CLEFS MÉTAPHYSIQUES DE LA SOPHIA PERENNIS
In the field of comparative religions, the influence of the work of the metaphysician Frithjof Schuon still remains diffuse even if it proved decisive for many. Her writings have been hailed as eminent expressions of the Sophia perennis, the timeless and universal wisdom that finds expression in all religious streams. One of the main obstacles to the reception – especially academic – of Schuon is that most of his key concepts include inflections of meaning that do not always respect the meaning they may have acquired in their original traditions. Schuon – author of some thirty books including On the Transcendent Unity of Religions – borrows a number of terms from specific religious or theological traditions while expanding their semantic scope beyond the limits of their denominational definitions. He thus forged a broad metaphysical vocabulary both rooted in tradition and undoubtedly postmodern in its supra-confessional influence. Now these terms deserve special attention, because they evoke very clearly a certain way of understanding the function and the limits of conceptual expression in spirituality and initiate what an authentic metaphysical approach can be. These terms thus turn out to be remarkable keys that open up ample perspectives that Patrick Laude excels in bringing to light in Clefs Metaphysiques de la Sophia Perennis.