The chapter on the nature of Protestant Evangelicalism is a seminal work upholding the role of intrinsic orthodoxy in reconciling the exigencies of spiritual idealism with those of the everyday human world. In a sense, what is at issue here is the same problem — but on a different plane — as the enigma of diverse subjectivities. The section on Islam includes fascinating explanations of the various confessional divergences within its orthodox framework and their necessity. Both religions are here viewed as providential and integral manifestations of "divine subjectivity," each including three spheres or levels: the apostolic, the theological and the political. In setting forth and contrasting the key-notions of both faiths,the author illuminates the reasons for their differences as well as the underlying unity and universality of their metaphysical truths. While always pointing to the Divine Origin of authentic spirituality, Schuon’s explication of the elements of "intrinsic orthodoxy" — in contrast to its particular manifestations within a religion — restores a sense of degrees in the Divine Order as well as a sense of proportions on the human plane. It is a perspective that transcends the polemics of conflicting confessional viewpoints and affirms the liberating divine content of diverse religious forms.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Recommended for scholars.... Appropriate for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates." -- T.M. Pucelik, Bradley University
"Schuon should be required reading for all for whom philosophy and religion are vital concerns." -- Sheldon R. Isenberg, Dept. of Religion, University of Florida
"This additon to the prolific and impressive collection of Schuon's writings is best read in conjunction with his earlier works." -- Lance Beizer, Gnosis Magazine
He feeds my soul ... as does no other living religious writer. -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters
[There is] no better comparison of the two religions around for the intellectual reader. -- Jay Bail, The Book Reader
About the Author
Schuon was born in 1907 in Basle, Switzerland, of German parents. As a youth, he went to Paris, where he studied for a few years before undertaking a number of trips to North Africa, the Near East and India in order to contact spiritual authorities and witness traditional cultures. Following World War II, he accepted an invitation to travel to the American West, where he lived for several months among the Plains Indians, in whom he has always had a deep interest. Having received his education in France, Schuon has written all his major works in French, which began to appear in English translation in 1953. Of his first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions (London, Faber & Faber) T.S. Eliot wrote: "I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religion."
The traditionalist or "perennialist" perspective began to be enunciated in the West at the beginning of the twentieth century by the French philosopher Rene Guenon and by the Orientalist and Harvard professor Ananda Coomaraswamy. Fundamentally, this doctrine is the Sanatana Dharma--the "eternal religion"--of Hindu Vedantists. It was formulated in the West, in particular, by Plato, by Meister Eckhart in the Christian world, and is also to be found in Islam with Sufism. Every religion has, besides its literal meaning, an esoteric dimension, which is essential, primordial and universal. This intellectual universality is one of the hallmarks of Schuon's works, and it gives rise to many fascinating insights into not only the various spiritual traditions, but also history, science and art.
The dominant theme or principle of Schuon's writings was foreshadowed in his early encounter with a Black marabout who had accompanied some members of his Senegalese village to Switzerland in order to demonstrate their culture. When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: "God is in the center, all paths lead to Him."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Introduction to Schuon's Work and Thought,
By
This review is from: Christianity/Islam: Essays on Esoteric Ecumenicism (The Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback)
Frithjof Schuon was perhaps the most prominent metaphysician of the twentieth century. He wrote extensively on the inner significance of religion, and religions, from Christianity to Lakota spirituality, but it is probably fair to say that he had more to say about Islam than any other system of belief. This book is a collection of essays, grouped into three sections - "Christianity", "Intermediary Problems", and "Islam".In a sense the most interesting ones are the ones on Christianity, since Schuon seldom deals with the Christian perspective on its own, without relevance to other religions. The essays there deal with various things, such as the use of liturgical languages, Francis of Assisi, and the Evangelical (i.e., Lutheran) tradition. The essays on Islam are a bit more obscure to the general reader, and require some familiarity with early Islamic history and the divergences between Sunni and Shiite doctrine. Indeed, the essay entitled "The Problems of Scholasticism" - Islamic Scholasticism, that is - is abstruse indeed and requires a level of familiarity with Islamic theology that borders on the specialist. The Islamic essays also tend to be more broad brush in topic than the ones on Christianity, but nonetheless they are rewarding reading for a better understanding of Islam and its demands on the believer. The "Intermediary Problems" are attempts to correlate Christian and Islamic thought, and consequently raise issues that are very close to Schuon's heart; he is certainly at his best in this section. Note that the book is a collection of essays, and at best the relationship between them is thematic. Bearing this in mind, if you find Schuon's writings rewarding in general you will be happy with this book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A highly recommended and authoritative work,
By A Customer
This review is from: Christianity/Islam: Essays on Esoteric Ecumenicism (The Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback)
Schuon's approach to both Christianity and Islam takes the reader to new and unexpected levels of understanding, where their outward differences are seen not as irreconcilable alternatives but as necessarily different crystallizations of a unique sacred Reality which itself is above all forms. Schuon writes with a certitude--and without the usual scholarly references--that readers often find either shocking or, just the opposite, absolutely refreshing and clear. His erudition verges on the encyclopedic, but even more important is his insight into the "inward intention" of so many traditional beliefs and practices that, while perhaps challenging the conventional mentality of the modern world, are meant to deliver a kind of "spiritual shock" which opens the soul to what transcends its limitations. The following excerpts from reviews show that Schuon certainly deserves the attention of serious readers.
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