No Religion Higher Than Truth: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922 - Rilegato

Carlson, Maria

9780691056821: No Religion Higher Than Truth: A History of the Theosophical Movement in Russia, 1875-1922

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 069105682X ISBN 13: 9780691056821

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Pr, 1993

Among the various kinds of occultism popular during the Russian Silver Age (1890-1914), modern Theosophy was by far the most intellectually significant. This contemporary gnostic gospel was invented and disseminated by Helena Blavatsky, an expatriate Russian with an enthusiasm for Buddhist thought and a genius for self-promotion. What distinguished Theosophy from the other kinds of "mysticism" - the spiritualism, table turning, fortune-telling, and magic - that fascinated the Russian intelligentsia of the period? In answering this question, Maria Carlson offers the first scholarly study of a controversial but important movement in its Russian context.
Carlson's is the only work on this topic written by an intellectual historian not ideologically committed to Theosophy. Placing Mme. Blavatsky and her "secret doctrine" in a Russian setting, the book also discusses independent Russian Theosophical circles and the impact of the Theosophical-Anthroposophical schism in Russia. It surveys the vigorous polemics of the Theosophists and their critics, demonstrates Theosophy's role in the philosophical dialogues of the Russian creative intelligentsia, and chronicles the demise of the movement after 1917. By exploring this long neglected aspect of the Silver Age, Carlson greatly enriches our knowledge of fin-de-siecle Russian culture.

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Recensione:

"[Carlson's] book is primarily concerned ... with fin de-si?cle Russian culture, more particularly the Russian Silver Age (1890-1914).... 'No Religion Higher than the Truth' is ground-breaking for its careful investigation of previously untapped Russian sources on theosophical history."--Religious Studies Review

Contenuti:

	Illustrations
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction: The Esoteric Tradition and the Russian Silver Age	3
I	A Historical Survey of Russian Occult Interests	15
	The Earliest Traditions	15
	The French Occult Revival	19
	Spiritualism	22
	Theosophy	28
II	The Early Days of Theosophy in Russia (1875-1901)	38
	The Magnificent Madame	38
	The Introduction of Theosophy into Russia	43
III	The Theosophical Society in Russia (1901-1917)	54
	The First Circles (1901-1908)	54
	Theosophical Work (1908-1914)	60
	Russian Theosophy during the First World War (1914-1918)	76
IV	Other Russian Theosophical Movements	81
	The Smolensk Theosophists	81
	Vasilii Bogushevskii and Teosoficheskoe Obozrenie	86
	An Independent: Khristoforova's Moscow Circle	88
	The Russian Anthroposophists: Steiner and Russia	94
V	Theosophical Doctrine: An Outline	114
	What Is Modern Theosophy?	115
	Theosophy and God	116
	Theosophy and the Universe	117
	Theosophy and Man	120
	The Meaning of the Path	123
	Anthroposophical Refinements: Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science	128
VI	The Russian Reception of Theosophical Thought	137
	The Three Critiques of Theosophy	140
	Theosophy and the Russian Intelligentsia	158
	Point and Counterpoint	167
VII	The Russian Theosophical Movement after 1917	171
	After the Revolution	173
	The "Russian Theosophical Society Outside Russia"	180
	Afterword: Theosophy's Impact on Fin de Siecle Russian Culture	188
	Orientologist and Painter: Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (1874-1947)	193
	Theorist, Philosopher, and Writer: Andrei Belyi (1880-1934)	198
	In Conclusion	205
	Notes	209
	Glossary	249
	Bibliography: Theosophical and Related Works Published in Russia between 1881 and 1918	253
	Selected Bibliography	275
	Index	283