Book excerpt: First published in 1924, this title explores the schools of religious thought and practice that sprung up towards the end of the nineteenth century and at the start of the twentieth: sects, mystics and spiritualists, theological sciences and scientific theologies, personal philosophies, and a huge range of new trajectories of thought within the established forms of Western European Christianity. In particular, the author explores the numerous ways in which ‘Eastern’ religious traditions, or at least spiritual patterns deriving inspiration from the Orient, gained a foothold among seekers in the West at a time of optimism and belief in progress.