Sign in with Facebook
DROPPING OUT's Reviews > Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
by
by
I was disappointed. Period. I was hoping for an in-depth study of Rene Guenon (1886-1951) and the anti-modernist spiritual movement called Tradtionalism. The purported premise of Traditionalism (which seeks to reverse the effects of the Enlightenment and return human society to theocentrism, something akin to getting the genie back into the lamp.
Traditionalism can be described as a throw-back to the thought of Marcilio Ficono (1533-1599) who posed that there was a primordial unity to all religions. Fast forwarding to the 20th century, it is a lovely Romantic notion, but intellectually specious. Every human society ever studied has "religion," but to state that ALL religions have primordial unity is what the Brits call "bosh."
Sedgwick chronicles, rather than analyzes. Lots of footnotes, but a bibliography seemingly missing "important titles" by some of the players (such as Titus Burckhardt and Frijthof Schuon).
He also runs somewhat far afield to detail the life and activities of Julius Evola, a Fascist "thinker" so bizarre that he ran afoul of the Italian and German ideologues.
Frijthof Schuon comes in for closer scrutiny, not so much for his writings as his outre spiritual practices and activities.
Sedgwick mentions Mercea Eliade as a crypto-Traditionalist (as well as not so crypto-) who had a major impact of the academic study of "Religion." And later introduces Houston Smith and Seyyed Hossein Nasr as disciples of Schuon who also had major influence on popular perceptions of religion through their publications and public personae.
While mentioning the likes of Smith and Nasr in connection to Schuon, he also mentions Victor Danner (a major American academician in the field of Islam), but draws in the reins when it comes to unmasking others because they are still active on the academic scene.
Was Sedgwick afraid of libel suits? Could heor could he not maintain the not-so-subtle allegation that the study of Religion in academia is tainted by unsupportable premises?
While I found many of the biographical details fascinating, the overall study of Tradtionalism as an intellectual force I found flawed.
Traditionalism can be described as a throw-back to the thought of Marcilio Ficono (1533-1599) who posed that there was a primordial unity to all religions. Fast forwarding to the 20th century, it is a lovely Romantic notion, but intellectually specious. Every human society ever studied has "religion," but to state that ALL religions have primordial unity is what the Brits call "bosh."
Sedgwick chronicles, rather than analyzes. Lots of footnotes, but a bibliography seemingly missing "important titles" by some of the players (such as Titus Burckhardt and Frijthof Schuon).
He also runs somewhat far afield to detail the life and activities of Julius Evola, a Fascist "thinker" so bizarre that he ran afoul of the Italian and German ideologues.
Frijthof Schuon comes in for closer scrutiny, not so much for his writings as his outre spiritual practices and activities.
Sedgwick mentions Mercea Eliade as a crypto-Traditionalist (as well as not so crypto-) who had a major impact of the academic study of "Religion." And later introduces Houston Smith and Seyyed Hossein Nasr as disciples of Schuon who also had major influence on popular perceptions of religion through their publications and public personae.
While mentioning the likes of Smith and Nasr in connection to Schuon, he also mentions Victor Danner (a major American academician in the field of Islam), but draws in the reins when it comes to unmasking others because they are still active on the academic scene.
Was Sedgwick afraid of libel suits? Could heor could he not maintain the not-so-subtle allegation that the study of Religion in academia is tainted by unsupportable premises?
While I found many of the biographical details fascinating, the overall study of Tradtionalism as an intellectual force I found flawed.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Against the Modern World.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 13, 2011
– Shelved
July 13, 2011
–
Finished Reading
