Has 2023 been the year where Blavatsky made a breakthrough in terms of recognition as important philosophical thinker? There have been precedents, but it's been a good year for Blavatsky in philosophy.
2- Women Philosophers in Nineteenth-Century Britain
Alison Stone 2023
Develops ideas on Blavatsky and Besant present in journal article below.
Later Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers on Mind and Its Place in the World
Having received the hylo-idealists’ materials, Blavatsky singled out
Naden’s writing for its “extremely attractive” style and published
Naden’s short atheist piece “Autocentricism” (signed “C. N.”), plus two
hylo-idealist letters, from Lewins and George McCrie. But, signing
herself “The Adversary,” Blavatsky appended a critique of hylo-idealism,
to which in fact she had already noted her objections in late 1887 when
she read Naden’s “What Is Religion?”
3- Imagining the East: The Early Theosophical Society
Very interesting work. 13 papers cover a worldwide study of Theosophical influence.
4- Theosophy across Boundaries Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement
Edited by Hans Martin Krämer & Julian Strube
Series: SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions 486 pages, November 2020
Series: SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions 486 pages, November 2020
A
quantum leap in Tantra history, with much on role of Theosophical
Society, essential reading for the modern Yoga history field
5- Global Tantra
Good study, chapters 4 & 5 on theosophy. Since the previous work on this didn't include theosophy, a good ice-breaker
6- The Subtle Body: A Genealogy
https://academic.oup.com/book/38999?login=false 11 articles, from medieval period to modern times, 3 specific theosophical papers
7- Innovation in Esotericism from the Renaissance to the Present
Palgrave Macmillan 2021
Editors: Georgiana D. Hedesan, Tim RudbøgPsychic Disciplines: The Magnetizer as Magician in the Writings of Jules Dupotet de Sennevoy (1796–1881)
Jean-Pierre Brach
Julie Chajes
Jeffrey D. Lavoie
8- Spiritual Empires in Europe and India, Perry Myers, 2021.
Cosmopolitan Religious Movements from 1875 to the Interwar Era
This book provides a comparative analysis of cosmopolitan (esoteric)
religious movements, such as Theosophy, Groupe Independent des Études
Ésotériques, Anthroposophy, and Monism, in England, France, Germany, and
India during the late nineteenth-century to the interwar years. Despite
their diversity, these factions manifested a set of common
features—anti-materialism, embrace of Darwinian evolution, and a belief
in universal spirituality—that coalesced in a transnational field of
analogous cosmopolitan spiritual affinities. Yet, in each of their
geopolitical locations these groups developed vastly different
interpretations and applications of their common spiritual tenets
8 papers, at least three dealing with theosophy
9-
Occult Roots of Religious Studies 2021
On the Influence of Non-Hegemonic Currents on Academia around 1900
Edited by:
Volume 4 in the series
Okkulte Moderne
Jens Schlieter
Marco Frenschkowski
Fun look at very contemporary, topical questions
10- Hermes Explains Thirty Questions about Western EsotericismEdited by:
Egil Asprem
Antoine Faivre
Christine Ferguson
Joscelyn Godwin
Boaz Huss Massimo Introvigne
11 papers that cover multi-cultural topics worlwide
11- New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism
Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Volume: 17 2021
Volume Editors: Egil Asprem and
Julian Strube
Good study on relatively neglected early twentieth-century period of theosophy. Good coverage of The Voice of the Silence and T. Subba Row.
12- Annie Besant’s Pedagogy and the Creation of Benares Hindu University
Volume 6 in the series
Okkulte Moderne
PS-
Musicology of Religion Theories, Methods, & Directions
Guy L. Beck
SUNY series in Religious Studies 368 pp, 2023
Blavatsky, early TS, could be credited much more, but very good, very theosophical approach, esoteric aspect, east/west comparative included
You certainly could be 'academic minded' - it may help counter the increasing scrutiny from the Academy. Very stimulating posts as usual.
ReplyDeleteApp, Urs. 2023. Blavatsky on Buddhism: Interviews, Letters, and Papers. Universitymedia: Switzerland.
If you search Urs App, you find his other article on HPB and her Tantra.
(If the TS cannot counter him, we are consigning ourselves to the category of 'religion').
Lane, David C. 2022. The Sound Current Tradition. CUP: Cambridge.
In the Nada / Shabd practice traditions. Small section on the Voice.
(We only seem to have mention of it in a book (the Voice). Unless you know of a practice tradition on nada yoga in the TS?)
Cantu, Keith Edward. Here is link to his PHD on Sabapathy Swami.
(his phd is published by Brill, but is very expensive)
Yes, friends, everyone knows about 'head centre' meditations and is doing them. If anyone knows of an active tradition within the TS who is working practically on head centre meditations let me know.
https://escholarship.org/content/qt48v5t1bc/qt48v5t1bc_noSplash_dd22b67be3c24827002ed161ffb7fbaf.pdf
People can make of them what they will.
Dewald