The Perspective of Islamic Cosmology and Local Wisdom Choirun Niswah, Alya Khoirunnisah, Ratu Triana Ulya, Husnul Khotimah Islamic cosmology, which places God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, was translated into Nusantara’s natural symbols—such as the moon, the sea, and rice—that serve as spiritual and moral vehicles for humanity. This process was not| The Matheson Trust
Peter K.H. Lee Rarely do the religious representatives at a meeting take a vote; they prefer to reach a consensus of mind. When they have the occasion to make a public statement, it is a consensus of opinions. Now, this being the case, two questions arise: Is reaching a consensus the goal of interreligious dialogue?| The Matheson Trust
St John Cassian Translated by A. M. Casiday The first thing to be investigated is what is meant by supplication, by prayer, by intercession and by thanksgiving. Next it must be asked whether these four kinds are to be attempted all at once by one who prays: that is, are they all to be linked| The Matheson Trust
The Matheson Trust promotes the study of comparative religion by supporting the publication and dissemination of scholarly works which elucidate the philosophical, metaphysical, cosmological and aesthetic dimensions of the great religious traditions of the world. Our website has been hailed for years as a treasure trove by those interested either in the deeper aspects of| The Matheson Trust - For the Study of Comparative Religion
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers, • Our first library highlight this month is a translation of texts on prayer (Collationes IX–X) by St John Cassian, traditionally considered the foremost Latin interpreter of the early Christian monasticism of Egypt, the “Desert Fathers”, for the Western contemplatives. As one of the authors of the Philokalia, and| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear reader, • We begin our monthly selection with a double bill on the essential nature, limits and problems of modern psychology. In these selected chapters, from René Guénon’s The Reign of Quantity and from Titus Burckhardt’s Mirror of the Intellect, we find very clearly articulated, first, the traditional psychology found| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers, • We begin our monthly selection with excerpts from a major biographical work, Titus Burckhardt: Sufism Between East and West, full of insights into the extraordinary life, character and works of one of the best known and most beloved traditional authorities of recent times. In face of the efficaciousness| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers, • Our first library selection this month is an excerpt from our soon to be published Hermes Trismegistus: The Way of Wisdom, by Algis Uzdavinys. In this prolonged and erudite meditation, the concept, image and influence of Hermes and the Hermetica through the centuries are analysed and put in| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers, • Our first new library item this month is a chapter on the divine play of Hindu/Buddhist deity Chinnamasta, one of the ten goddesses from the esoteric tradition of Tantra, and a ferocious aspect of Mahadevi, the Hindu Mother goddess. Chinnamasta indicates a transcendence of the ordinary and portrays| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers. • We open our monthly selection with a page on St Francis of Assisi’s 13th-century “Canticle of the Creatures” (Laudes Creaturarum), also known as “Canticle of Brother Sun,” including a bilingual text, an audio reading of the original and an interpretative essay. This beautiful and brief poem has been| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear reader, • We begin our monthly selection with an article about “African Traditional Religion” reflecting on the essential convergence, the unanimity of the many native African religious paths and practices, allowing us to see beyond reductionist and trite labels like animism or pantheism. The Ewe-speaking people speak of Him as| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our monthly newsletter, dear readers, Our first new library item is an introduction to “the most famous of early modern litanies”, the Litany of Loreto. We present some recordings of sung versions of this originally Latin prayer, the ritual recitation of Divine and Marian epithets, which is rooted in ancient and late antique| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our newsletter, dear readers, Our first new library highlight this month is an excerpt from Sonorous Desert, a book about how the sounds of the desert—sounds like wind, water, thunder, animals, and even humans—shaped the development of Christian monasticism in the Middle East. Reasons for choosing a monastic life naturally varied from person| The Matheson Trust
Welcome to our last newsletter of this year, with our wishes for a blessed 2025. • Our first new library addition this month is a selection from the Sutra of the Heap of Jewels, Ratnakuta Sutra, a major ancient collection of Buddhist sutras, which has been called a small encyclopedia of Indian Mahayana Buddhism. “…| The Matheson Trust