Versluis between Guenon and Boehme

"Theosophia: Hidden Dimensions of Christianity" by Arthur Versluis is an interesting look at Christian Hermeticism. Versluis is a scholar specializing in esotericism, but this book feels more like his own, personal interpretation of the mystical tradition within Christianity. Tauler, Boehme and Baader seem to be the author's favourite mystics. He is inspired by René Guenon and Henry Corbin, but sometimes strays from a strict Traditionalist analysis.

Three things stand out in "Theosophia".

First, the author makes a distinction between Hermeticism and Gnosticism, or between true gnosis and so-called Gnosticism. Versluis sees most forms of so-called Gnosticism as pessimistic, antinomian, immoral and morbidly world-denying. He makes an exception for Valentinian Gnosticism, Manicheanism and Catharism, but seems to interpret the latter two in somewhat unusual ways. Hermeticism, by contrast, is world-affirming, wants to redeem matter and is compatible with both Church hierarchy and a political program. Since the author affirms the erotic mysticism of many "Theosophists", a critic might argue that there's a very thin line between respectable Hermeticism and antinomian-cultish Gnosticism!

Second, the author doesn't accept the distinction between "apophatic" and "kataphatic" mysticism, seeing them as two paths to the same goal, or even as the same path seen from two somewhat different perspectives. I find this angle interesting. Since the goal of the mystic is both God-union and redemption of the fallen world, Versluis doesn't talk much about "emptying the mind", other than as a method to achieve a higher stage. This makes his book sound less depressive than the usual Advaita-inspired fair.

Third, the book contains political speculations. These are extremely eclectic and confused. On the one hand, Versluis seems to accept a hierarchic, conservative and anti-modernist perspective derived from the Traditionalists. Thus, he expresses support for the Orthodox Church and for the correspondence between the angelic hierarchy and the ecclesiastical ditto found in the mystical writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite. Versluis is also interested in the political thought of Franz von Baader, the Bavarian Christian esotericist who supported "the Holy Alliance" after the defeat of Napoleon. The author even attacks Vatican II for abolishing the Tridentine Mass! Apparently, Latin is a sacred language. (Versluis seems unaware of the fact that the Orthodox Church often used the vernacular in its liturgy already during the Middle Ages. Witness Old Church Slavonic!) On the other hand, Versluis admits that his main role model Boehme was a Protestant, and that both he and other Behmenists emphasized the transformation of the individual. So did the Radical Pietists. Versluis tries to harmonize the two standpoints, by claiming that Boehme and Dionysius really represent the same tradition adapted to two different historical periods. This is somewhat unconvincing: if mysticism is adapted to individualism or voluntary communities, we are surely speaking about a very different "tradition" than mystics working inside a Church hierarchy!

While Versluis concentrates on Christian Hermetism, he sees parallels with the Jewish Kabbala, Muslim Ismailism and Sufism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism, ancient Egyptian religion, and certain Christian "heretics" such as the Cathars. (He doesn't mention the Messalians.) Versluis' interpretation of the Christian scriptures is allegorical and ahistorical. He never explains the function of Jesus in the Hermetic system. Is Jesus needed at all, if already the Egyptians knew the truth? Nor does he explain why the Bible sounds historical, if its "real" message is the exact opposite.

I assumed Versluis would be a "liberal" in matters religious, but at least in this book - published in 1994 - he comes across as a Guenonian-Behmenist hybrid. That being said, I nevertheless found "Theosophia" (or perhaps "TheoSophia") somewhat useful, and therefore give it four stars.