Jacob Needleman (October 6, 1934 – November 28, 2022) was an American philosopher, author, and religious scholar.

Life and career

Needleman was Jewish[1][2] and was educated at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Freiburg, Germany.[3] He was deeply involved in the Gurdjieff Work and the Gurdjieff Foundation of San Francisco.[4] He was a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at San Francisco State University[5][6] and is said to have "popularized the term 'new religious movements'."[7] He was a former visiting professor at the Duxx Graduate School of Business Leadership in Monterrey, Mexico, and former director of the Center for the study of New Religions at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also served as a research associate at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, a research fellow at Union Theological Seminary, Adjunct Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of California Medical School and guest Professor of Religious Studies at the Sorbonne University, Paris (1992).[8] Needleman was honored by the Open Center in New York City in 2006.[9][10] Needleman also narrated classical religious texts in audiobook format, including the Taoist Tao Te Ching and the Hindu Bhagavad Gita.

Alternative spirituality author and historian Mitch Horowitz, who has called Needleman a mentor, said that Needleman's "fullest gift as a writer was his capacity to compellingly describe inner contradictions and strivings," and that Needleman's activity in translating and publishing 20th-century French-language works of Traditionalist philosophy is of high significance to its recognition.[11][12]

Death

Needleman died on November 28, 2022, in Oakland, California at the age of 88.[13]

Writing

Needleman authored articles, interviewed and wrote 24 books in a writing career that began in 1970.

Bibliography

  • The New Religions (1970)
  • A Sense of the Cosmos: The Encounter of Modern Science and Ancient Truth (1975)
  • Sacred Tradition & Present Need (edited by Jacob Needleman and Dennis Lewis) (1975)
  • On the Way to Self Knowledge (edited by Jacob Needleman and Dennis Lewis) (1976)
  • Speaking of My Life: The Art of Living in the Cultural Revolution (1979)
  • Lost Christianity: A Journey of Rediscovery to the Centre of Christian Experience (1980)
  • The Heart of Philosophy (1982)
  • The Way of the Physician (1985)
  • Sword of Gnosis: Metaphysics, Cosmology, Tradition (1988)
  • Sorcerers: A Novel (1988)
  • Real Philosophy: An Anthology of the Universal Search for Meaning (introduction and commentary by Jacob Needleman and David Appelbaum) (1990)
  • Money and the Meaning of Life (1991)[14]
  • Modern Esoteric Spirituality (edited by Jacob Needleman and Antoine Faivre) (1992)
  • Eros (1995)
  • A Little Book On Love (1996)
  • Time and the Soul: Where has all the Meaningful Time Gone — And Can We Get it Back? (1998)
  • The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders (2003)
  • The Wisdom of Love: Toward a Shared Inner Search (previously published as A Little Book on Love) (2005)[15]
  • Why Can't We Be Good? (2008)
  • What is God? (2009)[16]
  • Introduction to the Gurdjieff Work (2009)
  • An Unknown World: Notes on the Meaning of the Earth (2012)
  • Necessary Wisdom: Jacob Needleman talks about God, time, money, love, and the need for philosophy, in conversations with D. Patrick Miller. (2013)[17]
  • The Essential Marcus Aurelius (2014) with John P. Piazza
  • I am Not I (2016)

References

  1. ↑ Miller, David Ian (April 16, 2007). "FINDING MY RELIGION / Philosopher Jacob Needleman asks in his latest book, 'Why Can't We Be Good?' (Pt. 2)". SFGATE. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
  2. ↑ D. Patrick Miller, Beyond Belief: Jacob Needleman On God Without Religion, The Sun, December 2011
  3. ↑ "Bio: Jacob Needleman", website
  4. ↑ "Gurdjieff Foundation of California". SF Gurdjieff Foundation. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Jacob Needleman | SFSU News". news.sfsu.edu. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
  6. ↑ The Essential Marcus Aurelius Jacob Needleman, John P. Piazza - 2008 - Page 111
  7. ↑ Horowitz, Mitch (February 25, 2011). "When Does A Religion Become A Cult?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Jacob Needleman | Department of Philosophy". philosophy.sfsu.edu. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Gala Honorees" Archived November 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, New York Open Center website
  10. ↑ Cleese, John; Needleman, Jacob (August 19, 2011). Time and the Soul: Where Has All the Meaningful Time Gone--and Can We Get it Back?. ReadHowYouWant.com. ISBN 978-1-4596-2679-9. Retrieved October 5, 2026 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Horowitz, Mitch (October 25, 2025). "What We Lost When We Lost Jacob Needleman". Mystery Achievement. Substack. New York, NY. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  12. ↑ Horowitz, Mitch (2023). Modern Occultism: History, Theory, and Practice. G&D Media. pp. 263–264. ISBN 978-1-7225-0626-1.
  13. ↑ "What We Lost When We Lost Jacob Needleman". Medium. December 3, 2022. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Money and the Meaning of Life". www.gurdjieff.org. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Bodhi Tree". Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Attention". gurdjieff.org. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Announcing NECESSARY WISDOM: Talks with Jacob Needleman". www.fearlessbooks.com. Retrieved October 5, 2026.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Needleman