Olav Hammer
Biographic Data
| ID | 289114 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Olav Hammer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Olav |
| FAMILY NAME | Hammer |
| SIGNATURE | HAMMER O |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Southern Denmark |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5339-2349 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
J. Krishnamurti: Self-Inquiry, Awakening, and Transformation by Constance A. Jones (review)
The Study of Religion in Sweden: Past, Present and Future ed. by Henrik Bogdan and Göran Larsson (review)
China in the Anthroposophical Imaginary
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) joined the Theosophical Society in 1902 and founded a schismatic movement, the Anthroposophical Society, at the end of 1912. The history of humanity is a central theme in the vast corpus of writings and lectures he produced from 1902 to shortly before his death in 1925. By presenting his survey of history as the result of a nearly infallible clairvoyant investigation of the past, Steiner created a historical narrative t…
New Religious Movements and Comparative Religion
This Element provides an introduction to a number of less frequently explored approaches based upon the comparative study of religions. New religions convey origin myths, present their particular views of history, and craft Endtime scenarios. Their members carry out a vast and diverse array of ritual activities. They produce large corpuses of written texts and designate a subset of these as a sacrosanct canon. They focus their attention on materi…
Soft charisma as an impediment to fundamentalist discourse: The case of the Anthroposophical Society in Sweden
The Anthroposophical Society in Sweden is, in the view of many of its members, going through tough times. Times of crisis and the search for a collective identity often inspire the formation of ideological rifts within a larger religious community. One way of responding to challenges is by turning to doctrines and texts stemming from a purportedly pristine past for guidance - in other words, by developing a fundamentalist discourse. A striking fa…
Show Must Go On: Corporate Narratives in the Anthroposophical Society
When new religions reach a mature and settled phase, they resemble in many respects secular organizations and are therefore amenable to being studied with methods inspired by organization studies. One group of such methods deals with corporate narratives and corporate communication. This article takes a structuralist approach and applies a version of the actant model originally developed by the Lithuanian literary theorist Algirdas Greimas to a s…
Mormonernas historiemytologi och mötet med modern vetenskap
New age och kognitionsforskningen
Religious responses to the Covid-19 pandemic
Editorial of Approaching Religion, Vol. 11 Issue 2
Traditionalism in Sweden
Traditionalism involves the concept of a perennial philosophy, a central truth,underlying all major religions. Though little has been written about SwedishTraditionalism, consideration of the ideologies of figures such as Ivan Aguéli,Kurt Almqvist, and Tage Lindbom provides important insights into the developmentof this concept and its political connotations. Here, the influence offoundational Traditionalists René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, Chri…
Minnesord Liselotte Frisk
Minnesord Liselotte Frisk (1959-2020)
The Bosnian Pyramid Phenomenon
The Bosnian town of Visoko has in recent years become a New Age pilgrimage site. Several formations in the landscape have been branded as ancient pyramids and tunnels. These purported monuments from bygone times are administrated by a private foundation led by the Bosnian American entrepreneur Semir Osmanagić. His claim is that the structures at Visoko were built tens of thousands of years ago by an advanced civilization that mastered a technolog…
Mysticism and esotericism as contested taxonomical categories
Esotericism and mysticism are two notoriously elusive concepts. Both are based on referential corpora of works that are so internally diverse as to defy any simple characterization. A definition of mysticism needs to encompass a range of empirical cases that include medieval Christian visionaries, Sufis, and Hindu gurus such as Ramakrishna. Similarly, the term esotericism denotes the work of individuals as diverse as Paracelsus, Swedenborg, and C…
Altered States of Consciousness and Charismatic Authority: The Case of Judith von Halle
Charisma is an unstable basis upon which to build authority. Charismatic leaders need their followers to perceive them as being endowed with extraordinary, even supernatural, gifts. Detractors can in turn question whether the leader actually possesses these unique qualities. Using Judith von Halle and her conflicts with the Anthroposophical Society as a case study, we address the question of how charismatic authority can be constructed and decons…
Political and economic pressures on the study of religions: Current trends and future prospects in the Danish context
The future of the study of religions is, like any other academic discipline, dependent on political and economic factors. In a country such as Denmark, where universities are primarily financed by the state, the willingness of the state to fund disciplines in the humanities impacts the future of the study of religions. The transition to a competition state has entailed the introduction of austerity measures and reforms that have a considerable im…
Between Occultism and Nazism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era, written by Peter Staudenmaier
The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe
The New Sociology of Knowledge: The Life and Work of Peter L. Berger, with Selected Essays by Peter L. Berger
Peter Berger is one of the world’s most famous sociologists who has a particular interest in religion, with a distinguished career spanning more than half a century. Not least, his works on the soc
Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives
Mathew Guest & Elisabeth Arweck, eds., 2012 Farnham & Burlington, VT: Ashgate 292 pp., £55.00, US$99.95 (hb) ISBN 978–1–4094–2707–0 The title of this book combines two of the most elusive concepts
Deconstructing 'Western esotericism: On Wouter Hanegraaff'sEsotericism and the Academy
This paper discusses a number of consequences that – although not always intended by the author – can be drawn from the radically historicist approach adopted by Wouter J. Hanegraaff in his monograph Esotericism and the Academy. These consequences are the atomization of ‘esotericism’ into a disparate range of ideas, practices, and currents with few if any shared elements; a better approximation to contemporary anthropological views of culture and…
The Occult Mind: Magic in Theory and Practice
Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science
There has been a significant but little-noticed aspect of the interface between science and religion, namely the widespread tendency of religions to appeal to science in support of their truth claims. Though the appeal to science is most evident in more recent religions like Christian Science and Scientology, no major faith tradition is exempt from this pattern. Members of almost every religion desire to see their ‘truths’ supported by the author…
Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections
Europäische Religionsgeschichte. Ein mehrfacher Pluralismus
Possession, Power and the New Age: Ambiguities of Authority in Neoliberal Societies
126 Book Reviews / Journal of Religion in Europe 1 (2008) 116–131 Matthew Wood, Possession, Power and the New Age: Ambiguities of Authority in Neoliberal Societies (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 212 pp., ISBN: 978-0-7546-3339-6, $99.95. In discussions with New Age believers, on web sites and in the literature, one fi nds references to the primacy of personal experience, and to the need to follow one’s own personal spirituality. Individualism, in sev…
Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives
Mathew Guest & Elisabeth Arweck, eds., 2012 Farnham & Burlington, VT: Ashgate 292 pp., £55.00, US$99.95 (hb) ISBN 978–1–4094–2707–0 The title of this book combines two of the most elusive concepts
Religious responses to the Covid-19 pandemic
Editorial of Approaching Religion, Vol. 11 Issue 2
Deconstructing 'Western esotericism: On Wouter Hanegraaff'sEsotericism and the Academy
This paper discusses a number of consequences that – although not always intended by the author – can be drawn from the radically historicist approach adopted by Wouter J. Hanegraaff in his monograph Esotericism and the Academy. These consequences are the atomization of ‘esotericism’ into a disparate range of ideas, practices, and currents with few if any shared elements; a better approximation to contemporary anthropological views of culture and…
Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age
This volume deals with the transformation of religious creativity in the late modern West. Its point of departure is a set of esoteric beliefs, from Theosophy to the New Age. It shows how these traditions have adapted to the cultural givens of each successive epoch. The claims of each movement have been buttressed by drawing on various structural characteristics of late modernity. The advance of science has resulted in attempts to claim scientifi…
Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age
This volume deals with the transformation of religious creativity in the late modern West. Its point of departure is a set of esoteric beliefs, from Theosophy to the New Age. It shows how these traditions have adapted to the cultural givens of each successive epoch. The claims of each movement have been buttressed by drawing on various structural characteristics of late modernity. The advance of science has resulted in attempts to claim scientifi…
Conflict and concord on the Internet: Selvet.dk
The Internet epitomizes globalization. Spanning most of the globe, yet leaving out the most marginalized populations, it reproduces the power structures and inequalities of the world at large. Nevertheless, as technologies become more widely available and more user-friendly, there is the potential to interact on an unprecedented scale with people of other nationalities, backgrounds and religious affiliations. Interaction may, of course, foster di…
Anmeldelser
Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and Its Others
In its historical development from late antiquity to the present, western esotericism has repeatedly been the issue of polemical discourse. This volume engages the polemical structures that underlie both the identities within and the controversy about esoteric currents in European history. From Jewish and Christian kabbalah through heretical discourse and interconfessional polemics in early modernity to the legitimization of esoteric identity in …
Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and Its Others
Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and Its Others (Aries Book Series)
Possession, Power and the New Age: Ambiguities of Authority in Neoliberal Societies
126 Book Reviews / Journal of Religion in Europe 1 (2008) 116–131 Matthew Wood, Possession, Power and the New Age: Ambiguities of Authority in Neoliberal Societies (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 212 pp., ISBN: 978-0-7546-3339-6, $99.95. In discussions with New Age believers, on web sites and in the literature, one fi nds references to the primacy of personal experience, and to the need to follow one’s own personal spirituality. Individualism, in sev…
Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity: Pagan, Judaic, Christian
Research on esotericism in Scandinavia
The title of this paper can be understood in two senses. In the sense of ‘research on esotericism carried out by Scandinavian scholars’, the field is blossoming. Several dozen individuals, at various points in their academic careers, are pursuing research on some aspect of Western esotericism however the concept is defined. In the other conceivable sense, ‘research on Scandinavian esotericism’, the availability of academic studies is generally mo…
The Occult Mind: Magic in Theory and Practice
Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science
There has been a significant but little-noticed aspect of the interface between science and religion, namely the widespread tendency of religions to appeal to science in support of their truth claims. Though the appeal to science is most evident in more recent religions like Christian Science and Scientology, no major faith tradition is exempt from this pattern. Members of almost every religion desire to see their ‘truths’ supported by the author…
Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections
Europäische Religionsgeschichte. Ein mehrfacher Pluralismus
Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives
Mathew Guest & Elisabeth Arweck, eds., 2012 Farnham & Burlington, VT: Ashgate 292 pp., £55.00, US$99.95 (hb) ISBN 978–1–4094–2707–0 The title of this book combines two of the most elusive concepts
Deconstructing 'Western esotericism: On Wouter Hanegraaff'sEsotericism and the Academy
This paper discusses a number of consequences that – although not always intended by the author – can be drawn from the radically historicist approach adopted by Wouter J. Hanegraaff in his monograph Esotericism and the Academy. These consequences are the atomization of ‘esotericism’ into a disparate range of ideas, practices, and currents with few if any shared elements; a better approximation to contemporary anthropological views of culture and…
The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe
The New Sociology of Knowledge: The Life and Work of Peter L. Berger, with Selected Essays by Peter L. Berger
Peter Berger is one of the world’s most famous sociologists who has a particular interest in religion, with a distinguished career spanning more than half a century. Not least, his works on the soc
Between Occultism and Nazism: Anthroposophy and the Politics of Race in the Fascist Era, written by Peter Staudenmaier
Traditionalism in Sweden
Traditionalism involves the concept of a perennial philosophy, a central truth,underlying all major religions. Though little has been written about SwedishTraditionalism, consideration of the ideologies of figures such as Ivan Aguéli,Kurt Almqvist, and Tage Lindbom provides important insights into the developmentof this concept and its political connotations. Here, the influence offoundational Traditionalists René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, Chri…
Minnesord Liselotte Frisk
Minnesord Liselotte Frisk (1959-2020)
The Bosnian Pyramid Phenomenon
The Bosnian town of Visoko has in recent years become a New Age pilgrimage site. Several formations in the landscape have been branded as ancient pyramids and tunnels. These purported monuments from bygone times are administrated by a private foundation led by the Bosnian American entrepreneur Semir Osmanagić. His claim is that the structures at Visoko were built tens of thousands of years ago by an advanced civilization that mastered a technolog…
Mysticism and esotericism as contested taxonomical categories
Esotericism and mysticism are two notoriously elusive concepts. Both are based on referential corpora of works that are so internally diverse as to defy any simple characterization. A definition of mysticism needs to encompass a range of empirical cases that include medieval Christian visionaries, Sufis, and Hindu gurus such as Ramakrishna. Similarly, the term esotericism denotes the work of individuals as diverse as Paracelsus, Swedenborg, and C…
Altered States of Consciousness and Charismatic Authority: The Case of Judith von Halle
Charisma is an unstable basis upon which to build authority. Charismatic leaders need their followers to perceive them as being endowed with extraordinary, even supernatural, gifts. Detractors can in turn question whether the leader actually possesses these unique qualities. Using Judith von Halle and her conflicts with the Anthroposophical Society as a case study, we address the question of how charismatic authority can be constructed and decons…
Political and economic pressures on the study of religions: Current trends and future prospects in the Danish context
The future of the study of religions is, like any other academic discipline, dependent on political and economic factors. In a country such as Denmark, where universities are primarily financed by the state, the willingness of the state to fund disciplines in the humanities impacts the future of the study of religions. The transition to a competition state has entailed the introduction of austerity measures and reforms that have a considerable im…
Philosophy (20 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Political science (17 works) · Epistemology (14 works) · Law (12 works) · History (11 works) · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices (11 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (10 works) · Social science (7 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (6 works)