Eranos

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Eranos is an intellectual discussion group dedicated to the study of spirituality which has met annually in Switzerland since 1933.

The name is derived from an ancient Greek word, meaning a banquet to which the guests bring contributions of food, a no-host dinner. The group was founded by Olga Froebe-Kapteyn^[1] in 1933, and these conferences have been held annually on the grounds of her estate (on the shores of Lago Maggiore near Ascona in Switzerland) ever since. For over seventy years this event has served as a point of contact for thinkers from disparate fields of knowledge ranging from depth psychology and comparative religion to history, literary criticism and folklore, and provides a setting and a congenial group within which to discuss all things spiritual. Each conference takes place over eight days, during which time all participants eat, sleep and live together, thereby promoting a camaraderie which fosters an atmosphere of free and open discussion. Each year a new theme is addressed, and each participant scholar delivers a two hour lecture on a topic of his choice relating to the theme — his/her contribution to the ‘banquet’ of ideas — thereby attempting to draw these multifarious thinkers into productive intellectual discourse.

1 Eranos’ beginnings
2 References
3 Notes
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Eranos’ beginnings

Froebe-Kapteyn established this group at the suggestion of the eminent German religious historian, Rudolf Otto. Froebe-Kapteyn was the Dutch foundress of the Table Ronde, an association which is indicative of the Eranos’ ‘spiritualist’ bent. Indeed Eranos was from its very outset interested in these issues and its first theme, ‘Yoga and Meditation in East and West’, was a truly pioneering subject in the early 1930s. Eranos, while still in its infancy, came to be associated primarily with the thought of Carl Jung. Jung was a regular participant at Eranos, and his conception of mythic archetypes came to be a foundational theory of Eranos.

Past themes include Ancient Sun Cults and the Symbolism of Light in the Gnosis and in Early Christianity (1943), Man and Peace (1958), Creation and Organization (1966) and The Truth of Dreams (1995). Participants over the years have included Heinrich Zimmer (Indian religious art), Karl Kerényi (Greek mythology), Mircea Eliade (history of religions), Carl Jung and Erich Neumann (analytical psychology), Gilles Quispel (gnostic studies), Gershom Scholem (Jewish mysticism), Henry Corbin (Islamic religion), Adolf Portmann (biology), Herbert Read (art history), Max Knoll (physics), and Joseph Campbell (comparative mythology).^[2] The Eranos conferences have resulted in the publication of a number of books.

Anyone may attend the lectures upon payment of a small fee.

[edit] References

Hans Thomal Hakl, "Der verborgene Geist von Eranos", Scientia Nova, Bretten 2001.

Steven M. Wasserstrom: Religion after religion. Gershom Scholem, Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton 1999, ISBN 0-691-00539-7.

Elisabetta Barone, et al., eds., Pioniere, Poeten, Professoren: Eranos und Monte Verità in der Zivilisationsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts... (Würzburg, Königshausen und Neumann, 2004) [articles in English, German, Italian].

Tilo Schabert: Une herméneutique intercivilisatrice: L`École d`Eranos, in: Nicolas Weill (ed.): Existe-il une Europe philosophique?, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2005, 297-302.

Eranos, Neue Folge, ed. T. Schabert, G. Zarone, Vol.1-8, Fink Verlag, München, 1993 ff., Vol. 9 - Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg, 2002 ff. - Vol. 13: Tilo Schabert, Matthias Riedl (ed.): Die Menschen im Krieg, im Frieden mit der Natur - Humans at War, at Peace with Nature, Königshausen und Neumann, Würzburg 2006.