New religious anthropology is defined as an aggregate of doctrines and practices that postulated the existence of a particular arrangement of the human being, distinctive from what was recognized as consistent with the scientific approach of the latter half of the 19th century, as well as the human capacity to acquire superhuman powers. The article is focused on the impact of scientific concepts and ideas on the doctrines of new religious anthropology. It reveals that the key role in the formation of new religious anthropology was played by the processes that determined the development of science, such as institutionalization, specialization and mediatization of scientific knowledge. The article suggests a heuristic typology of new religious anthropology, distinguishing Christian, Scientific, Orientalist and Occult types. New religious anthropology is viewed as a means of overcoming the conflict between the science and the religion that was typical for the discourse of the latter half of the 19th century.

The article analyzes the correlation between eschatological and anthropological perspectives of Russian spiritualists on the example of their views on corporeity. According to spiritualists, the core eschatological event should come with the transfiguration of the human nature that was supposed to manifest itself through a complete replacement of ‘material’ body by the ‘subtle’ one. They regarded such development as an element of teleological evolutionary process that was attributed an eschatological significance. Spiritualists had dual attitude towards the body: on the one hand, the category of the ‘material’ had explicitly negative connotations in the spiritualistic discourse, but, on the other hand, ‘subtle’ bodies were not absolutely immaterial. The human body served as a scheme by which the cosmos was modelled, and this made itself evident in the use of organic metaphors by spiritualists. The outcome of the eschatological process was seen in the reunification of a cosmic organism. The human was pictured as able to transform itself by its own effort and thus to predetermine the outcome of the eschatological process, which was understood as an anthropocosmic process.

The article addresses the core anthropological concepts of Carl Du Prel’s philosophy and explores the significance of those concepts for the Russian spiritualism of the late 19th – early 20th century. The Du Prel’s theory built up upon the concept of Duality of the Human Being. Du Prel insisted on simultaneous co-existence of two subjects – one pertaining to the sensible world and the other related to the extrasensory (‘the transcendental subject’) – that are divided by the ‘perception threshold’. He argued that in dormant and somnambular state the threshold would shift and thus enable the Transcendental Subject to act in the Extrasensory World. Du Prel believed that the human evolution is not over yet. He suggested that one could estimate what the new form of the human life would be judging by the conditions in which the transcendental subject comes out. Like many other spiritualists, Du Prel foretold the upcoming dawn of a new era where the boundary between science and religion on the one part and the Sensible and Extrasensory World on the other part will vanish. Anthropological doctrine of Du Prel correlated well with the views on the future human being held by the Russian spiritualists, and therefore he became one of the most reputable authors for them.

The article suggests a typology of Russian theosophical anthropological theories of the early 20th century and offers an analysis of the root causes of disputes between theosophists on anthropological matters. Christian theosophists, who were critical about the Orientalist elements of theosophical doctrines, preferred to draw upon the Christian tradition, while synthesizing it with certain theosophical concepts. Russian theosophists, leaning towards the traditional theosophical doctrine, espoused the idea of universal nature of religious anthropology and often preferred the Oriental approach to anthropology. Nevertheless, they had regard to the Christianity and sought to homologate Oriental anthropology with the Christian one. Millennial expectations were common with the theosophists; they believed that a new era was approaching that would result in a change of the human nature. Many of them reckoned that the human nature could be transformed through spiritual practices. Like many other advocates of Esotericism of those times, theosophists engaged scientific concepts to justify their anthropological views and referred to experimental evidences that would allow revealing the Invisible. For all of their differences, theosophical approaches to anthropology had some shared features and reflected the trends that were common in that age.

The research examines the specifics of reception of Yoga anthropology in Russia and its dissemination paths. The end of 19th – early 20th century was marked by the appearance of Russian translations of the academic research, in which Yoga was viewed as one of the Indian philosophical schools. In the same time, the West was witnessing an onset of popularization of Yoga by representatives of Neo-Vedanta, whose writings were also translated into Russian. Those writings were of a popular nature, since their authors sought to make Yoga understandable for Western readers. For the Occult community, the practical aspect of Yoga was the most attractive one. Occultists regarded Yoga as a method of anthropological perfection – both spiritual and physical – and eventual attainment of superhuman powers. Yoga popularization in Russia was to a considerable extent promoted by theosophists, who built their interpretations on contrasting Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga. In the writings of theosophists, Yoga was presented as a path to attaining arcane knowledge. Russian Occultists created their original interpretations of Yoga. Christian theosophist M.V. Lodyzhensky, despite of considering Yoga as a path to attaining the Superconscious, gave it less appreciation compared to Christian heritage, thus emphasizing the supremacy of Christian tradition. P.D. Uspensky viewed Yoga through the lens of his concept of the Superman, and believed that Yoga practice is a way to achieve an overhuman condition, which the entire humanity will ultimately reach. The interest of Russian community to Yoga should be considered in the context of interest towards the Eastern culture and the belief in the possibility of upcoming transformation of the human nature that were common with the European society of that age.

The article describes a variety of approaches to realizing the phenomenon of telepathy in Russia in the late 19th – early 20th century. Telepathy kindled interest of scientists, occultists, members of religious groups and general public. Reasons behind the interest towards this phenomenon varied in each specific case. Scientists viewed telepathy as a phenomenon that was worth exploring, and created theories that would explain it. At the same time, some of them regarded such studies as a way of justifying the possibility of life outside of a physical body. Telepathic experiments aimed to prove the independence of human psyche from the body were also conducted by those not associated with academic science. Occultists preferred describing the phenomenon of telepathy without resorting to scientific terminology and used occult anthropological concepts instead. In popular occultism represented by mentalism, telepathy was viewed as a practice capable of improving the quality of living. Christian spiritualists and some representatives of Orthodox clergy took interest in telepathy as a means of proving the immortality of soul. Moreover, they used the telepathy theory to justify the efficacy of traditional religious practices, in particular the prayer. Despite of the variances in the reasons behind the interest towards telepathy and in its explanations, the interest to this phenomenon reflected a common trend of that age towards rethinking the anthropology.

The study provides an analysis of some factors that are often overlooked by Russian researchers, which however had significant influence on the evolution of the concept of synthesizing science and religion in the works of Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Evidence of the significance of such factors can be found in his essays, personal notes and letters. First of all, the Chardin’s writings should be considered in the light of Ignatian spirituality, which guided the novice to search for new knowledge. Secondly, the idea of synthesizing scientific and religious insights in his writings can be adequately evaluated by taking into consideration the position of the Catholic church that was fighting against modernist theories of those times. Thirdly, the significance and the role of Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius of Loyola that influenced the mystic experience of the Catholic theologist should be taken into account. The above factors had considerable impact on Chardin’s theology, which has become one of the essential examples of the 20th century dialogue between science and religion.

The publication features a letter by an unheralded Russian spiritualist A.S. Kobelev. It represents a distinctive sample of correspondence of emerging spiritualists to the persons whom they viewed as their spiritual authority. The letter focuses on the personal psychological experience of Kobelev, which he interpreted as an evidence of his advancement in the journey of comprehending the Spiritual World. Comments to the letter unveil the specifics of spiritualist attitude towards the use of the Scripture in the course of seances as an essential means of verifying the veracity of messages received from spirits. The Scripture hermeneutics had influence on the practical aspect of activity of Christian spiritualists; however, they used it selectively, while drawing a line between the Religion and the Superstition depending on their historiosophical and other personal preferences. The example of discussion between spiritualists on the significance of such hermeneutics raises the question about the correlation between Christian traditionalism and religious universalism in the teachings of Christian spiritualists. The letter is of interest for historians of religion as an artefact of confessional fiction depicting personal experience of spiritualists.

The published document contains several messages of the spiritcontrols of the Moscow spirit circle. Those messages reflect the main features of the circle’s eschatological teaching. The essence of that teaching is catastrophism – the members of the Circle believed that the world will be renewed through global disasters. The text makes it possible to judge how the members of the circle could perceive the events that took place in 1918 and allows you to get an idea of the status of the spirit leaders. The messages highlight the views of the members of the circle on the status and place of the human in the global eschatological process and contain the description of the forthcoming eschatological events. The document demonstrates the sustainability of the eschatological sentiments of the members of the circle. The message also reflects the core eschatological tendencies of the Russian spiritualism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, above all the notion that spirits are precursors of the Third Testament. In the commentary to the publication, the most significant fragments of the source are characterized and the contexts necessary for understanding its content are indicated, in particular, its relationship with other texts created within the framework of the MSC, the Gospel text is indicated. The document may be of interest to researchers of eschatological communities and anyone interested in religious culture of the Silver Age.