The
Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH) invites applications for two PhD positions at the Faculty of Humanities, tenable from 1 January 2023, for doctoral research in the field of the history of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents.
ASH represents and fosters the study of the human past from Antiquity to the present day. It brings together about 200 academics who participate in ca. 16 research groups. ASH is one of the six Research Schools/Institutes within the
Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research. Each research school/institute covers an important research area within the faculty and has its own research programme, and is also the home base for PhD candidates, who interact with each other and with senior members in the research groups that make up the research school.
The Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (HHP) was founded in 1999 and plays a leading international role in its area of research. The Centre is part of the Department of History, European Studies and Religious Studies (GER) and participates in the Religious Studies teaching curriculum. It consists of five permanent staff members and several PhD students. The Centre focuses on critical historical research into a complex of movements in the border area between religion, philosophy, and science, today studied under the umbrella term of 'esotericism'. These include broad cultural traditions such as astrology, alchemy, and magic; and, with respect to historical periodisation, movements such as Neo-Platonism, Hermetism and Gnosticism in late antiquity; the transmission of the so-called occult sciences and the emergence of esoteric traditions in Judaism (Kabbalah) and Islam (Sufism) during the medieval period; the revival of Platonism and related currents during the Renaissance in the context of
prisca theologia,
philosophia perennis, and
philosophia occulta; early modern and modern currents such as Paracelsianism, Christian theosophy, Kabbalah (both Jewish and Christian), Rosicrucianism, high-degree freemasonry, and illuminism; 19th-century movements such as spiritualism, occultism, and traditionalism; related popular currents of 'alternative spirituality' such as the New Age movement; and various forms of contemporary esotericism in popular culture. We are particularly interested in currents and movements that have taken shape in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic contexts, both separately or in conversation with each other, but we are also interested in processes of interaction with and dissemination in other cultural contexts.
We will consider research proposals focusing on any of the currents, movements, and periods mentioned above.
What are you going to doYou will execute your doctoral research on the basis of your own proposal, within a research area of the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, under the supervision of at least two senior researchers of the Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents.
Tasks and responsibilities:
- submission of a PhD thesis within the period of appointment;
- presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
- participation in the Research School and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes;
- possible teaching deployment at BA-level in the 2nd and 3rd year of the appointment, for a maximum of 0,2 FTE per year.