Initiation into the Mysteries

The present volume offers an interdisciplinary collection of twenty-four
studies to readers interested in the religious, philosophical and artistic
aspects of initiation. In itself, the concept of initiation presupposes that
there is an initiator, someone to be initiated, and secret rite or knoweledge-
in short, a mystery-into which the elect few would be admitted and which must
not be revealed to the rest. Initiation is thus very personal, as it
encompasses-in Christian theology at least-an encounter with God but also
involves a communal experience. While in European context, initiation is an
essentially Christian idea, not all the papers of the present volume turn to
the Christian tradition for sources. Hermetism, Neoplatonism, pre-Christian
paganism and Renaissance esotericism also find a place among the studies
published here. Religion and philosophy are not the only viewpoints adopted by
our authors, however; the section on art and litterature discusses initiation
as it appears on stage, in novels, short stories, and drama as well as poetry,
especially in modern European literature.