Jakarta

                                                             Istiklal Mosque.

Mystical Dimensions of Islam

 

Despite occasional and unfortunate Orientalist myopia, this classic is well worth reading and periodically re-reading. It is encyclopedic in its range and it is difficult to imagine how any single author could produce, in a single volume, a comparable study today.

The Greene Canon

 

Graham Greene

                                                             The Unquiet Englishman.

Spinoza's Smile

 

What if it turned out that Spinoza was more right than wrong about much of what he thought? For example, what if his confidence in reason was warranted? Ought we not then struggle to be more rational? And if it is true that there is an inner logic to the working out of natural processes in time, ought we not to approach the study of nature with a kind of religious devotion? 

Answering these questions in the affirmative would not preclude our partaking of Dr. Fischelson's foolishness. Would our foolishness not bring a smile to Spinoza's lips?