https://archive.org/details/pathstoheartsufi0000unse
Paths To The Heart: Sufism and the Christian East
Kindle Edition
by James S. Cutsinger (Author)
by James S. Cutsinger (Author)
Publication date 2002
Topics
Orthodox Eastern Church -- Relations -- Islam, Islam -- Relations -- Orthodox Eastern Church, Islam -- Relations -- Christianity, Christianity and other religions -- Islam
===
Description
This book is a collection of essays concerning the mystical and contemplative dimensions of Eastern Christianity and Islam presented at the October 2001 conference on Hesychasm and Sufism at the University of South Carolina. Contributions from internationally recognized spiritual leaders and scholars include Kallistos Ware; Seyyed Hossien Nasr; John Chryssavgis; Reza Shah-Kazemi; Huston Smith; Williams Chittick and more.
Despite the long and well-known history of conflict between Christians and Muslims, their mystical traditions especially in the Christian East and in Sufism, have shared for centuries many of the same spiritual methods and goals. One thinks, for example, of the profound similarities between the practices of the Jesus Prayer among the Hesychast masters of the Philokalia and the Sufi practices of dhikr or invocation.
These commonalities suggest the possibility for a deeper kind of religious dialogue than is customary in our day, a dialogue which seeks to foster what Frithjof Schuon has called inward or "esoteric" ecumenism, and which, while respecting the integrity of traditional dogmas and rites, "calls into play the wisdom which can discern the one sole Truth under the veil of different forms."
The purpose of this book, the first major publication of its kind, is to promote precisely this more inward kind of ecumenical perspective. These essays point to a spiritual heart in which the deeper meaning of Christian and Muslim beliefs and practices come alive, and where spiritual pilgrims may discover, beyond the level of seemingly contradictory forms, an inner commonality with those who follow other paths.
===
Table of Contents for Paths to the Heart
Foreword
Dimensions of the Heart
How Do We Enter the Heart?
Kallistos Ware
St Seraphim of Sarov in Sufic Perspective
Gray Henry
The Heart of the Faithful is the Throne ofthe All-Merciful
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
The Path of Remembrance
On the Cosmology of Dhikr
William C. Chittick
Presence, Participation, Performance: TheRemembrance of God in the Early Hesychast Fathers
Vincent Rossi
Paths of Continuity: Contemporary Witnesses ofthe Hesychast Experience
John Chryssavgis
Toward an Esoteric Ecumenism
The Metaphysics of Interfaith Dialogue:Sufi Perspectives on the Universality of theQuranic Message
Reza Shah-Kazemi
A Unity with Distinctions: Parallels in theThought of St Gregory Palamas and Ibn Arabi
Peter Samsel
Hesychia: An Orthodox Opening to EsotericEcumenism
James S. Cutsinger
Conclusions
The Long Way Home
Huston Smith
Panel Discussion
Contributors
===
Excerpts from Paths to the Heart
Excerpted from Chapter 1:
How Do We Enter the Heart?
by Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia
Within the heart is an unfathomable depth.
—The Macarian Homilies
Le Point Vierge
In the experience of almost everyone there have surely been certain texts—passages in poetry or prose—which, once heard or read, have never been forgotten. For most of us, these decisive texts are probably few in number; but, rare though they may be, they have permanently altered our lives, and they have helped to make us what we are. One such text, so far as my own life journey is concerned, is a paragraph on le point vierge, “the virgin point”, in Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (definitely my firm favorite among his many books):
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak his name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. . . . I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.(1)
Here Thomas Merton is seeking to elucidate the moment of disclosure which came to him on 18 March 1958, and which he recorded in his journal on the following day: “Yesterday, in Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, suddenly realized that I loved all the people and that none of them were or could be totally alien to me. As if waking from a dream—the dream of my separateness.” (2) It is noteworthy that, when attempting later on in his Conjectures to understand what was clearly for him an experience of intense visionary insight, Merton makes use of a term, le point vierge, which he had derived from Sufi sources. He had come across this phrase in the writings of the renowned French Orientalist Louis Massignon, with whom he had been in correspondence during the year 1960. Massignon in his turn employed the phrase when expounding the mystical psychology of the tenth-century Muslim saint and martyr al-Hallâj, whose custom it was to say, “Our hearts are a virgin that God’s truth alone opens.” (3)
Significantly al-Hallâj refers in this context to the heart. This word does not actually occur in the passage quoted above from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, but Merton is in fact describing precisely what the Christian East has in view when it speaks in its ascetic and mystical theology about the “deep heart” (see Psalm 63:7 [64:6]). By “the virgin point” Massignon, interpreting al-Hallâj, means “the last, irreducible, secret center of the heart”, “the latent personality, the deep subconscious, the secret cell walled up [and hidden] to every creature, the ‘inviolate virgin’”, which “remains unformed” until visited by God; to discover this virgin point is to return to our origin. (4) Thus le point vierge or the innermost heart is, in the words of Dorothy C. Buck, the place “where God alone has access and human and Divine meet”; it embodies “the sacredness hidden in the depth of every human soul”. (5)
This is exactly what is signified by the “deep heart” in the neptic(6) theology of the Orthodox Church. St Mark the Monk (? fifth century), for example, speaks of “the innermost, secret and uncontaminated chamber of the heart . . . the innermost and untroubled treasury of the heart, where the winds of evil spirits do not blow”. According to Mark the Monk, it is to this hidden temenos that Christ is alluding when he states, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), and when he talks about “the good treasure of the heart” (Luke 6:45). (7) A similar understanding of the heart is beautifully expressed by the Roman Catholic Benedictine Henri le Saux, who wrote under the name Swami Abishiktananda, when he terms it “the place of our origin . . . in which the soul is, as it were, coming from the hands of God and waking up to itself”. (8) In the words of another Roman Catholic author, the Dominican Richard Kehoe, “The ‘heart’ is the very deepest and truest self, not attained except through sacrifice, through death.” (9)
It is immediately apparent that St Mark the Monk, al-Hallâj, and Merton share in common an all-important conviction concerning the character of this deep or innermost heart. For all three of them it is something pure, inviolate, inaccessible to evil; and specifically for this reason it can rightly be described as “the virgin point”. Thus Mark says of the “secret chamber of the heart” that it is “uncontaminated”, “untroubled”, a hidden sanctuary “where the winds of evil spirits do not blow”. For al-Hallâj it is opened by “God’s truth alone”. Likewise Merton insists that it is “untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God”. While the outer levels of the heart are a battleground between the forces of good and evil, this is not true of the innermost depth of the heart. As “the virgin point” the deep heart belongs only to God. It is pre-eminently the place of Divine immanence, the locus of God’s indwelling.
1. Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (New York: Doubleday, 1966), p. 142.
2. The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals, ed. Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2001), p. 124.
3. See Sidney H. Griffith, “Merton, Massignon, and the Challenge of Islam”, in Merton and Sufism: The Untold Story: A Complete Compendium, ed. Rob Baker and Gray Henry (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 1999), pp. 63-64.
4. Griffith, p. 65.
5. “Mary and the Virgin Heart: A Reflection on the Writings of Louis Massignon and Hallaj”, Sufi, 24 (1994-95), p. 8; Sufi, 28 (1995-96), p. 8.
6. “Neptic”: from the word nepsis, meaning sobriety, vigilance, spiritual insight. “Neptic theology”, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, includes the realms of both “ascetical theology” and “mystical theology”, as these are understood in the Roman Catholic tradition. For the importance of the term nepsis, note the
Greek title of The Philokalia, a classic collection of Orthodox spiritual writings from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries: “The Philokalia of the Holy Neptic [Fathers]”.
7. Mark the Monk (alias Mark the Ascetic or Marcus Eremita), “On Baptism”, §§4, 5, 11 (Patrologia Graeca [PG] 65: 996C, 1005 BCD, 1016 D), ed. Georges-Matthieu de Durand, Sources chrétiennes 445 (Paris: Cerf, 1999), pp. 322, 342-43, 368.
8. Abishiktananda, Prayer (London: SPCK, 1972), p. 54.
9. “The Scriptures as Word of God”, in The Eastern Churches Quarterly, VII, Supplementary Issue on “Tradition and Scripture” (1947), p. 78.
===
4.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings Part of: Perennial Philosophy (47 books)
Despite the long and well-known history of conflict between Christians and Muslims, their mystical traditions especially in the Christian East and in Sufism, have shared for centuries many of the same spiritual methods and goals.
The purpose of this book, the first major publication of its kind, is to promote precisely this more inward kind of ecumenical perspective.
These essays point to a spiritual heart in which the deeper meaning of Christian and Muslim beliefs and practices come alive, and
where spiritual pilgrims may discover, beyond the level of seemingly contradictory forms, an inner commonality with those who follow other paths.
289 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
... opens the way for a deep healing of the wounds of ignorance that have arisen ... between ... two great traditions. -- Alan Godlas, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Georgia
Professor Cutsinger is to be congratulated for having organized such a memorable interchange of opinions. -- Martin Lings, formerly Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts in the British Museum and author of Mohammed: His Life According to the Earliest Sources
The essays in Paths ... evidence a rare combination of intellectual rigor, breadth of spirit, and deep personal faith. -- Scott C. Alexander, Director of Catholic-Muslim Studies, Catholic Theological Union
This book is a spiritual treasure to be read and to be lived. -- Albert J. Raboteau, Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion, Princeton University
[An] informative study of the common threads and traits shared between the traditions of the Christian East and Islamic Sufism. -- The Midwest Book Review --This text refers to the paperback edition.
About the Author James S. Cutsinger
A widely recognized authority on the Sophia Perennis and the Perennialist school of comparative religious thought, Professor Cutsinger is best known for his work on the German philosopher Frithjof Schuon. He serves as secretary to the Foundation for Traditional Studies, and he is currently editing the Collected Works of Frithjof Schuon. In addition he is editing an anthology of Christian Mystical writings entitled "Not of this World," as part of World Wisdom's "Treasures of the World's Religion's" series.
The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he was honored in 1999 as a Michael J. Mungo University Teacher of the Year. He offers courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levles in Religious Studies, and he is a frequent contributor to USC's Honors College, where he has taken the lead in developing a series of courses in the study of Great Books.
Professor Cutsinger is a nationally known advocate of Socratic Teaching based on the classics. His consulting work has included curriculum development and design, contributions to great books seminars for professionals, and workshops in discussion-based pedagogy. He has also served as director of three National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars.
--This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details
ASIN : B004FN1LW4
Publisher : World Wisdom (August 1, 2010)
Publication date : August 1, 2010
Print length : 289 pages
4.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
Customer reviews
Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful bookReviewed in the United States on February 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
Any Traditionalist would be insane not to pick up this book. Even though I don't belong to either tradition discussed, the parallels are beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's also a great conversation starter between someone who is Orthodox and another who is Muslim. Often Muslims are demonized in the West, and I hope this helps to shed some of that.
6 people found this helpful
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GEORGE W ENGELHARD
5.0 out of 5 stars meditative prayersReviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
Loved the meditative prayers at the end of Huston Smith's contribution!!!
3 people found this helpful
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Sarah B
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on June 25, 2016
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A heavenly gift... Replete with meaning.
2 people found this helpful
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Ishraqi
5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Harmony Among TraditionsReviewed in the United States on April 27, 2008
Reading "Paths of the Heart" was a true learning experience.
To comment on a previous review:
As Thomas Merton said in his Conjectures:
"Le point vierge is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see the billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely...I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere."
May we seek the gate of heaven everywhere.
40 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
baphomette de medici
5.0 out of 5 stars the best and most essential of the two mystic traditionsReviewed in the United States on August 11, 2008
aside from gnosticism and the essences (and the more buddhistic/mazdaian silk road forms of a less patriarchical 'christianity' and already dyed heavily with the wisdom of the pre-islamic sufis!), this book distills some wisdom of the two best aspects of islam and christianity...if anything, hesychasm and certain sufi practices/paths truly transcend these worn out labels (of christianity and islam...).
if you follow the more fundamentalist viewpoint...very contracting/centrifugal, not open and expansive/centripetal, don't
raise a fuss at the ecumenical gesture this book (re)presents.
5 people found this helpful
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======
Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East
by James S. Cutsinger (Editor)
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James S. Cutsinger (Ph.D., Harvard) is Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina.
The recipient of a number of teaching awards, including most recently USC’s Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year for 2011, Professor Cutsinger offers courses in Religious Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and directs a series of great books semi ...more
BOOKS BY JAMES S. CUTSINGER
QUOTES FROM PATHS TO THE HEAR...
“The heart is the center of the human microcosm, at once the center
of the physical body, the vital energies, the emotions, and the soul,
as well as the meeting place between the human and the celestial
realms where the spirit resides. How remarkable is this reality of the heart, that mysterious center which from the point of view of our earthly existence seems so small, and yet as the Prophet has said it is the Throne (al-‘arsh) of God the All-Merciful (ar-Rahmân), the Throne that encompasses the whole universe. Or as he uttered in another saying, “My Heaven containeth Me not, nor My Earth, but the heart of My faithful servant doth contain Me.”
It is the heart, the realm of interiority, to which Christ referred
when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21), and it is the heart which the founders of all religions and the sacred scriptures advise man to keep pure as a condition for his salvation and deliverance. We need only recall the words of the Gospel, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8)
[…]
In Christianity the Desert Fathers articulated the spiritual, mystical, and symbolic meanings of the reality of the heart, and these teachings led to a long tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church known as Hesychasm, culminating with St Gregory Palamas, which is focused on the “prayer of the heart” and which includes the exposition of the significance of the heart and the elaboration of the mysticism and theology of the heart. In Catholicism another development took place, in which the heart of the faithful became in a sense replaced by the heart of Christ, and a new spirituality developed on the basis of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Reference to His bleeding heart became common in the writings of such figures as St Bernard of Clairvaux and St Catherine of Sienna. The Christian doctrines of the heart, based as they are on the Bible, present certain universal theses to be seen also in Judaism, the most important of which is the association of the heart with the inner soul of man and the center of the human state. In Jewish mysticism the spirituality of the heart was further developed, and some Jewish mystics emphasized the idea of the “broken or contrite heart” (levnichbar) and wrote that to reach the Divine Majesty one had to “tear one’s heart” and that the “broken heart” mentioned in the Psalms sufficed. To make clear the universality of the spiritual significance of the heart across religious boundaries, while also emphasizing the development of the “theology of the heart” and methods of “prayer of the heart” particular to each tradition, one may recall that the name of Horus, the Egyptian god, meant the “heart of the world”. In Sanskrit the term for heart, hridaya, means also the center of the world, since, by virtue of the analogy between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the center of man is also the center of the universe. Furthermore, in Sanskrit the term shraddha, meaning faith, also signifies knowledge of the heart, and the same is true in Arabic, where the word îmân means faith when used for man and knowledge when used for God, as in the Divine Name al-Mu’min. As for the Far Eastern tradition, in Chinese the term xin means both heart and mind or consciousness. – Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chapter 3: The Heart of the Faithful is the Throne of the All-Merciful)”
“The heart is the center of the human microcosm, at once the center of the physical body, the vital energies, the emotions, and the soul, as well as the meeting place between the human and the celestial realms where the spirit resides. How remarkable is this reality of the heart, that mysterious center which from the point of view of our earthly existence seems so small, and yet as the Prophet has said it is the Throne (al-‘arsh) of God the All-Merciful (ar-Rahmân), the Throne that encompasses the whole universe. Or as he uttered in another saying, “My Heaven containeth Me not, nor My Earth, but the heart of My faithful servant doth contain Me.” It is the heart, the realm of interiority, to which Christ referred when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21), and it is the heart which the founders of all religions and the sacred scriptures advise man to keep pure as a condition for his salvation and deliverance. We need only recall the words of the Gospel, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8)
[…]
In Christianity the Desert Fathers articulated the spiritual, mystical, and symbolic meanings of the reality of the heart, and these teachings led to a long tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church known as Hesychasm, culminating with St Gregory Palamas, which is focused on the “prayer of the heart” and which includes the exposition of the significance of the heart and the elaboration of the mysticism and theology of the heart. In Catholicism another development took place, in which the heart of the faithful became in a sense replaced by the heart of Christ, and a new spirituality developed on the basis of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Reference to His bleeding heart became common in the writings of such figures as St Bernard of Clairvaux and St Catherine of Sienna. The Christian doctrines of the heart, based as they are on the Bible, present certain universal theses to be seen also in Judaism, the most important of which is the association of the heart with the inner soul of man and the center of the human state. In Jewish mysticism the spirituality of the heart was further developed, and some Jewish mystics emphasized the idea of the “broken or contrite heart” (levnichbar) and wrote that to reach the Divine Majesty one had to “tear one’s heart” and that the “broken heart” mentioned in the Psalms sufficed. To make clear the universality of the spiritual significance of the heart across religious boundaries, while also emphasizing the development of the “theology of the heart” and methods of “prayer of the heart” particular to each tradition, one may recall that the name of Horus, the Egyptian god, meant the “heart of the world”. In Sanskrit the term for heart, hridaya, means also the center of the world, since, by virtue of the analogy between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the center of man is also the center of the universe. Furthermore, in Sanskrit the term shraddha, meaning faith, also signifies knowledge of the heart, and the same is true in Arabic, where the word îmân means faith when used for man and knowledge when used for God, as in the Divine Name al-Mu’min. As for the Far Eastern tradition, in Chinese the term xin means both heart and mind or consciousness. – Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chapter 3: The Heart of the Faithful is the Throne of the All-Merciful)”
The Long Way Home
289 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
... opens the way for a deep healing of the wounds of ignorance that have arisen ... between ... two great traditions. -- Alan Godlas, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Georgia
Professor Cutsinger is to be congratulated for having organized such a memorable interchange of opinions. -- Martin Lings, formerly Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts in the British Museum and author of Mohammed: His Life According to the Earliest Sources
The essays in Paths ... evidence a rare combination of intellectual rigor, breadth of spirit, and deep personal faith. -- Scott C. Alexander, Director of Catholic-Muslim Studies, Catholic Theological Union
This book is a spiritual treasure to be read and to be lived. -- Albert J. Raboteau, Henry W. Putnam Professor of Religion, Princeton University
[An] informative study of the common threads and traits shared between the traditions of the Christian East and Islamic Sufism. -- The Midwest Book Review --This text refers to the paperback edition.
About the Author James S. Cutsinger
A widely recognized authority on the Sophia Perennis and the Perennialist school of comparative religious thought, Professor Cutsinger is best known for his work on the German philosopher Frithjof Schuon. He serves as secretary to the Foundation for Traditional Studies, and he is currently editing the Collected Works of Frithjof Schuon. In addition he is editing an anthology of Christian Mystical writings entitled "Not of this World," as part of World Wisdom's "Treasures of the World's Religion's" series.
The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he was honored in 1999 as a Michael J. Mungo University Teacher of the Year. He offers courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levles in Religious Studies, and he is a frequent contributor to USC's Honors College, where he has taken the lead in developing a series of courses in the study of Great Books.
Professor Cutsinger is a nationally known advocate of Socratic Teaching based on the classics. His consulting work has included curriculum development and design, contributions to great books seminars for professionals, and workshops in discussion-based pedagogy. He has also served as director of three National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars.
--This text refers to the paperback edition.
Product details
ASIN : B004FN1LW4
Publisher : World Wisdom (August 1, 2010)
Publication date : August 1, 2010
Print length : 289 pages
4.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
Customer reviews
Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful bookReviewed in the United States on February 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
Any Traditionalist would be insane not to pick up this book. Even though I don't belong to either tradition discussed, the parallels are beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's also a great conversation starter between someone who is Orthodox and another who is Muslim. Often Muslims are demonized in the West, and I hope this helps to shed some of that.
6 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
GEORGE W ENGELHARD
5.0 out of 5 stars meditative prayersReviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018
Verified Purchase
Loved the meditative prayers at the end of Huston Smith's contribution!!!
3 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
Sarah B
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on June 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
A heavenly gift... Replete with meaning.
2 people found this helpful
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Ishraqi
5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Harmony Among TraditionsReviewed in the United States on April 27, 2008
Reading "Paths of the Heart" was a true learning experience.
In an age of strained relations between Christians and Muslims (and a time in which widespread ignorance of each others Traditions exist) this book could prove immensely helpful. If you know anything about Eastern Orthodoxy in the English speaking world you have probably heard of Bishop Kallistos Ware. Bishop Ware presents an excellent chapter on the Jesus Prayer and the way of entering the heart. The same can be said of Seyyed Hossein Nasr - That is, if you are at all knowledge regarding Islam in America you have probably read one of his books or at least heard of him before. Nasr's chapter on the Mercy of God alone is worth the price of the book.
If anyone is interested in previewing a chapter of this book before they purchase it I would recommend checking out James Cutsingers web page. On his page you can find the chapter " Hesychia, an Orthodox Opening to Esoteric Ecumenism" - [wont let me put the web address just Google " James Cutsinger, Hesychia, an Orthodox... "]
If anyone is interested in previewing a chapter of this book before they purchase it I would recommend checking out James Cutsingers web page. On his page you can find the chapter " Hesychia, an Orthodox Opening to Esoteric Ecumenism" - [wont let me put the web address just Google " James Cutsinger, Hesychia, an Orthodox... "]
To comment on a previous review:
Yes, Hesychasm is not recognized as "mainstream Christianity" in most Western denominations
but it is perfectly mainstream among Orthodox Christians (including those living in the west). It's also compatible with the teachings of many of the great Catholic Mystics and Saints.
Read "The Invocation of the Name of Jesus As Practiced in the Western Church" by Rama Coomaraswamy for evidence of this.
20 people found this helpful
John M. Cathey
5.0 out of 5 stars As an individual who takes great interest in all the topics in this bookReviewed in the United States on June 15, 2017
As an individual who takes great interest in all the topics in this book, I found the book enlightening on several grounds. For one, the collection focuses not only on what is shared and common to both the Eastern Christian Hesychast path and Sufism, but the authors feel comfortable enough to be honest about their Tradition's perspective(s), including where these two represented do not agree. As well, the collection does not shy away from the depth of its topics; there is no cutting corners; this is a full course meal.
Coming to the text with a background in Western Christianity and years of studying Sufism as well, I left the text with a new enthusiasm and interest in the Eastern Christian world. Just to read about the lofty states of some Eastern Christian saints was a grace.
4 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
matt
5.0 out of 5 stars Seeking the "virgin point"Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2002
A perusal of current media in print, radio and television reinforces the observation that we are living in a time when the cultures of the Middle East are portrayed as ideologically opposed to the West. At the core of our alleged differences is the role of Islamic fundamentalism with its hegemonic determination to dominate cultures both in the Middle East and abroad. Such views are not new. The "clash of civilizations" theory of Samuel Huntington had already proposed and popularized this understanding in the mid-1990s. At a time when this perspective is gaining momentum, it is helpful to seek a corrective to a myopic understanding of Islam that often accompanies Huntington's theory; namely, that Islam is nothing more than Wahhabism. Moreover, a historical reexamination of Christianity's own understanding of God can be beneficial for "Westerners" who tend to understand their own religious heritage typically through modern Protestant lenses, which often leads to the positing of false dichotomies between Islam and Christianity, seeing them as mutually exclusive with no common ground. By reconsidering the mystical theologies of each religion it can be shown that a fundamental convergence occurs in the mystical thought and experience of each tradition. In particular, this inner commonality can form the basis of a deeper conversation between Christians and Muslims than has been typical in our day, aiding in a clearer mutual understanding of the similarities that exist between the fundamental religious traditions of our cultures. To this end, Paths To The Heart is an excellent beginning.
20 people found this helpful
John M. Cathey
5.0 out of 5 stars As an individual who takes great interest in all the topics in this bookReviewed in the United States on June 15, 2017
As an individual who takes great interest in all the topics in this book, I found the book enlightening on several grounds. For one, the collection focuses not only on what is shared and common to both the Eastern Christian Hesychast path and Sufism, but the authors feel comfortable enough to be honest about their Tradition's perspective(s), including where these two represented do not agree. As well, the collection does not shy away from the depth of its topics; there is no cutting corners; this is a full course meal.
Coming to the text with a background in Western Christianity and years of studying Sufism as well, I left the text with a new enthusiasm and interest in the Eastern Christian world. Just to read about the lofty states of some Eastern Christian saints was a grace.
4 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
matt
5.0 out of 5 stars Seeking the "virgin point"Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2002
A perusal of current media in print, radio and television reinforces the observation that we are living in a time when the cultures of the Middle East are portrayed as ideologically opposed to the West. At the core of our alleged differences is the role of Islamic fundamentalism with its hegemonic determination to dominate cultures both in the Middle East and abroad. Such views are not new. The "clash of civilizations" theory of Samuel Huntington had already proposed and popularized this understanding in the mid-1990s. At a time when this perspective is gaining momentum, it is helpful to seek a corrective to a myopic understanding of Islam that often accompanies Huntington's theory; namely, that Islam is nothing more than Wahhabism. Moreover, a historical reexamination of Christianity's own understanding of God can be beneficial for "Westerners" who tend to understand their own religious heritage typically through modern Protestant lenses, which often leads to the positing of false dichotomies between Islam and Christianity, seeing them as mutually exclusive with no common ground. By reconsidering the mystical theologies of each religion it can be shown that a fundamental convergence occurs in the mystical thought and experience of each tradition. In particular, this inner commonality can form the basis of a deeper conversation between Christians and Muslims than has been typical in our day, aiding in a clearer mutual understanding of the similarities that exist between the fundamental religious traditions of our cultures. To this end, Paths To The Heart is an excellent beginning.
As Thomas Merton said in his Conjectures:
"Le point vierge is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see the billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely...I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere."
May we seek the gate of heaven everywhere.
40 people found this helpful
HelpfulReport abuse
baphomette de medici
5.0 out of 5 stars the best and most essential of the two mystic traditionsReviewed in the United States on August 11, 2008
aside from gnosticism and the essences (and the more buddhistic/mazdaian silk road forms of a less patriarchical 'christianity' and already dyed heavily with the wisdom of the pre-islamic sufis!), this book distills some wisdom of the two best aspects of islam and christianity...if anything, hesychasm and certain sufi practices/paths truly transcend these worn out labels (of christianity and islam...).
if you follow the more fundamentalist viewpoint...very contracting/centrifugal, not open and expansive/centripetal, don't
raise a fuss at the ecumenical gesture this book (re)presents.
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Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East
by James S. Cutsinger (Editor)
4.29 · Rating details · 31 ratings · 4 reviews
With wisdom that rings well with the heart, this volume answers the questions What do the mystical traditions of the Christian East and Sufism have in common? and Is there a dialogue that can promote a deep and lasting bond between Christianity and Islam? Amongst others, the contributors include Gray Henry, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Huston Smith.
Jan 31, 2013Gwen rated it really liked it
Shelves: islam-related, relgion
I picked this one up to see if there was a way to reconcile my Sufi path with my grandfather's Russian Orthodox path. This book does a pretty good job of bridging the gap. Some of the passages are much stronger than others. The first two and the one from Houston Smith were my personal favorites. I'm giving this one a four because it has quite a bit of good information in it, but at the same time I don't think this book will change anyone's mind one way or the other. In the introduction it's said that the point of the book, and the conference that it came from, was to bridge the gap between the religions. I just didn't get that sense from reading it. I'm not really sure why I feel that way though. (less)
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Jan 31, 2021Mark David Vinzens rated it it was amazing
Shelves: sufi
This book is a jewel of divine wisdom.
flagLike · see review
Feb 28, 2019Quan Rjpt rated it it was amazing
A collection of articles from traditional authors. my favorite has to be Chittick. Always enjoy anything written by him.
flagLike · comment · see review…
ABOUT JAMES S. CUTSINGER
James S. Cutsinger
With wisdom that rings well with the heart, this volume answers the questions What do the mystical traditions of the Christian East and Sufism have in common? and Is there a dialogue that can promote a deep and lasting bond between Christianity and Islam? Amongst others, the contributors include Gray Henry, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Huston Smith.
Jan 31, 2013Gwen rated it really liked it
Shelves: islam-related, relgion
I picked this one up to see if there was a way to reconcile my Sufi path with my grandfather's Russian Orthodox path. This book does a pretty good job of bridging the gap. Some of the passages are much stronger than others. The first two and the one from Houston Smith were my personal favorites. I'm giving this one a four because it has quite a bit of good information in it, but at the same time I don't think this book will change anyone's mind one way or the other. In the introduction it's said that the point of the book, and the conference that it came from, was to bridge the gap between the religions. I just didn't get that sense from reading it. I'm not really sure why I feel that way though. (less)
flag1 like · Like · comment · see review
Jan 31, 2021Mark David Vinzens rated it it was amazing
Shelves: sufi
This book is a jewel of divine wisdom.
flagLike · see review
Feb 28, 2019Quan Rjpt rated it it was amazing
A collection of articles from traditional authors. my favorite has to be Chittick. Always enjoy anything written by him.
flagLike · comment · see review…
ABOUT JAMES S. CUTSINGER
James S. Cutsinger
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James S. Cutsinger (Ph.D., Harvard) is Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina.
The recipient of a number of teaching awards, including most recently USC’s Michael J. Mungo Distinguished Professor of the Year for 2011, Professor Cutsinger offers courses in Religious Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and directs a series of great books semi ...more
BOOKS BY JAMES S. CUTSINGER
QUOTES FROM PATHS TO THE HEAR...
“The heart is the center of the human microcosm, at once the center
of the physical body, the vital energies, the emotions, and the soul,
as well as the meeting place between the human and the celestial
realms where the spirit resides. How remarkable is this reality of the heart, that mysterious center which from the point of view of our earthly existence seems so small, and yet as the Prophet has said it is the Throne (al-‘arsh) of God the All-Merciful (ar-Rahmân), the Throne that encompasses the whole universe. Or as he uttered in another saying, “My Heaven containeth Me not, nor My Earth, but the heart of My faithful servant doth contain Me.”
It is the heart, the realm of interiority, to which Christ referred
when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21), and it is the heart which the founders of all religions and the sacred scriptures advise man to keep pure as a condition for his salvation and deliverance. We need only recall the words of the Gospel, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8)
[…]
In Christianity the Desert Fathers articulated the spiritual, mystical, and symbolic meanings of the reality of the heart, and these teachings led to a long tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church known as Hesychasm, culminating with St Gregory Palamas, which is focused on the “prayer of the heart” and which includes the exposition of the significance of the heart and the elaboration of the mysticism and theology of the heart. In Catholicism another development took place, in which the heart of the faithful became in a sense replaced by the heart of Christ, and a new spirituality developed on the basis of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Reference to His bleeding heart became common in the writings of such figures as St Bernard of Clairvaux and St Catherine of Sienna. The Christian doctrines of the heart, based as they are on the Bible, present certain universal theses to be seen also in Judaism, the most important of which is the association of the heart with the inner soul of man and the center of the human state. In Jewish mysticism the spirituality of the heart was further developed, and some Jewish mystics emphasized the idea of the “broken or contrite heart” (levnichbar) and wrote that to reach the Divine Majesty one had to “tear one’s heart” and that the “broken heart” mentioned in the Psalms sufficed. To make clear the universality of the spiritual significance of the heart across religious boundaries, while also emphasizing the development of the “theology of the heart” and methods of “prayer of the heart” particular to each tradition, one may recall that the name of Horus, the Egyptian god, meant the “heart of the world”. In Sanskrit the term for heart, hridaya, means also the center of the world, since, by virtue of the analogy between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the center of man is also the center of the universe. Furthermore, in Sanskrit the term shraddha, meaning faith, also signifies knowledge of the heart, and the same is true in Arabic, where the word îmân means faith when used for man and knowledge when used for God, as in the Divine Name al-Mu’min. As for the Far Eastern tradition, in Chinese the term xin means both heart and mind or consciousness. – Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chapter 3: The Heart of the Faithful is the Throne of the All-Merciful)”
“The heart is the center of the human microcosm, at once the center of the physical body, the vital energies, the emotions, and the soul, as well as the meeting place between the human and the celestial realms where the spirit resides. How remarkable is this reality of the heart, that mysterious center which from the point of view of our earthly existence seems so small, and yet as the Prophet has said it is the Throne (al-‘arsh) of God the All-Merciful (ar-Rahmân), the Throne that encompasses the whole universe. Or as he uttered in another saying, “My Heaven containeth Me not, nor My Earth, but the heart of My faithful servant doth contain Me.” It is the heart, the realm of interiority, to which Christ referred when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21), and it is the heart which the founders of all religions and the sacred scriptures advise man to keep pure as a condition for his salvation and deliverance. We need only recall the words of the Gospel, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8)
[…]
In Christianity the Desert Fathers articulated the spiritual, mystical, and symbolic meanings of the reality of the heart, and these teachings led to a long tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church known as Hesychasm, culminating with St Gregory Palamas, which is focused on the “prayer of the heart” and which includes the exposition of the significance of the heart and the elaboration of the mysticism and theology of the heart. In Catholicism another development took place, in which the heart of the faithful became in a sense replaced by the heart of Christ, and a new spirituality developed on the basis of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Reference to His bleeding heart became common in the writings of such figures as St Bernard of Clairvaux and St Catherine of Sienna. The Christian doctrines of the heart, based as they are on the Bible, present certain universal theses to be seen also in Judaism, the most important of which is the association of the heart with the inner soul of man and the center of the human state. In Jewish mysticism the spirituality of the heart was further developed, and some Jewish mystics emphasized the idea of the “broken or contrite heart” (levnichbar) and wrote that to reach the Divine Majesty one had to “tear one’s heart” and that the “broken heart” mentioned in the Psalms sufficed. To make clear the universality of the spiritual significance of the heart across religious boundaries, while also emphasizing the development of the “theology of the heart” and methods of “prayer of the heart” particular to each tradition, one may recall that the name of Horus, the Egyptian god, meant the “heart of the world”. In Sanskrit the term for heart, hridaya, means also the center of the world, since, by virtue of the analogy between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the center of man is also the center of the universe. Furthermore, in Sanskrit the term shraddha, meaning faith, also signifies knowledge of the heart, and the same is true in Arabic, where the word îmân means faith when used for man and knowledge when used for God, as in the Divine Name al-Mu’min. As for the Far Eastern tradition, in Chinese the term xin means both heart and mind or consciousness. – Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Chapter 3: The Heart of the Faithful is the Throne of the All-Merciful)”
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The Long Way Home
