Sacred Sexuality. From the Ancient Sumerians to Contemporary Esalen.
(2010) In Studies in Spirituality 20. p.355-379- Abstract
- The aim of this article is to show that ideas pertaining to sacred sexuality or sacred marriage are as old as Sumerian culture. While mainstream Christianity developed an alternate view on sexuality, the Jewish Kabbalah transmitted similar ideas. In Asia, sacred sexuality has been an integrated dimension of Hinduism and Buddhism. All these spiritual traditions camte together in 18th century London, where we also encounter new influences from the Moravian Church and the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg. London becam a crucible for all traditions mentioned. The British artist William Blake came in touch with these ideas and he was heavily influenced by them. The article ends with a presentation of the contemporary Esalen institute in... (More)
- The aim of this article is to show that ideas pertaining to sacred sexuality or sacred marriage are as old as Sumerian culture. While mainstream Christianity developed an alternate view on sexuality, the Jewish Kabbalah transmitted similar ideas. In Asia, sacred sexuality has been an integrated dimension of Hinduism and Buddhism. All these spiritual traditions camte together in 18th century London, where we also encounter new influences from the Moravian Church and the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg. London becam a crucible for all traditions mentioned. The British artist William Blake came in touch with these ideas and he was heavily influenced by them. The article ends with a presentation of the contemporary Esalen institute in California, USA, known for the human potential movement. At Esalen, sacred sexuality belongs to the main themes being discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2302576
- author
- Geels, Antoon LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2010
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- sexuality, religion, sacred, mysticism, spirituality
- in
- Studies in Spirituality
- volume
- 20
- pages
- 355 - 379
- publisher
- Peeters Publishers
- ISSN
- 1783-1814
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (015017000)
- id
- c34065e6-0c5e-4e6c-bb7b-db18668dcc52 (old id 2302576)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:03:17
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 19:54:32
@article{c34065e6-0c5e-4e6c-bb7b-db18668dcc52, abstract = {{The aim of this article is to show that ideas pertaining to sacred sexuality or sacred marriage are as old as Sumerian culture. While mainstream Christianity developed an alternate view on sexuality, the Jewish Kabbalah transmitted similar ideas. In Asia, sacred sexuality has been an integrated dimension of Hinduism and Buddhism. All these spiritual traditions camte together in 18th century London, where we also encounter new influences from the Moravian Church and the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg. London becam a crucible for all traditions mentioned. The British artist William Blake came in touch with these ideas and he was heavily influenced by them. The article ends with a presentation of the contemporary Esalen institute in California, USA, known for the human potential movement. At Esalen, sacred sexuality belongs to the main themes being discussed.}}, author = {{Geels, Antoon}}, issn = {{1783-1814}}, keywords = {{sexuality; religion; sacred; mysticism; spirituality}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{355--379}}, publisher = {{Peeters Publishers}}, series = {{Studies in Spirituality}}, title = {{Sacred Sexuality. From the Ancient Sumerians to Contemporary Esalen.}}, volume = {{20}}, year = {{2010}}, }