Sources

Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/claiming-knowledge-strategies-of-epistemology-from-theosophy-to-the-new-age.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/claiming-knowledge-strategies-of-epistemology-from-theosophy-to-the-new-age

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-claiming-knowledge-strategies-of-epistem,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/claiming-knowledge-strategies-of-epistemology-from-theosophy-to-the-new-age},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Olav Hammer's study examines a specific, checkable question, how writers from Theosophy through the New Age have constructed authority for claims of revealed or channeled teaching, tracing the actual rhetorical strategies, appeals to science, to ancient tradition, to personal experience, that these writers use across a named span of movements. That focused analytical method, applied to a defined body of primary texts, is the book's real evidentiary contribution rather than a claim about its publisher. This record has not independently traced a documented history of scholarly disagreement with Hammer's specific categorization. Use it for how a specific movement in this lineage constructs its own claim to authority; it does not evaluate whether any of those claims are true.

Facts

Citation

Author

Olav Hammer

Publisher

Brill

Publication Year

2001

URL

https://brill.com/display/title/8867?language=en

Source Type

academic monograph

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Olav Hammer's study tracing the actual rhetorical strategies, appeals to science, to ancient tradition, to personal experience, that writers from Theosophy through the New Age have used to construct authority for claims of revealed teaching.

Notes

Analyses how Theosophical and post-Theosophical writers construct authority for revealed teaching.

Claims Backed By This Source (206 claims)

This source backs 206 claims across the atlas. As facts: 99 well-attested, 42 popular myth - corrected. As cited relationships: 23 holds. Plus 42 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Aura Layers, 38 claims: 31 well-attested, 7 general references.
Frequencies, 36 claims: 27 popular myth - corrected, 9 general references.
Seven Rays, 35 claims: 14 popular myth - corrected, 14 holds, 7 general references.
Realms, 20 claims: 14 well-attested, 4 holds, 2 general references.
Articles, 17 claims: 17 well-attested.
Historical Figures, 13 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 holds, 4 general references.
Categories, 10 claims: 9 well-attested, 1 general references.
Subtle Energies, 9 claims: 2 well-attested, 4 holds, 3 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
Subcategories, 5 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 general references.
Religions, 4 claims: 2 well-attested, 2 general references.
Doctrines, 3 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 general references.
Secret Societies, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 2 general references.
Gemstones, 2 claims: 1 popular myth - corrected, 1 general references.
Tattvas, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Mantras, 1 claims: 1 general references.