The Need for a Sacred Science

Abstract

Looking through humanity's experience of history one finds, in a varietyof ways, a tendency to go beyond time. This was true in premodemman and is equally prevalent in the postmodern view of human spirituality,even though postmodemism as an entity has failed to recognize the needand logic of such an idea. In response, contemporary religious thinkers,philosophers, and spiritualists have argued for the revival of "tradition,"religious values, and spirituality. Some of the main proponents of this "traditionistschool" (p. 53) are Huston Smith, Frithjof Schuon, Gai Eaton,Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, and, of course, Seyyed Hossein Nasr.Nasr has written on several topics within the field of Islamics as wellas other related disciplines. However, the major portion of his writingshave been permeated with such themes as scientia sacra, perennial philosophy,and the revival of spiritual traditions. These are indicative of hisconcern for and commitment to the cause of the revival of tradition. In thewords of Jane Smith, he is the "defender of the sacred."His works on Islam, especially on Sufism, the philosophy of religion,Shi'ite thought, and various topics in world religions are too innumerableto be accounted for here. But Nasr's relevance extends far beyond theareas of Islamic studies and comparative religion, for he writes for thespecialist and for the wider public and appeals to those who are interestednot only in religion and spirituality as such but also in their interrelationto philosophy, science, social science, policy making, art, and youthissues. Above all, Nasr provides material for those who simply seek tounderstand life's deeper mysteries. It has been rightly pointed out thatNasr has beenone of the leading figures in ... the "neo-traditionist" movementin modem Islam and has contributed enormously to the enrichmentof ideas earlier propounded by Rene Guenon. [Further] hisdefense of the "whole and integral tradition of Islam" separateshim from other contemporary Shi'ite Muslim thinkers and bringshim closer to the mainstream of Islamic thought ...