Letters To Dr Priestley Containing Proofs Of The Sole Supreme And Exclusive Divinity Of Jesus Christ Whom The Scriptures Declare To Be The Only God Of Heaven And Earth And Of The Divine Mission Of Emanuel Swedenborg Being A Defence Of The New Church Signified By The New Jerusalem In The Apocalypse By Robert Hindmarsh

Author : Joscelyn Godwin
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438404220
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Theosophical Enlightenment written by Joscelyn Godwin and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1994-10-28 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an intellectual history of occult and esoteric currents in the English-speaking world from the early Romantic period to the early twentieth century. The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Helena P. Blavatsky, holds a crucial position as the place where all these currents temporarily united, before again diverging. The book's ambiguous title points to the author's thesis that Theosophy owed as much to the skeptical Enlightenment of the eighteenth century as it did to the concept of spiritual enlightenment with which it is more readily associated. The author respects his sources sufficiently to allow that their world, so different from that of academic reductionism, has a right to be exhibited on its own terms. At the same time he does not conceal the fact that he considers many of them deluded and deluding. In the context of theosophical history, this book is neither on the side of the blind votaries of Madame Blavatsky, nor on that of her enemies. It may, therefore, be expected to mildly annoy both sides.