Frithjof Schuon's The Transcendent Unity of Religions: Con

Abstract

Y now this book by Frithjof Schuon is well known, certainly to those who are interested in relationships among religions and who welcome any effort in the direction of religious unity. The new Harper Torchbooks revision of the 1953 English translation by Peter Townsend (Pantheon) was distributed at a reduced price at the 1975 AAR Annual Meeting and has been reviewed in several journals. During a session of the Philosophy of Religion and Theology section of the AAR in 1973, Schuon's thesis was the basis of radical disagreement between Huston Smith and myself. Professor Smith was convinced that I had misunderstood Schuon at several points, so we agreed a few months afterward to write reviews from our respective points of view, to be published at the time of the publication of the revised edition (1975). I have delayed this undertaking for an unpardonable length of time and apologize for it. Professor Smith has edited and provided an introduction to the revised edition of The Transcendent Unity of Religions. Certain sections have been omitted in the revision, notably for me the section which I seem to have grossly misunderstood. The substance of the book remains in an attractive, small volume. A brief biographical sketch of the author would be helpful, even if only a few sentences on the back cover.