A masterful account of Éliphas Lévi, one of the most celebrated Kabbalistic authors of all times. The influence Lévi exerted on such esoteric movement leaders as A.E. Waite; Madame Blavatsky; Papus; Aleister Crowley; Rudolf Steiner; Max Heindel; H. Spencer Lewis; Paul Foster Case and others is explored as well as remarkable insights into Lévi's life and times. A chapter is devoted to Masonic legend Albert Pike and analyzes Pike's classic Morals and Dogma revealing entire sections Pike took verbatim from the works of Lévi. This is a powerful and essential book by a respected Masonic and esoteric scholar.
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Dr. Robert L. (Bob) Uzzel was born on 22 May 1951 in Waco, Texas. He graduated from Waco High School in 1969 and received an Associate of Arts degree from McLennan Community College in 1971. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Sociology in 1973, a Master of Arts in Church-State Studies in 1976, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in World Religions in 1995 from Baylor University. He received a postdoctoral Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2008.
An ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he served as pastor of Texas A.M.E. congregations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Kaufman, Blooming Grove, and Maypearl prior to his appointment to Ennis in 2002. He serves as Chair of the Department of Religion and as Associate Professor of Religion, History, and Political Science at Paul Quinn College. He has taught a wide variety of courses not only at Paul Quinn but also at Cedar Valley College, Mountain View College, Tarrant County College, Temple College, and Navarro College.
A prolific writer, his articles have appeared in a number of publications. For his Masonic writings, he received Certificates of Literature from both the Philalethes Society and the Phylaxis Society. He is a Fellow of the Phylaxis Society, a holder of the Dr. Charles H. Wesley Medal of History, a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, and a member of the Society of Blue Friars an invitation-only organization for Masonic authors and editors. His books include Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy [ www.eakinpress.com ]; Prince Hall Freemasonry in the Lone Star State: From Cuney to Curtis, 1875-2003 [ www.eakinpress.com ], and Eliphas Levi and the Kabbalah: The Masonic and French Connection of the American Mystery Tradition [www.cornerstonepublishers.com ].
He is married to the former Debra Bass, a native of Fairfield, Texas. They have four children and eight grandchildren.
An ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he served as pastor of Texas A.M.E. congregations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Kaufman, Blooming Grove, and Maypearl prior to his appointment to Ennis in 2002. He serves as Chair of the Department of Religion and as Associate Professor of Religion, History, and Political Science at Paul Quinn College. He has taught a wide variety of courses not only at Paul Quinn but also at Cedar Valley College, Mountain View College, Tarrant County College, Temple College, and Navarro College.
A prolific writer, his articles have appeared in a number of publications. For his Masonic writings, he received Certificates of Literature from both the Philalethes Society and the Phylaxis Society. He is a Fellow of the Phylaxis Society, a holder of the Dr. Charles H. Wesley Medal of History, a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, and a member of the Society of Blue Friars an invitation-only organization for Masonic authors and editors. His books include Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy [ www.eakinpress.com ]; Prince Hall Freemasonry in the Lone Star State: From Cuney to Curtis, 1875-2003 [ www.eakinpress.com ], and Eliphas Levi and the Kabbalah: The Masonic and French Connection of the American Mystery Tradition [www.cornerstonepublishers.com ].
He is married to the former Debra Bass, a native of Fairfield, Texas. They have four children and eight grandchildren.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The chapter on Pike was very interesting,
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This review is from: Éliphas Lévi and the Kabbalah - The Masonic and French Connection of the American Mystery Tradition (Paperback)
The Chapter on Albert Pike was enlightening. I knew that Pike had used Eliphas Levi as a source. But, I had not realized how much of a source that Levi was for Pike. Even Levi's writing style influenced Pike's style. Pike took almost whole chapters from Levi's History of Magic and Transcendtal Magic. Overall a good book. Uzzel quotes Reverend Stephen Hoeller as a source. Dr Hoeller is still teaching and his Friday night lecture series is well attended.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Author did some research, but not enough...,
By Rick Johnson "rickyrickjohnson" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Éliphas Lévi and the Kabbalah - The Masonic and French Connection of the American Mystery Tradition (Paperback)
With a title like "Eliphas Levi and the Kabbalah" you would think that you could learn something about Levi's understanding of the Kabbalah from it. Unfortunately the first chapter is the only one that really mentions it and doesn't cover the subject very well at all. Levi presents very powerful ideas and they are all interrelated, it is not something that one can just say "he thought this about this and that's it". Levi's ideas need to be understood and explained (especially in the case of a book about his Kabbalah).This book sells itself well and Chapter 3, which is about how Albert Pike took many of his ideas for his famous "Morals and Dogma" from Levi, is the best of the whole book. But I think it could have shown more how Pike modified some of Levi's ideas, instead of just showing what passages he took and from where. The chapter also seems to convert itself into a place to support Albert Pike and his Writings as being of esoteric value even if Pike was racist (citing non-whites who agree with these claims), but WAIT the book is about Levi and his influence, isn't it? The problem with this book is: it often contains plenty generalization, but with esoteric & occult matters it is important to be specific. The author quotes many sources and there are a large number of endnotes for every chapter which are very helpful to look up the source material. But that doesn't mean the sources are reliable... The beginning of the book is basically showing that the Author read another book on Levi, "Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival" by Christopher McIntosh and has read English translations of Levi's works. Now just because you quote from another book doesn't mean that the author you are quoting is correct or authoritative. He also quotes "Gnostic Bishop Hoeller" as an authority in a number of cases, who is certainly a well-read intellectual, but that does not make someone an authority (although, in many cases, it does make us opinionated). Opinions are one thing, but they are not facts. The Author mentions that "Enochian Magic" is "based on the book of Enoch" (p.53) which clearly shows that he is not familiar with Occultism. The end note for this statement comes from a book entitled "The Mammoth Book of the Supernatural" which does not appear to be very well researched either... Another example of incomplete research or just taking someone else's word for it is when the author discusses Aleister Crowley (who claimed to be a reincarnation of Levi). He says "Reuss, prior to his death in 1923, designated Crowley as his successor" (p.56) and again "Crowley was Reuss' designated successor as Head of the OTO" (p.121). This has been proven false by the investigator Peter R. Koenig. Crowley proclaimed himself Head of the OTO, but Reuss did not designate him as Head, in fact Crowley was expelled from the OTO by Reuss in 1921. This information has been freely available for many years on Koenig's website. There is plenty of other information on that site which is very well cited and explains the history of the OTO. He also glosses over Crowley's disgusting practices of beastiality (and whatever else) at the 'Abbey of Thelema' when he discusses Crowley's biography, casually writing of the 'Abbey': "There he practiced magic with devoted disciples"... My final complaint (or observation) is that the Author cites his sources a lot, but not on important claims, using phrases like "Research indicates..." without citing the research or simply citing a single book for that research. It is a clever way to do things. It seems "Research indicates..." is the Author's way of saying "my opinion, based on my reading, is..." Chapter 3, which is about Pike and Levi is relatively well cited and I thought rather informative. Another reviewer of this book (on another site) stated "...in the final analysis, Uzzel contributes little to an understanding of Levi's influence on Pike besides a digest of choice selections from Rex Hutchens' Glossary to Morals and Dogma." T Polyphilus (paradoxosalpha). And I did notice that on pages 74-75 a sentence that starts "Literary research indicates..." cites "Rex Hutchens, A Glossary to Morals and Dogma, 247". SUMMARY: I guess I was disappointed with this book, but for its price, Ch.3 might make it worth it (considering A Glossary to Morals and Dogma is $260+). My problem is that when people put out books like this, it perpetuates a certain superficial way of looking at Occultism & Esotericism. If we accept what others have said (and claim as fact) and we don't really investigate for ourselves, then in the end, we are just believers, just sheep. Occultism & Esotericism are specifically the paths of deciding for oneself what is True and what is not. So that is a problem I see with this book, it perpetuates opinions (about Levi, about occultism and esotericism in general, and about esoteric & occult organizations) and not Levi's idea of "experience as science". In fact, I don't think I understand Levi's Kabbalah any better now than I did before I started reading the book. What I do understand better is that Levi influenced a lot of other people, but it is unclear if any of them understood what he was saying...
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