James Charles Napier Webb (13 January 1946 – 9 May 1980) was a Scottish historian and biographer. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, and was educated at

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He is remembered primarily for his books ''The Harmonious Circle'', ''The Occult Underground'' (originally titled ''Flight from Reason''), and ''The Occult Establishment''. He has been characterised as "an important pioneer in the academic study of

Western esotericism Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

Life and career

In 1980 his important biography of

G. I. Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff ( – 29 October 1949) was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, composer, and movements teacher. Born in the Russian Empire, he briefly became a citizen of the First Republic of Armenia after its formation in 19 ...

, titled ''The Harmonious Circle'', was published. He spent 8 years researching the book, making contacts with the Gurdjieff community worldwide. ''The New York Review of Books'' described Webb's research and knowledge of the subject as "extremely comprehensive", and Mistlberger described the book as "scholarly and occasionally gossipy" with Webb being "unquestionably a sincere researcher" who became "deeply involved in the matter of his subject" while remaining "fundamentally an outsider, an investigative journalist". Tamdgidi wrote that, amongst all the biographers of Gurdjieff, "only Webb claimed to have been independent and outside the circle of Gurdjieff's followers", and in 2004, in ''Inventors of Gurdjieff'', Paul Beekman Taylor described ''The Harmonious Circle'' as "the first systematic biographical account by a writer who hadn't known Gurdjieff personally" Webb established that Gurdjieff's writings revealed substantial evidence of familiarity with the languages and cultures of central Asia, but Webb regarded Gurdjieff more as a self-taught innovator than a member of an esoteric Asiatic group, and, although seeing some of its forms having derived from Asia, saw the content of his teachings deriving from western occult traditions. Webb's theories of Gurdjieff's identity as a Russian foreign agent in Central Asia, and theories on where he actually travelled before 1917, are considered controversial points in ''The Harmonious Circle''. Webb's work challenges theories of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

, theories of decline in organised religion and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

. Webb argued that the 19th and 20th centuries had also been marked by a revolt against the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, and that the rise of ''irrationalism'' was much more marked than the rise of rationalism, especially before, during and after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Webb traced the influence of

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...

groups and writers on literature, philosophy and politics. Webb was generally ignored in his lifetime, but with the increasing rise of

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

spirituality in later years, his work now seems increasingly prescient. After increasing mental health difficulties, Webb committed suicide in 1980. His major works ''The Occult Underground'' and ''The Occult Establishment'' were translated into German and published in 2009 and 2008 respectively.

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

established the "James Webb Prize for the History of Ideas" in his memory.

Influence

Webb's work has been recognised as a precursor to the academic study of esotericism which would later be inaugurated as a formalised field by historians

Antoine Faivre Antoine Faivre (5 June 1934 – 19 December 2021) was a French scholar of Western esotericism. He played a major role in the founding of the discipline as a scholarly field of study, and he was the first-ever person to be appointed to an academ ...

and

Wouter Hanegraaff Wouter Jacobus Hanegraaff (born 10 April 1961) is professor of the History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He served as the first president of the European Society for the Study of West ...

in the 1990s. Historian

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...

argued that "By focusing on functional significance of occultism in political irrationalism, Webb rescued the study of

Nazi occultism The association of Nazism with occultism occurs in a wide range of theories, speculation, and research into the origins of Nazism and into Nazism's possible relationship with various occult traditions. Such ideas have flourished as a part of po ...

for the

history of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

." Webb's notion of "rejected knowledge" was influential on the work of Hanegraaff.

Selected works

*''Flight from Reason'' (1971) MacDonald & Co., London. . **2nd ed.: ''The Occult Underground'' (1974) Open Court Publishing. .
''The Occult Establishment: The Dawn of the New Age and The Occult Establishment''
(1976) Open Court Publishing. . *'' The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Work of G. I. Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky, and Their Followers'' (1980) Putnam Publishing. . *''Das Zeitalter des Irrationalen: Politik, Kultur und Okkultismus im 20. Jahrhundert'' (2008) Marix Verlag. . German translation of ''The Occult Establishment''.

References

External links

* * Gary Lachman
The Damned: the strange death of James Webb
Fortean Times, September 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, James 1946 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Scottish historians Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British historians of religion People educated at Harrow School Researchers of new religious movements and cults Suicides by firearm in Scotland Suicides in Scotland Western esotericism scholars 1980 suicides 20th-century Scottish male writers British male non-fiction writers

Life and career

Influence

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links