Theosophy

Theosophy derives from the Greek term θεοσοφία (theosophia), derived from θεός (theos), "god", "gods" or "divine", and σοφία (sophia), wisdom; variously translated as divine wisdom, the wisdom of God or the gods, or wisdom in things divine. The term is first found in writings of Porphyry (AD 234–c. 305), a well-known Alexandrian philosopher who belonged to the Neo-Platonic school. In the course of time, several people and movements spiritually inclined also adopted the denomination of "theosophers" or "theosophists" for themselves. That was the case of Meister Eckhart in the 14th century, a group of Renaissance philosophers such as Paracelsus in the 16th century, Robert Fludd, Thomas Vaughan, and Jacob Boehme in the 17th ; and Emanuel Swedenborg and Karl von Eckartshausen in the 18 th century, among others. Finally, the theosophical movement reappeared in the 19th century with the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875 by H. P. Blavatsky, H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others.

Neo-Platonic theosophy

The origin of the term theosophia is unknown, but it is likely to have been coined by the Neo-Platonists (a philosophical school founded by Ammonius Saccas, who was born ca. 175). Based on the writings of the famous Platonist Prof. Alexander Wilder, H. P. Blavatsky suggests that the term was commonly used by all Neo-Platonists. However, researches made in the late 1980s by scholars James Santucci and Dr. Jean-Louis Siémons showed that it is only with the third-generation Neo-Platonist Porphyry (234–305) that we find the term in writing for the first time. In Porphyry’s view, the divine wisdom is a state of illumination that can be attained by self-exertion. The theosophos (Gr. θεόσοφος) tries “by himself, to elevate himself, alone to alone, to a communion with the divine.” With Iamblichus (250–325), the pure mystical meaning given to the term by Porphyry acquires a more occult or magical significance. He proposed that the theosophia can be attained through theurgy (Gr. θεουργία), a series of religious rituals and magic operations aimed at elevating consciousness. Proclus (412–485) uses the term in yet another way to denominate specific spiritual doctrines, making reference to a local ‘Hellenic theosophy’, but also to a foreign or barbarian (that is, non-Greek) theosophy, referring to Chaldean doctrines.

Christian theosophy

Many early Christians, including a number of Church Fathers, were students of Neo-Platonic teachers. They also adopted the term theosophia, but used it in a more Christian sense to mean “the Wisdom of God”. Clement of Alexandria (150–215) talks about a theosophos as one who writes “driven by divine inspiration,” and thus in time this term came to be used to refer to the prophets of old. An important difference between the Neo-Platonic and Christian concepts of theosophia, is that in the former view no one is a born theosophos—he becomes such by long exertion, application to philosophy, self-purification and contemplation of the divine. In the Christian view the divine wisdom is bestowed by God—as He chooses—upon the prophet, in the form of a revelation. After the Neo-Platonists disappeared in the 6th century, the term theosophia continued to be used in Christianity during the Middle Ages, but frequently in a lower sense as a synonym of theologia. In the 9th century, after the re-discovery of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius (a Christian Neo-Platonist that lived ca. 500) the term regained a lofty meaning among great mystics such as Meister Eckhart, J. Tauler, John of Ruysbroeck, and others. It was through their writings that 17th to 19th century European mystics such as Boehme, Saint-Martin, Swedenborg, and others, inherited the term theosophy and adopted it as their own. With these “theosophers” (as they came to be known) the term became popular, being on the title of a number of books during the 1700s. There continued to be publications on Christian theosophy until the middle of the 19th century.

Modern Theosophy

H. P. Blavatsky, in her Theosophical Glossary, describes the term as follows:

Theosophia (Gr.). Wisdom-religion, or “Divine Wisdom”. The substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practised by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance of the true spirit of the early Rosicrucians and mediæval philosophers who called themselves Theosophists.