Review by Choice Review
This work is an explanation and endorsement of the so-called perennial philosophy as taught by Frithjof Schuon, the best-known member of this philosophical school in our time. In order to make Schuon's views available to a wide audience Cutsinger divides his analysis of Schuon's work into four broad sections, entitled Truth, Virtue, Beauty, and Prayer, and then each large section into a number of relevant subsections. In his analysis Cutsinger tries hard to present Schuon's position with clarity yet in a way that is engaging and sympathetic. And he knows Schuon's work intimately enough to consistently do this. Thus readers will come away from his book with some fair sense of Schuon's influential metaphysical and theological position even though it is presented in Cutsinger's own paraphrase, interspersed with quotations from the original source. The problem with the book is its total lack of critical self-consciousness about the project of the perennial philosophy. Cutsinger is a "true believer," a totally convinced disciple. Thus his work lacks the marks of serious academic reflection on the fundamental subjects it treats. Only libraries that seek absolute completeness need buy it. S. T. Katz; Boston University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
