Conflicts, Tensions, and Mythmaking at Eranos: The Study of Religions before and after World War II

The paramount contribution of the aforementioned collection of essays lies in their critical evaluation of the secondary myth-making inherent in the Eranos theoretical perspective. Through detailed historical analyses of the twentieth-century disciplines, including the history of religions, anthropology, and the history of science, the contributors discerned and tackled the creation and dissemination of twentieth-century scholarly myths. These encompass notions such as the "Trickster", "the East-West continuum in the study of religions", "the Goddess theory", "the myth of integration", "gnosis and visualisation", and "the myth of active will". The essays further examine how the attendees at the Eranos gatherings navigated the dual global conflicts that framed the initial two phases of the Tagungen. Their intellectual and emotional responses – or their absence – to war, conflicts, and nascent peace initiatives profoundly influenced the study of religion during the 1950s and 1960s. The Ascona conferences significantly moulded the postwar history of religions as a redemptive, yet equally prominent, personal intellectual endeavour.