During the nineteenth century, spiritualist, Theosophical and psychological thinkers developed what I call “evolutionary theologies” to explain the human-animal relationship in light of Darwin and other biological theories. I apply both historical and comparative methodologies as well as conceptual metaphor theory to examine the development of these new theologies, which continue to be influential in spiritual but not religious and “New Age” communities.
These thinkers used both the Bible and Asian myth to reimagine human transformation, with animal qualities playing a role in both our evolutionary futures as well as our pasts. Thinkers evaluated include the spiritualists Andrew Jackson Davis, Emma Hardinge Britten, Theosophists Helena Blavatsky, A.P. Sinnett and psychologist Frederic W.H. Myers.
The spiritualist and Theosophical thinkers developed new threads of commonality with non-human animals while also finding new reasons to be wary of the body and its “animal” passions. Myers, an early psychologist, identified the animals of our evolutionary past as a source of “vestigial” talents that could be recovered, for example, hypnotic “sleep” could put us into an earlier evolutionary state. These theologies have ramifications today for questions related to gender and sexuality, diet, and morality.
In evaluating the development of these theologies, I identify patterns related to the Great Chain metaphor that has recurred in many societies, but was particularly elaborate during the eighteenth century. As Turner and George Lakoff and observe (More than Cool Reason 1989), the Great Chain metaphor usefully allows comprehension of human character traits in terms of nonhuman attributes, and comparisons by analogy between perceived related entities. The human link with the “inferior lives” of animals suggest an analogous tie with “superior lives.” The analogical connection of humans with beings that are as “advanced” from us as we are from animals is both seductive and powerful. Myers used “ape” to prove “angel” (1903, 1:242). The revival of Great Chain metaphors in evolutionary theologies during the 19th through 21st centuries demonstrates the continued relevance of metaphor theory to explain the transformation of religion.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Turner. More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
During the nineteenth century, spiritualist, Theosophical and psychological thinkers developed what I call “evolutionary theologies” to explain the human-animal relationship in light of Darwin and other biological theories. I apply both historical and comparative methodologies as well as conceptual metaphor theory to examine the development of these new theologies, which continue to be influential in spiritual but not religious and “New Age” communities. These thinkers used both the Bible and Asian myth to reimagine human transformation, with animal qualities playing a role in both our evolutionary futures as well as our pasts. Thinkers evaluated include the spiritualists Andrew Jackson Davis and Emma Hardinge Britten; Theosophists Helena Blavatsky and A.P. Sinnett; and psychologist Frederic W.H. Myers. They developed new threads of commonality with non-human animals while also finding new reasons to be wary of the body and its “animal” passions.