Spirit matters : occult beliefs, alternative religions, and the crisis of faith in Victorian Britain

Spirit Matters explores the heterodox and unorthodox religions and spiritualities that arose in Victorian Britain as a result of the faltering of Christian faith in the face of modernity, the rise of the truth-telling authority of science, and the first full exposure of the West to non-Christian religions. J. Jeffrey Franklin investigates the diversity of ways that spiritual seekers struggled to maintain faith or to create new faiths by reconciling elements of the Judeo-Christian heritage with Spiritualism, Buddhism, occultism, and scientific naturalism. Spirit Matters covers a range of scenarios from the Victorian hearth and the state-Church altar to the frontiers of empire in Buddhist countries and Egyptian crypts. Franklin reveals how this diversity of elements provided the materials for the formation of new hybrid religions and the emergence in the 20th century of New Age spiritualities. Franklin investigates a broad spectrum of experiences through a series of representative case studies that together trace the development of unorthodox religious and spiritual discourses. The ideas and events discussed by Franklin through these case studies were considered outside the domain of orthodox religion yet still religious or spiritual rather than atheistic or materialistic. Among the works—obscure and canonical—he analyzes are Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Zanoni and A Strange Story ; Forest Life in Ceylon , by William Knighton; Anthony Trollope’s The Vicar of Bullhampton ; Anna Leonowens’s The English Governess at the Siamese Court; Literature and Dogma, by Matthew Arnold ; and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Spirit Matters explores the heterodox and unorthodox religions and spiritualities that arose in Victorian Britain as a result of the faltering of Christian faith in the face of modernity, the rise of the truth-telling authority of science, and the first full exposure of the West to non-Christian religions. J. Jeffrey Franklin investigates the diversity of ways that spiritual seekers struggled to maintain faith or to create new faiths by reconciling elements of the Judeo-Christian heritage with Spiritualism, Buddhism, occultism, and scientific naturalism. Spirit Matters covers a range of scenarios from the Victorian hearth and the state-Church altar to the frontiers of empire in Buddhist countries and Egyptian crypts. Franklin reveals how this diversity of elements provided the materials for the formation of new hybrid religions and the emergence in the 20th century of New Age spiritualities. Franklin investigates a broad spectrum of experiences through a series of representative case studies that together trace the development of unorthodox religious and spiritual discourses. The ideas and events discussed by Franklin through these case studies were considered outside the domain of orthodox religion yet still religious or spiritual rather than atheistic or materialistic. Among the works—obscure and canonical—he analyzes are Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni and A Strange Story ; Forest Life in Ceylon , by William Knighton; Anthony Trollope's The Vicar of Bullhampton ; Anna Leonowens's The English Governess at the Siamese Court; Literature and Dogma, by Matthew Arnold ; and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1 Orthodox Christianity, Scientific Materialism, and Alternative Religions Part I: Challenges to Christianity and the Orthodox/ Heterodox Boundary 2 The Evolution of Occult Spirituality in Victorian England and the Representative Case of Edward Bulwer-Lytton 3 Anthony Trollope’s Religion 4 The Influences of Buddhism and Comparative Religion on Matthew Arnold’s Theology Part II: The Interpenetration of Christianity and Buddhism 5 Interpenetration of Religion and National Politics in Great Britain and Sri Lanka 6 Identity, Genre, and Religion in Anna Leonowens’s The English Governess at the Siamese Court Part III: The Turn to Occultism 7 Ancient Egyptian Religion in Late Victorian England 8 The Economics of Immortality Part IV: The Origins of Alternative Religion in Victorian Britain Conclusion From Victorian Occultism to New Age Spiritualities Notes Bibliography Index Orthodox Christianity, scientific materialism, and alternative religions -- The evolution of occult spirituality in Victorian England and the representative case of Edward Bulwer-Lytton -- Anthony Trollope's religion : the orthodox/heterodox boundary -- The influences of Buddhism and comparative religion on Matthew Arnold's theology -- Interpenetration of religion and national politics in Great Britain and Sri Lanka : William Knighton's Forest life in Ceylon -- Identity, genre, and religion in Anna Leonowens' The English governess at the Siamese court -- Ancient Egyptian religion in late-Victorian England -- The economics of immortality : the demi-immortal Oriental, Enlightenment vitalism, and political economy in Bram Stoker's Dracula -- Conclusion : from Victorian occultism to new age spiritualities