Today’s 'Psychedelic Renaissance' is haunted by the spectre of religion. On the research front, clinicians, psychiatrists, and neuroscientists are now staking claims within territories previously reserved for religious experts or anthropologists, like the origins of otherworldly visions or the nature of “mystical” experience. Yet, the emerging field of psychedelic science has neglected the deep historical interconnections between psychedelics, culture, and religion across time and space, from pre-history to the present day.

Students who complete this course will gain a solid understanding of (1) the historical contexts which have shaped the current wave of psychedelic research in the medical and scientific community; (2) the anthropological, sociological, and historical study of psychedelic spiritualities; (3) the diverse ritual contexts and expectations for psychedelic experiences across time, space, and an array of global traditions; (4) the political, cultural, and ethical issues embedded within the shifting narratives of the “Psychedelic Renaissance.”

Please note that as this is an intensive course, all participants are expected to attend each session. Classes are from 9am until 14:30 with an hour lunch break in the university restaurant. Lunches are provided for participants on class days. 

Dr. J. Christian Greer is a scholar of Religious Studies with a special focus on psychedelic culture. He holds a MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, as well as a MA and PhD (cum laude) in Western Esotericism from the University of Amsterdam. While a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Divinity School, he led a series of research seminars on global psychedelic spirituality, which culminated in the creation of the Harvard Psychedelic Walking Tour, a free audio guide detailing how the Harvard community has shaped the modern history of psychedelic culture. He has published numerous articles on various psychedelic subcultures, and his latest book, Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots (co-authored with Dr. Michelle Oing) analyzes the pilgrimage folklore associated with the rainforests of Japan's Kii Peninsula. His forthcoming book, Angelheaded Hipsters: Psychedelic Militancy in Nineteen Eighties North America (Oxford University Press), explores the expansion of psychedelic culture within fanzine networks in the late Cold War era. After holding teaching and research positions at Harvard University and Yale University, he is now a lecturer at Stanford University.

Assistant Programme Director: Erik Davis, PhD, is an author, award-winning journalist, independent scholar and teacher based in San Francisco. His wide-ranging work focuses on the intersection of alternative religion, media, the psychedelic underground, and the popular imagination. He is the author, most recently, of High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies (2019). He also wrote Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (2010), The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape (2006), a critical volume on Led Zeppelin (2005), and the celebrated cult classic TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information (1998), which remains in print. Davis’s scholarly and popular essays on music, technoculture, drugs, and spirituality have appeared in scores of books, magazines, edited volumes, and journals, and his writing has been translated into a dozen languages. Davis has spoken widely at universities, conferences, retreat centers, and festivals, and has been interviewed by CNN, the BBC, NPR, and the New York Times. He graduated from Yale University magna cum laude in 1988, and earned his PhD in religious studies at Rice University in 2015. He writes the online Substack publication Burning Shore (www.burningshore.com), and in 2022, he co-founded the Alembic, a Berkeley center for meditation, movement, visionary culture and citizen neuroscience. His next book, Blotter: The Untold Story of an Acid Medium (MIT Press), will be out in April 2024.

To get a preview of some of the topics covered and get to know the academic directors, listen to Episode 10: Visions of the Occult, of Mokum Podcast. Marco and Christian talk about not only the winter programme, but the study of esotericism broadly, and its importance for understanding the world today. 

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