Critique of modern classical scholarship; essential unity of Egyptian, Greek and Islamic mysticisms
Algis Uždavinys (1962–2010) was a Lithuanian philosopher and scholar. His work pioneered the hermeneutical comparative study of Egyptian and Greek religions, especially their esoteric relations to Semitic religions, and in particular the inner aspect of Islam (Sufism). His books have been published in Lithuanian, Russian, English and French, including translations of Plotinus, Frithjof Schuon and Ananda Coomaraswamy into Russian and Lithuanian.
Upon graduation he came in contact with the writings and authors of the Traditionalist or Perennialist school, and this influenced his comparative exegesis, notably his studies on Sufism, the Ancient Egyptian religion, and his assertion of the substantial continuity of Greek philosophical tradition from Pythagoras down to the latest Neoplatonic authors.[2] In this last claim he was expressly indebted to Pierre Hadot.[2]
Uždavinys was an active member of the editorial board of the journal Acta Orientalia Vilnensia[3] and head of the department of humanities at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Kaunas Faculty; as an art critic, philosopher and intellectual he was a prominent figure in Lithuanian cultural life. In 2008 he spent time as a research fellow at La Trobe University in Bendigo, Australia.[4]
Sufism and Ancient Wisdom (Archetype and The Matheson Trust, 2020) ISBN978-1-901383-37-9.
Academic monographs in Lithuanian
Labyrinth of Sources. Hermeneutical Philosophy and Mystagogy of Proclus, Vilnius: Lithuanian State Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Eurigmas, 2002, ISBN9986-523-88-5.
Hellenic Philosophy from Numenius to Syrianus, Vilnius: Lithuanian State Institute of Culture, Philosophy, and Arts, 2003, ISBN9986-638-40-2.
Hermes Trismegistus: The Way of Wisdom, Vilnius: Sophia, 2005, ISBN9986-9351-3X.
The Problem of the Interpretation of Symbols and Images in Ancient Civilisations (Simbolių ir atvaizdų interpretacijos problema senovės civilizacijose), Vilnus, Sophia, 2006, ISBN9986-9351-5-6.
Sufism in Islamic Civilisation (Sufizmas islamo civilizacijoje), Kaunas: Atvirosios visuomenės studijų asociacija, 2007, ISBN9789-9559-91106.
"From Homer to the Glorious Qur’an: Hermeneutical Strategies in the Hellenistic and Islamic Traditions," Sacred Web, vol. 11, 2003.
"The Egyptian Book of the Dead and Neoplatonic Philosophy," History of Platonism, Plato Redivivus, eds. Robert Berchman and John Finamore. New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2005.
"Chaldean Divination and the Ascent to Heaven," in Seeing with Different Eyes: Essays in Astrology and Divination, eds. Patrick Curry and Angela Voss, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007.