Introduction: Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective

Abstract This special issue presents and discusses a translated, slightly revised and curtailed version of a research proposal that led, in 2022, to the foundation of the Center for Advanced Studies ‘Alternative Rationalities and Esoteric Practices from a Global Perspective’ at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg ( CAS-E ). This introduction provides a brief organizational overview of this research center and summarizes its potential contributions to debates about methods and theories in the study of religion in the condensed form of three methodological turns: CAS-E ’s global turn, CAS-E ’s praxeological turn, and CAS-E ’s comparative turn. This special issue also includes six commentaries by leading scholars in the field of esotericism studies who have read and critically evaluated CAS-E ’s research proposal, and an afterword by the current directors of the research center.