The Legacy of Henry Corbin: Daryush Shayegan on Henry Corbin

"...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 5, 2011

Daryush Shayegan on Henry Corbin

HENRY CORBIN Penseur de l'Islam Spirituel
by Daryush Shayegan
Albin Michel 2011

Henry Corbin (1903-1978), qui a renouvelé en profondeur les études islamiques, en particulier iraniennes et mystiques, est un penseur multiforme et encore trop méconnu. Premier traducteur en France de Heidegger, il a puisé aux sources de la "philosophie prophétique" une pensée riche et profonde qui mérite sa place aux côtés des plus grands systèmes.

Daryush Shayegan, lui-même Iranien et qui fut son élève, livre ici la première synthèse complète de son œuvre. Métaphysique de l’imagination, prophétie et initiation, shî’isme, ismaélisme, Avicenne, Mollâ Sadrâ, Sohrawardî, angélologie, théophanie, religion de l’amour : autant de thèmes qui dessinent un paysage spirituel plein de promesses pour la réflexion contemporaine et où peut s’amorcer un réel dialogue
entre l’Occident et l’Orient.

[Thanks to Daniel Proulx for alerting us to this book. I believe that this is a new edition of SHAYEGAN, D., Henry Corbin : la topographie spirituelle de l'islam iranien, Paris, De la Différence, 1990. - TC]

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