Podcast episodes – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

Earl Fontainelle
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Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought

  1. OCT 26

    Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura

    Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conquests reflected in Christian revelation, stay for the apocalyptic Roman emperor.

    1h 12m

  2. SEP 27

    Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel

    In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written in the past. The Temple will descend, the evil Armilus (son of Satan and a statue) will wreak havok, and two messiahs will arise to redeem Israel.

    48 min

  3. SEP 13

    Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond

    With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians are now part of the story of western esotericism. We explore their extraordinary religion with Touraj Daryaee.

    43 min

  4. JUL 25

    Ahab Bdaiwi on the Rise of Shī‘ī Esotericism

    In Part I we looked at the political events leading up to the formation of the Shi'a. In Part II we see that it did not take long for things to get very esoteric. Come for the programmatic esoteric hermeneutics, stay for the occult sciences.

    29 min

  5. JUL 18

    Ahab Bdaiwi on ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, his Family, and the Origins of Shī‘ī Islam

    We pick up from our last episode, where geopolitics and esotericism met in the crucible of Roman, Sassanian, and Arab political struggles. Ahab Bdaiwi threads the labyrinth of the earliest historical sources for the birth of the movement within Islām which came to be known as the Party of ‘Alī, or the Shi‘ā.

    39 min

  6. MAY 13

    Seventh-Century History for Students of Western Esotericism

    We return to the history of late antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia. Momentous events occur, empires rise and fall, and Jews, Christians, and Muslims all suddenly develop new apocalyptic notions. Come for the dry historical exposition, stay for the esoteric divine kingship.

    56 min

  7. MAY 2

    Introducing the Qur’an Part III: Qur’ānic Texts vs. the Qur’ān

    We discuss some of the history of how the Qur'ān came to be ‘the Book’: it started in the oral milieu of the high-octane early Believers' movement, and ended up in written form as something called the ‘Uthmanic recension. Many esoteric things happen along the way.

    55 min

  8. APR 18

    Introducing the Qur’ān, Part II: Ambiguity and Esoteric Themes

    We begin to explore the esoteric side of the Qur'ān, examining several case-studies in terms of ambiguity and esoteric themes. It turns out that every letter of the Qur'ān is an esoteric text.

    1h 11m
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Exploring the forgotten and rejected story of Western thought

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