Introduction

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Memories (video clips) of Martin Lings by Michon and Petitpierre

The Perennial Philosophy Series

The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity

Noble Faces, Strong Voices: Exploring "The Spirit of Indian Women"

Exploring "Timeless in Time" - a biography of Sri Ramana Maharshi

A Definition of the Perennial Philosophy

Paul Goble's World: Native Americans' relationship to all created beings

The Universal Spirit of Islam: Keys for Interfaith Understanding

Every Branch In Me: Who are we as "human" beings?

William C. Chittick explores "The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi"

Slideshows


Introduction

Through the interplay of Burckhardt’s text and carefully selected illustrations, this book becomes a work of art in itself. It invites the reader to “taste and see” the glories of the artistic and spiritual heritage of Christianity, a legacy which has had an inestimable impact upon all Western thought and culture.

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The Foundations of Christian Art: Illustrated takes the reader on a pilgrimage through the history of Christian art, focusing especially upon its architecture, iconography, illumination, and the arts and crafts guilds, but always returning to the fundamental genius of Christianity, which gave meaning to the art.

“Titus Burckhardt is an exponent of the permanent, the timeless; a domain which makes the use of the word ‘historian’ redundant in a modern context. Burckhardt has done more than any other single author in the past 50, if not 100, years to recover the essential principles of the purpose of the arts—that is, if you accept the premise that the arts are more than mere hedonism and ‘individual expression’...Due to his intrinsically spiritual nature, Burckhardt has revealed insight after insight into Christian symbolism and craft practice.”

—Keith Critchlow