Wisdom's Book: The Sophia Anthology is a remarkable collection of rare texts that reveal what we well may call the Nag Hammadi Library of modern times. For there is a virtually unknown spiritual Sophianic tradition that has developed since the seventeenth century and that still exists today. Non-sectarian, often suppressed, this lay mystical tradition is the Christian equivalent of Sufism in Islam, and of Kabbalah in Judaism. Wisdom's Book reveals for the first time in a single volume the texts of this rare tradition, many of which have never before been published. This is the theosophic tradition of Jacob Bohme, and all the main figures of the tradition are represented here, including many never before published.
Wisdom's Book is a treasure trove of Western esoteric writings, and will be of great interest to a wide range of readers interested in unveiling and understanding this hitherto hidden tradition of Christian spirituality.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. In Praise of Wisdom
The Book of Wisdom
II. Robert Ayshford
Aurora Sapientae
III. Jacob Böhme
On Virgin Wisdom, Guidance to Holy Sophia
IV. Thomas Bromley
The Way to the Sabbath of Rest, or the Soul’s Progress in
the Work of the New Birth (1654)
V. John Pordage
A Philosophical Epistle on the True Stone of Wisdom, Sophia:
The Graceful Eternal Virgin of Holy Wisdom, or Wonderful Spiritual Discoveries
and Revelations That the Precious Wisdom Has Given to a Holy Soul
(1675)
VI. Gottfried Arnold
The Mystery of Holy Sophia (1700)
VII. Johann Georg Gichtel
Theosophia Practica (1722 ed.)
VIII. Jane Leade
The Laws of Paradise Given Forth by Wisdom to a Translated
Spirit (1695)
IX. Anne Bathurst
Journals (1678-1679)
X. Friedrich Christoph Œtinger
Wisdom of God (Sophia), The Wisdom Out of God in Man
XI. Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin
Divine Wisdom and Spiritual Ministry (1802)
XII. Georg von Welling
Eternal Wisdom (1784)
XIII. Johann Jakob Wirz
Testimonies and Revelations of the Spirit Through Jacob Wirz
XIV. Franz von Baader
Letters to Marie Robel, On the Relationship of the Logos to
Sophia in God, On a Lasting Spiritual Manifestation Herebelow (1839)
XV. Leopold Ziegler
On the Mothergodhead (1953)
XVI. Nicholas Berdyaev
Sophia and the Androgyne (1914)
Afterword
Suggestions for Further Study
Notes
Index
ARTHUR VERSLUIS holds a doctorate in American Literature and is an assistant professor at Michigan State University. He is the editor-in-chief of Esoterica, an electronic journal devoted to the academic study of Western esotericism.