Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00137)

--- In theos-talk@y..., "bri_mue" <bri_mue@y...> wrote:
> Bruce: "I would think a really good example of the accumulation of 
a 
> great deal of very reliable research and the use of valid and 
> insightful means of logical deduction can be found in The 
> Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, founder of 
the 
> modern Theosophical Movement, by Sylvia Cranston."
> 
> Brigitte: Yes I read Cranston, but if you want to read a 
> theosophical propaganda book like that it is good to balance it out 
> with at least the other side ...

Prothero wrote an interesting essay on the mid-90s spate of books 
about HPB in the Religious Studies Review. He semi-explicitly ranks 
them in order of scholarly value: 1) Carlson 2) Godwin 3) Johnson
4) Washington 5) Cranston. (The last two may be tied for last place 
but the rest is clearly his evaluation.)

This is a Religious Studies Ph.D., a biographer whose work on Olcott 
hasn't been seriously challenged or criticized by anyone on either 
side of the fence AFAIK. Therefore his evaluations should be taken 
seriously.

If you can find *one* non-Theosophist trained scholar who will say 
that Cranston's work is better scholarship than Carlson, Godwin, or 
my own, we would all benefit by hearing the reasoning behind such an 
evaluation. Until then, I regretfully conclude that such praise for 
Cranston as made by Bruce and Dallas is nothing more than "This 
confirms my preexisting belief system about the subject, those other 
books don't, therefore this is better scholarship." Total partisan 
bias.

PJ