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What is theosophy? For many people, the word will evoke recollection of the nineteenth century Theosophical Society of Madame Blavatsky, but she merely appropriated the word for an organization that has nothing to do with theosophy, because in fact inner Christianity or theosophy dates back to the first centuries of our era, and has very specific meaning. It refers a different kind of knowledge than theology: theology is a product of human reason applied to difficult religious questions, but theosophy is direct spiritual knowledge. Literally, the word “theosophy” refers to the “Wisdom of God,” and traditionally it refers to those who, through spiritual practice, directly experience divine wisdom. Theosophy has a long history; it is the gnostic or inner history of Christianity, and includes such extraordinary figures as Clement of Alexandria, Dionysius the Areopagite, John Scotus Erigena, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, Jakob Böhme, and Franz von Baader, to name only the most luminary. Modern theosophy began with Böhme in the early seventeenth century, who represents an astonishing synthesis of the currents of European esotericism into a new revelation that has not been fully mapped even today. After Böhme came many gnostics, both men and women, too numerous to name them all here.
Theosophy, or inner Christianity, forms a hidden current in the West that continues right up to the present day. This previously little-known mystical tradition was introduced by Arthur Versluis in the trilogy of books that begins with Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity, about which Ewert Cousins wrote “At a time when the religious of the world are meeting on a spiritual level and in a global context, it is crucial that the Christian West rediscover its often forgotten inner or esoteric wisdom. Arthur Versluis skilfully guides the reader to recover the wide range of this rich heritage.” And Jacob Needleman wrote that these works are “A collection of very precious clues to the sources of the Western spiritual tradition, pointing to the hidden currents both in history and in ourselves.” This unique trilogy of works continues in Wisdom's Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition, the most extensive in-depth study of theosophy, which discusses not only the history but the inner teachigns of the theosophic tradition. Finally, in the third book of this trilogy, Wisdom's Book: The Sophia Anthology, you will find what Prof. Lee Irwin refers to as “a landmark volume whose impact will certainly change the conventional history of Christianity” and that “articulates the deep, passionate spirituality of a hidden Sophianic tradition.” This trilogy of three books will change the way you understand Christianity, and reveal a profound spiritual tradition that corresponds to Sufism in Islam and to Kabbalah in Judaism. In these three books you will find the inner mystical teachings of Christianity.
Theosophy is not dogmatic: although there are theosophic doctrines, they are founded not in reason alone, but have their origin in gnostic experience, which can be of various kinds. Gnostic or inward experience may include visionary insight and even revelation, for theosophers insist that if divine revelation was possible in antiquity, it’s possible now. The most influential of the theosophers, Jakob Böhme (1575-1624), was a visionary, meaning that he saw into the inward principles of existence, the hidden forces of love and wrath, and into the powers that inform the whole of nature as well as man. But although such visionary insights are important, they are not the essence of theosophy, which is rather the spiritual awakening of the individual. Visionary experience may occur along this path, but it is an epiphenomena.
Theosophy therefore is more an orientation toward spiritual experience than anything else, and this is why there is a continuity in the tradition even though theosophers are each unique in emphasis. Some are drawn to Kabbalism, others to scientific inquiry, still others are ascetics, and still others are married and have a family. But none emphasize outward religious observance at the expense of inwardness. Rather, theosophers in general suggest adherence to whatever outward religious community is natural, be it Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, for what matters is one’s inner awareness and commitment to self-transcendence, not outward adherence to belief or social forms.
This indifference to outward forms or beliefs is in fact an important aspect of theosophy itself, for it is why the theosophers have never formed a sect or institution. Theosophers maintain that a sect is formed by people becoming attached to doctrines that they construct, thereby forming a kind of “astral shell” that, far from bringing adherents to spiritual freedom, keep them from it. Such a shell is a way of understanding why people will persecute, imprison, and torture others in the name of their religion or, nowadays, in the name of the state: people identify more with the shell, their dogmatic adherence, than with fellow human beings, so much so that they’re willing to kill for it.
By contrast, theosophy represents a path toward spiritual freedom. But what is the nature of this freedom? Were it merely the absence of sectarianism, it would not be worthy of the name “freedom,” for freedom here refers not just to absence, but to presence. It is not by accident that the great Russian philosopher Nicolai Berdyaev insisted freedom and creativity were inseparably linked. We are only truly free when we are creative—that is, when we are no longer completely bound by convention and driven by the pull and push of attraction and repulsion, but can create out of our gnostic or spiritual center. To be free is to have gone beyond our conditioning or habit-energy, and to experience being fully human—to be creative.
If you are interested in exploring the inner traditions of the West more deeply, we recommend you consider purchasing the following books, each of which reveal unexpected dimensions of our spiritual inheritance and possibility:
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About Christian Theosophy (Introductions and In-depth Discussion):
Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity,
Wisdom's Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition
Books on the Christian Inner Life:
Wisdom's Book: The Sophia Anthology
The Divine Couple: A Book on the Christian Mystery of Eros
Gnosis and Literature
Books on Inner Christianity and the spirituality of love and marriage:
The Mysteries of Love: Eros and Spirituality
The Divine Couple: A Book on the Christian Mystery of Eros
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