Papers relating to the Temenos Academy

Scope and Content

This group of material consists of papers generated and accumulated by Lindop during his involvement with the Temenos Academy. It includes a series of general files containing correspondence, printed matter, agendas, minutes and reports; these document the way the Academy was run, its programme and agenda, and its relationships with other organizations - notably the Prince's Foundation; Prince Charles is also the Patron of Temenos. Also included is some material relating to the Temenos Academy Review generated during Lindop's editorship, and papers relating to the Academy's involvement in the Global Dialogue Initiative, a German charity set up to improve relations between the world's cultures, which focused initially on general disarmament.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Temenos Academy was founded by Kathleen Raine in 1990 as an educational charity dedicated to providing "teaching in philosophy and the arts in the light of the spiritual traditions of east and west". It was based on the principles promoted in Temenos, a journal devoted to "the arts of the Imagination" which was founded in 1981 by Raine, Keith Critchlow, Brian Keeble and Philip Sherrard, and reached its thirteenth and final issue in 1992. The Academy established series of lectures, study groups, events and publications which were firmly based in ten key principles (focusing on wisdom, spiritual vision, and tradition) and in the "perennial philosophy" - the learning of the Imagination. In 1998, the Temenos journal was revived as the Temenos Academy Review, containing a mixture of lectures given at the Academy and new work, including poetry, art and reviews. Through his friendship with Kathleen Raine, Grevel Lindop had become increasingly involved in the work of Temenos since its inception, and Raine invited him to be deputy editor of the new journal in 1998; in 2000 he took over as editor, although he continued to consult Raine on the content of the journal until her death in 2003. Raine also selected Lindop to succeed her as Director of the Academy in 2000. He ultimately stood down from both roles at the end of 2003 in order to focus on his writing, but he continues to stand on the Academy's Council.

Arrangement

The material is arranged in three series:

  • GCL/7/1 General Temenos Academy files
  • GCL/7/2 Files relating to the Temenos Academy Review
  • GCL/7/3 Files relating to the Global Dialogue Initiative