Spiritual Humanism: A Call to Creativity in Sufi Studies

Jonathan KEIR

doi:https://doi.org/10.32739/ustad.2022.1.15

Article Details

Spiritual Humanism: A Call to Creativity in Sufi Studies

Authors:

Jonathan KEIR

Publisher:

Uskudar University

Main Topics:

Technology

Journal:

Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies 2022 Vol.1 Issue 1, pp.27-40

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

8/2022

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000805493

Frequency:

Bi-Annual

eISSN:

2822-4515

pISSN:

2822-3829

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32739/ustad.2022.1.15

Keywords:

Abstract:

 

Chinese philosopher Tu Weiming (1940-) has spent a lifetime in dialogue with cultural and spiritual traditions beyond the sanjiao or ‘three religions’ (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism) of the Sinic world. This engagement has included sustained intercourse with the Abrahamic monotheisms and Hellenic philosophy, Hinduism and Indian spirituality, and a variety of indigenous heritages. The outcome of such cross-cultural ferment has been the elaboration of a ‘spiritual humanist’ alternative to the secular humanism of post-Enlightenment modernity. We begin by introducing Tu’s concept of Spiritual Humanism in general and his engagement with the Islamic world in particular. Adonis is then identified as a natural ally; his Sufism and Surrealism is presented as a case study in Spiritual Humanism with obvious relevance for Sufi Studies. Contemporary Sufi Studies discourse, this paper ultimately argues, should likewise not restrict itself to hermetic philological analyses of traditional sources; following Adonis’s example in Sufism and Surrealism, it should embrace the creative reelaboration of this tradition in the face of contact with new stimuli. Tu’s Spiritual Humanism is both one such stimulus and an active Confucian embodiment of this spirit of creativity.

 

Chinese philosopher Tu Weiming (1940-) has spent a lifetime in dialogue with cultural and spiritual traditions beyond the sanjiao or ‘three religions’ (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism) of the Sinic world. This engagement has included sustained intercourse with the Abrahamic monotheisms and Hellenic philosophy, Hinduism and Indian spirituality, and a variety of indigenous heritages. The outcome of such cross-cultural ferment has been the elaboration of a ‘spiritual humanist’ alternative to the secular humanism of post-Enlightenment modernity. We begin by introducing Tu’s concept of Spiritual Humanism in general and his engagement with the Islamic world in particular. Adonis is then identified as a natural ally; his Sufism and Surrealism is presented as a case study in Spiritual Humanism with obvious relevance for Sufi Studies. Contemporary Sufi Studies discourse, this paper ultimately argues, should likewise not restrict itself to hermetic philological analyses of traditional sources; following Adonis’s example in Sufism and Surrealism, it should embrace the creative reelaboration of this tradition in the face of contact with new stimuli. Tu’s Spiritual Humanism is both one such stimulus and an active Confucian embodiment of this spirit of creativity.

Article Details

Spiritual Humanism: A Call to Creativity in Sufi Studies

Authors:

Jonathan KEIR

Publisher:

Uskudar University

Main Topics:

Technology

Journal:

Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies 2022 Vol.1 Issue 1, pp.27-40

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

8/2022

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000805493

Frequency:

Bi-Annual

eISSN:

2822-4515

pISSN:

2822-3829

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32739/ustad.2022.1.15

Spiritual Humanism

Tu Weiming

Naguib Mahfouz

Adonis

Surrealism.

Spiritual Humanism, Tu Weiming, Naguib Mahfouz, Adonis, Surrealism.

Issues

Article Details

Spiritual Humanism: A Call to Creativity in Sufi Studies

Authors: Jonathan KEIR

Publisher: Uskudar University

Main Topics: Technology

Journal: Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies 2022 Vol.1 Issue 1, pp.27-40

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 8/2022

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2000805493

Frequency: Bi-Annual

eISSN: 2822-4515

pISSN: 2822-3829

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32739/ustad.2022.1.15

Spiritual Humanism

Tu Weiming

Naguib Mahfouz

Adonis

Surrealism.

Spiritual Humanism, Tu Weiming, Naguib Mahfouz, Adonis, Surrealism.

Issues

Authors:

Jonathan KEIR

Publisher:

Uskudar University

Main Topics:

Technology

Journal:

Journal of the Institute for Sufi Studies 2022 Vol.1 Issue 1, pp.27-40

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

8/2022

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2000805493

Frequency:

Bi-Annual

eISSN:

2822-4515

pISSN:

2822-3829

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32739/ustad.2022.1.15