The Need for a Sacred Science

By Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Subjects: Islam
Series: SUNY series in Religious Studies
Paperback : 9780791415184, 200 pages, July 1993
Hardcover : 9780791415177, 200 pages, July 1993
Out of print (Hardcover)

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Table of contents

Introduction

Part One: The World of the Spirit--A Metaphysical Context for the Cultivation of Sacred Science

1. God is Reality

2. Self-awareness and Ultimate Selfhood

3. Time--The Moving Image of Eternity

Part Two: The Unity of the Divine Stratosphere--The Diversity of the Human Atmosphere

4. One is the Spirit and Many its Human Reflections--Thoughts on the Human Condition Today

5. The Philosophia Perennis and the Study of Religion

Part Three: Science: Traditional and Modern

6. Western Science and Asian Culture

7. The Traditional Sciences

8. The Spiritual Significance of Nature

Part Four: Tradition, Sacred Science, and the Modern Predicament

9. Sacred Science and the Environmental Crisis--An Islamic Perspective

10. The Concept of Human Progress through Material Evolution: A Traditional Critique

11. Reflections on the Theological Modernism of Hans Kung

Postscript: The Need for a Sacred Science

Index

Description

This book deals with the meaning of a science rooted in the sacred, the metaphysical foundation of such science, its contrast to modern science and its pertinence to some of the major issues facing humanity today. In the first part, the author turns to the fundamental question of the multiplicity of sacred forms. He discusses why it is necessary in the contemporary world to treat sacred science in the context of diverse religions. He also deals with the importance of sacred science in providing a meaningful study that would remain religiously significant of religions themselves.

Reviews

"This work is a brilliant blending of sound scholarship and spiritual vision." — Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

"This book brings together in a focused and comprehensive treatment Nasr's ideas that have been scattered. It provides an integrated overview of the breadth and depth of Nasr's thought." — Yvonne Haddad, University of Massachusetts.