Talk:Jakob Böhme
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[edit] Two Names
I don't know how this can be conveyed in the article but Jakob Boehme was also known as Jakob Behmen. I have no idea why but it explains why his followers were known as Behmenists. What's interesting about this is that Boehme, as Behmen, published books which have illustrations in them which show how connected he was with Kabbalah, Alchemy and other movements of his day. ThePeg10.8.2006
[edit] Mysticism
I've added a mention of the profound depth of his spiritual enlightenment, citing R.M. Bucke's exposition on the subject, and adding a quote from Way of Christ. But it would be great if any Boehme experts out there could fill this dimension of his life and work out even more--particularly regarding Boehme's nondualism, which is rare for any Christian mystic to espouse (because it says, in effect, that "I and the Father are One," which is partly what got Christ himself killed). Meister Eckhart is one of the only other medieval Christian mystics who spoke with a similar depth of enlightened insight, or God-realization. Kosmocentric 14:55, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually, Kosmocentric, there were a lot of Christian Mystics who wrote with the same or similar vision to Boehme and Eckhadrt, geniuses though they were. Check out Hildegard von Bingen, Juliana of Norwich, Margerete Porete, Pseudo-Dionysius and a host of others. If you like Boehme you will love these. More modern figures include Sergei Bulgakov and Nikolai Berdayev. In fact if you go back to the New Testament you will find it all expressed there, even though you will never hear it said in a pulpit. ThePeg 15:02, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
"Jacob Boehme . . . discussed mystic, Kabbalistic, Gnostic, alchemical (Paracelsian) and other unorthodox ideas in a circle of merchants, intellectuals, tradesmen and one or two noblemen . . . " p.35 E.P. Thompson, "Witness Against the Beast" The New Press, New York
[edit] More Depth
Someone needs to go into a lot more detail in this article. Among esoteric and mystical circles Boehme is an immense influence as well as among literary circles - William Blake, for instance, was a massive admirer of Boehme. The Philadelphia Society cited Boehme as an key figure too.
Boehme was also an Alchemist and Christian Kaballist and drew countless extraordinary pictures and wrote important books inspired by these ideas. With this in mind I am not sure, in the end, just how orthodox he was in terms of Lutheran theology.
Could someone enlarge on all this? Sadly its very hard to get hold of many of his books nowadays. ThePeg 21:29, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
