Eric Voegelin: Timeline Biographical Sketch

1901: Born in Cologne.

1910: Moved to Vienna.

1922: Received doctorate in political science from the University of Vienna. While there, he attended seminars by Ludwig von Mises and developed a lasting friendship with F.A. Hayek.

1922-1926: Studied at the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, Oxford, Columbia, Harvard, and Wisconsin. Also at the Sorbonne.

1928: Published his first book, On the Form of the American Mind.

1930s: Published Race and State, The History of the Race Idea, and The Authoritarian State, which made him a target of the Nazis, who withdrew the latter two from circulation. History was vigorously de-platformed.

1938: The Anschluss, fired from the University of Vienna, fled to America.

1939: Published The Political Religions.

1939-1942: Bounced around Harvard, Bennington College, and University of Alabama.

1942-1958: Professor at Louisiana State University.

1952: Published The New Science of Politics, which made him famous for a short spell, thanks to Time Magazine’s feature story about the book.

1956-1957: Published first three volumes of his magnum opus, Order and History: Israel and Revelation, The World of the Polis, and Plato and Aristotle.

1958: Professor at the University of Munich.

1968: Published Science, Politics and Gnosticism (his most-accessible book; beginners: start with this!)

1969: Professor at Stanford.

1985: Died and buried pursuant to the Lutheran rites of burial.