Abstract

This chapter addresses the conceptual relationship and means of communicating textual or visual knowledge of two theosophers, Jacob Bohme and Robert Fludd. Despite philosophical correlations and a centuries-long shared reception history, this issue has remained largely unexplored. Their parallel reception histories disclose why they remained outsiders in philosophical, scientific and theological discourses. This essay discusses their philosophies through the lens of Abraham Hinckelmann’s accusation that Bohme’s theosophy was indebted to Fludd. Hinckelmann argued that the two share a common conception of creation, with chaos as the source of possibilities. The chapter identifies dialectics such as light and darkness as the operative core of both authors. This affinity is even more evident when Bohme’s textual account is compared to Fludd’s visual narrative. As images help constitute Fludd’s work, the chapter discusses his pictorial program and its speculative core in the Kabbala and the art of memory. In discussing the Genesis depictions in Fludd’s writings, the chapter shows how these images mean to involve viewers. This mode of representation is compared to Bohme’s use of language and his concept of Natursprache, thus presenting his “thought imagery” as a constructive element of his philosophy. This suggests a common approach to the transmission of knowledge: Fludd and Bohme expect the viewer to internalize knowledge by acts of performing knowledge.