"...the Imagination (or love, or sympathy, or any other sentiment) induces knowledge, and knowledge of an 'object' which is proper to it..."
Henry Corbin (1903-1978) was a scholar, philosopher and theologian. He was a champion of the transformative power of the Imagination and of the transcendent reality of the individual in a world threatened by totalitarianisms of all kinds. One of the 20th century’s most prolific scholars of Islamic mysticism, Corbin was Professor of Islam & Islamic Philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Teheran. He was a major figure at the Eranos Conferences in Switzerland. He introduced the concept of the mundus imaginalis into contemporary thought. His work has provided a foundation for archetypal psychology as developed by James Hillman and influenced countless poets and artists worldwide. But Corbin’s central project was to provide a framework for understanding the unity of the religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His great work Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi is a classic initiatory text of visionary spirituality that transcends the tragic divisions among the three great monotheisms. Corbin’s life was devoted to the struggle to free the religious imagination from fundamentalisms of every kind. His work marks a watershed in our understanding of the religions of the West and makes a profound contribution to the study of the place of the imagination in human life.

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Living Forms of the Imagination

Living Forms of the Imagination by Douglas Hedley. T&T Clark, 2008, (with multiple significant references to Corbin)

Explores the necessity of enabling the imagination to prevail as part of an anti-reductionist approach, to philosophical theology, if we are to engage with God’s action in the world.

Douglas Hedley is Reader in Hermeneutics and Metaphysics and Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge, UK. A past President of the European Society for the Philosophy of Religion, he has been visiting Professor at the Sorbonne and holder of the Alan Richardson lectureship at Durham University. He has delivered the Teape Lectures in India in 2007. His former publications include Coleridge, Philosophy and Religion (Cambridge University Press).

"Living Forms of the Imagination is a compelling, erudite articulation and defense of the indispensable cognitive value of the imagination in the philosophy of nature and God. Elegantly written, this book draws on Platonic and Romantic traditions to create a brilliant challenge to contemporary, reductive naturalists and those who, following Ryle, advance a deflationary account of the imagination. This book is essential reading for those interested in the imagination, epistemology, naturalism, and the philosophy of religion." -Charles Taliaferro, Professor of Philosophy, St. Olaf College, MN, USA

“This is an impressively learned book. Imagination is a central component of humanity’s encounter with the world. Imagination can lea to conversion of heart and empowerment for action. While the author’s retrieval of Platonism and Romanticism may not answer fundamental contemporary issues in belief, it is very suggestive of new avenues of how to deal with the crisis of belief and unbelief.”–Lucien J. Richard, OMI, Catholic Library World
Posted by Tom Cheetham at 10:42 AM

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