Post by Admin on Nov 19, 2021 15:39:59 GMT
Seth Pancoast and the Kabbalah: Medical Pluralism and the Reception of Physics in Late-Nineteenth Century Philadelphia
www.academia.edu/31325628/Seth_Pancoast_and_the_Kabbalah_Medical_Pluralism_and_the_Reception_of_Physics_in_Late_Nineteenth_Century_Philadelphia
Seth Pancoast was the author of "The Kabbalah, Or, The True Science of Light" (1877) a book that elucidated a form of therapy based on the administration of rays of light in colours corresponding the Kabbalistic sephiroth. It was a late-nineteenth century melange of occultist Kabbalah with aspects of Quakerism, Mesmerism, Theosophy, and chromotherapy, (the use or colour in healing), as well as contemporary medical and scientific theories in orthodox and heterodox varieties. I argue that Pancoast's Kabbalistic therapy must be understood in the context of the medical pluralism that characterised late-1870s Philadelphia. It must also be contextualised in Pancoast's anachronistic attachment to the concept of the ray of light, his embrace of the ether as a medium through which rays were said to travel, and his rejection of the wave theory of light (which, paradoxically, was closely related to the rise of the concept of the ether). The apparent inconsistencies in Pancoast's understanding of physics make more sense when we understand Pancoast's theological understanding of light, which was probably influenced by the Quaker doctrine of the Inner Light as well as occultist theories of the Astral Light, among other things. Understanding the multiple overlapping religious, medical, and scientific cultures represented in Pancoast's unique vision of Kabbalah is important in reaching an understanding the historical, cultural, and religious contexts in which it formed. This, in turn, helps us understand the emergence of certain New Age perspectives on Kabbalah that are indebted to that cultural milieu, especially the alliance between Kabbalah and alternative health that is almost taken for granted today.
www.academia.edu/31325628/Seth_Pancoast_and_the_Kabbalah_Medical_Pluralism_and_the_Reception_of_Physics_in_Late_Nineteenth_Century_Philadelphia
Seth Pancoast was the author of "The Kabbalah, Or, The True Science of Light" (1877) a book that elucidated a form of therapy based on the administration of rays of light in colours corresponding the Kabbalistic sephiroth. It was a late-nineteenth century melange of occultist Kabbalah with aspects of Quakerism, Mesmerism, Theosophy, and chromotherapy, (the use or colour in healing), as well as contemporary medical and scientific theories in orthodox and heterodox varieties. I argue that Pancoast's Kabbalistic therapy must be understood in the context of the medical pluralism that characterised late-1870s Philadelphia. It must also be contextualised in Pancoast's anachronistic attachment to the concept of the ray of light, his embrace of the ether as a medium through which rays were said to travel, and his rejection of the wave theory of light (which, paradoxically, was closely related to the rise of the concept of the ether). The apparent inconsistencies in Pancoast's understanding of physics make more sense when we understand Pancoast's theological understanding of light, which was probably influenced by the Quaker doctrine of the Inner Light as well as occultist theories of the Astral Light, among other things. Understanding the multiple overlapping religious, medical, and scientific cultures represented in Pancoast's unique vision of Kabbalah is important in reaching an understanding the historical, cultural, and religious contexts in which it formed. This, in turn, helps us understand the emergence of certain New Age perspectives on Kabbalah that are indebted to that cultural milieu, especially the alliance between Kabbalah and alternative health that is almost taken for granted today.