The Legacy of Henry Corbin: « La tradition prophétique et le combat pour la sauvegarde de l’âme du monde »

"...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.

Monday, March 21, 2011

« La tradition prophétique et le combat pour la sauvegarde de l’âme du monde »

I am delighted to report that the talk I gave in Oxford last October has been translated into French by Robin Guilloux and has been posted by Les Amis de Henry et Stella Corbin on their website. Many thanks to Robin for the effort: « La tradition prophétique et le combat pour la sauvegarde de l’âme du monde »

The excellent Daniel Proulx, scholar of Corbin & frequent contributor to this blog, has edited Robin Guilloux's fine translation from the English by inserting the original French quotes of Corbin into the text, in the interests of most precisely rendering Corbin's thought. I am extremely grateful to both for their work. The edited text appears below and is available through Scribd.

LA TRADITION PROPHÉTIQUE ET LE COMBAT POUR LA SAUVEGARDE DE L'AME DU MONDE