Sacred Web 28
Editorial: Tradition and Religious Pluralism
by M. Ali Lakhani
Each religion is unique and all revelations are, in some sense, incommensurable. How are religious particularism and diversity to be reconciled with the universal claims of religion as such? This essay argues that the only way to reconcile the three stances of religious diversity—exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism—is through Tradition. Read more ...
The Face and the Veil: Divine Presence and Mortal Absence in Fís Adomnáin and Nicholas of Cusa
by John Carey
The article focuses on two ideas discussed by the anonymous author of Fís Adomnáin ('The Vision of Adomnán'), a Celtic account of the afterlife written around the end of the first Christian millennium: "the meeting of the eyes" and "the coincidence of contradictories". Both these ideas, independently expressed in Nicholas de Cusa's De visione Dei, and discussed in the later writings of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, point to certain profound truths about the nature of Reality.
The Gulf between Traditional and Naturalistic Art
by William Stoddart
This article is excerpted from the author's forthcoming book What does Islam Mean in Today's World? Proceeding on the basis of Frithjof Schuon's explanation that "naturalism violates the nature of things", this article contrasts "non-traditional" or "naturalistic" art, wherein the "sacred" element has completely vanished, with "traditional art" which has a sacramental function, combining contemplation and beauty as aspects of the sacred.
Can Jung be Saved?
A Sufic Re-envisioning of the Jungian Archetypes
by Charles Upton
This article is excerpted from Charles Upton's The Science of the Greater Jihad: Essays in Principial Psychology. It surveys the teachings of Carl Gustav Jung, the pre-eminent authority in the field of modern psychology. It examines the influence of Jungianism, discusses Jung's major errors from the perspective of traditional metaphysics, and his positive contributions, and concludes with a re-envisioning of the Jungian archetypes according to the "pneumatic psychology" of classical Sufism, and the pneumatic anthropology upon which it is based, supplemented with concepts from Scholastic Philosophy and other sources.
Golden Arrows & Hyperborean Oracles:
Divination and Deviation in the Modern World
by Nigel Jackson
René Guénon issued serious warnings about the dangers presented by the abuse of overdeveloped cosmological sciences, in particular the diffusion of divinatory arts in the modern era: this paper develops upon Guénon's admonitions. It considers the mysterious origin of oracular and mantic sciences in the Primordial Tradition through an exploration of the Apollonian symbolism of the divination-arrow, its dissemination in ancient Asia and its residues in the Tarot, a medieval artifact which elicited Guénon's special concern even while he considered it a deposit of emblematic elements of 'traditional science'. The paper pursues the consequences of modern interest in these degenerated vestiges of archaic knowledge and the insidious dangers these present to modernity on account of the tenebrous subtle influences which are invariably attached to them.
An Alternate Appraisal of Traditionalism, Vedanta, and Hinduism
by Joseph A. Fitzgerald
In his article "On Traditionalism, Vedanta, and Hinduism" (Sacred Web, volume 27), Renaud Fabbri described the "highly misleading" nature of the Traditionalist or Perennialist presentation of three Hindu concepts: Reincarnation, Hindu Initiation, and the Kali Yuga. This is a response to Fabbri's critique, particularly focusing on Schuonian views of traditional metaphysics.
"The Kingdom of God, the Secret of the Heart"
by Michael Bradburn-Ruster
Consonant with chapter 18 of both Luke and Matthew, Traditional theology and mysticism conceive the Kingdom of Heaven as the divine presence hidden within the soul, and manifested through the communion of persons. By contrast, a literal reading of that metaphysical reality promotes division and enmity, the fruits of pride and ego: precisely what Jesus commands that we relinquish in order to enter the Kingdom.
The Nature of Remembrance in the Lutheran Eucharist
by Larry Rinehart
This essay discusses the meaning of the sacrament of the Lutheran Eucharist, the special significance of its roots in anamnesis or remembrance of the Sacrifice, and in the Scriptures, and how this understanding informs the differences in the initiatory aspects of the rite within different Christian groups.
Book Reviews
Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition
By Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Reviewed by Zachary Markwith
Read more ...
What does Islam Mean in Today's World?
By William Stoddart
Reviewed by M. Ali Lakhani
Read more ...
A Sufi Master's Message: In Memoriam René Guénon
By Shaykh 'Abd al-Wahid Pallavicini
Reviewed by M. Ali Lakhani
Read more ...
An Exchange on Tradition and Sufism
Dr. Yannis Toussulis responds to the review by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, which appeared in Volume 27 of Sacred Web. Toussulis takes issue with Tradition, and raises several important questions about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, particularly in relation to Sufism. Sotillos responds to this critique. Read more ...
Letters: Readers' Forum
Responses to Charles' Upton's question on Frithjof Schuon's view of the Transubstantiation; and a reply by Upton. Reactions to Renaud Fabbri's article in Volume 27 of Sacred Web, on Traditionalism, Vedanta and Hinduism.; to Khalil Andani's articles in Volumes 26 and 27, on Eckhartian Trinitarianism and Isma'ili theosophy; and to Tom Cheetham's essay in Volume 27, on the Barzakh.
Notes on Contributors
