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| Maintaining the Sacred Center: The Bosnian City of Stolac |
| "Maintaining the Sacred Center" - details, reviews |
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Click cover for larger image.
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Author(s):
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Subjects(s):
Comparative Religion
Modernism
Perennial Philosophy
Spiritual Life
Tradition
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Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 978-1-935493-91-4
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Book Size: 6"x9"
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# of Pages: 312
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Language: English
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Description
In his fascinating new book, Bosnian academic and former statesman, Rusmir Mahmutćehajić, explores how men and women traditionally ordered their communities, architecture, and habits of life to reflect the divine order, and how this order is coming under attack in an increasingly secularized modern world. In reflecting on how his own hometown of Stolac, Bosnia, has been destroyed and then rebuilt in the aftermath of the tragic Bosnia war, Mahmutćehajić offers explanations as to how different religious communities can live peacefully together in the future.
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In times past, men and women lived in ordered and meaningful communities whose very structure, architecture, and habits of life were a concrete reflection of the cosmic order. Through the example of his own birthplace, the Bosnian town of Stolac, the author explores the nature of this traditional wisdom that informed the way of life of his ancestors. He also explores the manner in which this wisdom—common to all true religious traditions—came under increasing attack, culminating in the destruction, murder, and expulsion of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Finally, he explores the extraordinary efforts that have been made since the war to restore and rebuild the town as a microcosm of the Bosnian culture of tolerance and coexistence.
Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is a Bosnian academic, author, and former statesman. He is considered one of Bosnia’s leading intellectuals and public figures. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Bosnia for four years. For the past 12 years, he has been President of International Forum Bosnia. He is the author of 20 books and several hundred academic articles and essays which have been translated into multiple languages. He lives in Sarajevo, Bosnia Hercegovina.
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Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is a Bosnian academic, author, and former statesman. He served as the Vice President of Bosnia from 1991 to 1993 and for the past 12 years he has been the President of International Forum Bosnia. Considered one of Bosnia’s leading intellectuals and public figures, Dr. Mahmutćehajić is the foremost advocate of the idea of Bosnia as a community constituted out of diversity and founded on mutual respect between individuals and between ethnic and confessional groups. A profoundly insightful scholar of the Muslim intellectual tradition, considered as a branch of religio and philosophia perennis, he is widely recognized as a major contributor to contemporary Muslim thought and the liberal interpretation of Islam as the divine injunction of peaceful co-existence in love. Rusmir Mahmutćehajić is the author of 20 books and several hundred articles and essays which have been translated into multiple languages. Several of his works on traditional subjects including his recent books, Bosnia the Good: Tolerance and Tradition and Sarajevo Essays are available in English. He is also the author of the World Wisdom title, Maintaining the Sacred Center.
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Ivo Banac is Emeritus Professor at the Department of History of Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut, USA). He is also Professor of History at Zagreb University's Faculty of Philosophy. He was the President of the Croatian Helsinki Committee on Human Rights. His publications include: The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics (1984), With Stalin against Tito: Cominformist Splits in Yugoslav Communism (1989), and Acta turcarum (2006). Banac wrote the introduction to the forthcoming World Wisdom title: Maintaining the Sacred Center.
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“For centuries Bosnia was a land where Muslims, Orthodox, Catholic, and Jewish communities lived side by side for the most part in peace. There are many who see the destiny of Bosnia as becoming once again a place where these different religions and cultures can live side by side in peace and harmony. In this moving book, Rusmir Mahmutćehajić has taken an important step towards the realization of this goal as well as drawing greater attention to the cultural and spiritual significance of Stolac. We pray and hope that all his tireless and far-reaching efforts will aid in the spiritual, psychological, and physical reconstruction of Bosnia, whose very existence is of much importance to both the Islamic world and the West, and in keeping the torch of the perennial philosophy burning in this beautiful but scarred land that stands as a bridge between these two worlds.”
—Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University
“In a sense Mahmutćehajić is suggesting that although meanings change, we need to remember and understand where meaning was found in the past, in order to understand ourselves, and how we might engage with the future. In this sense memory and the transformative power of nostalgia can be a dynamic force for today. The goal is not to return to the past but to recognise our ability to rectify the past in our memories and to rediscover elements of a true history that has been choked, suppressed or just ignored.”
—Ed Marques, Research Fellow, Kalam Research and Media, Dubai, from a review essay on the book
“This is an impressive and meaningful work that is intense, personal and commands respect. It will probably feel austere and dense to some but intriguing and absorbing to others who are in sympathy with the author's world view and philosophy. The introductions as well are excellently written and the book is handsomely produced.”
—Comments from Benjamin Franklin Awards Judging Panel
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