Blackwell Reference Online

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P hilosophy of religion, metaphysics [from Greek theo , god + sophia , wisdom, wisdom about God] A term first employed by the Neoplatonists for their own doctrine, which emphasizes the unity of religion and philosophy, and for one's mystical acquaintance with the nature of God . The term was later used for several trends in German religious thought after the Renaissance , in particular the thinking of the Swedish natural philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, which tended to blend the natural and the spiritual world and to combine rationalistic cosmology and biblical revelation. The term was also associated with the Theosophical Society, a movement initiated in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, which aimed to introduce Eastern religions and metaphysics into Western thought. “[Theosophy] is the appropriate term for a theoretical cognition of divine nature and (God's) existence that would suffice to explain both the character of the world and the vocation of the moral laws.” Kant, Critique of Judgement ... log in or subscribe to read full text