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theosophy|θiːˈɒsəfɪ|
[ad. med.L. theosophia (Scotus Erigena a 880), a. late Gr. θεοσοϕία (c 500 Pseudo-Dion. Myst. Theologia i. §1) wisdom concerning God or things divine, abstr. n. from θεόσοϕος theosoph. So F. théosophie (18th c. in Littré).
The word was revived early in the 17th c. in Latin and vernacular forms, to denote a kind of speculation, such as is found in the Jewish Cabbala and is illustrated by the writings of Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, and others, which sought, usually by the doctrine of the macrocosm and microcosm, to derive from the knowledge of God contained in sacred books, or traditions mystically interpreted, a profounder knowledge and control of nature than could be obtained by the methods of the Aristotelian or other current philosophy. The name theosophy was often applied specifically to the system of Jacob Boehme (1575–1624), which, though not claiming to the same degree traditional authority, was largely expressed in language borrowed from writers of the school in question. The word has then and since been applied to more ancient and more recent views having more or less affinity to those already mentioned.]
1. Any system of speculation which bases the knowledge of nature upon that of the divine nature: often with reference to such authors as those above mentioned, and more particularly to Boehme.
1650‘Eugenius Philalethes’ (= T. Vaughan) Anthroposophia Theomagica, Author to Reader 13 The Ancient, reall Theosophie of the Hebrewes and Egyptians. 1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. §20. 377 Xenophanes, philosophizing concerning the supreme Deity, was wont to call it ἕν και πᾶν, one and all... Xenophanes his Theosophy, or divine philosophy, is most fully declared by Simplicius. 1681H. More in Glanvill Sadducismus i. Postscr. (1726) 29 The sound Principles of Theosophy and true Divinity. 1691E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Philos. 171 What is all Sacred Theosophy, but the very understanding of a certain Divine Art? 1831Carlyle Early Germ. Lit. in Misc. Ess. (1872) III. 194 That..devout temper, now degenerating into abstruse theosophy..was awake in this era. 1837Hallam Hist. Lit. I. i. vii. §17. 397 His own models were the oriental reveries of the Cabbala, and the theosophy of the mystics. Ibid. §20 The theosophy of Paracelsus. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. III. 19 The Italians furnished few converts to the theosophy of Lepaux, they numbered very many quiet and contemptuous unbelievers. 1852Conybeare & Howson St. Paul I. xiii. 483 There was a strong affinity between the Neo-Platonic philosophy of Alexandria and the Oriental theosophy which sprang from Buddhism and other kindred systems. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics i. v. (1860) I. 30 Among the Germans I find mysticism generally called theosophy when applied to natural science. Too narrow a use of the word, I think. 1871Farrar Witn. Hist. iii. 102 Porphyry and Hierocles met them with haughty mysticism and intellectual theosophy. 1877E. Caird Philos. Kant ii. 17 The philosophies or theosophies that close the record of Greek speculation.
2. Applied to a system of recent origin, resembling the above in its claim to a knowledge of nature profounder than is obtained from empirical science, and contained in an esoteric tradition of which the doctrines of the various historical religions are held to be only the exoteric expression. Sometimes called Esoteric Buddhism. See Theosophical Society, under theosophical b.
1881Sinnett Occult World 172 They have shown that Theosophy, or Occult Philosophy, is no new candidate for the world's attention, but is really a restatement of principles which have been recognized from the very infancy of mankind. 1884Chr. World 16 Oct. 788/3 Theosophy is really another name for Esoteric Buddhism. 1885H. S. Olcott Theosophy Pref. 13 Theosophy is the complement both of science and of philosophy, and as such is entitled to the respectful examination of the savant and the theologian. Ibid. 256 That priceless knowledge of divine things which we call Theosophy. 19..Mrs. Besant Meaning of Theosophy 1 What is the essence of Theosophy? It is the fact that man, being himself divine, can know the Divinity whose life he shares. Ibid. 4 Theosophy has no code of morals, being itself the embodiment of the highest morality.
3. In etymol. sense: Wisdom or knowledge concerning things divine. nonce-use.
1836–7Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. I. 416 An organ of Imagination is intimately connected with that of Theosophy or Veneration. |