Timothy Larsen
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199287871
- eISBN:
- 9780191713422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287871.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Frederic Rowland Young was a Secularist lecturer who worked for G. J. Holyoake and wrote for his newspaper, the Reasoner; he later became a Unitarian minister. With George Sexton, he became a ...
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Frederic Rowland Young was a Secularist lecturer who worked for G. J. Holyoake and wrote for his newspaper, the Reasoner; he later became a Unitarian minister. With George Sexton, he became a Christian apologist and a proponent of Spiritualism. Eventually, he became convinced of the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ and served for a time as a Congregational minister.Less
Frederic Rowland Young was a Secularist lecturer who worked for G. J. Holyoake and wrote for his newspaper, the Reasoner; he later became a Unitarian minister. With George Sexton, he became a Christian apologist and a proponent of Spiritualism. Eventually, he became convinced of the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ and served for a time as a Congregational minister.
Timothy Larsen
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199287871
- eISBN:
- 9780191713422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287871.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
George Sexton was the most academically distinguished popular freethinking lecturer, and specialized in disseminating the latest scientific thought. He converted to Spiritualism and to orthodox ...
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George Sexton was the most academically distinguished popular freethinking lecturer, and specialized in disseminating the latest scientific thought. He converted to Spiritualism and to orthodox Christianity. His work as a Christian apologist included editing the Shield of Faith.Less
George Sexton was the most academically distinguished popular freethinking lecturer, and specialized in disseminating the latest scientific thought. He converted to Spiritualism and to orthodox Christianity. His work as a Christian apologist included editing the Shield of Faith.
Timothy Larsen
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199287871
- eISBN:
- 9780191713422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199287871.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The Victorian Secularist movement knew that it was experiencing a crisis of doubt. Freethinkers reconverted because they came to believe that Secularism was merely negative, that it offered no basis ...
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The Victorian Secularist movement knew that it was experiencing a crisis of doubt. Freethinkers reconverted because they came to believe that Secularism was merely negative, that it offered no basis for morality, and that it adhered to a procrustean system of logic. Positively, they were drawn to the Bible and to Jesus of Nazareth, to the realm of the spirit (sometimes through Spiritualism), and to Christians who modeled learning and a commitment to justice. Popular radicals were ahead of members of the social elite when it came to these intellectual trends.Less
The Victorian Secularist movement knew that it was experiencing a crisis of doubt. Freethinkers reconverted because they came to believe that Secularism was merely negative, that it offered no basis for morality, and that it adhered to a procrustean system of logic. Positively, they were drawn to the Bible and to Jesus of Nazareth, to the realm of the spirit (sometimes through Spiritualism), and to Christians who modeled learning and a commitment to justice. Popular radicals were ahead of members of the social elite when it came to these intellectual trends.
Michael D. Gordin (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691172385
- eISBN:
- 9780691184425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691172385.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter looks at the controversy surrounding Spiritualism in the 1870s. Considered by many a modernized religion more suited to the day's empirical advances, Spiritualism sparked substantial ...
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This chapter looks at the controversy surrounding Spiritualism in the 1870s. Considered by many a modernized religion more suited to the day's empirical advances, Spiritualism sparked substantial disagreement as to whether actual “spirits” of the departed were responsible for the phenomena that occurred in seances. In Russia in particular, where the Great Reforms had vigorously initiated debates over the place of scientific expertise in a modernizing state, Spiritualism became the center of a controversy about the status of religion, science, and superstition. A central episode in the history of Russian Spiritualism served as a microcosm of the concerns about science's relation to the disjointed society of the Great Reforms: the creation and work of the Commission for the Investigation of Mediumistic Phenomena. The Commission was set up in May 1875 at Dmitrii Mendeleev's instigation by the Russian Physical Society—a newly created sibling to the Russian Chemical Society.Less
This chapter looks at the controversy surrounding Spiritualism in the 1870s. Considered by many a modernized religion more suited to the day's empirical advances, Spiritualism sparked substantial disagreement as to whether actual “spirits” of the departed were responsible for the phenomena that occurred in seances. In Russia in particular, where the Great Reforms had vigorously initiated debates over the place of scientific expertise in a modernizing state, Spiritualism became the center of a controversy about the status of religion, science, and superstition. A central episode in the history of Russian Spiritualism served as a microcosm of the concerns about science's relation to the disjointed society of the Great Reforms: the creation and work of the Commission for the Investigation of Mediumistic Phenomena. The Commission was set up in May 1875 at Dmitrii Mendeleev's instigation by the Russian Physical Society—a newly created sibling to the Russian Chemical Society.
Melissa Daggett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496810083
- eISBN:
- 9781496810120
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496810083.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
The advent of Modern American Spiritualism took place in the 1850s and continued as a viable faith into the 1870s. Because of its diversity and openness to new cultures and religions, New Orleans ...
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The advent of Modern American Spiritualism took place in the 1850s and continued as a viable faith into the 1870s. Because of its diversity and openness to new cultures and religions, New Orleans provided fertile ground to nurture Spiritualism, and many séance circles flourished in the Faubourgs Tremé and Marigny as well as the American sector of the city. This book focuses on Le Cercle Harmonique, the francophone séance circle of Henry Louis Rey, a Creole of color who was a key civil rights activist, author, and Civil War and Reconstruction leader. His life has remained largely in the shadows of New Orleans historiography owning, in part, to a language barrier. The book weaves an intriguing historical tale of the supernatural, chaotic postbellum politics, and the personal triumphs and tragedies of Henry Louis Rey. Besides Rey’s séance circle, there is also a discussion about the Anglo-American séance circles in New Orleans. The book places these séance circles within the context of the national scene, and the genesis of nineteenth-century Spiritualism is examined with a special emphasis placed on events in New York and Boston. The lifetime of Henry Rey and that of his father, Barthélemy Rey, spanned the nineteenth century, and mirror the social and political dilemmas of the black Creoles. The book concludes with a comparison of Spiritualism with the Spiritualist and Spiritual churches, as well as voodoo. The book’s narrative is accompanied by wonderful illustrations, reproductions of the original spiritual communications, and photographs.Less
The advent of Modern American Spiritualism took place in the 1850s and continued as a viable faith into the 1870s. Because of its diversity and openness to new cultures and religions, New Orleans provided fertile ground to nurture Spiritualism, and many séance circles flourished in the Faubourgs Tremé and Marigny as well as the American sector of the city. This book focuses on Le Cercle Harmonique, the francophone séance circle of Henry Louis Rey, a Creole of color who was a key civil rights activist, author, and Civil War and Reconstruction leader. His life has remained largely in the shadows of New Orleans historiography owning, in part, to a language barrier. The book weaves an intriguing historical tale of the supernatural, chaotic postbellum politics, and the personal triumphs and tragedies of Henry Louis Rey. Besides Rey’s séance circle, there is also a discussion about the Anglo-American séance circles in New Orleans. The book places these séance circles within the context of the national scene, and the genesis of nineteenth-century Spiritualism is examined with a special emphasis placed on events in New York and Boston. The lifetime of Henry Rey and that of his father, Barthélemy Rey, spanned the nineteenth century, and mirror the social and political dilemmas of the black Creoles. The book concludes with a comparison of Spiritualism with the Spiritualist and Spiritual churches, as well as voodoo. The book’s narrative is accompanied by wonderful illustrations, reproductions of the original spiritual communications, and photographs.
Emily Suzanne Clark
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469628783
- eISBN:
- 9781469628806
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469628783.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
In the midst of a nineteenth-century boom in spiritual experimentation, the Cercle Harmonique, a remarkable group of African-descended men, practiced Spiritualism in heavily Catholic New Orleans from ...
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In the midst of a nineteenth-century boom in spiritual experimentation, the Cercle Harmonique, a remarkable group of African-descended men, practiced Spiritualism in heavily Catholic New Orleans from just before the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction. In this first comprehensive history of the Cercle, Emily Suzanne Clark illuminates how highly diverse religious practices wind in significant ways through American life, culture, and history. Clark shows that the beliefs and practices of Spiritualism helped Afro-Creoles mediate the political and social changes in New Orleans, as free blacks suffered increasingly restrictive laws and then met with violent resistance to suffrage and racial equality. Drawing on fascinating records of actual séance practices, the lives of the mediums, and larger city-wide and national contexts, Clark reveals how the messages that the Cercle received from the spirit world offered its members rich religious experiences as well as a forum for political activism inspired by republican ideals. Messages from departed souls including François Rabelais, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Robert E. Lee, Emanuel Swedenborg, and even Confucius discussed government structures, the moral progress of humanity, and equality. The Afro-Creole Spiritualists were encouraged to continue struggling for justice in a new world where “bright” spirits would replace raced bodies.Less
In the midst of a nineteenth-century boom in spiritual experimentation, the Cercle Harmonique, a remarkable group of African-descended men, practiced Spiritualism in heavily Catholic New Orleans from just before the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction. In this first comprehensive history of the Cercle, Emily Suzanne Clark illuminates how highly diverse religious practices wind in significant ways through American life, culture, and history. Clark shows that the beliefs and practices of Spiritualism helped Afro-Creoles mediate the political and social changes in New Orleans, as free blacks suffered increasingly restrictive laws and then met with violent resistance to suffrage and racial equality. Drawing on fascinating records of actual séance practices, the lives of the mediums, and larger city-wide and national contexts, Clark reveals how the messages that the Cercle received from the spirit world offered its members rich religious experiences as well as a forum for political activism inspired by republican ideals. Messages from departed souls including François Rabelais, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Robert E. Lee, Emanuel Swedenborg, and even Confucius discussed government structures, the moral progress of humanity, and equality. The Afro-Creole Spiritualists were encouraged to continue struggling for justice in a new world where “bright” spirits would replace raced bodies.
Corinne G. Dempsey
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199860333
- eISBN:
- 9780199919598
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860333.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter juxtaposes Hindu and Christian strategies for conferring extraordinary abilities onto human bodies. The traditions under consideration, Icelandic Spiritualism and Indian Neo-Vedanta, ...
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This chapter juxtaposes Hindu and Christian strategies for conferring extraordinary abilities onto human bodies. The traditions under consideration, Icelandic Spiritualism and Indian Neo-Vedanta, were similarly formed by their countries’ respective independence struggles during the turn of the last century as well as by scientific frameworks through which both find validation. This use of science emerges from the turn-of-the-century scientific revolution that challenged the existence of religion, met by Spiritualism and Neo-Vedanta not with a rejection of the supernatural but with a softening of the divide between science and religion, matter and spirit. This chapter's juxtaposition illuminates how the similar epistemological, historical, and political forces that shape these traditions are trumped by that which most dramatically distinguishes them: the insistent presence or absence of spirits. Rather than analyzing this presence/absence of spirits as representing yet another layer of social influence, this chapter focuses on the ways practitioners’ differently conceived bodily encounters with the sacred guide their cosmologies and, subsequently, their ethics.Less
This chapter juxtaposes Hindu and Christian strategies for conferring extraordinary abilities onto human bodies. The traditions under consideration, Icelandic Spiritualism and Indian Neo-Vedanta, were similarly formed by their countries’ respective independence struggles during the turn of the last century as well as by scientific frameworks through which both find validation. This use of science emerges from the turn-of-the-century scientific revolution that challenged the existence of religion, met by Spiritualism and Neo-Vedanta not with a rejection of the supernatural but with a softening of the divide between science and religion, matter and spirit. This chapter's juxtaposition illuminates how the similar epistemological, historical, and political forces that shape these traditions are trumped by that which most dramatically distinguishes them: the insistent presence or absence of spirits. Rather than analyzing this presence/absence of spirits as representing yet another layer of social influence, this chapter focuses on the ways practitioners’ differently conceived bodily encounters with the sacred guide their cosmologies and, subsequently, their ethics.
Matthew Gibson and Neil Mann (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781942954255
- eISBN:
- 9781786944160
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781942954255.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Yeats, Philosophy, and the Occult is a collection of essays examining the thought of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and particularly his philosophical reading and explorations of older systems of ...
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Yeats, Philosophy, and the Occult is a collection of essays examining the thought of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and particularly his philosophical reading and explorations of older systems of thought, where philosophy, mysticism, and the supernatural blend. It opens with a broad survey of the current state of Yeats scholarship and examination of Yeats’s poetic practice through a manuscript that shows the original core of a poem that became a work of philosophical thought and occult lore, “The Phases of the Moon.” The following essay examines an area where spiritualism, eugenic theory, and criminology cross paths in the writings of Cesare Lombroso, and Yeats’s response to his work. The third paper considers Yeats’s debts to the East, especially Buddhist and Hindu thought, while the fourth looks at his ideas about the dream-state, the nature of reality, and contact with the dead. The fifth essay explores Yeats’s understanding of the concept of the Great Year from classical astronomy and philosophy, and its role in the system of his work A Vision, and the sixth paper studies that work’s theory of “contemporaneous periods” affecting each other across history in the light of Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West. The seventh essay evaluates Yeats’s reading of Berkeley and his critics’ appreciation (or lack of it) of how he responds to Berkeley’s idealism. The book as a whole explores how Yeats’s mind and thought relate to his poetry, drama, and prose, and how his reading informs all of them.Less
Yeats, Philosophy, and the Occult is a collection of essays examining the thought of the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and particularly his philosophical reading and explorations of older systems of thought, where philosophy, mysticism, and the supernatural blend. It opens with a broad survey of the current state of Yeats scholarship and examination of Yeats’s poetic practice through a manuscript that shows the original core of a poem that became a work of philosophical thought and occult lore, “The Phases of the Moon.” The following essay examines an area where spiritualism, eugenic theory, and criminology cross paths in the writings of Cesare Lombroso, and Yeats’s response to his work. The third paper considers Yeats’s debts to the East, especially Buddhist and Hindu thought, while the fourth looks at his ideas about the dream-state, the nature of reality, and contact with the dead. The fifth essay explores Yeats’s understanding of the concept of the Great Year from classical astronomy and philosophy, and its role in the system of his work A Vision, and the sixth paper studies that work’s theory of “contemporaneous periods” affecting each other across history in the light of Oswald Spengler’s The Decline of the West. The seventh essay evaluates Yeats’s reading of Berkeley and his critics’ appreciation (or lack of it) of how he responds to Berkeley’s idealism. The book as a whole explores how Yeats’s mind and thought relate to his poetry, drama, and prose, and how his reading informs all of them.
Leigh Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748627691
- eISBN:
- 9780748684441
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748627691.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse ...
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While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, this book argues that the discourses of the occult were used by a range of modernist artists, writers and filmmakers because at their heart is a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. The discourses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated. The book explores the aesthetic and political implications of this, and argues that those modernists who were most self-consciously experimental – including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein – drew on the magical mimesis at the heart of occult discourses in order to renew and transform their art.Less
While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, this book argues that the discourses of the occult were used by a range of modernist artists, writers and filmmakers because at their heart is a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. The discourses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated. The book explores the aesthetic and political implications of this, and argues that those modernists who were most self-consciously experimental – including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein – drew on the magical mimesis at the heart of occult discourses in order to renew and transform their art.
Susan Starr Sered
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195104677
- eISBN:
- 9780199853267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. ...
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Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. First, it points out ways in which these religions differ from one another. Some of the examples are self-consciously independent religions that exist in a society where the dominant religion is male dominated (Feminist Spirituality, Afro-Brazilian religions). Others are religious streams that co-exist alongside of, and sometimes intertwined with, male-dominated religions (zār, Spiritualism, Korean shamanism, Burmese nat cultus). Still others are the major religion of an entire society (the Ryūkyū Islands, the Black Caribs of Belize). And finally, others are sects of otherwise male-dominated religions (Christian Science, Shakerism).Less
Women's religions are, from a cross-cultural perspective, anomalous. Most of the religions of the world are dominated by men. This chapter presents twelve examples of religions dominated by women. First, it points out ways in which these religions differ from one another. Some of the examples are self-consciously independent religions that exist in a society where the dominant religion is male dominated (Feminist Spirituality, Afro-Brazilian religions). Others are religious streams that co-exist alongside of, and sometimes intertwined with, male-dominated religions (zār, Spiritualism, Korean shamanism, Burmese nat cultus). Still others are the major religion of an entire society (the Ryūkyū Islands, the Black Caribs of Belize). And finally, others are sects of otherwise male-dominated religions (Christian Science, Shakerism).
Susan Starr Sered
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195104677
- eISBN:
- 9780199853267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
There are several women's religions that could essentially be described as constellations of rituals: these religions lack a standardized belief system, formal membership procedures, rules and ...
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There are several women's religions that could essentially be described as constellations of rituals: these religions lack a standardized belief system, formal membership procedures, rules and regulations, and recognized leaders. The clearest example of this model is Spiritualism in the United States. An emphasis on ritual, however, does not mean that women's religions are simplistic. If we abandon a dichotomy between ritual (magical, superstitious, ignorant) and theology (philosophical, abstract, unselfish, moral), we begin to see that rituals may express very complex belief systems. Spiritualist seances, for example, explicate and reinforce the notion that material reality is not the only reality; that all living creatures are eternally connected with one another; that what one person does affects everyone and everything forever; that people are not specks of dust, disappearing into nothingness when they die; that love has meaning; that human relationships are sacred. This chapter examines rituals and interpersonal relationships in women's religions in the contexts of initiation, mourning, and food rituals.Less
There are several women's religions that could essentially be described as constellations of rituals: these religions lack a standardized belief system, formal membership procedures, rules and regulations, and recognized leaders. The clearest example of this model is Spiritualism in the United States. An emphasis on ritual, however, does not mean that women's religions are simplistic. If we abandon a dichotomy between ritual (magical, superstitious, ignorant) and theology (philosophical, abstract, unselfish, moral), we begin to see that rituals may express very complex belief systems. Spiritualist seances, for example, explicate and reinforce the notion that material reality is not the only reality; that all living creatures are eternally connected with one another; that what one person does affects everyone and everything forever; that people are not specks of dust, disappearing into nothingness when they die; that love has meaning; that human relationships are sacred. This chapter examines rituals and interpersonal relationships in women's religions in the contexts of initiation, mourning, and food rituals.
Susan Starr Sered
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195104677
- eISBN:
- 9780199853267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Notions of the supernatural are what differentiate religious from secular belief systems. Given the importance that religious devotees accord their deities, this chapter looks at the gods and spirits ...
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Notions of the supernatural are what differentiate religious from secular belief systems. Given the importance that religious devotees accord their deities, this chapter looks at the gods and spirits of each of the key examples of women's religions. The previous chapters argued that the rituals of women's religions are concerned with interpersonal relationships and reflect an essentially this-worldly, immanent orientation. Concern with relationships and this world also characterize the supernatural beings who are worshipped and addressed in women's religions. Unlike both the spirits of Spiritualism and the nats of Burma, Ryūkyūan kami (loosely translated as gods) generally do not have myths associated with them, nor are they highly differentiated among themselves. The various Afro-Brazilian religions have somewhat different theological approaches and posit somewhat different pantheons. In the case of the Black Caribs of Belize, prayers are addressed to God, the Virgin Mary, and deceased ancestors. This chapter examines androgyny and polydeism in women's religions, focusing on Christian Science, Shakers, and Spiritualism.Less
Notions of the supernatural are what differentiate religious from secular belief systems. Given the importance that religious devotees accord their deities, this chapter looks at the gods and spirits of each of the key examples of women's religions. The previous chapters argued that the rituals of women's religions are concerned with interpersonal relationships and reflect an essentially this-worldly, immanent orientation. Concern with relationships and this world also characterize the supernatural beings who are worshipped and addressed in women's religions. Unlike both the spirits of Spiritualism and the nats of Burma, Ryūkyūan kami (loosely translated as gods) generally do not have myths associated with them, nor are they highly differentiated among themselves. The various Afro-Brazilian religions have somewhat different theological approaches and posit somewhat different pantheons. In the case of the Black Caribs of Belize, prayers are addressed to God, the Virgin Mary, and deceased ancestors. This chapter examines androgyny and polydeism in women's religions, focusing on Christian Science, Shakers, and Spiritualism.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines ritual magic from 1850 to the present. The modern occult revival of the 19th century was a complex phenomenon with widespread causes. Romanticism stimulated interest in the ...
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This chapter examines ritual magic from 1850 to the present. The modern occult revival of the 19th century was a complex phenomenon with widespread causes. Romanticism stimulated interest in the mysterious and the unknown, which in turn created a cultural receptivity to Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and magic. Freemasonry also served as an important factor in the occult revival by serving as a channel of Hermetic wisdom. The growth of fringe Masonry also reflected the contemporary revival of ritualism in the Anglican Church and this movement significantly influenced the restoration of sacramental worship to Anglican devotion and the revival of religious orders.Less
This chapter examines ritual magic from 1850 to the present. The modern occult revival of the 19th century was a complex phenomenon with widespread causes. Romanticism stimulated interest in the mysterious and the unknown, which in turn created a cultural receptivity to Mesmerism, Spiritualism, and magic. Freemasonry also served as an important factor in the occult revival by serving as a channel of Hermetic wisdom. The growth of fringe Masonry also reflected the contemporary revival of ritualism in the Anglican Church and this movement significantly influenced the restoration of sacramental worship to Anglican devotion and the revival of religious orders.
Justin T. Clark
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638737
- eISBN:
- 9781469638751
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638737.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
In the decades before the U.S. Civil War, the city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, haphazardly planned, and architecturally stagnant provincial town into a booming and visually impressive ...
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In the decades before the U.S. Civil War, the city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, haphazardly planned, and architecturally stagnant provincial town into a booming and visually impressive metropolis. In an effort to remake Boston into the "Athens of America," neighborhoods were leveled, streets straightened, and an ambitious set of architectural ordinances enacted. However, even as residents reveled in a vibrant new landscape of landmark buildings, art galleries, parks, and bustling streets, the social and sensory upheaval of city life also gave rise to a widespread fascination with the unseen. Focusing his analysis between 1820 and 1860, Justin T. Clark traces how the effort to impose moral and social order on the city also inspired many—from Transcendentalists to clairvoyants and amateur artists—to seek out more ethereal visions of the infinite and ideal beyond the gilded paintings and glimmering storefronts. By elucidating the reciprocal influence of two of the most important developments in nineteenth-century American culture—the spectacular city and visionary culture—Clark demonstrates how the nineteenth-century city is not only the birthplace of modern spectacle but also a battleground for the freedom and autonomy of the spectator.Less
In the decades before the U.S. Civil War, the city of Boston evolved from a dilapidated, haphazardly planned, and architecturally stagnant provincial town into a booming and visually impressive metropolis. In an effort to remake Boston into the "Athens of America," neighborhoods were leveled, streets straightened, and an ambitious set of architectural ordinances enacted. However, even as residents reveled in a vibrant new landscape of landmark buildings, art galleries, parks, and bustling streets, the social and sensory upheaval of city life also gave rise to a widespread fascination with the unseen. Focusing his analysis between 1820 and 1860, Justin T. Clark traces how the effort to impose moral and social order on the city also inspired many—from Transcendentalists to clairvoyants and amateur artists—to seek out more ethereal visions of the infinite and ideal beyond the gilded paintings and glimmering storefronts. By elucidating the reciprocal influence of two of the most important developments in nineteenth-century American culture—the spectacular city and visionary culture—Clark demonstrates how the nineteenth-century city is not only the birthplace of modern spectacle but also a battleground for the freedom and autonomy of the spectator.
Melissa Daggett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496810083
- eISBN:
- 9781496810120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496810083.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
The epilogue considers the demise and legacy of Modern American Spiritualism in the Crescent City and on a national level. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Creole circles terminated, but Spiritualism ...
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The epilogue considers the demise and legacy of Modern American Spiritualism in the Crescent City and on a national level. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Creole circles terminated, but Spiritualism still existed at venues such as Minerva Hall. Nineteenth-century Spiritualism diversified and evolved in the 1890s on the national level. The hallmarks of Modern American Spiritualism began to fade away and were replaced with a religion more traditional with an established ministry and a stable congregation. François Dubuclet continued his association with Spiritualism by joining a Spiritualist church and encouraged relatives in Chicago to follow his example. Dubuclet and René Grandjean were active members of the First Church of Divine Fellowship of Spiritualism. The epilogue compares and contrasts nineteenth-century Spiritualism with Voodoo, and the Spiritualist and Spiritual churches. The ministries of Mother Leafy Anderson and Mother Catherine Seals in the eclectic Spiritual churches are highlighted.Less
The epilogue considers the demise and legacy of Modern American Spiritualism in the Crescent City and on a national level. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Creole circles terminated, but Spiritualism still existed at venues such as Minerva Hall. Nineteenth-century Spiritualism diversified and evolved in the 1890s on the national level. The hallmarks of Modern American Spiritualism began to fade away and were replaced with a religion more traditional with an established ministry and a stable congregation. François Dubuclet continued his association with Spiritualism by joining a Spiritualist church and encouraged relatives in Chicago to follow his example. Dubuclet and René Grandjean were active members of the First Church of Divine Fellowship of Spiritualism. The epilogue compares and contrasts nineteenth-century Spiritualism with Voodoo, and the Spiritualist and Spiritual churches. The ministries of Mother Leafy Anderson and Mother Catherine Seals in the eclectic Spiritual churches are highlighted.
Marta Trzebiatowska and Steve Bruce
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199608102
- eISBN:
- 9780191744730
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608102.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Religious Studies
Women are more likely than men to engage in the type of religious and spiritual activities motivated by a desire to maintain contact with the souls of the dead. This chapter presents a brief history ...
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Women are more likely than men to engage in the type of religious and spiritual activities motivated by a desire to maintain contact with the souls of the dead. This chapter presents a brief history of Spiritualism and explains its disproportionate appeal to women. In some cases, mediumship was socially empowering for female practitioners. It argues that, prior to the institutionalization of Spiritualism in the twentieth century, women were more likely than men to become mediums because the role required sensitivity and a caring attitude to others. The second part of this chapter introduces data on women's attitudes to the disposal of the dead and to the human body in general in order to suggest a link between bodily purity and religious enthusiasm. Women are far more concerned than men about being cremated alive and about the decay of their bodies. This, in itself, does not make them more religious but it does point to some elective affinities between feminine attitudes and religiosity.Less
Women are more likely than men to engage in the type of religious and spiritual activities motivated by a desire to maintain contact with the souls of the dead. This chapter presents a brief history of Spiritualism and explains its disproportionate appeal to women. In some cases, mediumship was socially empowering for female practitioners. It argues that, prior to the institutionalization of Spiritualism in the twentieth century, women were more likely than men to become mediums because the role required sensitivity and a caring attitude to others. The second part of this chapter introduces data on women's attitudes to the disposal of the dead and to the human body in general in order to suggest a link between bodily purity and religious enthusiasm. Women are far more concerned than men about being cremated alive and about the decay of their bodies. This, in itself, does not make them more religious but it does point to some elective affinities between feminine attitudes and religiosity.
Julie Chajes
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190909130
- eISBN:
- 9780190909161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190909130.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature, Philosophy of Religion
This study historicises and contextualises the rebirth doctrines of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), the matriarch of the Theosophical Society and one of the most influential women of the ...
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This study historicises and contextualises the rebirth doctrines of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), the matriarch of the Theosophical Society and one of the most influential women of the nineteenth century. It analyses Blavatsky’s complicated theories about the cosmos and its divine source as presented in her two seminal Theosophical treatises, Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), as well as her articles and letters. The book argues that Blavatsky taught two distinct theories of rebirth and that the later one developed from the earlier. It reveals Blavatsky’s appropriation of a plethora of contemporaneous works in the construction of these doctrines and contextualises her interpretations in nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural life. In particular, it explores Blavatsky’s adaptations of Spiritualist ideas, scientific theories, Platonism, and Oriental religions, which 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. In addition, it reveals some consequential, perhaps unexpected, and evidently under-acknowledged historical roots of the reincarnationism that is so popular in today’s postmodern world.Less
This study historicises and contextualises the rebirth doctrines of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), the matriarch of the Theosophical Society and one of the most influential women of the nineteenth century. It analyses Blavatsky’s complicated theories about the cosmos and its divine source as presented in her two seminal Theosophical treatises, Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888), as well as her articles and letters. The book argues that Blavatsky taught two distinct theories of rebirth and that the later one developed from the earlier. It reveals Blavatsky’s appropriation of a plethora of contemporaneous works in the construction of these doctrines and contextualises her interpretations in nineteenth-century intellectual and cultural life. In particular, it explores Blavatsky’s adaptations of Spiritualist ideas, scientific theories, Platonism, and Oriental religions, which 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. In addition, it reveals some consequential, perhaps unexpected, and evidently under-acknowledged historical roots of the reincarnationism that is so popular in today’s postmodern world.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226005416
- eISBN:
- 9780226005423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226005423.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter traces how in the 1830s, the metaphor of Salem witchcraft moved out of histories and literature and into public discourse in the United States. The witchcraft trials provided an insight ...
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This chapter traces how in the 1830s, the metaphor of Salem witchcraft moved out of histories and literature and into public discourse in the United States. The witchcraft trials provided an insight into the political consequences if a nation became overwhelmed by “fanatical” followers of new religious movements such as Spiritualism and Mormonism. They also provided reporters, editors, and even average citizens with a symbol that had the authority of historical precedent.Less
This chapter traces how in the 1830s, the metaphor of Salem witchcraft moved out of histories and literature and into public discourse in the United States. The witchcraft trials provided an insight into the political consequences if a nation became overwhelmed by “fanatical” followers of new religious movements such as Spiritualism and Mormonism. They also provided reporters, editors, and even average citizens with a symbol that had the authority of historical precedent.
Wakoh Shannon Hickey
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190864248
- eISBN:
- 9780190864279
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190864248.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Buddhism
This chapter explores the far-reaching influences in American religion and medicine of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and mystic, and Franz Anton Mesmer, who developed Mesmerism, the ...
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This chapter explores the far-reaching influences in American religion and medicine of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and mystic, and Franz Anton Mesmer, who developed Mesmerism, the forerunner of hypnosis. Swedenborg’s theology filtered into homeopathy and the religious movements of Shakerism, Transcendentalism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, modernist Buddhism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and New Thought. Mesmer’s theories about illness contributed to the development of osteopathy, chiropractic, and hypnotherapy. Before the development of chemical anesthesia, some nineteenth-century doctors performed complex and successful surgeries on patients who were sedated only by hypnotic suggestion. Ideas and practices derived from Mesmer and Swedenborg converged in the nineteenth-century mental-healing practice of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a New England clockmaker and the first American to discover that beliefs and mental states can affect one’s physical health.Less
This chapter explores the far-reaching influences in American religion and medicine of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and mystic, and Franz Anton Mesmer, who developed Mesmerism, the forerunner of hypnosis. Swedenborg’s theology filtered into homeopathy and the religious movements of Shakerism, Transcendentalism, Unitarianism, Mormonism, modernist Buddhism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and New Thought. Mesmer’s theories about illness contributed to the development of osteopathy, chiropractic, and hypnotherapy. Before the development of chemical anesthesia, some nineteenth-century doctors performed complex and successful surgeries on patients who were sedated only by hypnotic suggestion. Ideas and practices derived from Mesmer and Swedenborg converged in the nineteenth-century mental-healing practice of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a New England clockmaker and the first American to discover that beliefs and mental states can affect one’s physical health.
Krister Dylan Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469631240
- eISBN:
- 9781469631264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469631240.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Chapter one maintains James's interest in Spiritualism emerged during late 1840s and early 1850s in his boyhood in New York City and London, and shows how it likely derived from his father's and ...
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Chapter one maintains James's interest in Spiritualism emerged during late 1840s and early 1850s in his boyhood in New York City and London, and shows how it likely derived from his father's and father's friends' investigations of and conversations about Spiritualism.Less
Chapter one maintains James's interest in Spiritualism emerged during late 1840s and early 1850s in his boyhood in New York City and London, and shows how it likely derived from his father's and father's friends' investigations of and conversations about Spiritualism.