Contributed articles presented at a seminar.

The treatise De mundo offers a cosmology in the Peripatetic tradition which subordinates what happens in the cosmos to the might of an omnipotent god. Thus the work is paradigmatic for the philosophical and religious concepts of the early imperial age, which offer points of contact with nascent Christianity.

Between 300 BCE and 200 CE, concepts and practices of dharma attained literary prominence throughout India. Both Buddhist and Brahmanical authors sought to clarify and classify their central concerns, and dharma proved a means of thinking through and articulating those concerns. Alf Hiltebeitel shows the different ways in which dharma was interpreted during that formative period: from the grand cosmic chronometries of kalpas and yugas to narratives about divine plans, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography, in the case of the emperor Asoka), and guidelines for daily life, including meditation. He reveals the vital role dharma has played across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what holds life together. Through dharma, these traditions have articulated their distinct visions of the good and well-rewarded life. This insightful study explores the diverse and changing significance of dharma in classical India in nine major dharma texts, as well some shorter ones. Dharma proves to be a term by which to make a fresh cut through these texts, and to reconsider their own chronology, their import, and their relation to each other.

Preliminary Material /E.O. James -- Introduction /E.O. James -- Middle Eastern Cosmology /E.O. James -- India and the Far East /E.O. James -- Iran and Anatolia /E.O. James -- Greece and Rome /E.O. James -- Christianity /E.O. James -- The Evolutionary Process /E.O. James -- Conclusion /E.O. James -- Bibliography /E.O. James -- Index /E.O. James.

Provides an accessible introduction to the Vedic religious world by focusing on the role of divine and human imagination in sacred texts.

Theosophy expresses modern versions of the ancient wisdom found in world religions. Ultimately, it concerns living fully by learning the meaning of life and thereby achieving self-transformation. These essays by a premier American teacher are grouped according to the four stages of the quest for meaning: The Human Condition, Our Hidden Potential, Esoteric Teachings, and Self-Transformation. Written over a lifetime, these essays comprise a reliable, inspiring guide for anyone on a spiritual path.