Ranging from Eskimos of the far North to the Aztecs and Incas of South America, the author offers a lucid concise introduction to the traditions of the Native American peoples.

Way of Native American Traditions

Religion & Spirituality

Versluis, Arthur

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Thorsons Pub.

Magic is the best theology, for in it ture faith is both grounded and found. And he is a fool that reviels it, for he knows it not, and blasphemes againest both God and himself, and is more a juggler than a theologian of understanding. Taken from the front pages of the book by Jacob Boehme

The Philosophy of Magic

Literature & Fiction

Mythology & Folk Tales

Penguin??Books

The first major study since the 1930s of the relationship between American Transcendentalism and Asian religions, and the first comprehensive work to include post-Civil War Transcendentalists like Samuel Johnson, this book is encyclopedic in scope. Beginning with the inception of Transcendentalist Orientalism in Europe, Versluis covers the entire history of American Transcendentalism into the twentieth century, and the profound influence of Orientalism on the movement--including its analogues and influences in world religious dialogue. He examines what he calls "positive Orientalism," which recognizes the value and perennial truths in Asian religions and cultures, not only in the writings of major figures like Thoreau and Emerson, but also in contemporary popular magazines. Versluis's exploration of the impact of Transcendentalism on the twentieth-century study of comparative religions has ramifications for the study of religious history, comparative religion, literature, politics, history, and art history.

American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (Religion in America)

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Oxford University Press

The term "Western esotericism" refers to a wide range of spiritual currents including alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, and Christian theosophy, as well as several practical forms of esotericism like cartomancy, geomancy, necromancy, alchemy, astrology, herbalism, and magic. The early presence of esotericism in North America has not been much studied, and even less so the indebtedness to esotericism of some major American literary figures. In this book, Arthur Versluis breaks new ground, showing that many writers of the so-called American Renaissance drew extensively on and were inspired by Western esoteric currents.

The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance

History & Criticism

The only book of its kind, The New Inquisitions is an exhilarating investigation into the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Arthur Versluis unveils the connections between heretic hunting in early and medieval Christianity, and the emergence of totalitarianism in the twentieth century. He shows how secular political thinkers in the nineteenth century inaugurated a tradition of defending the Inquisition, and how Inquisition-style heretic-hunting later manifested across the spectrum of twentieth-century totalitarianism. An exceptionally wide-ranging work, The New Inquisitions begins with early Christianity, and traces heretic-hunting as a phenomenon through the middle ages and right into the twentieth century, showing how the same inquisitional modes of thought recur both on the political Left and on the political Right.

The New Inquisitions: Heretic-Hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism

Politics & Government

The Greek word "gnosis," defined as direct spiritual knowledge or insight, has its origins in historical offshoots of Christianity in late antiquity. But the terms “Gnosticism” and “gnosis” have become widespread in many other contexts. They are common in contemporary scholarship on religion and in popular usage among magical, religious, and spiritual practitioners. And they have entered popular usage in contemporary society, with applications in numerous political, religious, and cultural contexts. Gnosis and Gnosticism have become leitmotifs in popular culture, in films such as The Matrix and Dark City, as well as in anime and other popular art forms.\nIn American Gnosis, Arthur Versluis explores the fascinating connection between the Gnostic tradition and contemporary American spirituality, politics, and popular media. Versluis surveys themes of Gnosticism and gnosis in American culture, both within the United States and in global contexts. Versluis shows that gnosis is key to understanding a wide spectrum of global syncretic religious and intellectual movements-some sensational, even wild, but all fascinating. American gnosis, he argues, is a defining feature of hybrid new religious forms in the twenty-first century.\nVersluis provides case studies of major contemporary figures and texts that are emblematic of neo-gnosticism, offering a comprehensive framework of gnosis and an understanding of gnostic trends in modernity. He explores how neo-gnostic memes recur in social media and shows how American gnosis has manifested as spiritual independence, reflecting the ever-growing demographic category “spiritual but not religious.” In delving into the intersection of contemporary American spirituality, politics, and literature, American Gnosis uncovers the remarkable prevalence of neo-gnostic elements today.

American Gnosis: Political Religion and Transcendence

Christian Books & Bibles

By the early twenty-first century, a phenomenon that once was inconceivable had become nearly commonplace in American society: the public spiritual teacher who neither belongs to, nor is authorized by a major religious tradition. From the Oprah Winfrey-endorsed Eckhart Tolle to figures like Gangaji and Adhyashanti, there are now countless spiritual teachers who claim and teach variants of instant or immediate enlightenment. American Gurus tells the story of how this phenomenon emerged. Through an examination of the broader literary and religious context of the subject, Arthur Versluis shows that a characteristic feature of the Western esoteric tradition is the claim that every person can achieve "spontaneous, direct, unmediated spiritual insight." This claim was articulated with special clarity by the New England Transcendentalists Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Versluis explores Transcendentalism, Walt Whitman, the Beat movement, Timothy Leary, and the New Age movement to shed light on the emergence of the contemporary American guru. This insightful study is the first to show how Asian religions and Western mysticism converged to produce the phenomenon of "spontaneously enlightened" American gurus.

American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion

Buddhism

Wisdom's Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions)

Provides an in-depth introduction to the Christian theosophic tradition that began with Jacob Bo¬hme, bringing us into a startling new world of Christian experiential spirituality that is the Christian equivalent of Sufism and Kabbalism. The first book in English to provide an in-depth introduction to the Christian theosophic tradition that began with Jacob Bo¬hme, Wisdom’s Children brings us into a startling new world of experiential spirituality that is in fact the Christian equivalent of Sufism and Kabbalism. With biographic introductions to major theosophers and detailed discussions of theosophic authors such as John Pordage, Jane Leade, Dionysius Freher, and Johann Gichtel―as well as a survey of their major theosophic cosmological and metaphysical teachings―this book is an indispensable guide to the hidden history of Protestantism and its ramifications today. With chapters discussing theosophy in relation to Gnosticism, magic, astrology, alchemy, and other Western esoteric traditions, Wisdom’s Children is situated solidly in its historical context using primary works from the tradition itself. The book also provides unexpected insights into how this modern gnostic tradition speaks to us today, and suggests how this tradition could spark a “new Renaissance” to link spirituality, the arts, and the sciences in a new and encompassing vision.

Wisdom's Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (S U N Y SERIES IN WESTERN ESOTERIC TRADITIONS)

State Univ of New York Pr

The first book in English to provide an in-depth introduction to the Christian theosophic tradition that began with Jacob Bohme, Wisdom's Children brings us into a startling new world of experiential spirituality that is in fact the Christian equivalent of Sufism and Kabbalism. With biographic introductions to major theosophers and detailed discussions of theosophic authors such as John Pordage, Jane Leade, Dionysius Freher, and Johann Gichtel--as well as a survey of their major theosophic cosmological and metaphysical teachings--this book is an indispensable guide to the hidden history of Protestantism and its ramifications today. "Wisdom's Children fills a major gap in the history of religion. It sympathetically introduces information and thought about a highly important and much neglected strand of modern Western spiritual philosophy." -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University With chapters discussing theosophy in relation to Gnosticism, magic, astrology, alchemy, and other Western esoteric traditions, Wisdom's Children is situated solidly in its historical context using primary works from the tradition itself. The book also provides unexpected insights into how this modern gnostic tradition speaks to us today, and suggests how this tradition could spark a "new Renaissance" to link spirituality, the arts, and the sciences in a new and encompassing vision.

History

World

State University of New York Press

At times a personal memoir, at times a philosophical discussion, Island Farm is a snapshot of the American agrarian tradition. Much in the style of books such as Letters from an American Farmer, Arthur Versluis recounts the story of the Versluis family's orchards near Grand Rapids, Michigan, founded by his great- grandfather more than a century ago. With a palimpsest of memories and stories, Versluis shares his life growing up and living on the family farm while also lamenting the future of these cultural icons. Versluis speculates about what is being lost as America allows its farmland and farms to be destroyed. Above all, however, Island Farm is a celebration of what it means to live and work on a generational family farm. It brings us into the agrarian world as a living connection to the earth, to the growing of crops, to the past, and to the future.

Island Farm

Michigan State University Press

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Books by Versluis, Arthur