Comparative Literature Program

Professor Laude has been teaching at Georgetown since 1991. Since August 2006 he has been on the faculty of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he teaches theology and humanities courses. A former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, he earned a M.A. in comparative philosophy from the University of Paris IV Sorbonne in 1982, and a doctorate in French literature from Indiana University in 1985.

Professor Laude's scholarly interests and output lie in comparative mysticism, the relationship between poetry and mysticism, and Western representations and interpretations of Islamic and Asian contemplative, mystical and wisdom traditions. He has extensively written and lectured on eminent and original figures of European spirituality such as Jeanne Guyon, Fénelon, Simone Weil, Louis Massignon, Henry Corbin, and Frithjof Schuon.
He has authored over ten books and monographs including: Pathways to an Inner Islam, Albany: SUNY Press, 2010, Louis Massignon: The Vow and the Oath, London: Matheson Trust, 2011, Pray Without Ceasing: The Way of the Invocation in World Religion, Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, 2006, Divine Play, Sacred Laughter and Spiritual Understanding. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2005, Singing the Way: Insights in Poetry and Spiritual Transformation. Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, 2005, Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998): Life and Teachings. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2004, Patrick Laude, ed. Music of the Sky: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry. Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom, 2004, Massignon intérieur. Paris-Lausanne: L''Age d''Homme, 2001, Approches du quiétisme. Tubingen: Biblio 17, 1992. L''Eden entredit: The Way of Poetry: Essays on Poetics and Contemplative Transformation (2002), Massignon intérieur (2001), Lecture de La Chanson d''Eve de Charles Van Lerberghe (1994), Approches du quiétisme (1991), Les Décors de silence: essais sur la poésie de Georges Rodenbach (1990), and Exotisme indochinois et poésie (1990). He has also published numerous articles in academic journals including Symposium, Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, La Revue Théologique de Louvain, Dix-septième siècle, Parabola and Neophilologus.