William Stoddart

For the American architect, see William Lee Stoddart. For the English footballer, see Bill Stoddart.

Stoddart in 2007

William Smith Stoddart (25 June 1925 – 9 November 2023) was a Scottish-Canadian physician, author and spiritual traveller, who wrote several books on the Perennial Philosophy and on comparative religion.[1]

Biography

William Smith Stoddart was born in Carstairs, Scotland on 25 June 1925. He graduated in medicine from Glasgow University.[2]

Stoddart has been called a "master of synthesis"[3] and was one of the important Perennialist writers. For many years he was assistant editor of the British journal Studies in Comparative Religion. He has translated into English, from the original French or German, several books of the perennialists Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) and Titus Burckhardt (1908–1984).

Stoddart lived most of his life in London, England, before moving, in 1982, to Windsor, Ontario, Canada.[4] He died in Windsor on 9 November 2023, at the age of 98.[5]

Bibliography

Books

As author

  • Outline of Sufism: The Essentials of Islamic Spirituality (World Wisdom, 2013)
  • What does Islam mean in today's world? (World Wisdom, 2012)
  • Remembering in a World of Forgetting (World Wisdom, 2008)
  • Invincible Wisdom (Sophia Perennis, 2007)
  • Hinduism and Its Spiritual Masters (Fons Vitae, 2006)
  • Outline of Buddhism (Foundation for Traditional Studies, 1998)
  • Outline of Hinduism (Foundation for Traditional Studies, 1993)
  • Sufism: The Mystical Doctrines and Methods of Islam (Paragon House Publishers, New York City; Revised edition, 1985, ISBN 0-913757-47-0)

As editor

  • The Essential Titus Burckhardt: Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations (World Wisdom, 2003)
  • Religion of the Heart: Essays Presented to Frithjof Schuon on His Eightieth Birthday (Foundation for Traditional Studies, 1991) – co-published with Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Articles

See also

References

  1. ^ See "The Peregrine Falcon", by Mateus Soares de Azevedo, in the Canadian journal Sacred Web, number 35, Summer 2015
  2. ^ Mateus Soares de Azevedo, "Biography of William Stoddart" in Stoddart, Remembering in a World of Forgetting, Bloomington/IN, U.S.A.: World Wisdom Books, 2008, p. 135 ff.
  3. ^ Sophia, Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 1998
  4. ^ An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality (Perennial Philosophy). ISBN 978-1-936597-26-0. Retrieved 22 October 2023. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. ^ "William Stoddart's life and work". Retrieved 19 December 2023.