Overview

Offers a new approach to Theosophy that takes into account its global dimensions and its interaction with highly diverse cultural contexts. Theosophy across Boundaries brings a global history approach to the study of esotericism, highlighting the important role of Theosophy in the general histories of religion, science, philosophy, art, and politics. The first half of the book consists of seven perspectives on the activities of the Theosophical Society in very different regional contexts, ranging from India, Vietnam, China, and Japan to Victorian Britain and Israel, shedding new light on the entanglement of ""Western"" and ""Oriental"" ideas around 1900. The second half explores specific cultural influences that Theosophy exerted in the spheres of literature, art, and politics, using case studies from Sri Lanka, Burma, India, Japan, Ireland, Germany, and Russia. The examples clearly show that Theosophy was part of a truly global movement, thus providing an outstanding example of the complex entanglements of the global religious history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Full Product Details

9781438480411

Table of Contents

Reviews

""This volume makes an important contribution to the global understanding of the Theosophical Society and its transcultural dimensions … Combining different perspectives and case studies, the volume impressively shows the need for interdisciplinary and transcultural research on the Theosophical Society. This collection, indeed, is an important contribution to the global history of religion."" — Religious Studies Review ""There is much of value in this edited volume, with diverse voices representing different regions and countries and different disciplinary approaches … Theosophy across Boundaries is recommended for upper-division and graduate courses in religious studies, history, cultural studies, and esoteric movements and currents."" — Nova Religio ""This book successfully demonstrates that the Theosophical Society and its derivatives crossed all sorts of intellectual and cultural boundaries, and it makes a strong case that these phenomena—long ignored because of their heterodox nature—must be given the attention they deserve. The volume will appeal to those with an interest in the history of New Age and esoteric thought, but its many strengths include that it reveals Theosophy's broader historical relevance, thereby introducing the movement to a wider audience."" — Julie Chajes, author of Recycled Lives: A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy

This volume makes an important contribution to the global understanding of the Theosophical Society and its transcultural dimensions ... Combining different perspectives and case studies, the volume impressively shows the need for interdisciplinary and transcultural research on the Theosophical Society. This collection, indeed, is an important contribution to the global history of religion. - Religious Studies Review There is much of value in this edited volume, with diverse voices representing different regions and countries and different disciplinary approaches ... Theosophy across Boundaries is recommended for upper-division and graduate courses in religious studies, history, cultural studies, and esoteric movements and currents. - Nova Religio This book successfully demonstrates that the Theosophical Society and its derivatives crossed all sorts of intellectual and cultural boundaries, and it makes a strong case that these phenomena-long ignored because of their heterodox nature-must be given the attention they deserve. The volume will appeal to those with an interest in the history of New Age and esoteric thought, but its many strengths include that it reveals Theosophy's broader historical relevance, thereby introducing the movement to a wider audience. - Julie Chajes, author of Recycled Lives: A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy

This book successfully demonstrates that the Theosophical Society and its derivatives crossed all sorts of intellectual and cultural boundaries, and it makes a strong case that these phenomena-long ignored because of their heterodox nature-must be given the attention they deserve. The volume will appeal to those with an interest in the history of New Age and esoteric thought, but its many strengths include that it reveals Theosophy's broader historical relevance, thereby introducing the movement to a wider audience. - Julie Chajes, author of Recycled Lives: A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy

Author Information

Hans Martin Krämer is Professor of Japanese Studies at Heidelberg University, Germany, and the author of Shimaji Mokurai and the Reconception of Religion and the Secular in Modern Japan. Julian Strube is a Research Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Münster, Germany.

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