Greek adjective esôterikós ("belonging to an inner circle"); the earliest known example of the word appeared in a satire authored by Lucian of Samosata[3] (c. 125 – after 180).
The noun "esotericism", in its French form "ésotérisme", first appeared in 1828 [4] in the work by Jacques Matter (1791–1864), Histoire critique du gnosticisme (3 vols.).[5][6] The term "esotericism" thus came into use in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment and of its critique of institutionalised religion, during which time alternative religious groups[example needed] began to disassociate themselves from the dominant Christianity in Western Europe.[7] During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the term "esotericism" came to commonly be seen[by whom?] as something which was distinct from Christianity, and which had formed a subculture that had been at odds with the Christian mainstream from at least the time of the Renaissance.[7] The French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi (1810–1875) popularized the term in the 1850s, and Theosophist Alfred Percy Sinnett (1840–1921) introduced it into the English language in his book Esoteric Buddhism (1883).[5] Lévi also introduced the term l'occultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses.[8] "Esotericism" and "occultism" were often employed[by whom?] as synonyms until later scholars distinguished the concepts.[9]
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