Universiteit van Amsterdam

Faculty Member, History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents

Other Affiliations: Universiteit van Amsterdam, Department of Art, Religion, and Cultural Sciences

About

Peter Forshaw researched his doctorate in Early Modern Intellectual History, on the complex hieroglyphic and theosophical figures and the interplay of alchemy, magic and cabala in the Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (1595/1609) of Heinrich Khunrath of Leipzig (1560-1605), 'doctor of both  medicines and faithful lover of Theosophy'.

Following his PhD, Peter was then awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship for research into the History of Ritual Magic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This period of research was then followed by fellowships at the universities of Strathclyde and Cambridge, where he worked on projects related to early modern alchemy and astrology.

In 2009 Peter was appointed Assistant Professor for History of Western Esotericism in the Early Modern Period at the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam.

He is Editor in Chief of Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism and member of the editorial board of Ambix, Journal for the Society of the History of Alchemy and Chemistry and História Revista

Peter is also Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter, where he contributes to the MA in Western Esotericism at EXESESO: The Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of English and Humanities, Birkbeck, University of London.

From 2004-2011 Peter was elected council member and webmaster of the SRS (Society for Renaissance Studies). He has been performing the same function for SHAC (Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry) since 2007, and for ESSWE (European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism) since 2009.

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