The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott

Religion in North America

by Stephen Prothero

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.

Genres: History, Religion, Buddhism

242 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Stephen Prothero is a professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University and the author of numerous books, most recently Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn't and American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Idol. He has commented on religion on dozens of National Public Radio programs and on television on CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, MSNBC and Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Salon.com, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

Prothero has argued for mandatory public school Bible literacy courses (along the lines of the Bible Literacy Project's The Bible and Its Influence), along with mandatory courses on world religions. Prothero defines himself as a "confused Christian".

Reviews

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure why I bought this book. It's possible that someone recommended it to me, but I don't know.
Anyway, I found it a fascinating read. I was familiar with Helen Blavatsky and Theosophy in general, but largely unfamiliar with Henry Steel Olcott, though I think I may have read an edition of his Buddhist Catechism at some point. So I went in with very few preconceptions, but a goodly amount of background information.

I appreciated Prothero's choice to largely leave aside the question of the legitimacy of Spiritualism, Blavatsky, and Theosophical Masters in general. He just doesn't deal with this question, but instead with Olcott's relationships with these.
Similarly, I appreciated the ways in which Prothero examines Olcott's Buddhism in ongoing relationship with his other not-explicitly-Buddhist beliefs. He does not argue that Olcott's Buddhism was not real and legitimate, but does note where it is intellectual and outside standing Buddhist traditions.

In sum, I really enjoyed Prothero's perspectives and tone. I'm going to admit the book was at times dry, but since I can easily envision both a hagiographical biography of Olcott and a virulent condemnation of the man, I was happy to get what felt like an even-handed presentation.

[Jessica Zu · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fish out of water kind of comedy...