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I’m very happy to report that I’ve just submitted the final manuscript of a new book to SUNY Press. Several years in the making, Splendor of the True: A Frithjof Schuon Reader is the most ambitious and comprehensive of my Schuonian titles to date. Here are a few lines we’ll be using in marketing the book:
Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998) is widely regarded as one of the most provocative and challenging voices on religion in recent times. The leading figure in the perennialist school of comparative religious thought, Schuon was the author of over two dozen books and several thousand poems, letters, and private spiritual texts. Splendor of the True features some of the most important and influential of these writings, presented here in a new translation.
This unique compilation represents the full range of Schuon’s work on religion and tradition, metaphysics and epistemology, human nature and destiny, sacred art and symbolism, and spirituality and contemplative method. Beginning with a careful examination of Schuon as perennial philosopher, Sufi shaykh, and teacher of gnosis, the volume includes a selection of his poems and samples of his artwork as well as previously unpublished materials drawn from his letters, personal memoirs, and private texts for disciples. Also featured are extensive translator’s notes and a glossary of technical terms.
Bridging the divide between seeker and scholar, Schuon challenges the prevailing academic opinion that religion should be studied with an agnostic neutrality and on a foundation of scientistic assumptions. From sophisticated and demanding philosophical prose to the lyric beauty of verse, he speaks to those who are looking for greater interfaith understanding and a deeper penetration to the esoteric heart of specific traditions, while at the same time turning the critical tables on an increasingly noisy chorus of skeptics and debunkers.
Splendor of the True will prove an important resource not only for theologians, philosophers, and students of religion and spirituality, but for anyone interested in the common ground of the world’s major faiths.
I’ll keep you apprised as the book makes its way through production.