Religion Books

A PARABLE I am today twenty-five hundred years old. I have been dead for nearly as many years. My place of birth was Athens; my grave was not far from those of Xenophon and Plato, within view of the white glory of Athens and the shimmering waters of the Aegean sea. After sleeping in my grave for many centuries I awoke suddenly—I cannot tell how nor why—and was transported by a force beyond my... more...

Chapter I. The Twin-Verses 1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. 2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man... more...

CHAPTER I THE NAME AND THE SITUATION +Religion and Theology.+—Religion is one thing and theology another, but religion is never found apart from a theology of some kind, for theology is the intellectual articulation of religious experience. Every man who has anything worthy to be called a religious experience has also a theology; he cannot help it. No sooner does he attempt to understand or... more...

CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF SCIENCE. Religious condition of the Greeks in the fourth centurybefore Christ.—Their invasion of the Persian Empire bringsthem in contact with new aspects of Nature, and familiarizesthem with new religious systems.—The military,engineering, and scientific activity, stimulated by theMacedonian campaigns, leads to the establishment inAlexandria of an institute, the Museum,... more...

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. No theological book can obtain a place in the literature of the world unless it can be read both in German and in English. These two languages combined have taken the place of Latin in the sphere of Christian Science. I am therefore greatly pleased to learn that my "History of Dogma" has been translated into English, and I offer my warmest... more...

To the Rev. J. Jowett Willow Lane, St. Giles, Norwich, Feb. 10th, 1833. Revd. and dear Sir,—I have just received your communication, and notwithstanding it is Sunday morning, and the bells with their loud and clear voices are calling me to church, I have sat down to answer it by return of post.  It is scarcely necessary for me to say that I was rejoiced to see the Chrestomathie Mandchou, which will... more...

DIVINE PROVIDENCE I. DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS GOVERNMENT BY THE LORD'S DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM 1. To understand what divine providence is—namely, government by the Lord's divine love and wisdom—one needs to know what was said and shown earlier about divine love and wisdom in the treatise about them: "In the Lord divine love is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom of divine love" (nn.... more...

PRACTICAL OCCULTISM IMPORTANT TO STUDENTS As some of the letters in the Correspondence of this month show, there are many people who are looking for practical instruction in Occultism. It becomes necessary, therefore, to state once for all:— (a) The essential difference between theoretical and practical Occultism; or what is generally known as Theosophy on the one hand, and Occult science on the... more...

PREFACE. In the third quarter of the nineteenth century, it fell to my lot to write an article on Christmas, its customs and festivities. And, although I sought in vain for a chronological account of the festival, I discovered many interesting details of its observances dispersed in the works of various authors; and, while I found that some of its greater celebrations marked important epochs in our... more...

LECTURE I. THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC BELIEF. 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works: in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches.' —Psalm civ. 24. Those who believe that the creation and government of the world are the work of a Being Whom it is their duty to love with all their hearts, Who loves them with a love beyond all other love, to Whom they look for... more...