Authors

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is the best-known saint of nineteenth century India. Ramakrishna took on ritual and mythical roles, identifying with the gods from Indian holy books. His intuition of the validity of different approaches to the worship of God and the religious paths led him to practice both Christianity and Islam during periods of his life. He died in 1886. His contributions can be found in the World Wisdom anthology, Pray Without Ceasing .

John Paraskevopoulos is an executive officer with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra. He studied philosophy at the University of Melbourne before receiving ordination in the Pure Land tradition of Mahayana Buddhism in Kyoto in 1994. He is the author of several articles on Shin Buddhism and a contributor to Sacred Web. His article, “The Absolute in the Mahayana and the Pure Land Way” appears in Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the Modern West.

Dr. Shahram Pazouki is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Head of the Department of Religious and Sufi Studies at the Iranian Academy of Philosophy in Tehran, Iran. He received his Doctorate at the University of Tehran. In 1993 he was awarded the Letter of Commendation for outstanding scholarly achievement from the Minister of Sciences and Higher Education. Dr. Shahram Pazouki contributed the essay “The Revival of the Spiritual Dimension of the Sunna in Rūmī’s Mathnawī” to the volume The Philosophy of Ecstasy: Rumi and the Sufi Tradition.

Dr. Janine Pease is a renowned American Indian educator and advocate. Amongst other achievements, she was the founding president of the Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency Montana, a past president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, a director of the American Indian College Fund, and was appointed by President Clinton to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. She is currently the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Fort Peck Community College in Poplar, Montana. Janine Pease is a Crow and Hidatsa Indian, enrolled as a Crow. UL REMOVED

Barbara Perry’s (1923-2015) introduction to Art from the Sacred to the Profane: East and West , is a reflection of her years of association with the major Perennialist figure Frithjof Schuon, and displays her in-depth knowledge of his influences, his writings, and his own paintings. Mrs. Perry, along with her late husband Whitall Perry, was also acquainted with the great early Traditionalist thinker on arts, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, with René Guénon, and with almost all of the other central figures from the formative years of this school of thought. Barbara Perry helped interpret Perennialist ideas to many people all over the world for over half a century.

Mark Perry is an author and professional translator. Although of American parents, he was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951 and raised in Switzerland close to Frithjof Schuon. He is the son of eminent American Perennialist author Whitall Perry. He is the author of the book On Awakening and Remembering (Fons Vitae, 2000). Perry is currently in the process of updating the translations of all of Frithjof Schuon’s books from the original French into the English language, and has also translated a large number of Schuon’s French and German letters. Perry has authored a book for World Wisdom, The Mystery of Individuality: Grandeur and Delusion of the Human Condition, that was published in 2012.

According to Harry Oldmeadow , Whitall Perry (1920 – 2005) was “the most authoritative traditionalist of American background.” Many researchers, editors, and authors whose works delve into the fields of comparative religion, philosophy, metaphysics, or spirituality have used Whitall Perry’s A Treasury Of Traditional Wisdom as an essential reference tool since its publication in 1971. It is a magisterial compendium of spiritual doctrine spanning ail history and every spiritual tradition. Perry also contributed to the book, Ye Shall Know the Truth .Whitall Perry’s early intellectual interests included Platonism and Vedanta, and he traveled extensively in the Middle and Far East both before and after World War II with a brief interlude of study at Harvard University. He was one of several Harvard students who came under Ananda Coomaraswamy’s influence in the 1940s.

Jean-Claude Petitpierre is a Swiss Traditionalist/Perennialist. He had long associations with Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, and other important authors of Perennialist works. Petitpierre has fulfilled a variety of functions for the United Nations, including Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme. He has spent many years living among, and learning from, Hindu and Muslim spiritual figures. Mr. Petitpierre was interviewed for some videoclips on the life and legacy of Martin Lings and a number of topics related to the perennial philosophy.

Barbara Petzen is a scholar and educator who has been very involved in bridging the gap that exists between Western and Muslim societies. Ms. Petzen wrote the “Foreword” to The Compassionate Warrior: Abd el-Kader of Algeria, which was written by Elsa Marston. Ms. Petzen founded Middle East Connections, an organization that works to create a “more complex and accurate understanding of the Middle East and its people through professional development, study tours and outreach consulting,” and is currently its director.

Roland Pietsch is a German scholar, writer, translator, and educator who specializes in Islamic philosophy. Dr. Pietsch has taught philosophy, theology and religious studies at universities in Germany, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Iran. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. Dr. Roland Pietch contributed the article “Religious Pluralism and the Transcendent Unity of Religion” to Crossing Religious Frontiers, edited by Harry Oldmeadow.