BÖHME, JACOB. - Protestant theosophist, b. at Altseidenberg in 1575, d. at Görlitz in 1624. A shoemaker, at first a wanderer, he settled in Görlitz in 1594. Of a mystical temperament, he was formed on the Bible and on the writings of the Reformed and of German mystics, coming particularly under the influence of Paracelsus, of V. Weigel and of the alchemists. An ecstatic vision (1600) convinced him of divine confirmation of his ideas. In 1612 he finished his masterpiece: Aurora, oder die Morgenröthe im Aufgang, a work not published. But his doctrine, once spread and known, aroused the opposition of his coreligionists, with the prohibition to write. At the invitation of admirers, he wrote his other works from 1619 to 1624.

Religious ideas of the Reformation and the pseudo-science of nature of the Renaissance meet and become entangled in B. in an obscure theosophical cosmic system, with a process between the atemporal and the temporal. An unbridled fantasy predominates, without order or logical rigor. Obsessed by the problem of sin, B. makes the antithesis Good-Evil the keystone of his system. The Divinity, a primordial abyss, the eight-nothing, contains the seeds of Good and of Evil; both essential if it is to reveal itself. Looking into itself, the Divinity splits into Will-sap of the world (Father) and into Force-consciousness-Word (Son); the Father, loving the Son, originates the Spirit (Holy). The world is born (Mysterium magnum) from the opposition of the Trinity to the divine Nature, «matrix et centrum natura». The first stage originates the angels, represented by Michael, Lucifer and Uriel, divided into three categories (opposition to the three Persons).

In the second, the original qualities separate from the divinity, unfolding into seven forms; last of all ideal corporeality. Lucifer falls in love with the «centrum naturae», aspires to equal it: he sins, departing from love and entering into the wrath of God. To Lucifer's hatred-darkness, God opposes the love-light of the Son. There then comes about concrete earthly reality; from here the Bible begins. In man, a microcosm that is the synthesis of everything, the antithetical process Good-Evil becomes consciously and dramatically lived. Supersensible mystical intuition is true knowledge, and moral redemption lies in detachment from the world, in order to be able to attain it. B.'s pessimistic chaos interpreted and powerfully influenced the Germanic spirit. Schelling and Hegel were subject to it and spread it.

Bibliography10 works

BIBL.: Works: the principal work is the Aurora, published incomplete in 1634, and in full in 1636: Alle theosophischen Schriften (incomplete ed.) edited by G. Gichtel, 10 vols., Amsterdam 1675, and 1683; Sämtliche Werke, edited by K. W. Schiller, 7 vols., Leipzig 1831-47; 2nd ed., ibid. 1861 ff.; Scritti di religione, edited by A. Banfi, Turin 1925. - Studies: P. v. Deussen, J. B., über sein Leben und seine Philosophie, Kiel 1897, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1911; H. Bastian, Der Gottesbegriff bei J. B., Kiel 1904; E. Edelsheimer, J. B. und die Romantiker, Heidelberg 1904; A. J. Penny, Studies in J. B., London 1912; E. Nobile, J. B. e il dualismo essenziale, Rome 1928; E. Ludovica, J. B., der Görlitzer Mystiker, 2nd ed., Schmiedeberg 1934; E. Nobile, I limiti del misticismo di J. B., Naples 1936.

Giacomo Soleri

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Böhme, Jacob

About this entry