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Rating: 
Summary: Great book for the journey
Review: I do not have anything to add to the card catalogue description of the book, available above. I only want to say that for those friends of mine who have read the book a few times, they have all been helped on a deep level to think more clearly about the nature of faith and religion. Truly it is above all a relationship with a living person (or three!). I would also recommend "Every Branch In Me", which bulids upon the same themes found in this book. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A lamp on the path
Review: Once a while you stumble on a book that has the right signs to help you further on a path of knowledge. I discovered and benefited tremendously from this book while trying to understand and intend to follow a path for purification of soul. It helped me introduce to Frithjof Schuon's writings in simple language and also brought to me metaphysical discipline in a straight forward vocabulary. Although, this book is written with a Christian reader in mind, I (a Muslim) still benefited by relating most of the discussion while keeping Islamic and Sufi symbolism in mind.
Dr. Cutsinger approached this book by addressing several fundamental questions that one can expect from a curious mind (who has received the blessing to start to hear the Call) and he did a good justice in answering these throughout the book. He also kept various audiences (e.g., skeptic, serious seeker) in mind while explaining metaphysical view-points very clearly.
I am looking forward to read his next book on Prayer (based again on Frithjof Schuon's writings). I felt a test of writings of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (who has also written several books on similar topics but more from Sufi and Islamic view-point) while reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Introduction to Perennial Metaphysics
Review: This work is without doubt the most comprehensive introduction of metaphysics from the perspective of the religious traditions. Cutsinger writes with a pen whose ink can only be light in that every page is illuminated with the most profound of metaphysical dialectic. Cutsinger, a student of Frithjof Schuon, addresses his reader with discourse as would a spiritual master, yet he retains the humility and self-restrain so essential to the Path itself.
In this work the reader will be treated with thorough explanations of Truth, Virtue and Prayer from the perspective of the Sophia Perennis. Such topic as the categorization of religion into bakhti, karma and jnana are discussed in great detail as well as a full treatment of the epsitemology advocated by the Traditionalist school which centers objective knowledge on the experience of transcendence found in universal esoterism, but approached through a particular revealed religion.
This work is perfect for anyone seeking an Intellectual understanding of religion that doesn't collapse into relativism. Cutsinger introduces perennial metaphysics in such a cool and graceful way that one leaves the book glowing.
The most important thing about the metaphysics espoused herein can be found in this statement of Schuon: "Metaphysics cannot be taught to everyone, but if it could there would be no atheists." I'll conclude by saying that if metaphysics could be taught to everyone, then this book would certainly serve as the best introduction.
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