Theosophy across Boundaries

Hans Martin Krämer is Professor of Japanese Studies at Heidelberg University, Germany, and the author of Shimaji Mokurai and the Reconception of Religion and the Secular in Modern Japan. Julian Strube is a Research Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Münster, Germany.

"This volume makes an important contribution to the global understanding of the Theosophical Society and its transcultural dimensions … Combining different perspectives and case studies, the volume impressively shows the need for interdisciplinary and transcultural research on the Theosophical Society. This collection, indeed, is an important contribution to the global history of religion." — Religious Studies Review"There is much of value in this edited volume, with diverse voices representing different regions and countries and different disciplinary approaches … Theosophy across Boundaries is recommended for upper-division and graduate courses in religious studies, history, cultural studies, and esoteric movements and currents." — Nova Religio"This book successfully demonstrates that the Theosophical Society and its derivatives crossed all sorts of intellectual and cultural boundaries, and it makes a strong case that these phenomena—long ignored because of their heterodox nature—must be given the attention they deserve. The volume will appeal to those with an interest in the history of New Age and esoteric thought, but its many strengths include that it reveals Theosophy's broader historical relevance, thereby introducing the movement to a wider audience." — Julie Chajes, author of Recycled Lives: A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy

• ContentsList of IllustrationsIntroduction: Theosophy across BoundariesJulian Strube and Hans Martin KrämerPart I: New Perspectives on Theosophy 1. Western Esotericism and the Orient in the First Theosophical SocietyWouter J. Hanegraaff2. Hinduism, Theosophy, and the Bhagavad Gita within a Global Religious History of the Nineteenth CenturyMichael Bergunder3. Theosophying the Vietnamese Religious Landscape: A Circulatory History of a Western Esoteric Movement in Southern VietnamJérémy Jammes4. Theosophical Movements in Modern China: The Education Provided by Theosophists at the Shanghai International SettlementChuang Chienhui5. Absence Unveiled? The Early Theosophical Society and the Entanglement of History and HistoriographyUlrich Harlass6. Affinity and Estrangement: Transnational Theosophy in Germany and India during the Colonial Era (1878–1933)Perry Myers7. "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 GentilesBoaz HussPart II: Theosophy in Literature, the Arts, and Politics 8. International Religious Organizations in a Colonial World: The Maha-Bodhi Society in ArakanLaurence Cox and Alicia Turner9. Euro-Asian Political Activist and Spiritual Seeker: Paul Richard and TheosophyHans Martin Krämer10. An Irish Theosophist's Pan-Asianism or Fant-asia? James Cousins and Gurcharan SinghHashimoto Yorimitsu11. Theosophy as a Transnational Network: The Commission of the Golconde Dormitory in Puducherry (1935–ca. 1948)Helena Čapková12. From Healer to Shaman: Theosophy and the Making of Esoteric BaliYan Suarsana13. Effects of Theosophy on Russian Cultural HistoryBjörn Seidel-DreffkeContributorsIndex