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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:
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Crossing Religious Frontiers |
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Education in the Light of Tradition |
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Universal Dimensions of Islam |
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Perennialism and Christianity |
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Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy |
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• Click on an issue listing (e.g. "Vol. 1, No. 1. ( Winter, 1967)" ) to see the full contents of only that issue.
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| Book Review |
This in-depth review is of the World Wisdom book "Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World" (by Samdhong Rinpoche, edited by Donovan Roebert). The author was recognized to be the reincarnation of the Fourth Samdhong Rinpoche and he was later elected to be the Kalon Tripa or Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. The reviewer, Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, summarizes the intent of the various wide-ranging sections of the book and he frequently provides quotes from the Rinpoche to illustrate the themes and tone of the book. The review concludes that "These dialogues with Samdhong Rinpoche will provide substantial support to spiritual seekers as they challenge the very assumptions that are crucial to the current era. In fact [Samdhong Rinpoche] makes it clear that the crisis of the post-modern world is no longer isolated in the West alone; it has become a global issue of paramount concern to all peoples."
| Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World | Rinpoche, Samdhong * | Bendeck Sotillos, Samuel |
2009 - Web Edition
| Buddhism |
| Book Review |
Hungarian writer Róbert Horváth finds that Against the Modern World, by Mark Sedgwick (Oxford University Press, 2004), strangely purports to present a history of Traditionalism, yet the book contains very little of real substance regarding the ideas or writings of the central figures on whom Sedgwick focuses. In addition, Sedgwick has overlooked significant historical precedents before the appearance of Guénon, to whom he traces most of the origins of Perennialism/Tradionalism. The reviewer cites numerous flaws in the content and method of the book, and concludes that it is "practically…a gossip book, nothing more than a new false history."
| A Critique (1) of Against the Modern World by Mark Sedgwick | Sedgwick, Mark * | Horváth, Róbert |
2009 - Web Edition
| Comparative Religion |
| Book Review |
Michael Fitzgerald's review of Mark Sedgwick's Against the Modern World is a detailed view of Sedwick's study of the history of Traditionalism, taking the author to task for shoddy scholarship and research, possible bias, sensationalization for the purpose of marketing, unsupported conclusions, and, most fundamental of all for a writer undertaking such a project, "a flawed understanding of Traditionalism."
| Review (2) of Against the Modern World by Mark Sedgwick | Sedgwick, Mark * | Fitzgerald, Michael Oren |
2009 - Web Edition
| Comparative Religion |
| Book Review |
Against the Modern World, written by Mark Sedgwick in 2004, has received much criticism for its lax scholarship. This review adds more detail to the criticism, revealing the extent of Sedgwick's shoddy scholarship, misrepresentations and distortions (intended or unintended), self-contradictions, and lack of clarity in use of terminology. The reviewer concludes that, in short, Sedwick is "unable to comprehend the core elements of his study," which inevitably would result in such a work, which purports to be much more. The review includes some important corrections and clarifications, which would have been of assistance to the work had the author himself been aware of them.
| Review (3) of Against the Modern World by Mark Sedgwick | Sedgwick, Mark * | Poindexter, Wilson Eliot |
2009 - Web Edition
| Comparative Religion |
| Book Review |
This review of the 2007 World Wisdom book The Underlying Religion, summarizes the various sections, highlights some compelling ideas, gives a few quotations, and concludes that "The beauty of this book is that it provides an introduction to the essential features of the Perennial Philosophy in an understandable and digestible depth and format.
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| The Underlying Religion: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy | Lings, Martin * | Mason, Wendy |
2008 - Web Edition
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
| Sophia Perennis | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 19, No. 3 and 4. ( Summer-Autumn, 1979)
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
Leo Schaya was perhaps the most masterful interpreter of Jewish esoterism in the light of perennialist wisdom. In this essay, Schaya offers many keys to understanding the function of the prophet Elijah (or Elias) within Jewish mystical tradition, but then Schaya expands this, still using traditional Jewish sources, to encompass a universal function for Elijah. This mysterious prophet seems to have a function that should apply to all traditional peoples, namely reinvigorating the esoteric dimensions within their respective traditions in times of need. These times of need are particularly acute as the world lurches through its modern paroxysms toward the end of this cycle of time.
| The Eliatic Function | Schaya, Leo | |
Vol. 13, No. 2. ( Spring, 1979)
| Judaism |
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| Alternations in Semitic Monotheism | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 11, No. 3. ( Summer, 1977)
| Christianity |
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| Who Speaks for the East? | Coomaraswamy, Rama P. | |
Vol. 11, No. 2. ( Spring, 1977)
| Comparative Religion |
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| Foundation of an Integral Aesthetics | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 10, No. 3. ( Summer, 1976)
| Comparative Religion |
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| The Dragon that Swallowed St. George | Perry, Whitall N. | |
Vol. 10, No. 3. ( Summer, 1976)
| Christianity |
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| Celestial Apparitions | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 10, No. 2. ( Spring, 1976)
| Comparative Religion |
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| Modern Science and the Dehumanization of Man | Sherrard, Philip | |
Vol. 10, No. 2. ( Spring, 1976)
| Christianity |
| Article |
The Shield of Achilles was god-fashioned for a god-man in the dawn of the age of Iron. It symbolizes, just as Achilles himself personifies, a reversal of the "downward drift of history to degeneration," a remnant of an earlier, primodial state of purity and integral wholeness. The hero and his shield show us material and man caught between two ages and natures: "It was as though for a moment the river of time flowed back on itself in brief eddies, caught up in memories of its source."
| The Shield of Achilles | Casey, Gerard | |
Vol. 10, No. 2. ( Spring, 1976)
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
Author and musician Marco Pallis shares his insights into why certain music, and particularly contrapuntal music, "provides an image of the Universe at the level of 'the Lesser Mysteries'; when practiced with this truth in mind, it will serve as a support of contemplation and the joy it incidentally evokes will be seen as a reflection of the Divine Bliss."
| Metaphysics of Musical Polyphony | Pallis, Marco | |
Vol. 10, No. 2. ( Spring, 1976)
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
In nearly all dimensions of society, the modern rationalist mentality is playing an increasingly greater role in determining how man approaches the various aspects of his life, religion being no exception. This new perspective inevitably leads to a dilemma in the minds of spiritual practitioners: how does one reconcile the apparent conflicts between the religions without simply affirming one and denouncing all others as false? Focusing primarily on the dialogue between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Martin Lings explains how a follower of each of these traditions can recognize the legitimacy of the others. Lings challenges the possibility that God could provide only one path to Salvation while simultaneously allowing such widespread diversity of belief.
| 'With All Thy Mind' | Lings, Martin | |
Vol. 10, No. 1. ( Winter, 1976)
| Comparative Religion |
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| What Sincerity Is and Is Not | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 9, No. 4. ( Autumn, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
Whitall Perry poses the question: "Why did Shakespeare with his enormous imagination and intelligence infused by a triple genius—spiritual, psychological, and poetico-dramatic—bother at the very summit of his career to write this play at all?" He replies to his own query with the goal of his article: "…The point of this paper is to demonstrate that the playwright, true to his usual alchemy, is delivering a threefold message simultaneously spiritual, cosmological, and social in bearing."
| The Coming of Coriolanus | Perry, Whitall N. | |
Vol. 9, No. 4. ( Autumn, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
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| Virtue and Morality | Lindbom, Tage | |
Vol. 9, No. 4. ( Autumn, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
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| On Relics (re-titled: The Function of Relics) | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 9, No. 3. ( Summer, 1975)
| Christianity |
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| Common Patterns of Eastern and Western Scholasticism | Panikkar, Raimundo | |
Vol. 9, No. 3. ( Summer, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
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| The Tree Symbol in Islam | Reat, Noble Ross | |
Vol. 9, No. 3. ( Summer, 1975)
| Islam |
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Author Schuon begins this brief survey: "The Western mentality has given rise to four metaphysical perspectives which are either perfect or at least satisfactory as the case may be, namely: Platonism, including Neo-Platonism; Aristotelianism; Scholasticism; Palamism." He then suggests where the works of the philosophers Kierkegaard (in particular), as well as Heidegger and Pascal are situated in regard to those four metaphysical perspectives.
| Letter on Existentialism | Schuon, Frithjof | |
Vol. 9, No. 2. ( Spring, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
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| Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition (Part 3) | Perry, Whitall N. | |
Vol. 9, No. 2. ( Spring, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
| Article |
| Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition (Part 2) | Perry, Whitall N. | |
Vol. 9, No. 1. ( Winter, 1975)
| Comparative Religion |
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