IMAGINING THE EAST: THE EARLY THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Edited by TimRudbøg and ErikReenberg Sand. Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. x+384. Hardback, $99.00.

The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, played an influential role in shaping alternative religious and cultural movements by popularizing Eastern religions and philosophies in the West. This academic anthology is the first dedicated to studying the early Society's engagement with the East (1875–1900). It examines how Theosophists approached, represented, and interacted with Eastern cultures, comparing them to contemporary Orientalists. Topics include Sanskrit, Buddhism, Hindu philosophy, yoga, and Eastern masters as portrayed in Theosophical journals and modernist literature. The volume also explores connections between Theosophy, Hindu reform movements, and Indian politics, offering insights into nineteenth-century esotericism, globalization, and cross-cultural dynamics.

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Abstract

The Theosophical Society (est. 1875 in New York by H. P. Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, and others) is increasingly becoming recognized for its influential role in shaping the alternative new religious and cultural landscape of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and perhaps especially for being an early promoter of interest in Eastern religions and philosophies. Many scholars now point to the Theosophical Society’s early popularization of Eastern concepts in the West and that Blavatsky and Olcott were the first known Westerners to convert to Buddhism, but despite this increasing awareness many of the central questions relating to the early Theosophical Society and the East still remain largely unexplored. This volume is the first academic anthology specifically dedicated to a more detailed study of the early Theosophical Society and the East (1875–1900). In addition to locating and analyzing new historical material, this book explores how the Theosophists approached the East and how in so doing they were similar to and different from Orientalists at the time. It explores how Theosophists represented the East and engaged with the people they came into contact with. Major topics include Sanskrit, Buddhism, Hindu philosophy, Eastern masters, yoga, and how such subjects were written about in Theosophical journals and in modernist literature. The innovative studies in this volume also explore the close relation between Theosophy, Hindu reform movements, and Indian politics and thereby offer new insights into the role of modern esotericism, globalization, and cross-cultural dynamics in the nineteenth century.