The Essential Titus Burckhardt Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations

by Burckhardt, Titus; Stoddart, William

• ISBN13: 9780941532365
• ISBN10: 0941532364
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781933316932
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-06
• Publisher: World Wisdom
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

An introduction to the thought of one of the greatest perennialist authors of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

List of color illustrations	p. viii
List of black-and-white illustrations in the text	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Foreword	p. xv
Introduction: Titus Burckhardt and the Perennialist School	p. 1
Some Fundamental Doctrines and Principles
How to Approach Medieval and Oriental Civilizations	p. 11
Knowledge and Love in Sufism	p. 13
Metaphysics and Virtue in Sufism	p. 16
Traditional and Modern Science
The Perspective of Traditional Cosmology	p. 23
Traditional Symbolism and Modern Empiricism	p. 26
The Theory of Evolution	p. 28
Contra Teilhard de Chardin	p. 41
Modern Psychology	p. 44
Islamic Science	p. 65
The Cosmology of the Arab Philosophers	p. 78
Sacred Art as the Expression of Religious Truth
The Universality of Sacred Art	p. 87
Hindu Art
The Hindu Temple	p. 94
Hindu Sculpture	p. 98
Buddhist Art	p. 100
Taoist Art	p. 106
Christian Art
The Foundations of Christian Art	p. 112
The Royal Door of Chartres Cathedral	p. 122
Gargoyles	p. 132
The Wooden Chest	p. 133
The Decadence and the Renewal of Christian Art	p. 134
Islamic Art
Introduction	p. 150
Characteristic Aspects	p. 151
The Question of Images: Aniconism in Islamic Art	p. 151
The Impact of the Arabic Language on Islamic Art	p. 153
Arabic Compared With Other Languages	p. 155
The Arabic Language and the Koran	p. 156
History, the Governance of Men and Nations, and the Modern World
The Nature of Kingship	p. 161
The Law of Hierarchy and the Four Social Stations
The Law of Hierarchy	p. 165
The Four Social Stations	p. 165
Chess as a Symbol of Rulership	p. 168
St. Catherine of Siena and the City of the Soul
The City as the Image of the Soul	p. 170
The Monastic Orders	p. 170
St. Catherine	p. 171
The Inner Light	p. 172
Political Dissensions	p. 174
The Adventurers	p. 175
The Pope	p. 175
What is Conservatism?	p. 181
"Riding the Tiger"	p. 187
The Irruption of the Modern World as it Affected Morocco	p. 193
Alchemy
Insight into Alchemy	p. 205
The Witness of an African Goldsmith	p. 207
"Nature Can Overcome Nature"	p. 209
The Story of Nicolas Flamel and his Wife Perrenelle	p. 221
Aspects of the Spiritual Life
The Spiritual Life: Christian
Because Dante is Right	p. 231
St. Bernardino of Siena and the Sacred Monogram	p. 245
The Alchemy of Prayer	p. 254
The Spiritual Life: Islamic
Islamic Mysticism	p. 259
The "Golden Chain" of Sufi Saints	p. 261
The Spiritual Life: Hindu
Bathing in the Ganges	p. 279
Woman as the Symbol par excellence of Beauty	p. 279
The Body as "Temple" of the Holy Spirit: The Temple as "Body" of the Holy Spirit	p. 280
The Sun Dance and the Sacred Pipe
Meeting with Yellowtail	p. 284
The Sun Dance	p. 285
Evocations of Traditional Moroccan Life
Return to Fez	p. 293
Ito's Cave	p. 299
The Fools of God	p. 303
The Comb-maker	p. 306
"The Life of the Nomad" by the Emir 'Abd al-Qadir	p. 308
Biographical Notes	p. 310
Bibliography of Titus Burckhardt	p. 311
Index	p. 323
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