Splendor of the true
Subtitle: a Frithjof Schuon reader
By: selected, translated, and introduced by James S. Cutsinger ; foreward by Huston Smith
Contributors: Cutsinger, James S., 1953-
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Albany [N.Y.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 307
ISBN-13: 9781438446110; 9781438446103
Subjects: Religion; Philosophy; Religions
Work titles: Selections
Description: "...Splendor of the True provides the contemporary reader with a full and articulate introduction to Schuon's thought and perspectives. Enhanced with an informed and informative introduction by Professor Cutsinger, Splendor of the True is a highly recommended addition to academic library Religious Studies and 20th Century Philosophy Studies reference collections." - Midwest Book Review "Professor Cutsinger's reader provides a comprehensive introduction to the teaching of Frithjof Schuon, one of the most wide-ranging and lastingly influential religious thinkers of the past century. Of particular interest is the close attention to essays revealing Schuon's extraordinary sensitivity to aesthetic, devotional, and other key aspects of practical spiritual realization. His illuminating observations in these widely shared areas of religious experience are communicated with remarkable clarity and cogency, clearly drawing on his own lifelong activity as both artist and spiritual guide.^

- James Winston Morris, translator of Ostad Elahi's Knowing the Spirit "The vision of the universal metaphysician, shaykh, and poet Frithjof Schuon is finally accessible to the English-speaking reader in this outstanding collection of his writings. The foremost thinker of the perennialist school, Schuon insisted on the unity of God, arguing that this divine Absolute reveals itself perfectly in the orthodox form of each of the world's great religions. His uncompromising rejection of relativism has made him a cult figure for some and a pariah for others, including many in the academic study of religion. "Splendor of the True offers a thoroughgoing rehabilitation of this primordial twentieth-century thinker by a courageous scholar, our generation's leading Schuon expert. James Cutsinger draws on decades of communion with his subject's many dimensions in order to reveal their essence.^

Carefully selected across a wide range of topics, insightfully translated from the French and German, and elegantly curated, Schuon's writings now make their case with unprecedented clarity. Cutsinger is sensitive to Schuon's ongoing role as lightning-rod; with judicious balance, he shows why this has been the case; why it may well be unfair; and how Schuon's philosophy was born out of the gnosis of lifelong, deep spiritual practice, marrying heart and intellect. Cutsinger is able to interpret Frithjof Schuon to skeptics as well as to seekers-unafraid, like Schuon himself, to be provocative in the service of the True." - Kimberley C. Patton, Harvard Divinity School.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.