Theosophy Across Boundaries: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement

486 Pages·2020·5.719 MB·English

by  Hans Martin Kramer (editor), Julian Strube (editor)

Theosophy across Boundaries
SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions
—————
David Appelbaum, editor
Theosophy across Boundaries
Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
on a Modern Esoteric Movement
Edited by
Hans Martin Krämer and Julian Strube
Cover image courtesy of the Theosophical Society in Australia
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2020 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Krämer, Hans Martin, editor. | Strube, Julian, editor.
Title: Theosophy across boundaries : transcultural and interdisciplinary
perspectives on a modern esoteric movement / edited by Hans Martin
Krämer and Julian Strube.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2020. | Series:
SUNY series in western esoteric traditions | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020018354 | ISBN 9781438480411 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781438480435 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Theosophy—Influence.
Classification: LCC BP520 .T545 2020 | DDC 299/.934—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020018354
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction: Theosophy across Boundaries 1
Julian Strube and Hans Martin Krämer
Part I
New Perspectives on Theosophy
Chapter 1
Western Esotericism and the Orient in the First
Theosophical Society 29
Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Chapter 2
Hinduism, Theosophy, and the Bhagavad Gita within a
Global Religious History of the Nineteenth Century 65
Michael Bergunder
Chapter 3
Theosophying the Vietnamese Religious Landscape:
A Circulatory History of a Western Esoteric Movement in
Southern Vietnam 109
Jérémy Jammes
Chapter 4
Theosophical Movements in Modern China: The Education
Provided by Theosophists at the Shanghai International Settlement 149
Chuang Chienhui
vi Contents
Chapter 5
Absence Unveiled? The Early Theosophical Society and the
Entanglement of History and Historiography 179
Ulrich Harlass
Chapter 6
Affinity and Estrangement: Transnational Theosophy in
Germany and India during the Colonial Era (1878–1933) 217
Perry Myers
Chapter 7
“To Study Judaism in the Light of Theosophy and Theosophy in
the Light of Judaism”: The Association of Hebrew Theosophists
and Its Missions to the Jews and Gentiles 253
Boaz Huss
Part II
Theosophy in Literature, the Arts, and Politics
Chapter 8
International Religious Organizations in a Colonial World:
The Maha-Bodhi Society in Arakan 281
Laurence Cox and Alicia Turner
Chapter 9
Euro-Asian Political Activist and Spiritual Seeker: Paul Richard
and Theosophy 317
Hans Martin Krämer
Chapter 10
An Irish Theosophist’s Pan-Asianism or Fant-asia? James Cousins
and Gurcharan Singh 345
Hashimoto Yorimitsu
Chapter 11
Theosophy as a Transnational Network: The Commission of
the Golconde Dormitory in Puducherry (1935–ca. 1948) 373
Helena Čapková
Contents vii
Chapter 12
From Healer to Shaman: Theosophy and the Making of
Esoteric Bali 401
Yan Suarsana
Chapter 13
Effects of Theosophy on Russian Cultural History 425
Björn Seidel-Dreffke
Contributors 455
Index 461

Illustrations
Figure 3.1 A Vietnamese Theosophist in the international
networks of the Theosophical Society. Source:
Nguyễn Văn Lượng, 1981. 126
Figure 10.1 James H. Cousins and Noguchi Yone. From
Cousins, New Japan. 349
Figure 10.2 Koumé and his “Etherist” painting, Snow Covered
Road at Dusk (1920). From Asahi Shinbun,
May 1, 1920. 352
Figure 10.3 Cultural unity of Asia? “An Indo-Japo-Chinese
Vase by Gurcharn [sic] Singh.” From Cousins,
New Japan. 353
Figure 10.4 Gurcharan Singh, Asakawa Takumi, and his
brother Asakawa Noritaka’s white vase. This is
Gurcharan Singh’s own picture; the caption says
“Dear Singu [sic], August 31, 1920, Takumi.”
From Anuradha Ravindranath’s archive concerning
Gurcharan Singh, New Delhi, India. 358
Figure 10.5 Gurcharan Singh, Three Symbol Vase (1970s).
From Ravindranath, Pottery and the Legacy of
Sardar Gurcharan Singh (1998). 361
Figure 11.1 A long view of Golconde, 1948, Puducherry,
photographer unknown, photographs copyright
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry, India. 374
ix