Studies in Jacob Boehme [Paperback]

A. J. Penny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 1992

This book is acknowledged to be the definitive source work on Boehme and very essential for understanding his writings. Contents: Who was Jacob Boehme; Jacob Boehme's Writings; Why are Jacob Boehme's Writings Not Studied? Boehme and Swedenborg; Power of Imagination; Experiences in Open Vision; Emanations of the World-Soul; Communicating Spirits; World-Soul; Doctrine of vicarious Suffering; Deity Anterior to Creation; On Influx; Who are Our Spiritual Enemies? Natural Objects Existent; Second Advent; Uses of Pain and Evil; Martensen's "Jacob Boehme"; Duration of Evil; Reincarnation; Ready-Made Clothes; Eternal Bodies; Buried Treasures; Creation by the Word; Imagination and Fantasy; Alchymistical Philosophers; Boehme and the "Secret Doctrine"; Atmospheres; Jesus and the Christ; Unconscious Creation; Spiritual Evolution; Illusions in Life's Trance; Form; The Advantages of Christianity; Boehme and Rama Prasad; Planetary Influence; Resurrection Bodies; The Image.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Kessinger Publishing reprints over 1,500 similar titles all available through Amazon.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (November 4, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564592901
• ISBN-13: 978-1564592903
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,713,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money!, March 8, 2010

By 

"Awakened Christian" "Tom" (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Studies in Jacob Boehme (Paperback)

Though you get a nice sized paperback {81/2 X 11} with 475 pages - you don't get much about Boehme.

This book is a compilation of articles submitted to "LIGHT" magazine by Anne Judith Penny in the mid 1800's. She tells of her 30 years studying his works and though she was extremely brilliant - that is exactly what hinders comprehension of Boehme - she admits to understanding very little of them.

The majority of the book is about spiritualists of that era with a good portion of it referring to this and that Dr.'s spiritualistic or Buddhist theories. Also many references to Swedenboro.

To often quote Madame Blavatsky and insinuate that Boehme and she had similar beliefs, is to show her complete misunderstanding of the strong Christian foundation that Boehme had.

Boehme insisted and warned readers that if they had not experienced "the new birth of Christ in themselves" they could not even begin to comprehend his writings. I wish not to judge another, but I don't sense that the author had had this experience, though she does refer to the need of it.

I gave it two stars because maybe one third of the book dealt with some insights into Boehme's works. And to give credit to the "joining together" of concept related excerpts from many of Boehme's hard to find writings.

I still have not found a better interpreter of Boehme's works than William Law. It is easily recognizable that he did have the "new birth" that is required.

Quoting William Law {from LETTERS}
"All that I have written for near thirty years, has been only to show, that we have no master but Christ, nor can have any living divine knowledge, but from His holy nature born and revealed in us. Not a word in favor of Jacob Behmen, but because, above every writer in the world, he has made all that is found in the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of nature, to be one continual demonstration, that dying to self, to be born again of Christ, is the one only possible salvation of the sons of fallen Adam."

Quoting Boehme "And let this be plain .....; if you would find the Lapis Philosophorum set yourself to attain the new birth in Christ. (Menschw. I, iv,10)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful and important, March 20, 2010

By 

Roland (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Studies in Jacob Boehme (Paperback)

In view of the rather negative Customer Review by "Awakened Christian" (only 2 stars, "Not worth the money!", March 8, 2010) I'd like to offer something a little more positive.

Although I would agree with much that "Awakened Christian" has to say about Anne Judith Penny's (AJP's) studies in Jacob Boehme (JB), her work is nevertheless well worth reading. Said reviewer claims that William Law is a much better interpreter of Boehme's works -- with this I would certainly disagree. Although Law was a great admirer of JB and was himself greatly influenced by that German mystic, his own writings do not offer much of the actual teachings of Boehme.

Possibly the greatest interpreter of JB would be Dionysius Andreas Freher,1649-1728 (a German having lived in England) whose many books are however not generally available anymore. Some Freher excerpts have been published in "Notes And Materials For An Adequate Biography Of The Celebrated Divine And Theosopher, William Law," editor Christopher Walton (1809-1877) -- (a facsimile copy is available from amazon.com).

Another source might be the German theosopher Johann Georg Gichtel, 1638-1710, whose writings ("Theosophia Practica," seven volumes) are also not generally available.

And so, therefore, AJP's studies are perhaps the only work of studies in JB available today.

On the whole:

AJP's "Studies in Jacob Boehme" are most valuable as they refer specifically to what JB has written -- and there is much of that. She would bring passages from very different parts of JB's writings to bear on one another. AJP adds her own views on many difficult questions and quotes from the writings of many other authors (analysis through synthesis) -- the reader who is mostly (and perhaps only) interested to study JB must therefore be careful to discern what cannot be found (and would not necessarily be supported) by anything JB has written.

For example: some of Swedenborg's revelations may actually be truth, but how is one to use his writings when so much of it seems like rediculous and unscriptural nonsense? Swedenborg's notes concerning the apostle Paul in his "Diarium Majus" and "Diarium Minor" (English title: "Spiritual Diary", or "Spiritual Experiences", published posthumously) are absurd, to say the least. Yet, AJP was obviously very appreciative of Swedenborg and often quotes him (though very selectively!) in her studies.

Anne Judith Penny was a student (as she herself stated) of Jacob Boehme for over thirty years! (page vii and 421) -- he was her "master teacher" (page 229). She was in truth one of the greatest exponent of Boehme ever (together with Dionysius Andreas Freher). AJP readily admitted that she did not fully understand everything Boehme had written (has anyone ever?). To learn from JB requires perseverance. She writes:

----- quote pg 424 (footnote) -----
Anyone seriously bent on understanding all that Boehme has revealed about that most mysterious Being the Divine Wisdom, should read, not once or twice, but repeatedly -- some interval of time between each reading -- the second and third chapters of the second part of his treatise on the "Incarnation." Of course, pride and sloth would tempt with the thought that it is a subject unfathomably obscure. But so are logarithms, until they have been studied long enough. It is only adequate interest which is wanted for "standing" long enough "under" the weight of obscurity to be rewarded by growing intelligence.
----- end quote -----

AJP was a Christian from deep conviction and wrestled with the superficiality of the Church. Looking for answers she did not shy away from being critical even of the apostle Paul:

----- quote pg 219,220 -----
... being ready to accept new meanings, and dismissing old interpretations, are very different postures of mind, and one does wonder at Divine love conniving, so to speak, at human error, by permitting the messengers of its Gospel to use language that could not but justify the horrible creed of Calvin; for example, St Paul's sayings in Rom.ix., which have notoriously led hundreds of men and women to causeless despair, or to confidence almost as unwarrantable. From the 15th to the 24th verse of this chapter, every sentence seems calculated to confirm the terrible doctrine of irresistible predestination. Words could not, one would think, more distinctly imply an arbitrary will in the Most High God to "cause" some men to be vessels of wrath filled to destruction, in order "to make His power to be known." Yet, as this contradicts the whole tenor of the New Testament, we know it cannot be a true interpretation; ... I think it quite clear that Paul himself as little understood the real meaning of the expression he refers to, "God hardened the heart of Pharaoh," as he understood the period indicated by Christ Jesus for his future visible return;...
----- end quote -----

AJP did have some problematic views, no doubt, but that is also what the process of learning and unlearning, of growing in the truth, is about.

Judging from the frequent references to other authors throughout her studies (including French and German sources) it can be concluded that AJP had an impressive personal library containing many books which are today no longer generally available (for example, writings of D.A.Freher). Among these authors were many whose views (teachings, experiences, etc.) were not Scripturally sound (this would include Swedenborg), yet AJP searched them all for any grains of possible truths. This is, of course, a dangerous walk which requires constant vigilance and a spirit of discernment (Philippians 1:9; Hebrews 5:14; 1Timothy 4:1).

"Studies in Jacob Boehme" is a most wonderful and important collection of studies by an exceptional Christian seeker after truth. Her appreciation of (and frequent quoting from) Swedenborg would, however, have to be seen as a problem.

Anyone who is interested in JB and willing to do MUCH thinking, meditating and praying on heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-4; also all of Philippians chapter three) can get lots of important impulses from AJP's studies.

There is need for many more Christians like AJP!