Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God.
  • noun The system of beliefs and teachings of the Theosophical Society, founded in New York City in 1875, incorporating aspects of Buddhism and Brahmanism, especially the belief in reincarnation and spiritual evolution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Knowledge of things divine; a philosophy based upon a claim of special insight into the divine nature, or a special divine revelation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any system of philosophy or mysticism which proposes to attain intercourse with God and superior spirits, and consequent superhuman knowledge, by physical processes, as by the theurgic operations of some ancient Platonists, or by the chemical processes of the German fire philosophers; also, a direct, as distinguished from a revealed, knowledge of God, supposed to be attained by extraordinary illumination; especially, a direct insight into the processes of the divine mind, and the interior relations of the divine nature.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun religion any doctrine of religious philosophy and mysticism claiming that knowledge of God can be attained through mystical insight and spiritual ecstasy, and that direct communication with the transcendent world is possible.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a system of belief based on mystical insight into the nature of God and the soul

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin theosophia, from Late Greek theosophiā : Greek theo-, theo- + Greek sophiā, wisdom.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin theosophia, from Ancient Greek θεοσοφία (thesophia, "knowledge of things divine"), from θεός (theos, "god") + σοφία (sophia, "wisdom").

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Examples

  • So, on the one hand there is the system known as theosophy, which has centers and does good works all around the world, with its main center in Madras, and from there it goes all the way down to one English man writing under the name of Lobsang Rampa that Tibetans drill a hole in people's foreheads to open their third eye.

    Address to the Monks of Ganden, Drepung, and Sera about Buddhism in Foreign Countries 1989

  • Much is said nowadays about theosophy, which is really but another name for mysticism.

    The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference Joseph Triemens

  • But the majority of Gnostic undertakings may also be viewed as attempts to transform Christianity into a theosophy, that is, into a revealed metaphysic and philosophy of history, with a complete disregard of the Jewish Old Testament soil on which it originated, through the use of Pauline ideas, [306] and under the influence of the Platonic spirit.

    History of Dogma, Volume 1 (of 7) Adolph Harnack 1890

  • I read hundreds of books on religion, I spent many months with all from the disciples of Paul Brunton a kind of theosophy to Hare Krishna gurus.

    There Is No Slippery Slope James F. McGrath 2010

  • Raymond breaks down the distinction by teaching a kind of theosophy, the doctrine, namely that, as man is a connecting link between the natural and the supernatural, it is possible by a study of human nature to arrive at a knowledge even of the most profound mysteries of Faith.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • To this 'theosophy' Julius adds a few comments, evidently of later origin, which show that he has now become aware of its intellectual inadequacy.

    The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller Calvin Thomas 1886

  • America, but the so-called "theosophy" is not Buddhism.

    Introduction to the History of Religions Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV Crawford Howell Toy 1877

  • For all forms of "theosophy," occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing but contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn. [

    Secret Societies And Subversive Movements Nesta H. Webster 1918

  • A fascist sympathizer who dabbled in theosophy, he massacred tens of thousands of his countrymen in 1932 to put down a peasant revolt.

    Adios, Warlock Joshua Lustig 2011

  • He was wearing the Jewish head covering while practicing "theosophy," an obscure spiritual philosophy that maintains that "there is no higher religion than truth."

    Rabbi Jason Miller: Kippah Your Head Covering Outta My Office Rabbi Jason Miller 2011

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