The doctrine of God (or gods), the world and man, the main source of which is a type of divine revelation. The origin of the term “Theosophy” (in the meanings “sacred traditions of the gods” and “mystical knowledge of the divine powers”) is associated with Neoplatonism, representatives of which wrote about “Hellenic” (Proclus), Egyptian and Indian (Porphyry), “Chaldean” (Damascus) Theosophy In Dionysius the Areopagite Theosophy is a synonym of “mystical theology”. In patristics it is identified with divine wisdom or theology (Eusebius of Caesarea, Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena, etc.). The anonymous scholastic author of the Summa Philosophica (13th century) speaks of the Theosophy of Moses and the Prophets.
The division of the “sciences” into divine (“Theosophy”) and human (“Anthroposophy”) in the anonymous Op. “On the Magic, or Pneumatics, of the Ancients” (1575; attributed to the ang. Arvatilus) probably influenced the German physician, follower of Paracelsus and alchemist H. Kunrath, from whose treatise “Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom” (1595) begins to understand Theosophy as mystical knowledge, often bearing a secret, esoteric character. This Christian Theosophy was vividly expressed in the writings of J. Böhme. Böhme and subsequent Protestant theosophists (I. G. Gichtel, H. Arnold, J. Pordage, E. Swedenborg, F. Etinger), L. K. St. Maarten, A. Kircher, in the compendium “Secret Figures of the Rosencreuzers” (1785-88), etc. As a certain ideal of scientific knowledge, uniting mystical and rational knowledge, the concept of Theosophy was used by thinkers of the Romantic era (F. K. von Baader, F. W. Schelling, F. Schlegel), the philosophers A. RosminiSerbati and V. Solovyov.
The idea of Theosophy became widely popular thanks to the teaching of H. P. Blavatsky, who in her works tried to formulate the ancient “religion of wisdom, or divine wisdom”, in the form of synthesis of mythologies of different religions of the East and materialistic notions of natural science of the end of 19th century. In 1875 Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society. Her ideological successor and the chairman of the Council – A. Besant in 1909 declared an Indian teenager D. Krishnamurti the embodiment of bodhisattva Maitreya and the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. This led to the secession in 1913 of the Anthroposophical Society (see Anthroposophy). Today there are several independent theosophical societies and associations. The ideas of Blavatskaja have influenced the school of arcana of E. Bailey (USA), agniyoga of N. K. Roerich and E. I. Roerich, etc. I. Roerich, etc.