Converging Wisdom? Questioning the Continued Relevance of the Perennial Philosophy
Sunday, October 2, 2022 3:00 pm EST
This three-day conference will examine the claim that the different and sometimes conflicting teachings of the many religions nevertheless reveal a similarity of metaphysical insight and spiritually liberating wisdom, all rooted in one divine Source. Most of the speakers will represent one or another of the great world religions.
The Perennial Philosophy teaches that there is one transcendent Mystery, one supreme and eternal Truth that has manifested itself throughout history as a primordial wisdom accessible to all people and in various ways in their religions. Despite the very notable differences in the formal doctrines they espouse, the world religions bear witness to a similarity of underlying spiritual and metaphysical insight: Thus, the changing world of multiplicity is understood to derive its meaning from its relation to an ontologically real eternal Absolute; the human person bears within it a natural orientation to this Absolute; and the final goal of life is the attainment of a mystical ego-transcending unity with this ultimate Reality. The assertion here is not that people of the different religions are making exactly the same transcendent experience, only giving it diverging names and expressions unavoidably shaped by the cultural presuppositions and societal conditions of their time. Rather the followers of the different religions are said to apprehend the supreme Truth in quite different and distinct ways, but ways that also manifest common spiritual principles that derive from a single transcendent Source. The analogy sometimes given is that of a pure light passing through a glass prism to reveal a spectrum of differing colors. All the colors are united in their source, and yet each is truly distinct and different from all the others. Is this the proper way to understand the many religions? Do they have one Source expressing itself in different ways or is this a simplistic approach to understanding religious pluralism today? What is the proper way to understand the nature of God and the human state? These and other topics will be discussed at the conference by scholars representing different religions, at times showcasing examples of Perennialist thought within their home tradition. Join us on Sunday, October 2, 2022, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET.
Speakers:
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Keynote Speaker
The George Washington University
Adnan Aslan
Respect Graduate School
Jeremy Brown
University of Notre Dame
Catherine Cornille
Boston College
Michael Fitzgerald
Independent Scholar
David Bentley Hart
Independent Scholar
Patrick Laude
Georgetown University
Jeffrey Long
Elizabethtown College
Bradley Malkovsky
University of Notre Dame
Swami Medhananda (Ayon Maharaj)
Vedanta Society of Southern California
Harry Oldmeadow
formerly of La Trobe University, Bendigo
Trent Pomplun
University of Notre Dame
Anantanand Rambachan
Saint Olaf College
Perry Schmidt-Leukel
University of Münster
Reza Shah-Kazemi
Aga Khan Centre, London
Mateus Soares de Azevedo
Independent Scholar
Steven Taylor
Leeds Becket University
Charles Upton
Independent Scholar
Carol Zaleski
Smith College
Philip Zaleski
Smith College
Alireza Ziarani
formerly of Clarkson University
For more information visit the event website.