With healthy skepticism and heavy-handed irony, Washington chronicles the tortuous history of the Theosophic movement. Madame Blavatsky differed from other late 19th century mediums in that, while she used parlor tricks as demonstrations of her mystical abilities, she also created a fecund pseudo-philosophy, drawing partially on Eastern religions, in a book, The Secret Doctrine. Her thick and inconsistent tomes were required reading for the Theosophical Society, which she and a partner formed in America and which, while never large, has had an incongruously pervasive influence. Washington (Literary Theory and the End of English, not reviewed) provides a perceptive intellectual background of 18th- and 19th-century occultism. The Society became a modest success but attracted more than its share of bizarre con men and converts, like the mystic flaneur G.I. Gurdjieff and the utopian Rudolf Steiner. Despite its subtitle, however, this history is mainly concerned with European Theosophy and its sects as the nexus of ``western gurus,'' even though the US was generally more receptive to Asian religious philosophy and charlatan gurus. Although the Society's leaders get full billing, and their numerous sectarian branches and infighting are chronicled, the great figures who were attracted to Theosophy—W.B. Yeats, G.B. Shaw, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Mansfield, Frank Lloyd Wright, and others—are treated peripherally, with little insight into either their drives or what it was about the Secret Doctrine that appealed to them. The exception is a chapter on the wartime exiles in Hollywood, such as Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood, and the US career of Krishnamurti, an Indian of obscure origins whom the Theosophists adopted (and manipulated) as the messianic ``World Teacher.'' A plain history that doesn't take up the social and intellectual issues that drew so many to Theosophy and continue to draw people to its descendant—the New Age movement. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8052-4125-6
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Schocken
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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