytho-symbolic scholarship—approaches favored by the ‘French school for the Study of Esotericism’.

Bridging literature and mysticism: By exploring Faustian literature (Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse), he connected esoteric doctrine to literary imagination, showing how Hermetic thought permeates modern culture.

Pedagogical influence: As a university professor and EPHE lecturer, he inspired numerous students in German literature and esoteric studies, embedding his interdisciplinary method in academic curriculums.  From personal experience, I can say that as a German teacher & scholar, professor Deghaye showed courage, as it was not easy to study and teach this language in the immediate aftermath of the second world war, due to the enormous trauma it left behind.

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A selected bibliography

‘La Doctrine ésotérique de Zinzendorf‘ (1700–1760),

Editions Klincksieck, 1969, 734 pp .

‘De Paracelse à Thomas Mann : Les avatars de l’hermétisme allemand‘,

Editions Dervy, 2000, 530 pp.

‘La Naissance de Dieu ou la Doctrine de Jacob Boehme‘,

Editions Albin Michel, 1985.

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The Milieu, a.k.a. ‘The French School

for the Study of Esotericism’

Emerging in the mid-20th century, this school transformed esotericism from a marginalized subject into a field of serious academic inquiry. It combined historical, philosophical, and comparative methods to study: Hermeticism, Alchemy, Kabbalah, Christian Theosophy (e.g., Jacob Boehme, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin), Occultism, Masonic traditions, and ‘Romantic Naturphilosophie‘.

The key institutional hub was the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Section des Sciences Religieuses, Sorbonne (Paris): The epicenter of the school were chairs & research groups established to study esotericism.

A few of the founding figures

Besides Professor Pierre Deghaye, they were (not an exhaustive list):

1. Henry Corbin (1903–1978), was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work ‘Alone with the Alone’, creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi‘ is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms.

Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind.

His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

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2. François Secret (1911–2003), who focused in Christian Kabbalah & Renaissance Hermetism, with, for instance, Pico della Mirandola and Guillaume Postel. Professor Secret was praised for reviving interest in early modern Christian esoteric texts and was an impressive mentor to many young scholars.

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3. Antoine Faivre (1934 – 2021), the founding Father of Academic Esotericism Studies. First professor of ‘History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents in Modern Europe‘ at EPHE (1965–2002). He played a major role in the founding of the discipline as a scholarly field of study, and he was the first-ever person to be appointed to an academic chair in the discipline.

Together with professor Pierre Deghaye & professor Roland Edighoffer he founded the journal Aries in 1983, which in 2001 was relaunched with professor Wouter Hanegraaff, as its editor.

Until his retirement, he held a chair in the École Pratique des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne, University Professor of Germanic studies at the University of Haute-Normandie, director of the ‘Cahiers de l’ Hermétisme‘  and of the ‘Bibliothèque de l’Hermétisme‘.

Professor Faivre institutionalized the field and mentored generations of scholars. He died on 19 December 2021 at the age of 87.

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4. Roland Edighoffer (1923-2017), who specialized in Rosicrucianism, Paracelsus and German Mysticism,  was especially credited for the publication of major studies of the Rosicrucian movement: In 1981, ‘Rose-Croix et société idéale selon Johann Valentin Andreae‘, t. 1, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Arma Artis. In 1982, ‘Les Rose-Croix‘, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, coll. « Que sais-je ? ». Then in 1987, ‘Rose-Croix et société idéale selon Johann Valentin Andreae‘, t. 2, Paris, Arma Artis. And finally, in 1998, ‘Les Rose-croix et la crise de la Conscience Européenne Au XVIIe Siècle‘, published by Editions Dervy. A Via-HYGEIA Little Sampler devoted to his memory will come soon.

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5. Bernard Gorceix, (1937-1984), who specialized in Rosicrucianism, Gichtel, Boehme and Christian mysticism, was  especially praised for his translation & commentary upon the three great Rosicrucian writings: the ‘Fama fraternitatis‘ (1614), the ‘Confessio Fraternitatis‘ (1615) and the ‘Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz’ (1616). A Via-HYGEIA Little Sampler devoted to his memory will come soon.

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Methodological Innovations

The ‘French school for the Study of Esotericism’ distinguished itself by: 1. Rejecting “occultism” as superstition, focusing instead on esotericism as a cultural and intellectual current. 2. Historicization: Tracing esoteric ideas through primary texts (e.g., alchemical manuscripts, Kabbalistic treatises). 3. Inter-disciplinarity: Combining philosophy, religious studies, and art history.

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Legacy and Global Influence
and Academic Recognition:

-Esotericism is now taught at universities worldwide, such as the University of Amsterdam, Exeter, UCLA- a non exhaustive list).

-Peer-reviewed journals like the new formula of Aries, Esoterica (founded by professor Athur Versluis), the ‘Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism‘, etc.  continue the school’s mission.

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Critiques & Expansions

Later scholars, like professor Wouter J. Hanegraaff for instance, challenged Faivre’s definitions, advocating for broader frameworks. The focus evolved and expanded to include gender studies, colonial contexts and material culture.

According to professor Hanegraaff, Faivre’s criteria for what constitutes ‘Western esotericism‘ can be seen as essentially describing an ‘enchanted worldview‘, as compared to Max Weber’s notion of ‘disenchantment‘.

Professor Hanegraaff also traces Faivre’s notion of ‘correspondences‘ back to the Neoplatonic concept of sympatheia.

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Key Publications

of the School

In 1974, professor Henry Corbin and a group of colleagues including Gilbert Durand and Antoine Faivre, founded the University of St. John of Jerusalem: The International Center for Comparative Spiritual Research. This organization operated until 1988 and published 14 volumes of Proceedings, ak.a. the ‘Cahiers de l’Université Saint Jean de Jérusalem‘. The 14 volumes are devoted to the succession of topics originally proposed by Corbin. Having completed the original mission, the organization was succeeded by ‘Les Cahiers du Groupe d’Etudes Spirituelles Comparées‘.

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 The journal was founded in 1983 by Antoine Faivre, Pierre Deghaye & Roland Edighoffer under the title ARIES. This name was an acronym of ‘Association pour la Recherche et l’Information sur l’Ésotérisme’. It was published by les Editions de la Table d’Emeraude. Each issue was an event, as this journal was internationally renowned and recognized for its rigor in academic research.

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The ‘Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism‘ published by Brill Academic Publishers in Leiden, is the first comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of ‘Gnosis and Western Esotericism’ from the period of Late Antiquity to the present.

Containing around 400 articles by over 180 international specialists, it provides critical overviews discussing the nature and historical development of all its important currents and manifestations, from Gnosticism and Hermetism to Astrology, Alchemy and Magic, from the Hermetic Tradition of the Renaissance to Rosicrucianism and Christian Theosophy, and from Freemasonry and Illuminism to 19thcentury Occultism and the contemporary New Age movement.

Furthermore it contains articles about the life and work of all the major personalities in the history of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, discussing their ideas, significance, and historical influence. Edited since 2005 by  professor Wouter J. Hanegraaff.

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In 2001, this journal was relaunched under its current title by Brill Academic Publishers in Leiden, on behalf of the ‘European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism‘ (ESSWE). 2001-2010, edited by professor Wouter J. Hanegraaff and from 2010-Present, edited by  professor Peter J. Forshaw.

The ESSWE is a learned society established in 2005 to advance the academic study of the various manifestations of Western esotericism from late antiquity to the present and to secure the future development of the field.

The ESSWE is an affiliated society of the ‘International Association for the History of Religions‘ (IAHR) and a related scholarly organization of the ‘American Academy of Religion‘ (AAR).

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Conclusion

The ‘French School for the Study of Esotericism‘ greatest achievement was elevating esotericism from the fringes of academia to a respected field, revealing its profound impact on Western thought. Its blend of philological precision and philosophical depth remains a model for scholars today.

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Coming soon

A Little Pierre Deghaye Sampler –

Part 2-‘A Theology of the Image’.

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