Ritman Research Institute
The intellectual enginge of the Embassy of the Free Mind.
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Research
Grounded in the UNESCO-recognised Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica collection, the Ritman Research Institute at the Embassy of the Free Mind explores the origins, development, and contemporary relevance of wisdom traditions across cultures.
Through scholarly publications, international collaborations, and expert gatherings, the EFM actively contributes to academic and philosophical discourse.
Research informs exhibitions, learning programmes, and public dialogue, ensuring that knowledge remains dynamic, connected, and impactful.
A Study of Hermetic Philosophy
Named for the founder of the library, Joost R. Ritman, the Ritman Research Institute is dedicated to studying the history of intellectual, religious, and philosophical currents in which the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica has strong holdings: hermetica, mysticism, Christian theosophy, heterodoxy, alchemy, Rosicrucians, Freemasonry, Jewish and Christian Kabbala, comparative religion, and Western Esotericism.
Today, the importance of “esoteric” thinkers is widely recognized in academia, but that is a recent development. For a long time, the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica was one of the few places to study this tradition. Some of the first scholars associated with the Ritman Research Institute, like Roelof van den Broek and Gilles Quispel, translated foundational writings, such as the Corpus Hermeticum, the texts of the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus, and the Gnostic texts, making these writings available to both specialists and the general public for the first time. The Institute’s research has been especially strong in the area of Rosicrucian studies, a field led internationally by our longtime researcher and librarian, Carlos Gilly.
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Research Articles
The Ritman Research Institute dedicates itself to unlocking new levels of academic knowledge.
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The Academy Advisory Board
In addition to our regular research on hermetic streams of thought, the Ritman Research Institute is currently expanding our programs to include more conferences and publications, our monthly newsletter & journal Codex Hermeticus is a recent example of this. We also have an academy in which we offer educational programs such as lectures, seminars, and reading groups for the public. For all of these things, we need the support and advice of recognized scholars. Our Academic Advisory Board consists of the best international scholars in the fields covered by our library, including Hermetica, mysticism, alchemy, astrology, magic, fraternal organizations, and Kabbala.
Mike Driedger
Brock University, Canada
Yuval Harari
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Georgiana Hedesan
Oxford University
Didier Kahn
CNRS, France
Matthew Melvin-Koushki
University of South Carolina
Lawrence Principe
Johns Hopkins University
Vladimir Urbanek
Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Bernard McGinn
University of Chicago, emer.
Wouter Hanegraaff
University of Amsterdam
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