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.See "The Peregrine Falcon", by Mateus Soares de Azevedo, in the Canadian journal Sacred Web, number 35, Summer 2015
Biography William Smith Stoddart was born in Carstairs, Scotland on 25 June 1925. He graduated in medicine from Glasgow University.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.
Stoddart has been called a "master of synthesis"Sophia, Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 1998 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. He died in Windsor on 9 November 2023, at the age of 98.
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, )
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
As translator Frithjof Schuon, Esoterism as Principle and as Way (Perennial Books, 1981) Frithjof Schuon, Sufism: Veil and Quintessence (World Wisdom, 1981)
Articles Frithjof Schuon and the Perennialist School Religious and Ethnic Conflict Rama Coomaraswamy: between Perennialism and Catholicism (in collaboration with Mateus Soares de Azevedo) Religion and Anti-Religion in Eastern Europe The Role of Culture in Education Right Hand of Truth: Life and Work of Titus Burckhardt Aspects of Islamic Esoterism
See also
External links Biography of William Stoddart Studies in Comparative Religion
References