The terms “esoteric” and “occult” function today as comparative categories used worldwide, both inside and outside academia. Rather than being simply Western concepts that spread elsewhere, they emerged through globally entangled exchanges, similar to the history of “religion.” The article argues that these terms can be studied concretely through synchronic and diachronic historical contextualization. Drawing on scholarship on “Western esotericism,” “esoteric Buddhism,” and “the global occult,” it proposes a five-step methodology for applying Global Religious History to religious comparativism, using historical examples to illustrate the approach.
The chapter argues that labeling esotericism as "Western" hinders the field's development, as the term is both ideological and historically contingent. While some scholars, like Wouter Hanegraaff, advocate for empirical research with minimal theory to let sources speak, the author contends that critical insights about such categories are well-established in other disciplines. Rather than opposing postmodern theory, the chapter calls for open dialogue and methodological pluralism to move beyond the Western framework. It warns against a "diffusionist reaction" that treats esotericism as a European export, urging engagement with other fields to enrich the study.