About the book
Volume II of Isis Unveiled turns towards religious institutions, doctrine and the authority to decide what people may believe. Blavatsky compares Christian traditions with earlier rites, philosophical schools, Kabbalah, Buddhist and Hindu material, and the Spiritualist controversies of her own time. Theology is the volume’s title; its arguments repeatedly move between beliefs and the institutions defending them.
This is a polemical historical work, not a neutral modern history of religion. Blavatsky often uses similarities between symbols and traditions to argue for shared origins or transmission. A resemblance is not itself proof of borrowing. The edition preserves those arguments for examination while keeping the author’s claims, her quoted sources and modern editorial interpretation distinct.
The HIPS edition contains the Preface, all twelve chapters, historical notes, detailed Contents, eighteen diagrams, an edition glossary and the original index. Vocabulary precedes each chapter and reader guides follow its notes. Original-page references and numbered notes support navigation through the new e-reader layout. Volume I: Science is sold separately or alongside this book in a two-volume collection.
What this edition includes
1,653 pages; all twelve chapters; original notes and eighteen diagrams; vocabulary before chapters; reader guides after notes; edition glossary; original index and Errata; clickable original-page references and linked note returns. Declared repairs are identified in the edition.
Inside the book: selected contents
A reading overview, not the complete text.
- The Church: Where Is It?: religious authority and the comparison of miracles with Spiritualist accounts.
- Mysteries of the Kabala: the author’s reading of Jewish mystical traditions.
- The Vedas and the Bible: comparisons whose sources and inferences need separate examination.
- The Devil-Myth: an argument involving several quoted voices; identify the speaker before attributing a claim.
- Conclusions and Illustrations: the closing synthesis, followed by reading support and the original index.
Key concepts for reading
HIPS editorial explanations of the historical text.
- Theology: reasoning about divine matters and doctrines.
- Dogma: teachings defended as authoritative within a tradition.
- Kabbalah: Jewish mystical traditions; Blavatsky’s interpretation is one historical reading, not their complete account.
- Comparison and transmission: similarities between traditions and evidence of actual historical borrowing are different questions.
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An archive scan preserves photographed pages. This is a prepared reading edition: reset text and modern reading support, with the historical author’s words kept distinct. The edition details and preview pages above show what is included in this particular book.
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