Thomas Moore Johnson

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Thomas Moore Johnson

Thomas Moore Johnson (1851-1919) was an American attorney and student of philosophy. Known as the "Missouri Platonist," he lived in Osceola, Missouri and published The Platonist. His periodical mostly comprised translations of Greek works by Alexander Wilder and Thomas Taylor.

Theosophical Society involvement

With the encouragement of his friend Alexander Wilder, Johnson became an early member of the Theosophical Society, being admitted on April 17, 1883. He was not attached to a lodge. His membership diploma was signed by Founders Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott.

Correspondents

Johnson, like most editors of his day, maintained a very active correspondence with many people. Patrick D. Bowen and K. Paul Johnson have compiled T. M. Johnson's letters from esotericists in the first volume of Letters to the Sage, including letters from these people:

• W. W. Allen
• R. C. Bary
• A. N. Breneman
• J. D. Buck
• Thomas H. Burgoyne
• Josephine Cables
• Howard Carter
• Abner Doubleday
• Freeman B. Dowd
• M. D. Evans
• Nicolas Gonémys
• R. D. Goodwin
• S. C. Gould
• Minnie Higgin
• W. H. Hoisington
• Thomas M. Johnson (circular letters)

• William Quan Judge
• James D. Keifer
• W. A. Kelsoe
• W. J. C. Kenyon
• Anna Kingsford
• Henry Liddell
• Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie
• H. B. Magill
• Edward Maitland
• Damodar Mavalankar
• J. S. McDonal
• G. R. S. Mead
• George F. Moore
• Henry Morris
• Louise A. Off
• A. H. Ohmann-Dumesnil

• Henry Steel Olcott
• William Oxley
• Elliott B. Page
• Seth Pancoast
• Spiridion Papageorgios
• T. H. Pattinson
• James M. Pryse
• Charles J. Quétil
• S. H. Randall
• Ruswa (Mirza Mohamed Hadi)
• Ernest Sasseville
• William B. Shelley
• Helen L. Sumner
• William Throckmorton
• Henry Wagner
• John Yarker

A second volume of Letters to the Sage documents a 32-year friendship with Alexander Wilder.

Writings and translations

• The Collected Works of Thomas Moore Johnson. Westbury, UK: Prometheus Trust, 2015. Virtually all of TMJ's translations and much of his original writings have been gathered together for the first time. See Prometheus Trust for more details.
• Iamblichus, the Exhortation to Philosophy: Including the Letters of Iamblichus and Proclus' Commentary on the Chaldean Oracles .
• Opuscula platonica : the three fundamental ideas of the human mind : Hermias' Platonic demonstration of the immortality of the soul. Osceola, MO: [Press of the Republican], 1908.
• Bibliotheca platonica : an exponent of the Platonic philosophy.

Additional resources

• Johnson's library is in the Special Collections and Rare Books at the University of Missouri Libraries. The catalog is available at Thomas Moore Johnson Collection of Philosophy.
• The Johnson Library and Museum is operated by Johnson's descendants.
• Bowen, Patrick D. and K. Paul Johnson, eds. Letters to the Sage: Selected Correspondence of Thomas Moore Johnson Volume One: The Esotericists. Forest Grove, OR: The Typhon Press, 2016.
• Bowen, Patrick D. and K. Paul Johnson, eds. Letters to the Sage: Selected Correspondence of Thomas Moore Johnson Volume Two: Alexander Wilder, The Platonist. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018. Introduction by Ronnie Pontiac. Glossary by Erica Georgiades.
• Nichols, Kimberley. "Thomas Johnson: Platonism Meets Sex Magic on the Prairie". March 19, 2013 Available in Newtopia Magazine.
• "The Sage of Osceola: Thomas M. Johnson," History of the Adepts web page. Posted May 1, 2013 at History of the Adepts.