In his Confessions, St Augustine recounts the effect on him of hearing Bishop Ambrose explain various Old Testament passages figuratively: "These passages had been death to me when I took them literally, but once I had heard them explained in their spiritual meaning I began to blame myself for my despair, at least insofar as it had led me to suppose that it was quite impossible to counter people who hated and derided the law and the prophets." What was true of thoughtful people in St. Augustine's day is even more true today. For many in these 'enlightened' times, Bible stories present a stumbling-block to considering any of the great Western faiths as providing a way of spiritual growth: some narratives seem to condone immoral actions while others seem worthy of mockery or strain good sense. But there is an 'inside' to these narratives far more digestible than their outside, and this inside is explored in Adam and Eve. From the episodes in the Garden of Eden to the Exodus from Egypt and the battle for entry into the Promised Land, one story after another receives a penetrating treatment revealing a current of esoteric meaning. The interpretations given are traditional in the truest sense of the word, and the author's hope is that this book will have the kind of effect on the contemporary reader that Bishop Ambrose's explanations had on St Augustine so many years ago. The author received his B.A. in Philosophy from Brooklyn College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. His thesis was in the field of Philosophy of Religion. He began his career at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. He is a member of both the American Philosophical Association and the American Academy of Religion. Becoming interested in Zen Buddhism while still an undergraduate, he proceeded to investigate most of the spiritual traditions of the East. Realizing that many Biblical verses could be interpreted as expressing what are normally considered Eastern ideas, he began systematic research into the question of whether Eastern and Western traditions really expressed the same basic truths. Adam and Eve is the first fruit of this endeavour, and this new edition greatly expands on this research.

Adam and Eve: The Spiritual Symbolism of Genesis and Exodus

Religion & Spirituality

Fohr, Samuel D.

Religious Studies

Sophia Perennis

There run through all cultures the threads of a common traditioin, entirely non-material: the Esoteric or Hermetic Tradition, the search for a knowledge that is not subject to reason or to sensory verification. Luc Benoist follows THE ESOTERIC PATH through the East and the West, showing in comprehensive detail the metaphysical concepts underlying and exemplifying the Primordia Tradition (Symbolism, Rites, Initiation, Social Structure) as well as the historic forms it has taken: Hinduism, Buddhism, Tao, Zen, Judaism, and Islam in the East, and Christianity, the Templars, Rosicrucians, Guilds, and Masonry, and mystics of exceptional importance in the West. Beyond these various social traditions, the author seeks the common impulse from which they arose and here weaves the threads together-making it possible for us to see beyond the material to humanity's common search for truth. This masterly survey of Esoteric Tradition will guide serious students of philosophy and comparative religion along the path to self-realization.

The Esoteric Path: An Introduction to the Hermetic Tradition

Politics & Social Sciences

Benoist, Luc

Philosophy

Lucifer's Lodge: Satanic Ritual Abuse in the Catholic Church

William H. Kennedy

Guénon's The Great Triad was the last book to appear during his lifetime. Even for his regular readers, this book contained largely new material, as did his The Metaphysical Principles of the Infinitesimal Calculus, published the same year. The author here refers especially to the Chinese tradition, principally in its Taoist form (though touching on Confucianism as well), in which the 'Great Triad' is defined as Heaven-Man-Earth. It is as much a cosmological as a metaphysical doctrine that is implied in this ternary of the 'three worlds'. In spite of its Taoist title, however, the work draws heavily on Hermetic teachings, Hindu and Buddhist metaphysics, and Masonic symbolism, not to mention doctrines from Judaism, Christianity. and Islam. It is also Guenon's most comprehensive exposition of the science of Alchemy.

The Great Triad (Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society Monograph)

René, Guénon

Guénon's early and abiding interest in mathematics, like that of Plato, Pascal, Leibnitz, and many other metaphysicians of note, runs like a scarlet thread throughout his doctrinal studies. In this late text published just five years before his death, Guénon devotes an entire volume to questions regarding the nature of limits and the infinite with respect to the calculus both as a mathematical discipline and as symbolism for the initiatic path. This book therefore extends and complements the geometrical symbolism he employs in other works, especially The Symbolism of the Cross, The Multiple States of the Being, and Symbols of Sacred Science. According to Guénon, the concept 'infinite number' is a contradiction in terms. Infinity is a metaphysical concept at a higher level of reality than that of quantity, where all that can be expressed is the indefinite, not the infinite. But although quantity is the only level recognized by modern science, the numbers that express it also possess qualities, their quantitative aspect being merely their outer husk. Our reliance today on a mathematics of approximation and probability only further conceals the 'qualitative mathematics' of the ancient world, which comes to us most directly through the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition.

The Metaphysical Principles of the Infinitesimal Calculus

Science & Math

Mathematics

René Guénon's explication of the principles of an interior understanding of sacred forms has established his reputation in the West as the master theorist of esoterism. But till now his doctrine has not been the focus of thorough study in Christian circles, and this has had serious consequences. Guénonian Esoterism and Christian Mystery is the first major work to combine an analysis of Guénon's ideas about esoterism with a critical examination of their application to Christianity in terms of data provided by Christianity itself. But to accomplish this, such data cannot simply be surveyed superficially-it must be known firsthand; hence the abundance of citations and references in this text. Such an approach not only lets us decide about certain issues, but may also help us rediscover an all too misunderstood facet of the revelation of Christ. Jean Borella taught philosophy at the University of Nancy until 1995. A Platonist by formation, he has been strongly influenced by Guénon and Eastern metaphysics. But his deepest inspiration derives from unceasing meditation on the Christian faith, which led him to undertake the present searching critique of 'Guénonian Christianity'. A religious philosopher, he strives to hear the reverberations awakened in human thought by revelation.

Guenonian Esoterism And Christian Mystery

Christian Books & Bibles

Borella, Jean

Champoux, G. John

Theology

Guénon's early and abiding interest in mathematics, like that of Plato, Pascal, Leibnitz, and many other metaphysicians of note, runs like a scarlet thread throughout his doctrinal studies. In this late text published just five years before his death, Guénon devotes an entire volume to questions regarding the nature of limits and the infinite with respect to the calculus both as a mathematical discipline and as symbolism for the initiatic path. This book therefore extends and complements the geometrical symbolism he employs in other works, especially The Symbolism of the Cross, The Multiple States of the Being, and Symbols of Sacred Science. According to Guénon, the concept 'infinite number' is a contradiction in terms. Infinity is a metaphysical concept at a higher level of reality than that of quantity, where all that can be expressed is the indefinite, not the infinite. But although quantity is the only level recognized by modern science, the numbers that express it also possess qualities, their quantitative aspect being merely their outer husk. Our reliance today on a mathematics of approximation and probability only further conceals the 'qualitative mathematics' of the ancient world, which comes to us most directly through the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition.

The Metaphysical Principles of the Infinitesimal Calculus (Collected Works of Rene Guenon)

Gnosis: Divine Wisdom expounds different aspects of the great Traditions, including a remarkable section on the Christian tradition, and points ways towards the Wisdom, Love and Sanctity which are the fruits of spiritual realization, and the distinguishing prupose of man's existence. 
Schuon has an outstanding clear view of the transcendent truths underlying the various traditional religions, as well as a vivid understnading of spiritual necessities under widely different conditions. This, together with a forceful style, makes him one of the most significant spiritual writers in the world today.

Gnosis Divine Wisdom

Schoun, F.

Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles (Collected Works of Rene Guenon)

Traditional Forms and Cosmic Cycles is a wide-ranging collection of articles that delve into traces of ancient, indeed protohistoric, traditions. Although they must remain fragments, as Guénon did not return to many of these themes, it would have been regrettable to leave such fascinating articles buried in old journals, and so this posthumous collection is now offered to Anglophone readers for the first time. The book opens with the key article 'The Doctrine of Cosmic Cycles', followed by two pieces on Atlantis and Hyperborea. Two sections follow, concerned respectively with the Hebrew Tradition and the Egyptian Tradition. The former comprises five articles concerned primarily with the Kabbalah and the Science of Numbers, and the latter includes three articles on Hermes and the Hermetic Tradition. Book reviews are inserted at relevant points.

Reference

GUÉNON, RENÉ

Words, Language & Grammar

Concentrating on the post-Vatican II revisions of its teachings, this book tells the story of the destruction of the Roman Catholic tradition, a defining event of the twentieth century.

The Destruction of the Christian Tradition

History

Coomaraswamy, Rama P.

World

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