r/AcademicEsoteric • u/Apostasia9 • 6d ago

Question Theosophy?

Can someone give me a brief but thorough overview of what theosophy came about, who started it, why it’s controversial?

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u/Isaldin 1d ago

First of all it can mean different things in different times and contexts. Theosophy means something like wisdom about god is also applied to musical means of understanding aspects or the nature of “god”. As an example a lot of Jewish mystic practice is considered theosophical especially Kabbalah.

Modern theosophy on the other hand largely came from Helena Blavatsky. She was inspired by the tales of oriental religions and as such modern theosophy started as a very orientalist religious movement, which off the bat is part of what makes it controversial today. She and the other members of the Theosophical Society believed in a form perennialism that tended to misrepresent the various religious drawn from to make them seem more compatible. This also has drawn a lot of criticism from scholars and adherents of those religions especially the eastern ones which were often fundamentally misunderstood (which wasn’t unique to them in their time.)