Table Of Content

The Transcendent Unity of Religions The Transcendent Unity of Religions By Frithjof Schuon Introduction by Huston Smith Quest Books Theosophical Publishing House Wheaton, Illinois + Chennai (Madras), India Copyright© 1984 Frithjof Schuon Second Quest edition 19 93 Second printing 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission except for quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For additional information write to Quest Books Theosophical Publishing House PO Box 270 Wheaton, IL 60189-0270 www.questbooks.net Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schuon, Frithjof. The transcendent unity of religions. (A Quest book) Translation of: De l'unite transcendante des religions. Includes index. 1. Religion-philosophy. 2. Christianity and other religions. 3. Religions. I. Title. BL5l.S4643 1984 291 '.01 84-239 ISBN-13: 978-0-8356-0587-8 ISBN-1 0: 0-8356-0587-6 Printed in the United States of America Spiritus ubi vult spirat: et vocum eius audis, sed nescis unde veniat, aut quo vadat' sic est omnis, qui natus est ex spiritu. The wind blowest where it listeth. and thou hear est the sound thereo( but canst not tell whence it cometh. and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3:8 Contents Introduction to the Revised Edition by Huston Smith ix Preface xxix 1. Conceptual Dimensions 1 2. The Limitations of Exoterism 7 3. Transcendence and Universality of Esoterism 33 4. Concerning Forms in Art 61 5. Limits of Religious Expansion 79 6. The Ternary Aspect of Monotheism 95 7. Christianity and Islam I 06 8. Universality and Particular Nature of the Christian Religion 126 9. To be Man is to Know 149 Notes 157 Index 167 Introduction to the Revised Edition by Huston Smith Of the first edition of this boo~ published in 1957. T. S. Eliot wrote: "'I have met with no more impressive work in the com parative study of Oriental and Occidental religions." As I would myself raise his estimate to the superlative. one wonders why the book is not better known. The subtlety of its arguments cannot be the sole reason~ there appears to be something about Schuon's entire approach to the relation between religions that. being foreign to the contemporary theological scene-a way of saying .. original"-renders it peculiarly difficult of access. Instead of locking into the on going dialogue on the subject-names like Schleiermacher. Troeltsch. Barth. Brunner. Tillich. Hans Kung and Wilfred Smith never appear on his pages-he approaches it from a different angle. a distinctive bent Until this angle is per ceived. his entire perspective is likely to seem askew~ there after it falls into place. It then emerges as at once the most powerful statement of the grand or better. primordial. tradition that is original in incorporating what our age for the first time demands: that religion be treated in global terms. ix