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21	H.P. Blavatsky's Theosophy in context : the construction of meaning in modern Western esotericism Rudbøg, Tim January 2012 (has links) H.P. Blavatsky’s (1831-1891) Theosophy has been defined as central to the history of modern Western spirituality and esotericism, yet to this date no major study has mapped and analysed the major themes of Blavatsky’s writings, how Blavatsky used the concept ‘Theosophy’ or to what extent she was engaged with the intellectual contexts of her time. Thus the purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap. The proposed theoretical framework is based on the centrality of language in the production of intellectual products, such as texts—but contrary to the dominant focus on strategies, rhetoric and power this thesis will focus on the construction of meaning coupled with a set of methodological tools based on contextual analysis, intellectual history and intertextuality. In addition to an overview of Blavatsky research this thesis will map and analyse Blavatsky’s use of the concept ‘Theosophy’ as well as Blavatsky’s primary discourses, identified as: (1) discourse for ancient knowledge, (2) discourse against Christian dogmatism, (3) discourse against the modern natural sciences and materialism, (4) discourse against modern spiritualism, (5) discourse for system and (7) discourse for universal brotherhood. In mapping and analysing Blavatsky’s discourses, it was found that her construction of meaning was significantly interconnected with broader intellectual contexts, such as ‘modern historical consciousness’, ‘critical enlightenment ideas’, studies in religion, studies in mythology, the modern sciences, spiritualism, systemic philosophy, reform movements and practical ethics. It, for example, becomes clear that Blavatsky’s search for an ancient ‘Wisdom Religion’ was actually a part of a common intellectual occupation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that her critique of the Christian dogmas was equally a common intellectual trend. To read Blavatsky’s discourses as the idiosyncratic strategies of an esotericist, isolated from their larger contexts or only engaged with them in order to legitimise minority views would therefore largely fail to account for the result of this thesis: that in historical actuality, they were a part of the larger cultural web of meaning. 299.934
22	The veil of Egypt : the constitution of the individual and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt as portrayed in The Secret Doctrine of H.P. Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society Bester, Dewald 11 1900 (has links) The Secret Doctrine is the magnum opus of H.P. Blavatsky and one of the foundation texts of the Theosophical Society. It represents her attempt to appropriate authority in a wide variety of fields, including, science, religion, and philosophy. This study examines H.P. Blavatsky’s engagement with Ancient Egypt in relation to two specific themes, the constitution of the individual and the afterlife, as they are portrayed in this work. It locates Theosophy in its historical context, the late nineteenth century, in relation to various fields of knowledge. It reviews the sources that H.P. Blavatsky drew on in her work and discusses the various interpretive techniques she employed to insert Theosophical content into various world religions. Finally, it contrasts the Theosophical presentation of Ancient Egypt in The Secret Doctrine with that of mainstream modern Egyptology. The fundamental disconnect which is revealed highlights the challenges that the Theosophical perspective faces. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Religious Studies) Theosophy Theosophical Society Blavatsky Western esotericism Occultism Ancient Egypt Comparative religion Egyptology Afterlife Human constitution Secret Doctrine 299.934 Theosophists -- 19th century Theosophy -- History Spiritual life -- Christianity Occultism -- Egypt Egyptology
23	The Quest for Gnosis : G. R. S. Mead’s Conception of Theosophy / The Quest for Gnosis : G.R.S. Mead's Conception of Theosophy Gruffman, Paulina January 2020 (has links) G. R. S. Mead is an important but neglected historical personality of the British fin-de-siècle occult, Theosophical, and post-Theosophical milieu. While previous scholars of Theosophy have portrayed the Theosophical movement as quite cohesive in nature, I argue that it might have been a lot more pluralistic, with ostensibly key Theosophical concepts being open for debate. By a careful study of Mead’s editorial activity, his debates with other Theosophists in leading occultist journal over the period 1890s through 1910s, I illustrate that Mead held alternative views of key Theosophical concepts. This gives us a clue as to how the movement of Theosophy can be characterized differently. I suggest that we speak of many different “Theosophies” rather than one singular “Theosophy” to better capture the seemingly diverse makeup of the Theosophical movement. I look at three areas wherein Mead’s views differed from those of other important Theosophists: the concept of “the Masters” as spiritual authority, which sources to turn to and how to interpret them, and the question of whether occultism should be understood primarily in theoretical or in practical terms. I propose that by seeing Theosophy as a debating ground where many different Theosophists competed over the definition of their particular kind of Theosophy, we might also better account for why so many post-Theosophical currents emerged. Lastly, Mead’s concept of “Gnosis” might have served as a bridge between his Theosophical and post-Theosophical periods, as the concept’s meaning, along with Mead’s spiritual outlook, does not appear to have changed over time. This gives some consequences to how we conceive of post-Theosophy, since he does not fit neatly within that category. theosophy theosophical society gnosis g.r.s. mead helena blavatsky annie besant c.w. leadbeater occultism esotericism western esotericism new religious movements new spirituality quest society the quest teosofi teosofiska samfundet gnosis ockultism esoterism västerländsk esoterism nyreligiösa rörelser History of Religions Religionshistoria
24	Kaosets symfonier : En religionshistorisk analys av innehållet i Black Metalbandet Watains textkorpus Jonsäll, Hans January 2016 (has links) With this essay my aim is to uncover the content in the discography of the Swedish Black Metal act Watain in respect to lyrically expressed religious themes revolving around the tendencies within occulture and the Black Metal scene. To investigate the matter I have combined quantitative and qualitative analysis methods from the fields of corpus linguistics as well as content analysis, which provided me with an array of key words and their respective concordances (Key Word In Context, KWIC) in the texts. Through the analysis three overlapping main themes became apparent: satanism, gnosticism and finally apocalypticism. I described each of the themes in detail based on my linguistic findings in the corpus so as to yield a deeper understanding of the religious symbols communicated in the material and their interrelationship. The result was that neither one of these could be explained in isolation as they are all part of a larger system of philosophy, namely the esoteric movement chaos-gnosticism tied to the Swedish order Temple of the Black Light, but also products of occulture. The discussion proved that, although satanism may seem to be the thematical centerpoint in Watain’s lyrics, it is not, as this is a far too simple conclusion in relation to the complexity of the results. Instead, the content requires to be understood in terms of the dark Left-Hand Path spirituality as well as the occultural melting pot of paranormal and occult ideas. / <p>För att få tillgång till mitt korpus och mina korpusresultat hänvisar jag till min privata e-post adress hans.jonsall@gmail.com alternativt att man kontaktar mig via sociala medier.</p> Watain Black Metal Occulture Satanism Gnosticism Apocalypticism Eschatology Western esotericism Occultism Left-Hand Path Chaos-gnosticism Anti-cosmic Satanism History of religions Reception studies Corpus linguistics Content analysis Watain Black Metal Occulture Satanism Gnosticism Apokalyps Eskatologi Västerländsk esoterism Ockultism Vänstra Handens väg Kaosgnosticism Anti-kosmisk satanism Religionshistoria Receptionshistoria Korpuslingvistik Innehållsanalys

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