Talk:Christian theosophy/Sources

Encyclopedia Britannica
The recent 2013 version of the EB focuses almost exclusively on modern Theosophy

Google, Google Scholar, Google Books
By far most search results in the first few pages are about modern Theosophy.

Scholarly Sources

 * The history of the modern Theosophical Society and its major offshoots is covered in ; and
 * The theosophical perspective is discussed in — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trinity9538 (talk • contribs) 01:38, 18 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Faivre, Antoine. Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism. Christine Rhone, trans. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Faivre, Antoine. Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism. Christine Rhone, trans. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Faivre, Antoine. Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in Western Esotericism. Christine Rhone, trans. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.
 * Facsimile of editions published 1894–1947.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Trinity9538 (talk • contribs) 23:36, 12 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Joscelyn Godwin (1994), The Theosophical Enlightenment, SUNY Press. Godwin's widely cited book starts off early with Richard Payne Knight and phallic worship, then invests heavily in biographies of notable Theosophists but goes light on the Golden Dawn and later groups influenced by Theosophy.
 * Wouter J. Hanegraaff praised Godwin's "landmark study" in . Today, Hanegraaff continues in this vein by saying Godwin wrote a "groundbreaking study" back in the 1990s, writing in.
 * Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke writes about the recent historiography of Theosophical scholarship in his paper, Goodrick-Clarke is known for connecting Nazism and Theosophy, a matter that is completely absent from this article likely for ill-considered reasons. See ; ; and
 * . This accessible and readable new book is by a doctoral student at Exeter.
 * , traces the Theosophical roots of utopian communities. This book is a reworking of his . Both books start out with a "Theosophical Roots" chapter. Right now there is nothing about utopian groups in the article.


 * Facsimile of editions published 1891–1937.

Tertiary sources for overview and summary

 * Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion ( 2 Volume Set) Hardcover – October 26, 2009 by David A. Leeming (Editor), Kathryn Madden (Editor), Stanton Marlan (Editor) Focus on Modern Theosophy
 * This entry references Emanuel Swedenborg, Helena Blavatsky and the "fourth dimension", explained by Blackburn as being akin to Bernhard Riemann's concept of a dimension "into which things might disappear, only to reappear elsewhere".
 * This entry continues with sections entitled "Doctrine" and "Divisions". It lists the following bibliography:
 * The Theosophical Movement 1875–1950 (Los Angeles 1951).
 * e. a. greenwalt, The Point Loma Community (Berkeley, Calif. 1955).
 * c. p. ramaswami aijar, Annie Besant (Delhi, India 1963).
 * c. e. b. roberts, The Mysterious Madame (New York 1931).
 * g. l. williams, Priestess of the Occult (New York 1946).
 * g. h. whyte, H. P. Blavatsky (London 1909).
 * j. symonds, Madame Blavatsky (New York 1960).
 * a. h. nethercot, The First Five Lives of Annie Besant (Chicago 1960); The Last Four Lives of Annie Besant (Chicago 1963).
 * t. m. francis, Blavatsky, Besant and Co. (St. Paul, Minn. 1939).
 * f. p. spinks, Theosophists Reunite! (Boston 1958).
 * c. j. ryan, What is Theosophy? (Covina, Calif. 1944).
 * l. w. rogers, Elementary Theosophy (Wheaton, Ill. 1950).
 * i. s. cooper, Theosophy Simplified (Wheaton, Ill. 1955).
 * h. p. blavatsky, Key to Theosophy (New York 1913).
 * w. c. ohlendorf, An Outline of the Secret Doctrine (Chicago 1941).
 * The bibliography includes Theosophy in the Nineteenth Century: An Annotated Bibliography, by Michael Gomes, a text which Ellwood describes as "an essential resource." Ellwood also recommends Gomes's 1987 book, The Dawning of the Theosophical Movement, "an empathetic scholarly study of Blavatsky and early theosophy in context."
 * (Entry about Western Esoteric Family I: Ancient Wisdom: Theosophy. The author puts theosophy in context with Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, Mesmerism, liberal Catholicism and various Western esoteric/occult beliefs.)
 * (Entry about the Point Loma Theosophical Community.)
 * (Theosophy entry)
 * (Theosophy entry)
 * (Theosophy entry)
 * (Theosophy entry)
 * (Theosophy entry)
 * (Theosophy entry)

The above sources mostly place pre-Blavatsky theosophy in a very minor position, one of background information leading to Blavatsky-style theosophy. None of them exalt pre-Blavatsky theosophy to the point of deserving the honor of being called theosophy while Blavatsky's doctrines are called something else. In other words, none of these encyclopedia sources support the form of the article as it existed last week, with its great emphasis on pre-Blavatsky theosophy with a faint compromise nod to Blavatsky. Binksternet (talk) 04:12, 2 May 2012 (UTC)