Boehme, JAKOB, a German theosophist and mystic, was born of poor parents at Altseidenberg, near Görlitz, in Upper Lusatia, 1575, and spent his boyhood in tending cattle. He received no instruction till he was ten years of age; but even then, the contemplation of earth and sky had so excited his naturally pious imagination, that he conceived himself inspired. He learned the trade of a shoemaker, and industriously followed that calling for most of his life, but continued to devote much of his time to meditation on divine things. About 1612 was published his first book, called Aurora. It contains revelations and meditations upon God, Man, and Nature; betokens a remarkable knowledge of Scripture, especially of the apocalyptic books; as also a familiarity with the writings of the mystico-philosophic alchemists, from whom he largely obtained his phraseology. It was condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities of Görlitz; but the persecutions to which its author was subjected had not the effect of convincing him of his errors. The chief aim of Boehme is to explain the origin of things, especially the existence of evil, and this he does by a mystical process of thought expressed in material symbols, which it is not easy to summarise.
God is the Ungrund or Urgrund, the original and undistinguished unity, at once everything and nothing, which, however, has in itself the principle of separation, whereby all things come into existence. It is through the principle of negation, which in a way is identified with evil, that creation is explained. His philosophy, in fact, is an application of the principle of contradiction to explain the great problems of philosophy and religion; but the difficulties are only concealed or shifted about under a cloud of mystical language, in which a system of triads, suggested by the Christian doctrine of the trinity, have an important place. In Boehme we have an obscure presentation of the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, which have such a large application in the philosophy of Hegel. Numerous attacks from theologians disturbed Boehme's last years, but he bore them all with great meekness. So great was the interest excited, that he was induced by the solicitations of certain courtiers and of his friends to visit Dresden for the purpose of having his doctrines investigated. The court applauded and protected him. On returning to Görlitz, he fell ill, and died in 1624. The first collection of his writings was published by Betke (Amsterdam, 1675); the most complete in 1730, at the same place; and the latest (1831-46) by Schiebler, at
Leipzig. Next to Germany, Holland and England are the countries in which Boehme's works have been received with most favour. In England, where Boehme was generally called Behmen, all his works were translated between 1644 and 1662 (new ed. 1764). Sir Isaac Newton studied him; William Law of Oxford might be called a disciple; in 1697, Jane Leade, a fanatical disciple of Boehme, founded a sect, called the Philadelphists, for the exposition of his writings; and John Pordage, a physician, is also famed among his English interpreters. Abraham von Frankenberg, who died in 1652, published the earliest biography of Boehme. In modern times, and in connection with speculative philosophy in Germany, his views, which had come to be regarded as empty mysticism, have acquired fresh interest and importance. This arises from the kindred character of his fundamental principle with the spirit pervading the systems of Spinoza, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. See the works on Boehme and his philosophy by Hanberger (1844), Fechner (1857), Peip (1860), Harless (1870), and Martensen (Eng. trans. from Danish, 1885).