Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00043)

Hey,

I haven't finished this new book by Philip Jenkins, subtitled How 
Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality, so cannot review 
it for another week or two. But while skimming ahead I found this 
passage which seems very relevant to Theosophy. The context is 
discussion of the legitimacy of neo-Native American spirituality:

If we press the delicate idea of legitimacy, no religion has anything 
like the immemorial antiquity it claims. That old-time religion 
often isn't...To some extent, every religion maintains an illusion of 
antiquity, no matter how sweeping its modern transformations...The 
Hinduism that proved so seductive to late Victorian Westerners had 
been transformed radically in recent decades, largely through 
contacts with Christianity and Western intellecutal currents. (My 
emphasis) RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS NECER LIKE ADMITTING THAT THEIR 
PRACTICES OR BELIEFS BEGIN AT A SPECIFIC POINT IN TIME, ALTHOUGH THEY 
CLEARLY DO. One classic example of a novel movement claiming 
spurious ancient roots is the rigid fundamentalism that has 
developed, over the past century or two, among the scripture-based 
religions.(pp. 250-251)