Le shi'isme imamite : histoire, doctrines, sagesse

Jeudi 5 avril, 17h-19h
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (EPHE)
Christian Jambet (EPHE)

Le shi'isme imamite : histoire, doctrines, sagesse 

Dans le cadre du séminaire de Denis Hermann (CNRS),
 Fabrizio Speziale (Paris 3 – CNRS), Julien Thorez (CNRS),
Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien 

Université Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris 3, 

Centre Censier, 13 rue de Santeuil, 

salle Las Vergnas, 3e ét., 75005 Paris

IISMM - Bulletin Avril 2012

IISMM - Bulletin Avril 2012

Corbin & Poetry - Another in the Series

Though not Corbin, strictly speaking. But for many of those interested in the hermeneutics of texts, poetic and/or sacred, it seems to me that there is enough of interest here to make the mind reel. It certainly has mine spinning.

jacket2 has a review by Elizabeth Robinson, a response and an interview with Bettridge about his book:

Reading as Belief: Language Writing, Poetics, Faith
by Joel Bettridge

Palgrave Macmillan 2009, 204 pages, $80, ISBN 0230619428

It's worth noting that among other things, Bettridge is co-editor of Ronald Johnson: Life and Works.

From the review: 

"In his discussion, Bettridge proceeds by setting up an extended (and sometimes problematic) analogy between the Reformed Christianity of John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and Language writing." (!!)

 ...

"Perhaps one of the most exciting elements of Reading as Belief is Bettridge’s insistence on the primacy of the imagination. When definitive knowledge is acknowledged as impossible, Bettridge argues, imagination is a necessary resource that permits us to work with tenuousness:

a poem or prayer, when pregnant with the imagination, allow us to grant
ourselves the roving honesty, expressive tensions, and intelligence we need
to read our constantly shifting ideas, dispositions, and experiences."

READ THE ENTIRE PIECE

 

Review of Nasr 2012

Book Review: Perennialist interpretation of modern Islam
By Muhammad Khan
In The Muslim News

Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by the West, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition. By Seyyed Hossein Nasr. New York: HarperCollins. pp472. 2012. PB. $21.99

The author of this book is an Iranian-American academic. He is a University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University and a leading Muslim scholar who has published extensively on different aspects of Islam from a Traditionalist perspective. This book was first published in 2010 and has since been updated and expanded for the benefit of the readers. What is Traditionalism? READ MORE

"In the appendices, the author has provided a detailed but not necessarily a critical assessment of the life and works of Louis Massignon, a French Catholic Islamicist; Henry Corbin, who was also a leading French Islamicist; Rene Guenon, the founder of Perennialism and a French mystical writer; Frithjof Schuon, a Swiss Sufi and prolific writer; Titus Burckhardt, who was also a Swiss Sufi and artist, and Martin Lings, a British Sufi and prominent writer"

Homayun Sakhi: The Art of the Afghan Rubâb

Philosophie et Islam - Christian Jambet Audio Files

Philosophie et Islam 1/4 : Sohravardî, philosophe de la Lumière

Philosophie et Islam 2/4 : Molla-Sadra Shirazi, du Réel aux réalités.

Philosophie et Islam 3/4 : Avicenne, penseur de l'âme.

Philosophie et Islam 4/4 : L' Islam, entre tradition et modernité. 

Thanks to Daniel Proulx for these links.

Corbin on Heidegger - Audio File

From the interview with P. Nemo.
Thanks to Daniel Proulx for finding this.

The Life of Rumi

The Life of Rumi in Rare Islamic Manuscript Paintings from the 1590s

by Maria Popova

Lightning'd Press

"In the flowering of the Apocalypse, understood not in a metaphoric nor in a fundamentalist sense, but instead in a true sense, underscoring the breakthrough of Reality in every smallest increment of moment as the ego is absented, can we understand what poetry has always been: mysticism in practice." - from the Introduction to the inaugural issue of Lightning'd Press.

Arabic Literature in English Translation

Founded in 1998 Banipal is an independent literary magazine 

publishing contemporary authors and poets 

from all over the Arab world in English translation.

The Red Monastery Project

In conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (on view at the MET March 14 through July 8, 2012), art historian Elizabeth Bolman introduces the Red Monastery project.

Kayhan Kalhor & Behrouz Jamali - March 17 Freer Gallery

Kayhan Kalhor, kamanche; Behrouz Jamali, tombak

Date Saturday, March 17, 2012, 7:30 pm Categories Performances Co-sponsor Made possible through support from the Thaw Charitable Trust. Venue Freer Gallery Event Location Meyer Auditorium Cost Free tickets required. Related Events Pre-concert gallery tour, Arts of the Islamic World, 6:45 pm Details One of the great masters of Persian music—and a three-time Grammy nominee—Kayhan Kalhor returns to the Freer for a rare intimate performance on the traditional Iranian kamanche (spike fiddle). Kalhor is a longtime performer and composer with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and is cofounder of the Masters of Persian Music, Dastan, and Ghazal (with Shujaat Khan and Swapan Chaudhuri). His many other collaborations have ranged from work with Brooklyn Rider and the New York Philharmonic to the soundtrack for Francis Ford Copolla’s Youth Without Youth. He is accompanied by Behrouz Jamali on tombak (drum).

Pluralism & Paganism

European Identity Politics and the Memory of Paganism – a conference panel in Amsterdam, 20 April 2012

The identity of Europe has typically been built on the two pillars of Christianity and Enlightenment secularism. Consequently, religious alternatives are always positioned in systems of pluralism where “Christianity” and the “secular society” are seen as hegemonic. Other religious identities (e.g. Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist) are thus typically seen as additions to the main stream of European culture, rather than integral parts of the development of European culture itself. This monolithic view of European identity is however increasingly being rejected by scholars: not even in the Middle Ages was “Christianity” a monolithic entity, nor was it the only religious identity available. READ MORE

Also of interest:
Radical Platonism in Byzantium : Illumination and Utopia in Gemistos Plethon
Niketas Siniossoglou, University of Cambridge

Music of Central Asia, continued...

La crisis espiritual en Occidente, Gilbert Durand

La crisis espiritual en Occidente

Gilbert Durand

Edición de Alain Verjart. Siruela. 

Madrid, 2011. 404 páginas, 26 euros.

El gran especialista en simbolismo Gilbert Durand (1921), autor de una obra ya clásica -y muy influyente- sobre las estructuras antropológicas de lo imaginario, decidió, tras un encuentro con el estudioso de la espiritualidad sufí Henry Corbin y una intensa participación, desde finales de la cuarta década del pasado siglo, en los “Encuentros de Eranos”, profundizar en el estudio de los fenómenos religiosos desde la perspectiva, no demasiado visitada por entonces, de una antropología del símbolo y el mito...  READ MORE

Temple & Contemplation in Persian

TEHRAN -- The Persian version of “Temple and Contemplation” by Islamic scholar Henry Corbin has been released by the Sufia publications in Tehran.

The book has been translated for the first time in Persian by Ensha’alleh Rahmati who has also written a preface to the book. 

READ THE ARTICLE

also at IBNA

Revitalizing Shashmaqâm: Court Music of Central Asia

Music of Central Asia Vol. 2: Invisible Face of the Beloved: 

Classical Music of the Tajiks and Uzbeks

Amid the mosques and minarets of Samarkand and Bukhara, generations of vocalists set the mystical, Sufi-inspired verse of Hafiz and other classical poets to lyrical melodies, creating a spiritual art music of great refinement and sublime beauty called Shashmaqâm, confirming its important place among the great art music traditions of Eurasia. A bonus DVD documents the musical tradition of the Shashmaqâm in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. 18 tracks. 70 minutes. 44-page booklet, photos, and bilingual lyrics; DVD contains series introduction, 24-minute film, interactive glossary, and map. Music of Central Asia is a co-production of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The aim of the series is to present leading exponents of Central Asia's rich and diverse musical heritage to listeners outside the region.

Pagels on Revelations

Book Of Revelation: 'Visions, Prophecy And Politics'

Terri Gross Interviews Elaine Pagels on NPR

Temenos Academy Lectures in March - Islamic Art & Rumi

 

Temenos Academy Lectures - London

On 12 March at the Royal Asiatic Society Jason Elliott will give a lecture entitled "An Approach to Symbolism in Islamic Art." Jason Elliott is the author of two highly-praised and award-winning books, An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan and Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran. Admission £5 or £3.50.

Later in the month we are delighted to welcome again from Iran Temenos Academy Fellow Dr. Hossein M. Ghomshei, to give a course of four lectures on "The Mystical Teachings and Poetry of Rumi." The dates of the lectures are 19, 21, 26 and 28 March; the venue is the Royal Asiatic Society. Dr. Ghomshei describes the first lecture, Rumi and the Perennial Philosophy, as follows:

"This lecture will open with a brief introduction to the Perennial Philosophy and the rich historical background that supports it. Rumi then enters the scene with his magnum opus the Mathnavi, the most comprehensive expression of the Perennial Philosophy in the East. The lecture will then offer a detailed discussion of each of the basic ingredients of the Perennial Philosophy, supported by delightful illustrative tales from the Mathnavi. The conclusion will focus on how such ideas and ideals can be enhanced to serve the cause of peace and love in the ultra-modern world, raging with war and violence."
Admission £5 or £3.50 per lecture.

Powerless Before Love—Arabic And Persian Poetic Traditions

Revel in the beauty, longing, and passion that can be expressed in the spoken word. This evening features discussion and readings of Arab and Persian love poetry with iraj Anvar and husband-and-wife team Ted and Andree Feghali Gorton.

This program is generously supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

Learn more about the New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia at the MET here.

Wojtkowski on Hillman

Dwelling Imaginally in Soulless Times:

An Appreciation of the Work of James Hillman 

by Sylvester Wojtkowski, PhD

from

ARAS Connections Image and Archetype
• 2012 • Issue 1 •

Henry Corbin et Gershom Scholem

7e JOURNEE HENRY CORBIN
Henry Corbin et le débat contemporain en sciences humaines
le samedi 17 décembre 2011

David BISSON (Université Rennes I),
«Henry Corbin et Gershom Scholem » (pdf)

Filippani-Ronconi on Corbin, again

It was recently pointed out to me, to my horror, that the following paragraph which I posted earlier can perhaps be misconstrued by those who do not know Corbin's work:

For those attending to the right-wing and fascist connections of various strands of esotericism in the 20th century this article will be of interest.  "HENRY CORBIN: A man and a work" by Pio Filippani-Ronconi East and West Vol. 4, No. 4 (JANUARY 1954) (pp. 259-262). (This illustrated piece is available via jstor for those with a connection).

That there is a connection between some exponents of "esotericism" and right wing ideology is well known. As I have made abundantly clear in my writings on Henry Corbin there is nothing whatever in his work that suggests that he was in any way sympathetic to such ideologies. To the contrary, his work provides a profoundly important antidote to such views. I only noted Filippani-Ronconi's essay because I think of this blog as a repository for any material that is relevant to Corbin and his concerns, and source material for the study of his work. It simply never occurred to me that anyone might understand the reference as a suggestion that Corbin had such fascist leanings himself. My apologies to those readers of this blog who were, rightly I think, offended by the possible misunderstandings this post may have caused.

Tarkovsky's Nostalghia in NYC - March 13, 2012

NYFF ‘83: NOSTALGHIA
ANDREI TARKOVSKY, 1983
ITALY/USSR | FORMAT: 35MM | 125 MINUTES

Tues March 13, 8:15

Film Society of Lincoln Center

DETAILS HERE

If you're able to go, don't miss this rare screening. It seems to me that most people who are attracted to Henry Corbin will find Tarkovsky's films entrancing. 

Amir-Moezzi on Shi'i Islam

The Spirituality in Shi'i Islam: Beliefs and Practices
Ali Amir-Moezzi , IB Tauris, 2011. on amazon.


Loaded with references to Henry Corbin.


Thanks to Charles Cameron for pointing this out.

The Recitals of H.D.

H. D., and Michael Boughn. Narthex & Other Stories. Toronto: BookThug, 2011.

I have this book now in hand. As I mentioned in an earlier post Boughn's Afterword argues that H.D.'s stories functioned for her as visionary recitals in Corbin's sense. I recommend this slim volume to anyone with an interest in Corbin & literature. Boughn writes,

"These three stories are visionary recitals in that they are the passage of the soul from one level of experience to another, one level of reality to another, where a further sense of meaning reveals itself - where vision expands, grows into new astonishing spaces."

Bulletin IISMM Mars 2012

Bulletin IISMM Mars 2012