Gender in Mystical and Occult Thought: Behmenism and its Development in England (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History)

This is the first comprehensive account of the development of the ideas on gender of Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) among his English followers. It traces the changes in thought on gender and sexuality in such esoteric traditions as alchemy, Hermeticism and the Cabala. The book argues that Behmenist thought in these areas is a neglected aspect of the revision in the moral status of women during the early modern period, contributing significantly to the rise of the Romantic notion of womanhood and "Victorian" sexual ideology.