Sacred Web 29
Editorial: Ensconced In Seeming Knowledge
by M. Ali Lakhani
The editorial considers the cultural influences of modernism and the technological revolution in the wake of the Snow/Leavis debate on “The Two Cultures” over half a century ago, and reflects on a passage by William Shakespeare as a commentary on the
modern condition and as a plea to spiritually reinvigorate our culture. Read more ...
Clouds, Veils and Nights in Islamic and Christian Mystical Theology
by Ian Richard Netton
The motifs of “clouds”, “veils” and “nights” are ways of expressing the essential unknowability of God—what Netton terms “the apophatic moment”, which is a frequent feature of Islamic and Christian mystical theology. This essay identifies
“the apophatic moment” in three particular cases: Farīd al-Dīn ‘Aţţār's Manţiq al-Ţayr (The Conference of the Birds); The Cloud of Unknowing; and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
On Gnosticism and Gnosis
by Nigel Jackson
It is not always easy to discern Truth from its counterfeit. Jackson begins his essay
by considering the early involvement of René Guénon with occultism before his
rejection of its heterodox teachings in favor of traditional gnosis. The essay traces
the contours of gnosis and pseudo-gnosis, culminating in a discussion of true gnosis
in the teachings of St. Clement.
“Disciples of a New Faith”: Reading Cormac McCarthy's
Blood Meridian in Light of René Guénon's The Reign
of Quantity
by Petra Mundik
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and René Guénon’s The Reign of Quantity are both
concerned with the paradigm shift that occurred at the onset of the Age of Modernity,
characterized by the rejection of Traditional wisdom and the subsequent descent into
scientism, relativism, reductionism and nihilism. In Blood Meridian, the character of
Judge Holden can be read as an embodiment of Guénon's “reign of quantity,” representing
not only the pathological worship of Reason, but also the creation of a demonically
inverted counter-Tradition.
Hermetic Wisdom in Islam
by Zachary Markwith
This essay surveys the influence of Hermes (or Idrīs, as he is known in Islam) and the
Hermetic heritage in Islam, particularly in its cosmological doctrines, in philosophy, and
in the alchemical and symbolic sciences.
Esse & Evangel: Metaphysical Order in Evangelical Doctrine
by Larry Rinehart
This essay proposes a rapprochement between Christian Trinitarian theology and
traditional metaphysics. “From the perspective of philosophia perennis, the present
proposal can be seen as a Christian interpretation of the universal metaphysical order
underlying all ancient and orthodox traditions, even though this order is presented as
emerging from a consideration of Christian Scriptures.”
The Primacy of the Spirit
by John Griffin
This article, a slightly edited reproduction of a chapter from John Griffin's publication,
On the Origin of Beauty: Ecophilosophy in the Light of Traditional Wisdom [World Wisdom, Bloomington, 2012], deals with the pre-modern reverence for nature as an
essential component of the all-pervading spirit, and contrasts this view with the spiritual
devaluation in modernity. Griffin's book is reviewed later in this volume of Sacred Web.
Book Reviews
Love in the Holy Qur'an
By HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal
Foreword by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Reviewed by M. Ali Lakhani
Read more ...
On the Origin of Beauty: Ecophilosophy in the
Light of Traditional Wisdom
By John Griffin
Foreword by Satish Kumar
Reviewed by M. Ali Lakhani
Read more ...
Letters to the Editor
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Notes on Contributors
