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For Articles - Click on underlined term for definition from
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Printed Editions Available for Purchase
Newest Commemorative Annual Editions:
A special web site:
To visit a special web site, "Frithjof Schuon Archive," dedicated to featured Studies contributor Frithjof Schuon, click here.
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Schuon, Frithjof
In this article, Schuon discusses the implications of Dante’s placing a saint (Celestine V) in hell in the “Divine Comedy.” Schuon argues that Dante wished to “replace the illegitimate worldliness of the popes with the legitimate lay status of the emperors” (69). The author believes that this pope would not have favored the worldly and humanist revolution of the Renaissance.
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Hultkrantz, Ake
Hultkrantz argues that religion always “borrows its expressions from the setting or milieu in which man appears,” using examples taken from the Shoshoni culture. Linguistically, the Shoshoni classify animals in relation to their cultural importance. For instance, the buffalo (a very important food source) has several names, some depending on the age and sex of the animal. Different body parts of the buffalo also have different names. However, ravens and crows (of little cultural importance) are both classified under the same name. In this article, Hultrantz argues that this linguistic feature carries over into Shoshoni religious beliefs, as well, and that the Shoshoni also classify animals in relation to natural and supernatural reality. The essay includes a particularly interesting examination of the two types of soul that, according to the Shoshoni, belong to man and, unlike other animals, to the bear as well.
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Moore , Patrick A.
This essay, attributed to Patrick A. Moore but actually by his father, Alvin Moore, Jr., is an exegesis of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). Moore explores the symbolism of this enigmatic parable and, making much use of the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas and others, he comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the story is to express "ingathering…concentration, the perfection of virtue, and the return to the Edenic state or the Earthly Paradise." It is Moore's contention that such perfection of the individual brings about "identification with the Eternal and Unique Word of God," thus true mystical union.
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Burckhardt, Titus
In this article, Burkhardt explains that Islamic artwork strives to represent two important aspects: (1) to preserve the “primordial dignity of man,” and (2) to visually remind people of Islam’s fundamental denial of idols and idolatry. The artwork serves to reinforce the idea that there should be nothing between man and the invisible presence of God.
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Seneviratne , Maureen
Maureen Seneviratne discusses the history and religious symbolism of the Hindu shrine of the god of Kataragama, which is located in what is now Sri Lanka. The cult of Kataragama is that of the Hindu war-god.
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Bishop, Donald H.
The author discusses similarities and differences between Greco-Roman Stoicism and Hinduism. He argues that the reason for these similarities is that there may be universally valid moral truths which have been known to “men in all times and places and are not therefore exclusive to one particular society or culture”. However, Bishop is concerned mostly with making an objective comparison of the two perspectives, instead of attempting to come to a conclusion about their origins. After comparing various ideas concerning the nature of virtue, duty, honor, and greatness, Bishop makes this conclusion: “The Humanist and Hindu call us back to the original criterion of greatness which is a qualitative not quantitative one. Greatness is measured not by what has but by what one is. Being not having is the primary category”.
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Thakur, S. C.
J.C. Cooper summarizes Thakur’s argument concerning similarities and differences between Hindu and Christian ethics. Cooper discusses the basis of Thakur’s argument, which is based on his contrasts and comparisons of the creation myths of the two religions.
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Johansson, Rune
In this review, Cooper discusses the work of Professor Johansson. Johansson is primarily concerned with how the Buddhist concept of Nirvana is perceived—is it a psychological, metaphysical, or ethical state, or a combination of them all? Cooper goes on to discuss and evaluate Johansson’s approach to his research.
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author(s), various
The two books listed first were originally published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were republished by The Singing Tree Press in 1970. The first book is apparently very well-known in the study of religion, and is described as “a collection of examples of human mentality in religion.” The second book is a study of this form of monasticism in England, and is well illustrated. And the third book is an account of Ittoten and the teaching of Tenko San, “…an important spiritual force in modern Japan.”
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