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Methexiology (Hardcover)
Nicolas Laos; Foreword by Arthur Versluis
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R1,106
Discovery Miles 11 060
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Sophia (Hardcover)
John Pordage; Introduction by Arthur Versluis
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R1,905
Discovery Miles 19 050
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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The term 'Western esotericism' refers to a wide range of spiritual currents including alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, and Christian theosophy, as well as several practical forms of esotericism like cartomancy, geomancy, necromancy, alchemy, astrology, herbalism, and magic. The early presence of esotericism in North America has not been much studied, and even less so the indebtedness to esotericism of some major American literary figures. In this book Arthur Versluis breaks new ground, showing that many writers of the so-called American Renaissance drew extensively on and were inspired by Western esoteric currents. Before offering his detailed analysis of the esoteric elements in the writings of figures from the American Renaissance, Versluis offers an overview of esotericism in Europe and its offshoots in colonial America.
Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions
is a concise overview, from antiquity to the present, of all the
major Western religious esoteric movements. Topics covered include
alchemy, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and
many more. Magic and Mysticism is ideal for students of Mysticism
and New Religious Movements, as well as for general readers of
Metaphysics and Esoterica.
Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esoteric Traditions
is a concise overview, from antiquity to the present, of all the
major Western religious esoteric movements. Topics covered include
alchemy, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and
many more. Magic and Mysticism is ideal for students of Mysticism
and New Religious Movements, as well as for general readers of
Metaphysics and Esoterica.
Transcendentalism is well-known as a peculiarly American
philosophical and religious movement. Less well-known is the extent
to which such famous Transcendentalists as Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau drew on religions of Asia for their
inspiration. Arthur Versluis offers a comprehensive study of the
relationship between the American Transcendentalists and Asian
religions. He argues that an influx of new information about these
religions shook nineteenth-century American religious consciousness
to the core. With the publication of ever more material on
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, the Judeo-Christian tradition was
inevitably placed as just one among a number of religious
traditions. Fundamentalists and conservatives denounced this influx
as a threat, but the Transcendentalists embraced it, poring over
the sacred books of Asia to extract ethical injunctions,
admonitions to self-transcendence, myths taken to support Christian
doctrines, and manifestations of a supposed coming universal
religion. The first major study of this relationship since the
1930s, American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions is also the
first to consider the post-Civil War Transcendentalists, such as
Samuel Johnson and William Rounseville Alger. Examining the entire
range of American Transcendentalism, Versluis's study extends from
the beginnings of Transcendentalist Orientalism in Europe to its
continuing impact on twentieth-century American culture. This
exhaustive and enlightening work sheds important new light on the
history of religion in America, comparative religion, and
nineteenth-century American literature and popular culture.
By the early twenty-first century, a phenomenon that once was
inconceivable had become nearly commonplace in American society:
the public spiritual teacher who neither belongs to, nor is
authorized by a major religious tradition. From the Oprah
Winfrey-endorsed Eckhart Tolle to figures like Gangaji and
Adhyashanti, there are now countless spiritual teachers who claim
and teach variants of instant or immediate enlightenment. American
Gurus tells the story of how this phenomenon emerged. Through an
examination of the broader literary and religious context of the
subject, Arthur Versluis shows that a characteristic feature of the
Western esoteric tradition is the claim that every person can
achieve "spontaneous, direct, unmediated spiritual insight." This
claim was articulated with special clarity by the New England
Transcendentalists Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Versluis
explores Transcendentalism, Walt Whitman, the Beat movement,
Timothy Leary, and the New Age movement to shed light on the
emergence of the contemporary American guru. This insightful study
is the first to show how Asian religions and Western mysticism
converged to produce the phenomenon of "spontaneously enlightened"
American gurus.
In this groundbreaking collection, scholars explore how politics
can be understood in a much wider range of esoteric religious
contexts than is usually recognized. Included here are articles on
subjects ranging across the modern era and from a broad
geographical expanse, including Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, and
North America. This is the first book to focus on how esotericism
and politics intersect not only across the conventional spectrum,
but also outside it. Taken together, these articles shed new light
on the connections between politics and religion. Authors include
Joscelyn Godwin, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Lee Irwin, Daniel
McKanan, Arthur Versluis, M. E. Warlick, and many others. The third
in a series of volumes on Western esotericism, this book emerged
from international academic conferences held by the Association for
the Study of Esotericism (www.aseweb.org).
1896. Karezza was a name coined (from the Italian for caress) by
the Victorian reformer Alice Bunker Stockham. It refers to
non-religious spiritual sexual practices that draw upon tantric
techniques of body control but do not involve any of tantra's
cultural or iconographic symbolism. Stockham, an Ob-Gyn from
Chicago, and the fifth woman to be made a doctor in the United
States, traveled to northern India to learn the secrets of
tantra-for example, control of the orgasm response-but she did not
have any interest in Eastern religions and she felt that such
addenda to the methods were not essential. Her view of spirituality
was basically Quaker-Christian, and she fitted sacred sexuality
into a Christian paradigm with no apparent difficulty. A most
interesting read.
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Sophia (Paperback)
Arthur Versluis; Translated by Alan G Paddle; John Pordage
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R1,034
Discovery Miles 10 340
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Out of stock
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Island Farm (Paperback)
Arthur Versluis; Introduction by George A. Panichas
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R599
R500
Discovery Miles 5 000
Save R99 (17%)
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Out of stock
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This is not just another book, so much as a new way of seeing the
world and our way of being in it. Groundbreaking, and profoundly
optimistic, this is the only book to investigate how mysticism can
inspire cultural and political renewal. At heart, _The Mystical
State_ looks toward the future, toward what is possible on the
other side of the difficult times that confront us, and how we can
envision and encourage cultural emergence. In _The Mystical State_,
Arthur Versluis delves into the origins of modernity and what led
to the crises of our time. But he also looks to the future, and in
particular, to how spirituality can inform cultural and political
life in new and illuminating ways.
"Arthur Versluis s _The Mystical State: Politics, Gnosis and
Emergent Cultures_, asks a question long overdue in the study of
mysticism: what are the political implications of direct mystical
experience and thinking? His analysis ranges freely over both
ancient and modern thought and experience. His focus on Western
thought, ancient and modern, is a welcome respite from the tendency
to focus on Eastern meditation and philosophy among scholars of
mysticism. His exploration of the marginalized is especially
important. And by focusing on the road not taken when Gnosticism
was repudiated long ago, he dares to imagine what a new culture and
state that s centered on the mystical might look like: the end of
gigantism, the re-framing of life and value, and a form of
political authority centered in value. It is a courageous and
thought provoking book, and should open the door to a series of
questions important in our struggling world."
Robert K. C. Forman, author of _Mysticism, Mind, Consciousness_
and numerous other books on mysticism.
It's simply amazing Each page is a feast to both my mind and
soul Miguel Conner, editor of _Voices of Gnosticism_
A wonderful book . . . fascinating I highly recommend that
people buy it and read it as soon as possible. I can t say enough
about it. William Kennedy, Sphinx Radio
Praise for Other Works by Arthur Versluis:
"At a time when the religions of the world are meeting on a
spiritual level and in a global context, it is crucial that the
Christian West rediscover its often forgotten inner or esoteric
wisdom. Arthur Versluis skillfully guides the reader to recover the
wide range of this rich heritage." Ewart Cousins, general editor,
_World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious
Quest_
"A collection of very precious clues to the sources of the
Western spiritual tradition, pointing to the hidden currents both
in history and in our own selves." Jacob Needleman, author of _The
American Soul_ and _The Heart of Philosophy_
In this groundbreaking collection, leading scholars in this
emerging field explore how nature can be understood in a wide range
of esoteric religious contexts. Included here are articles on
subjects ranging from alchemy and panpsychism to music, Appalachian
folk magic, and new religions. Esotericism, Religion, and Nature
illuminates the way that nature is understood by figures and in
traditions that historically have not always been recognized or
well understood. Taken together, these articles shed new light on
the connections between humanity, nature, and religion. Authors
include Joscelyn Godwin, Wouter Hanegraaff, Lee Irwin, Richard
Smoley, Arthur Versluis, M. E. Warlick, and many others. The second
in a series of volumes on Western esotericism, this book emerged
from international academic conferences held by the Association for
the Study of Esotericism (www.aseweb.org). Edited by Arthur
Versluis, Claire Fanger, Lee Irwin, and Melinda Phillips
In what is presented as the first book in English to provide an
in-depth introduction to the Protestant theosophic tradition,
Versluis (American thought and language, Michigan State U.)
provides bibliographic information on major theosophical thinkers
(Bohme, Gichtel, Pordage, Leade, and Walton); surveys their
metaphysical doctrines; and relates theosophy to alchemy,
Gnosticism, Kabbala, and other experiential mystical traditions.
Finally, the author argues theosophy's relevance to modern science,
psychology, metahistory, and apostolic Christianity. Eight b&w
plates illustrate the themes of "Awakening Man" and "The
Becoming-Human of Christ".
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