{"product_id":"9781845194932","title":"Archangels and Archaeology: J.S.M. Ward's Kingdom of the Wise","description":"John Sebastian Marlow Ward (1885-1949) was an English antiquarian, mystic, occult scholar, and museums' pioneer. Ward's provocative works on Masonic symbolism, secret societies, and spirit communications remain in print, and the innovative social history museum - the Abbey Folk Park - which he founded in New Barnet, north London in the 1930s, was later transplanted to Queensland, Australia, where it continues to flourish. His career demonstrates a remarkable fusion of the esoteric and spiritual pre-occupations of the early 20th century, with the deeper currents of antiquarianism and Christian mysticism. Ward's life of energetic work, spiritual exploration, and public activity presents a compelling narrative. His career moved from Cambridge Freemasonry and Edwardian Britain's occult revival to wartime spirit communications and mystical visions of a Pentecostal apocalypse as World War II approached. His unique and populist history museum fused a passion for Britain's disappearing heritage with his conviction that the collapse of Western civilization was imminent. When Ward was unfairly disgraced in a sensational court case in May 1945, he and his followers departed England for Cyprus in self-imposed exile. Now available in paperback, Archangels and Archaeology examines Ward's extraordinary life and career, demonstrating how these religious, intellectual, and cultural themes - so often treated in isolation - came together in the turbulent decades of the early 20th century. But, his career also has its own tragic arc: from youthful antiquarian, to the mature scholar, to a full-blown mystic and eccentric religious leader, and, finally, to his own fall from public grace, in exile and decline.","brand":"Sussex Academic Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47043271098608,"sku":"9781845194932","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781845194932_p0.jpg?v=1763745161","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781845194932","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}