What do you think?
Rate this book
گوڵبژێرێک لە کارەکانی تیتوس بورکهارت
گوڵبژێرێک لە کارەکانی تیتوس بورکهارت
تێڕامان لە: هونەری موقەدەس، ئیمان و شارستانیەتەکان
تێڕامان لە: هونەری موقەدەس، ئیمان و شارستانیەتەکان
363 pages, Hardcover
First published May 25, 2003
9 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Titus Burckhardt
72 books104 followersTitus Burckhardt (Ibrahim Izz al-Din after his Islamic name), a German Swiss, was born in Florence, Italy in 1908 and died in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1984.He devoted all his life to the study and exposition of the different aspects of Wisdom tradition.
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
He was an eminent member of the "Traditionalist School" of twentieth-century authors. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion along with other prominent members of the school.
Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basel. He was the great-nephew of the art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon – leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century – and the two spent their early school days together in Basel around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.
Burckhardt was, as his grandfather, a connoisseur of Islamic art, architecture and civilisation. He compiled and published work from the Sufi masters: Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Abd-al-karim Jili (1365–1424) and Muhammad al-Arabi al-Darqawi (1760–1823).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 7, 2017
The essentials of Burckhardt, is a series of selected articles, that I guess did sum the whole of Burckardht's ideas, except for the ones regarding evolution ( that are to be found in his Mirror of the intellect).
Burckhardt's stance, is a meticulous observation of the entire spectrum of different religions, and itemizing their "identical" primordial essence. He tracks the rituals to their esoteric origins, and tries to seek answers from the practitioners of such religion, or such sect, or such Tariqa... If I could say so, he's an adept of those who learn directly from men rather than consume themselves in an endless reading.
His smooth and subtle way of arguing against some of the modern aspects ( to not say all), is way gentler than the radical battle that Guénon has declared against Modern society, which still makes sense rather than the "mystical" utterance of Schuon, of Whom I had scarcely read, and seldom understood of its plain meaning.
Burckhardt's stance, is a meticulous observation of the entire spectrum of different religions, and itemizing their "identical" primordial essence. He tracks the rituals to their esoteric origins, and tries to seek answers from the practitioners of such religion, or such sect, or such Tariqa... If I could say so, he's an adept of those who learn directly from men rather than consume themselves in an endless reading.
His smooth and subtle way of arguing against some of the modern aspects ( to not say all), is way gentler than the radical battle that Guénon has declared against Modern society, which still makes sense rather than the "mystical" utterance of Schuon, of Whom I had scarcely read, and seldom understood of its plain meaning.
July 18, 2018
Perennial Philosophy books keep disappointing me.
January 12, 2023
Titus Burckhardt (1908 – 1984 CE) was a Swiss anthropologist, writer, esotericist and a convert to Islam most notable for his influence in the traditionalist school of thought. He was lifelong friend with one of the main "founders" of the school the metaphysician Frithjof Schuon. Born in Basel, Titus was son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt and grand-nephew of the famous Renaissance specialist and art historian Jacob Burckhardt . He is also related to the orientalist explorer John Lewis Burckhardt who discovered the Nabatean city of Petra and the Egyptian temples of Abu Simbel.
Titus Burckhardt devoted a large portion of his writings to traditional cosmology, sacred art, science, alchemy and astrology. This book is a collection of articles and essays in each of these subjects, along with excerpts from his exposition of Sufi Islam.
I read this book back when I was in my "traditionalist" phase years ago, shortly before my conversion to Islam; I used to own English copies of some of his works and studied them along with the works of René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon. While I was by no means an 'expert' in their fields or anywhere near that, I'd say I did become rather fairly well-acquainted with the core of their perennialist teachings. I remember that I had this large-sized 200 pages notebook filled almost entirely with notes and copied down passages from their books and various things on the history of Neoplatonic philosophy, some translated into my native language. I was quite serious with my engagement with these studies, and had it not been for my shift of views early on, I likely would have devoted years of my life and energy to it as only very few would. Thank God I didn't.
If I were to give you just one advice, it would be: do not traverse down this path. Especially if you are alone by yourself, with no one to guide you along, then you'd surely put yourself to ruin.
The reality of traditionalists, from the first to the last, is that they do break away many times with the orthodoxy of the traditions they claim adherence to. There are numerous flaws to their approach of "religious pluralism", some of which include highly questionable methods of scriptural interpretation, reckless mixing of ritual practices belonging to different traditions, introducing unsanctioned reforms and innovations, and so on. If Islam is teaching radical monotheism and Christians preach a Trinity theologically unacceptable to both Muslims and Jews, all the while Buddhists reject the existence of God and Hindus worship a million of idols, what kind of "esoteric" reading could reconciliate the chasms of such basic doctrinal differences? The standard view in the established traditions is that the 'esoteric' and 'exoteric' dimensions work together in complementary ways. To claim exoteric monotheism while one's esoterically adhering to polytheism (and vice-versa) is but hypocrisy and deviation. This is one of the most serious traps of traditionalism.
As a final remark to Titus Burckhard and his work, I would like to finish this short review by noting my appreciation for his reflections on Islamic art, the Arabic language and record of personal experience in traditional Morocco where he had spent several years.
Titus Burckhardt devoted a large portion of his writings to traditional cosmology, sacred art, science, alchemy and astrology. This book is a collection of articles and essays in each of these subjects, along with excerpts from his exposition of Sufi Islam.
I read this book back when I was in my "traditionalist" phase years ago, shortly before my conversion to Islam; I used to own English copies of some of his works and studied them along with the works of René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon. While I was by no means an 'expert' in their fields or anywhere near that, I'd say I did become rather fairly well-acquainted with the core of their perennialist teachings. I remember that I had this large-sized 200 pages notebook filled almost entirely with notes and copied down passages from their books and various things on the history of Neoplatonic philosophy, some translated into my native language. I was quite serious with my engagement with these studies, and had it not been for my shift of views early on, I likely would have devoted years of my life and energy to it as only very few would. Thank God I didn't.
If I were to give you just one advice, it would be: do not traverse down this path. Especially if you are alone by yourself, with no one to guide you along, then you'd surely put yourself to ruin.
The reality of traditionalists, from the first to the last, is that they do break away many times with the orthodoxy of the traditions they claim adherence to. There are numerous flaws to their approach of "religious pluralism", some of which include highly questionable methods of scriptural interpretation, reckless mixing of ritual practices belonging to different traditions, introducing unsanctioned reforms and innovations, and so on. If Islam is teaching radical monotheism and Christians preach a Trinity theologically unacceptable to both Muslims and Jews, all the while Buddhists reject the existence of God and Hindus worship a million of idols, what kind of "esoteric" reading could reconciliate the chasms of such basic doctrinal differences? The standard view in the established traditions is that the 'esoteric' and 'exoteric' dimensions work together in complementary ways. To claim exoteric monotheism while one's esoterically adhering to polytheism (and vice-versa) is but hypocrisy and deviation. This is one of the most serious traps of traditionalism.
As a final remark to Titus Burckhard and his work, I would like to finish this short review by noting my appreciation for his reflections on Islamic art, the Arabic language and record of personal experience in traditional Morocco where he had spent several years.
February 20, 2018
I read this book under the impression that it was going to be a comparative study of the hindu, Buddhist, christian and Islamic beliefs but what I found was something completely different. The book concentrates a lot describing and talking about sufism and eventhough the other belief systems are touched the author do not go in depth in order to create a comparative study and only concentrates his efforts in describing the importance of spirituality to the modern man (the author address mainly the educated class that base their existence in what is quantifiable by science and tend to look at spirituality as mere superstition and something that fits only poor or uneducated men in which the author makes a great job expossing this point of view). Overall the book is good by setting the base and a starting point to understand the sufi philosophy and it's spiritual significance compared to other world religions. I gave the book three stars not because of the book content but because the title is a bit misguiding if you want a read regarding comparative religion.
April 24, 2013
Read it because Gai Eaton kept referring to it in his book. Have no idea or recollection of what I read. WTF is Perennial Philosophy anyway
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews