Whitall Perry poses the question: "Why did Shakespeare with his enormous imagination and intelligence infused by a triple genius—spiritual, psychological, and poetico-dramatic—bother at the very summit of his career to write this play at all?" He replies to his own query with the goal of his article: "…The point of this paper is to demonstrate that the playwright, true to his usual alchemy, is delivering a threefold message simultaneously spiritual, cosmological, and social in bearing."

Alan Watts considered himself for a time to be among the contemporaries of Schuon, Guénon, and other exponents of the Perennial Philosphy, but later disassociated himself from the movement. In this article, Whitall N. Perry delivers a thorough critique of the perspective outlined in Watts’ book, Beyond Theology, linking his ideas to those of J. Krishnamurti, also known as Alcyone. In the course of this discussions he highlights several key differences between traditional metaphysics and the form of spirituality referred to by Watts as “Godmanship.” He concludes by listing the common characteristics found among all such “spokesmen for a New Religion”.

Readers will not be surprised to find reviewer Whitall N. Perry once more brandishing his ever-sharp critical pen to expose errors in a book on religion. This time, he highlights errors in a book on Pope Pius XII. The book, The Silence of Pius XII, by Carlo Falconi, purports to be an impartial investigation into whether or not Pope Pius XII ignored the atrocities of the Nazis and whether or not he, and the Church, could have done more to stop them. Perry contends that the investigation's results are, in fact, very weighted in the negative, and ignore contrary evidence showing the Pope's efforts on behalf of the persecuted Jews. Perry suggests that the conclusions of Falconi, and others, are probably colored by motives stemming from opposition to traditional Catholicism, and thus to a pope known for his adherence to tradition.

With ironic humor, Whitall N. Perry traces the career and teachings of Gopi Krishna as set out in this book. Having received an exemplary traditional upbringing, Gopi Krishna later espoused Modernism and rationality and set about using yoga as a biological tool to achieve the “bliss of unembodied existence”. However, things went awry when he awakened the solar nerve by mistake.... Perry concludes that “not even the ‘imprimatur’ of an authority like Spiegelberg [who wrote the introduction to the book] can get this man into the company of the saints, which in any case would be irrelevant if not incongruous to a deist concerned with biological evolution rather than traditional orthodoxy.”

Whitall N. Perry begins by offering A Dictionary of Comparative Religion a necessary commendation as a long-awaited text for this field of study. However, his praise quickly moves to criticism as he examines the way in which the breadth of the book sacrifices a certain quality of scholarship. Perry proceeds to cite a number of essential texts and authors that are never mentioned in the volume. He even suggests that whereas Christianity would at one time have been favored, “the pendulum has swung too far” and that the space devoted to Christianity is insufficient. Offering a suggestion for a revised format, Perry admits that the resultant cost needed for such an effort would likely limit demand for the book to academics alone.

The two-volume encyclopedia of Hinduism by Benjamin Walker is, according to reviewer Whitall Perry, a “manageable survey of this phenomenon [Hinduism] in a manner at once accessible and convincing to any serious lay reader in need of an erudite reference manual that is something less than a library.” Perry notes several ‘inevitable’ areas that do not receive the detail one would hope for, and criticizes Walker for his dismissal of the caste system and discounting of the Bhagavadgitâ. He notes however, that to reject the book on this basis would be a waste; “it seems, alas, that it often takes one kind of person to document spirituality and another to understand it.”

Edited by Roger C. Owen, James J. F. Deetz, and Anthony D. Fisher, Whitall N. Perry reviews The North American Indians: A Sourcebook. It is “a compilation of articles from scientific studies that cover specialized aspects of Indian culture” and is “directed less to lovers of Indians than to lovers of anthropology.” The reviewer seems to find its “excesses of erudition” and lack of photographs irritating, but overall, is very impressed with the range of articles presented as well as the comprehensive list of educational films and bibliography.

This article is a selection taken from the chapter Orthodoxy-Ritual-Method from the book A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom. The general concept of a spiritual master is presented through different religious traditions in Perry’s selections from spiritual texts within Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Perry has also selected some quotations from specific figures such as Rumi, Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Chang Po-tuan. This careful selection of texts demonstrates that a spiritual master whether he is called a ‘Guru’, ‘Sheikh’ or ‘teacher’ is an essential figure for any spiritual seeker. While the variety of traditions represented in this selection of quotations makes for very eclectic and intriguing reading.

Perry addresses the issue of reincarnation or more specifically metempsychosis in this article. He begins by discussing a book about metempsychosis where the author attempts to explain the “survival of the human personality”. The reader is subsequently provided with various examples regarding the occurrence of several instances that resemble metempsychosis from both Asia and South America. Perry then switches from giving a more scientific approach to this topic, to viewing reincarnation within the context of the Vedanta. Towards the end of his article Perry introduces some of the ways that reincarnation occurs, and includes some of the negative instances, such as haunting, as well as positive ones, like the presence of a dead saint. Ultimately the author concludes that he will “gladly leave ‘science’ the task of demonstrating the ‘human survival of physical death’”