Temenos Academy Newsletter October 2024

[Temenos Academy]

NEWSLETTER October 2024 EVENING LECTURES The Prince, the Widow, the Hermit – and their Tree of Life PROFESSOR MICHAEL BARRY Friday 25 October In the chair Emma Clark A proud World-Ruler suddenly confronted and humbled by a Wise Widow - or a Wise Hermit - permits Justice to flourish and his own soul to blossom like the Tree of Life. This central motif in the 12th-century Persian poetry of Nizâmi and the 14th-century Tuscan poetry of Dante and abundantly illustrated by the greatest artists in both these poets' civilizations (from Bihzâd to Botticelli) - with an amazing dramatic variant also concluding Shakespeare's As You Like It - can be traced back to a common Hellenistic trope with further influences stemming from as far as Buddhist India. How and why are explored through lovely pictures of this spiritual theme shared by three of the greatest geniuses in world literature. MICHAEL BARRY was born in New York City in 1948 but raised in France and partly in Afghanistan. He is currently Distinguished University Professor at the American University of Afghanistan (now in Qatar) and holds higher degrees in Islamic languages, medieval European literatures and social anthropology from the Universities of Princeton, Cambridge, McGill and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He taught for many years at Princeton and conceived the present layout of the galleries of Islamic Art in New York's Metropolitan Museum, further winning eighteen prizes for his teaching and writing from the United States, France, Iran and Afghanistan. He was knighted by the French Government in 2021 for outstanding humanitarian service in the Afghan field where his work over five decades has ranged from anthropological research to coordinating famine relief and defending human rights. Venue & Timing Institute of Ismaili Studies, Aga Khan Centre 10 Handyside St, London, N1C 4DN Nearest Underground – King’s Cross St Pancras Doors open 6.10pm, Lecture begins 6.30pm Admission £10 or £5 for members of Temenos Academy/Concessions FREE for full-time students with ID card E temenos...@myfastmail.com T 07513 883 335 [Image - Sultan Sanjar and the Widow, by the artist Mahmud-i Muzahhib of Herat, Bukhara (Uzbekistan), 1546 (Bibliothèque Nationale de France)]   ADVANCE NOTICE Wednesday 6 November The Eleusinian Mysteries – Film Screening and Q&A JULES CASHFORD Monday 18 November Silent Music: Poetry, Paradox, and Prayer in the Carmelite Tradition DR CATHERINE COLDSTREAM For full details of events click HERE   READING ESSENTIAL TEXTS SEMINARS Hamlet by William Shakespeare DR JOSEPH MILNE 9 October – 11 December (Wednesdays, 10 sessions) Fully Booked Please contact the administrator if you would like to be put on the reserve list and you will be informed if a place becomes available. For full details of course click HERE   THE ARCHIVE Our website Archive hosts many audio and video recordings of lectures, digital versions of all thirteen issues of the journal TEMENOS, and the texts of seventy articles from Temenos Academy Review. New material is added regularly. https://temenosacademy.org/main-lecture-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-journal-archive https://temenosacademy.org/temenos-academy-review-archive Many of our audio recordings are available as PODCASTS. PAYPAL GIVING FUND UK The Temenos Academy is registered with PayPal Giving Fund UK. When using PayPal if you choose you may also make a donation in support of the Temenos Academy. Thank you FURTHER INFORMATION EMAIL temenos...@myfastmail.com TELEPHONE 07513 883 335 PRIVACY POLICY https://temenosacademy.org/privacy-policy