Esoteric Catholicism / Esoterischer Katholizismus

Catholicism and esotericism seem to have hostile relations but in fact the opposite is true. In both traditions, we find stigmata, revelations, visions, “magic”, spiritualistic contacts...

We explore which are the theological and sociological concepts which make this possible. The porous transfer zone between “orthodox” theology and “heretical” ideas is central. For example, the legitimating structure of “scripture and tradition” allowed for the integration of religious practices that did not originate in Christianity or justified revelations apart from the Bible. This kept groups within the church which in Protestantism were often “eparated” – and thus hardly noticed by researchers.

This means for religious studies to revise the strongly Protestant boundary-work to determine the demarcation lines of a Christian “orthodoxy” and thereby to redefine the role of spiritualistic theologies. Catholicism is characterized here by a border landscape in which esoteric ideas were flexibly adapted – and in which one often renounced the definition of a precise, eliminatory boundary line.

Viktoria Vitanova-Kerber and Helmut Zander, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland.