Theosophy or Psychological Religion

Written by influential German philologist Max Müller, this 1893 publication was first presented as a series of lectures in Glasgow. This book is the fourth in a series which argued that the only way to comprehend religious phenomena is by the application of historical method.

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German-born Sanskritist and philologist Max Müller (1823–1900) was a pioneer in the field of comparative mythology and religion. Settling in England in 1846, during his distinguished career he served as Taylorian professor of modern European languages, curator of the Bodleian Library and Oxford's first professor of comparative philology. The content of this book was originally presented as part of a lecture series delivered at the University of Glasgow in 1893, where Müller was serving as the Gifford Lecturer. Müller's aim in presenting these lectures was to show that the only way of properly understanding religious phenomena was through utilising historical method. The three volumes preceding this one focused on 'physical religion', 'natural religion' and 'anthropological religion'; this fourth book, on theosophy, contains fifteen lectures, the subject matter ranging from Alexandrian Christianity and the eschatology of Plato to the journey of the soul after death.