Theosophy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theosophy is a doctrine of religious philosophy and mysticism. Theosophy holds that all religions are attempts by the Occult Brotherhood to help humanity in evolving to greater perfection, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth. The founding members, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), and William Quan Judge (1851–1896), established the Theosophical Society in New York City in 1875. Rudolf Steiner created a successful branch of the Theosophical Society in Germany and eventually in 1913 founded his own successor the Anthroposophical Society.

Etymology

Blavatsky addressed the name in the beginning of The Key to Theosophy:

Theosophy, literally "god-wisdom", designated several bodies of ideas predating Blavatsky:

The term appeared in Neoplatonism. Porphyry De Abstinentia (4.9) mentioned "Greek and Chaldean theosophy", Ἑλληνική, Χαλδαϊκὴ θεοσοφία. The adjective θεόσοφος "wise in divine things" was applied by Iamblichus (De mysteriis 7.1) to the gymnosophists (Γυμνοσοφισταί), i.e. the Indian yogis or sadhus.