Recycled Lives
A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:21st Feb '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A sizeable minority of people with no particular connection to Eastern religions now believe in reincarnation. The rise in popularity of this belief over the last century and a half is directly traceable to the impact of the nineteenth century's largest and most influential Western esoteric movement, the Theosophical Society. In Recycled Lives, Julie Chajes looks at the rebirth doctrines of the matriarch of Theosophy, the controversial occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891). Examining her teachings in detail, Chajes places them in the context of multiple dimensions of nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural life. In particular, she explores Blavatsky's readings (and misreadings) of Spiritualist currents, scientific theories, Platonism, and Hindu and Buddhist thought. These in turn are set in relief against broader nineteenth-century American and European trends. The chapters come together to reveal the contours of a modern perspective on reincarnation that is inseparable from the nineteenth-century discourses within which it emerged, and which has shaped how people in the West tend to view reincarnation today.
The prose is accessible and engaging, the scholarly apparatus very helpful, and the analysis well-organized, rendering Recycled Lives a solid piece of scholarship. * Lukas Pokorny, University of Vienna, Religious Studies Review *
This book will no doubt be of interest to anyone who itches to satisfy a curiosity about Blavatsky, to theosophy-enthusiasts, and to scholars involved in the academic study of Western esotericism, but also to historians of ideas who are interested in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries * Frédéric Tremblay, Studies in East European Thought *
Well-organized, highly informative and lucidly written, the book is relevant for anyone attempting to get a grasp of not only Blavatsky, her Theosophy, and view on reincarnation, but also of early Theosophy more generally. * Paulina Gruffman, International Journal for the Study of New Religions *
The prose is accessible and engaging, the scholarly apparatus very helpful, and the analysis well-organized, rendering Recycled Lives a solid piece of scholarship. * Lukas Pokorny, Religious Studies Review *
Julie Chaje's book, Recycled Lives: A History of Reincarnation in Blavatsky's Theosophy ... is [a] very welcome contribution to a steadily growing area of research. * Tim Tudbøg, University of Copenhagen, Nova Religio *
ISBN: 9780190909130
Dimensions: 163mm x 236mm x 28mm
Weight: 442g
230 pages