Meaning of The word "Theosophy"
"Theosophy" comes from the Greek
"Theos" and "sophia"
meaning literally "Divine Knowledge". It is a body
of knowledge - accumulated since time immemorial - that answers the
great questions of life - Who am I, Where am I going, What am I doing
here, What is the nature of the soul, What is the origin of the universe
and What can be said about the nature of divinity.
The term theosophy (in its Greek and other forms)
had been used about 100 or so times over two millennia in western civilization
before Madame Blavatsky. The term came to be the most appropriate word
to describe her teachings and so, with a capital "T", Theosophy
came to be the name given to that which she taught in the 19th century.
Some have, quite understandably, extended the meaning
of the word to cover that entire body of knowledge known to Blavatsky's
teachers - a portion of which was imparted to her. Some academics have
taken to using the word to mean "comparative religion", now
that the word has become well known - but this certainly dilutes the
specific meaning it acquired during the time of Blavatsky. And regrettably,
some writers in the 20th century have based
themselves on her writings but subtly altered the teachings and then
continued to call their writings Theosophy - misleading any number of
students in the process.
Blavatsky Net defines Theosophy as "what
Madame Blavatsky wrote".
For some more detail on the scope of her writings see
Checklist - some basic principles of Theosophy.
"No Religion Higher Than Truth"
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