The World Turned Inside Out

The first book in English to synthesize the remarkable work of Henry Corbin, the great French philosopher,Christian theologian, and scholar of Islamic mysticism. Corbin, a colleague of C. G. Jung’s at Eranos, and one themost important visionaries of the twentieth century, had a seminal influence on the development of archetypal psychology,especially through the idea of the “imaginal world.” Corbin’s work bridges the gap between the philosophy and theology ofthe West and the mysticism of Islam and provides a radical and unified vision of the three great monotheistic religions basedupon the Creative Imagination. One obstacle for the reader of Corbin’s writings is the fact that the “Oriental” philosophy in which he came to find his home is little known. Corbin’s heart lay in Iranian Shi’ism—for many people an obscure branch of a poorly understood religion. The mention of Iran or of Shi’ite Islam conjures up for too many only visions of violence and intolerance. Yet the message that Corbin brings from Iran and from Islam is potentially of such psychological and cultural importance as to make the effort of familiarizing ourselves with his work and the traditions from which it springs more than worthwhile. Second, revised edition.