Theos-Talk Archives (April 1994 Message tl00005)

The SUNY Press catalog for Summer/Fall 1994 publications is
just out, and has three selections in the field of Theosophical
history.  What is most surprising is that out of 184 new titles
listed in 102 pages of description, these three are on pages
1,2 and 3 of the catalog, under "General Interest."  This says
a lot about SUNY's commitment to the general subject area as
well as to the specific books.  They are (with first para of
description:
p. 1-- Access to Western Esotericism by Antoine Faivre
     This is the first systematic treatment of esotericism to
appear in English.  Here is also a historical survey, beginning
with the Alexandrean period, of the various esoteric currents
such as Christian Kabbalah, Theosophy, Alchemy, Rocicrucianism,
and Hermeticism.  Common characteristics of these currents is
the notion of universal interdependency and the experience of
spiritual transformation.  The author establishes a rigorous
methodology; provides clarifying definitions of such key terms
as "gnosis", "theosophy", "occultism", and "Hermeticism"; and
offers analysis of contemporary esotericism based on three
distinct pathways.
352 pages, out in October, $19.95 paperback, $59.50 hardcover

p. 2-- The Theosophical Enlightenment by Joscelyn Godwin
     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.

480 pages, November, same prices as Faivre

p. 3-- The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and the Myth of
the Great White Lodge by K. Paul Johnson
   "The author has transferred the discussion of Blavatsky's
sources from the realm of the mythical to the historical.  He
has given us a well-researched series of capsuled biographies
of persons from whom Blavatsky learned and the nature of her
relationship with each of them.  His work brings reasoned
conclusions into an area characterized by vituperative and
polarized scholarship.  He sets his limits well.  He has not
overstretched his mark nor made excessive claims for his
conclusions."--- Hal. W. French, University of S. Carolina
320 pages, August, $16.95 paper, $49.50 hardcover