Jacob Böhme (1575–1624) is famous as a shoemaker and spiritual author. His works and thought are frequently studied as a product of his mystical illumination.
Jacob Böhme and His World adopts a different perspective. It seeks to demystify Böhme by focusing on aspects of his immediate cultural and social context and the intellectual currents of his time, including Böhme’s writing as literature, the social conditions in Görlitz, Böhme’s correspondence networks, a contemporary “crisis of piety,” Paracelsian and kabbalistic currents, astrology, astronomy and alchemy, and his relationship to other dissenting authors. Relevant facets of reception include Böhme’s philosophical standing, his contributions to pre-Pietism, and early English translations of his works.
Bo Andersson, Fil. dr. (1986), Stockholm University, is Professor of German at Uppsala University. He has published monographs and many articles on 17th century German language, literature, and intellectual history, including Jacob Böhmes Denken in Bildern (Francke, 2007).
Lucinda Martin, Ph.D. (2002), University of Texas, is Director of a German Research Council project on Jacob Böhme and the Philadelphian Society at the University of Erfurt. She is also the co-curator of a series of international exhibits on Böhme.
Leigh T.I. Penman, Ph.D. (2009), University of Melbourne, is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland..
Andrew Weeks, Ph.D. (1979), University of Illinois, is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Illinois State University and has published monographs on Paracelsus, Weigel, and Böhme, as well as translations of their writings.
Contributors are: Bo Andersson, Urs Leo Gantenbein, Ines Haaser, Kristine Hannak, Ariel Hessayon, Tünde Beatrix Karnitscher, Lucinda Martin, Cecilia Muratori, Gerold Necker, Lutz Pannier, Leigh T.I. Penman, Andrew Weeks, Mike A. Zuber
"The anthology represents an innovative compilation and addition to research on Jacob Böhme and makes an important contribution the history of philosophy and science." - N.M. Bauer, University of Innsbruck, in: Religious Studies Review Volume 43, Number 3 (September 2021)
Abbreviations of Jacob Böhme’s Works
List of Illustrations
Contributors
Introduction: Jacob Böhme and His World
Andrew Weeks and Bo Andersson
1 Jacob Böhme’s Writings in the Context of His World
Andrew Weeks and Bo Andersson
2 The Rhetoric of Presence: Reflections on Jacob Böhme’s Writing
Bo Andersson
3 The City of Görlitz during Jacob Böhme’s Lifetime
Ines Haaser (Anders)
4 Jacob Böhme and His Networks
Leigh T.I. Penman
5 Martin Moller (1547–1606) and the “Crisis of Piety” of Jacob Böhme’s Time
Lucinda Martin
6 Johann Arndt (1555–1621) and the “Crisis of Piety” of Jacob Böhme’s Time
Kristine Hannak
7 The New Adam: Jacob Böhme and the Theology of Paracelsus (1493/94–1541)
Urs Leo Gantenbein
8 “Out of Himself, to Himself”: The Kabbalah of Jacob Böhme
Gerold Necker
9 Jacob Böhme, Johannes Staricius (ca. 1580–??), and the Culture of Dissent
Andrew Weeks
10 The Science of the Stars in Jacob Böhme’s World
Lutz Pannier
11 Jacob Böhme and Alchemy: A Transmutation in Three Stages
Mike A. Zuber
12 “A Philosopher Does Not Stand Still”: Legacies and Receptions of the “Philosophus Teutonicus”
Cecilia Muratori
13 Spiritualism and Cultures of Dissent: Johann Theodor von Tschesch (1595–1649) Interprets Jacob Böhme
Tünde Beatrix Karnitscher
14 Jacob Böhme’s Foremost Seventeenth-Century English Translator: John Sparrow (1615–1670) of Essex
Ariel Hessayon
Concluding Bibliographical Remarks
Lucinda Martin and Leigh T.I. Penman
Index of Names
Index of Places
Index of Topics
Index of Bible Quotations and References
Index of Biblical Names
All interested in the life, thought, and historical context of the German shoemaker, philosopher, and mystic Jacob Böhme (1575–1624).