The Legacy of Henry Corbin: Medieval Cosmology in San Diego, CA, March 2010

"...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.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Medieval Cosmology in San Diego, CA, March 2010

The Celestial Spheres:

Astrology & Cosmology in the Medieval World

From the event brochure:

This event is unique in the USA. For the very first time, staff from the Sophia Centre at the University of Wales, Lampeter, UK will be teaching an intensive, based upon the Medieval Cosmos module in the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology program.

Your teaching staff will be Nick Campion Ph.D., Bernadette Brady M.A., and Darrelyn Gunzburg.

This intensive will examine medieval astrology in the context of wider theories of medieval cosmology. The western medieval world view was based on a combination of scripture and classical learning, in the Book of Genesis and the Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. As people looked to the heavens, they saw God's glory, divine messages and planetary influences.

We will examine medieval cosmology and its beliefs about the moral and physical structure of the universe. We will also explore the uses of astrology (how did astrologer's actually work?), arguments about its legitimacy and the stars' role in salvation from sin.

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