TY  - GEN
T1  - The white Buddhist : the Asian odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott
T2  - Religion in North America.
A1  - Prothero, Stephen R.
LA  - English
PP  - Bloomington
PB  - Indiana University Press
YR  - 1996
UL  - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/ebsco_acadsubs_ocm43476162
AB  - The New York Times denounced him as an "unmitigated rascal". Others described him as a reincarnation of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka or perhaps Gautama Buddha himself. He was Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832 - 1907), friend to Madame Blavatsky and president-founder of the Theosophical Society. This book tells the fascinating story of his spiritual odyssey. Raised a Presbyterian in nineteenth century New York, Olcott embraced spiritualism and then theosophy before becoming the first American of European descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. Despite his repudiation of Christianity, Olcott's life was an extension of both the "errand to the wilderness" of his Puritan ancestors and the "errand to the world" of American Protestant missionaries. Olcott viewed himself as a defender of Asian religions against the missionaries, but his actions mirrored theirs. He wrote and distributed tracts and catechisms, promoted the translation of scriptures into vernacular languages, established Sunday schools, founded voluntary associations, and conducted revivals. And he too labored to "uplift" his Asian acquaintances, urging them to embrace social reforms such as temperance and women's rights. However one views his work, his legacy was a lasting one, and today he is revered in Sri Lanka as a leader of the Sinhalese Buddhist Revival and in India as a key contributor to the Indian Renaissance.
OP  - 242
CN  - BQ976.L36 P48 1996eb
SN  - 0585109508
SN  - 9780585109503
SN  - 0253330149
SN  - 9780253330147
SN  - 9780253222763
SN  - 0253222761
KW  - Olcott, Henry Steel, : 1832-1907.
KW  - Olcott, Henry Steel, : 1832-1907
KW  - Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer : Bitterfeld
KW  - Buddhists : United States : Biography.
KW  - Buddhists
KW  - United States
KW  - Buddhismus
KW  - Geschichte
KW  - USA
KW  - Buddhism.
KW  - Religion.
KW  - Philosophy & Religion.
KW  - Buddhists : United States : Biography
KW  - Olcott, Henry Steel : 1832-1907
KW  - Biographies
ER  -