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In this article, the Alevi/Sunni historical point of distinct separation will be discussed. Political wrangling, and religious sectarian differences, which are often manipulated to create an awareness of historical errors, will be analyzed. Two Turkish rulers, Sultan Selim Khan and Shah Ismail, who sought to achieve “world domination” as a result of their efforts, their beliefs as well as sectarian differences, will be explained in a dimension of the handling process. Starting from 1514, which was the breaking point of historical misconceptions and falsehoods and thus the integration of the Alevi-Sunni will be discussed, including the obstacles as well. Starting with the rupture of Yavuz Sultan Selim,and the effects in Turkey in our age, which are full of social and political unrestduring the past forty years as well as today, are partly under the spotlight inthis report. In addition to this, we will concentrate on the solutions as well. The struggles in the political field, which can turn into sectarian differences, we can see today in the reflections of the fatwa of Shaykh al-Islam and the sorrow created as a result of these fatwas, which will be referred to later on.
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The current article aims to draw our attention to the fact that the Christian modern family from western countries is experiencing turning points, and these events bring their consequences not on the family only, but on the society as well. Family and society influence reciprocally, and within the current social and political framework, family has the power to do something to get rid of this crisis in which it has entered since the confusion between the symptoms of its decay and its authentic needs. Therefore, the power hunger, strong desire for welfare, redefinition of the family concept, child protection services and other similar issues represent the grievous side of the contemporary society and prove once again that the real needs of the family are from the spiritual zone among the most important ones are: faith in God, obeying and fulfilling the Bible, being involved in a local church’s life, understanding the marriage covenant, spiritual guidance, prayer and genuine worship before God. As soon as the family has a clear understanding of its real needs, it will be able to find fulfillment and happiness it deserves and dreams of, and society will be revitalized and consolidated by these families.
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The report presents results from field research that took place in the Catholic Church “St. Marry of Lourdes” (2016) in the city of Plovdiv. This article is focused mainly on the social and charity activities, per¬formed by the catholic organization, and more importantly by the five sisters from the order “Mother Teresa’s mercy”. Examined are two types of social activities- the first, related to the charity works for the poor, and the second-organized social work among gypsy children from Stolipi¬novo district. In the charity works that I joined, I had the opportunity to observe one specific case of religious conversion. Gypsies, which feel themselves as Turks and Muslims, who wear pendants with St. Marry of Lourdes, St. Teresa of Calcutta and crosses. Even though they barely understand the Bulgarian language, namely spoken, they pray to God un¬der the name of Allah, in Catholic Church in the presence of religious people- sisters, nuns and priest. That made me interested in researching the unusual situation as example of religious transformation, taking place in an urban environment. The present summary places the problem of the religious transformations in the urban habit, put in the context of the so¬cial factors that cause them. Presented is one possible approach towards the explanation and analysis of some problems that concern the socio-religious sphere. The main line of the analysis that concerns the factors, related with the cultural diversity, offered by the urban area, forming on specific, in confessional sense, identity. Presented are a few specific strategies of the city person that serve as transition beyond the confessional boundaries and connect with the social interactions and the survival in the urban environment. The social benefit (divident) puts the question for the religious transformations in urban environment, where the individual maneuvers between two religions and two realities, that is to say he is between the need and the social advantage, (that is to say between the penury and “to have in order to exist”), between your own and that of the other, between Allah and Christ.
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This paper provides a detailed summary and analysis of “Slicing Off the Tumour,” a text written by two sons of Muhammad Yusuf (d. 2009), founder of the Nigerian Jihadi movement known as “Boko Haram,” and recently (2018) published by the Islamic State. The paper argues that although obviously biased, this book provides important insights into the history of Jihad in Nigeria as seen through the lenses of Global Jihadi actors, which the analysts should not dismiss. In the conclusion, the author questions the heuristic usefulness of the term “Boko Haram” in the literature on local and global manifestations of Jihad in contemporary Nigeria. Finally, the author locates his position in the recent debate around the nature of the global links entertained by Nigerian Jihadi actors and around the role of these links in the development of the “Boko Haram phenomenon.”
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The article presents the little-known problem of contemporary Algeria – Protestant proselytism and its political repercussions. In Algeria, Islam state religion, part of the ideology and politics. Neoprotestancki raises hostility proselytism Muslims because breaks the unity of the country and fueling religious animosities. Authorities believe that Protestants are being used by the United States to the expansion in this region of the world. Protestant movement is a catalyst for ailments of the Algerian state and the aspirations of the public.
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Whether God has a knowledge is a controversial issue both philosophy and theology. Does God have a knowledge? If He has, does He know the particulars? When we assume that God knows particulars, is there any change in God’s essence? In the theistic tradition, it is accepted that God is wholly perfect, omniscience, omnipotent and wholly good. Therefore, it is not possible to say that there is a change in God. Because changing is a kind of imperfection. On God’s knowledge, another controversial issue is whether God knows particulars or not. Most of theist thinkers argued that God is wholly perfect; because of perfectness, He must have perfect attributes. Knowing and goodness are a kind of perfect attributes. Ignoring and evil are a kind of imperfectness. If God is perfect being, He should have the perfect attributes and must know the particulars. For me in this subject, there are some similarities between al-Ghazālī and Maimonides. In this study I took into consideration the idea of al-Ghazālī and Maimonides on this subject. Based on Griffel and Stroumsa’s argument, I tried to show similarity between al-Ghazālī and Maimonides on God’s knowledge.
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The authors present a bronze statuette representing Mercurius-Thot, discovered in an unknown place of the Roman Dobroudja (Moesia Inferior) and now included in the collections of the Constanta Museum of National History and Archaeology. The Egyptian Mercurius type has not yet been attested in the north of the province, but it is reflected in a series of discoveries coming from its south, where many monuments presenting this god, in fact one of the most popular divinities of the province's Pantheon, were found. Bronze statuettes of the god were discovered at Tomis, Durostorum, Oescus, Novae, Nicopolis ad Istrum, inside the manufacturing centre of Butovo and also in the Tolbuhin area. The spreading of these representations seems to be confined to the urban areas and the handicraft centres. Most of these statuettes can be regarded as import objects, but a series of them may be included in the inventory of local, provincial art products, to which the statuette presented above might also belong. A statuette of Mercurius-Thot, belonging to the so called „Gruppe Popovo”, might be a proof of this type of production in Moesia Inferior, besides the traditional areas of Egypt, Italy and Gaul.
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Za početak naše studije o raznovrsnosti stajališta koju možemo naći među Hegelovim različitim iskazima o islamskom svijetu, mogli smo učiniti i gore nego što smo započeli sa jednim terminom – „niska od bisera“. Hegelovo obožavanje Getea je općepoznato – on je uzvišeno smatrao sebe s pjesnikovim duhovnim sinom – i stoga nas ne treba iznenaditi njegovo poštivanje Geteova Divana ( koji je u svojoj suštini fuzija orijentalnog i okcidentalnog motiva i metra ) koje je iskazano ovim pojmovima. Međutim, to nije jedini put da je Hegel korisito ovu frazu. Još jedna, potpuno drugačija knjiga dobila je isti kompliment od Hegela – knjiga, koja ne predstavlja fuziju, već naprotiv, dijeljenje (diviziju): Herderova priča o španskoj rekonkvisti, Der Cid. Hegel je u Herderovom iskazu o protjerivanju Maura iz kršćanske Španije vidio „procvat srednjovjekovnog nacionalnog heroizma“, „nisku od bisera.... bogatu sadržajem i prepunu raznovrsnih interesa za ljubav, čast, porodični ponos i vladavinu kraljeva u borbi kršćana protiv Maura“.
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The normative system originating at the beginnings of the Roman monarchy bound the sacral realm and the realm of law together in ways that made it impossible to distinguish between those two orders. It was not until the 5th century BCE, when the rising autonomy of law prompted the question of the impact of Roman beliefs on the formation of legal institutions, especially the law of succession, highly reflective of religious convictions of the Romans in the early Republic. The law at that time, being formed by the college of pontiffs, or priests (pontifical jurisprudence), remained under a strong influence of faith professed by society, at the core of which was domestic worship (sacra privata) practiced in order to provide families and gentes with prosperity. The regulations regarding succession were aimed to maintain its continuity by introducing a universal successor (heres), linking an obligation to continue domestic worship with the patrimony (patrimonium), controlling a universal succession by way of pontiffs on the strength of the calatis comitiis will, and also by enabling the acquisition of an inheritance through usucapion (usucapio pro herede), and, finally, by broadening the scope of people responsible for religious rites to co-heirs (coheredes) and members of the gens (gentiles).
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Der Autor schildert den Zustand der Religion am Ende des Jahrtausends in vier Bildem. Das Thema des ersten Bildes ist der allgemeine Eindruck iiber die Religion heute. Nachdem die Zeichen der Lebendigkeit auf der einen und die Zeichen des Ruckgangs aufder anderen Seite dargestellt wurden, wird klar, dass die Religion leute mehr als ideologischer und weniger als streng religioser Faktor stark und einlussreich ist.
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Im Kontext verschiedener Analysen am Ende des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts versucht der Verfasser dieses Aufsatzes auch das Christentum unter die Lupe zu stellen und tiber den Zustand und die Perspektiven seiner Zukunft zu berichten. Im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit ist die Rede von der modemen Zeit und ihren Errungenschaften. Modeme bedeutet einen klaren Bruch mit der Tadition und der Vergangenheit, die, wie eine statische Phase der Weltvorstellung durch den mensch- lichen Verstand, durch modeme Technik und vor allem durch die Macht der Wis- senschaften tiberholt ist. Die tiefste Erkenntnis der modemen Bewertung der Religion ist der Gedanke von Friedrich Nietzsche: «Gott ist tot! Gott bleibt tot! Wir haben ihn getotet!»
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The various Semitic peoples of the Ancient Near East all embraced similar beliefs concerning the anger of the deities of the underworld. Above all, such an anger was viewed as lethal to both people and to other gods. In the surviving textual sources one can find word-images of the deities themselves, of their demonic helpers, and even of the dead under their orders to devour their victims (gods or people). The anger of the divine rulers of the underworld is not presented as irrevocable, but can be appeased by offering sacrifices and prayers, or by praising particular gods. Some elements of this imagery, though modified to align with a monotheistic background, can also be found in the Bible.
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Review: Marina Paszuk, Białoruskie przekłady Pisma Świętego w latach 1926-2013. Studium historyczno-porównawcze (Mińsk: Wydawnictwo „Pro Christo” 2017). Ss. 412. ISBN 978-985-7074-60-0.
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This study examines the comprising aspects of the proximity state situated at the boundary between the sacred and the profane in the folktale worlds, per se as many laws structured on either side of a line that defines the concept of otherness. The proximity of these worlds is in itself a tale with well-defined rules to be gradually revealed, from one folktale to another, but having in common the motif of the transcendence from the sacred to the profane or that of the transcendence from the profane to the sacred according to the folktale actants’ courses of action.
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In order to understand Paul we have to comprehend the Jewish paradigm of hermeneutics. Paul seems to presuppose that his readers knew Scripture too and while building his exposition of the new creation on Biblical creation narratives he felt no need to explain it in detail. The tradition alone does not explain the ideas of Paul, but one is fortunate to find in his epistles autobiographical elements. He builds his case on his encounter with Christ that forced him to abandon his “former way of life in Judaism”. It appeared to have been a transformative encounter of pivotal significance. Paul recognised that it is only total fellowship in Christ, a shared destiny with him that matters and effects changes in human life. Paul expresses his personal commitment to Christ by stating that he now feels himself as having been crucified with Christ. On this basis the terms like transformation, metamorphosis, becoming another, becoming a new man, and new creation become far more understandable. The new creation applies to the community as well as to the individual. Participation in Christ is corporate and the renewed image of Christ in individual human beings means the appearance of a new humanity who lives by the Spirit and walks by the Spirit. Paul finalises his hermeneutical construction in Rom 8:29–30 with the hope for a change for the whole of creation. His eschatological point of view is not easy to explain. On one hand, on an individual and ecclesial basis, the outer nature of humans is wasting away. At the same time the inner nature – new creation – is being renewed day by day. On the other hand, resurrection of human beings is still ahead and creation is waiting to be set free from its bondage. New creation is at the same time an ongoing process and an event in the future. It is highly probable that Paul looked at the new creation through Christ as the lens. Christ is the agent of the new creation and thus the source of Paul’s views on the new creation.
More...Zsidó–keresztény polémia a papságról
This paper presents a case study of the emerging new paradigm describing the ‘parting of the ways’ between the evolving Jewish and Christian centers (later called ‘orthodoxies’) as a slow evolution process. The point of departure for my analysis is a short passage in Genesis Rabbah, a well-known narrative Midrash, edited in Palestine in the 4th/5th century CE. The short text sample aims to characterise Abraham, the legendary founding father of the Jewish community, as a legitimate heir of Melchizedek, a mythical figure of the Hebrew Bible and at the same time the symbolic representative of the eternal priesthood. In this paper, I try to demonstrate that in order to fully appreciate the encoded message of the rabbis in Genesis Rabbah we have to contextualise the text in the history of Late Antique Jewish-Christian polemical encounters. In my analysis, the rabbis’ effort to present Abraham as a legitimate High Priest of Israel is best characterised as a covert response to the earlier Christian demand, articulated first in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to introduce Jesus as a new and legitimate representative of the priesthood, whose redemptive death on the cross once and for all eliminated the need for sacrifices.
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The article analyses Inter-Confessional Dialogue in post-secular society. Interreligious dialogue helps to control the situation and reduce religious confrontation during inter-confessional disagreements, acts of terrorism, war in Syria and Libya, Iraq and Yemen, as well as Islamist terrorist attacks. The article draws attention to the Paris Statement A Europe We Can Believe In signed by the European intellectuals in Paris, the purpose of which is to help people understand a political and religious situation in post-secular society intellectually and spiritually. Another important aspect of analysing cultural changes in the world is related to internal destructive processes that destroy the cultural tradition. The secularization process has affected not only the West, but also the Islamic cultural sphere where there is a fight between the fanatical absolutism and a tolerant rationality, the cultural spheres of Hinduism and Buddhism, which in their fight against Western rationality and the Christian faith try to preserve their own identity.
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The Protestant congregations have been singing in the churches from the beginnings but not as the official part of the service. The singing style changed in the 20th century but only in the case of Latin liturgical rites. Singing and the manner of Scripture reading were not similar in the Middle Ages to the Biblical times either. During the centuries, new forms and manners of content expression were adopted by the church. The content and the form were not inseparable. The free-style and set forms of the service, reading and singing for the ministers and the congregation significantly changed. They did not completely break away from the roots, however during the centuries there were several earlier elements that were left aside.In the mid-20th century, Kálmán Csomasz Tóth (1902–1988) wished to stop the process of oblivion by inventorying the Hungarian Protestant airs dating back to the 16th century. And thus, he edited the first Hungarian handbook of this kind. In 2017, another important work by Kálmán Csomasz Tóth was published, namely the air collection known by the profession as RMDT I. It both preserves and creates values, and for this reason, it is our responsibility to preserve it and pass it on by means of today’s modern preservation techniques, namely the Internet.In his study, the author discusses the works that our generation needs to preserve even more so because it sensitively touches upon the current and future use of the Reformed book of chant.
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In the present paper, I examine the relationship between preaching and liturgy. I only focus on preaching in the services on Sundays and feasts. First of all, I offer an overview of Hungarian Reformed theoretical and practical liturgical books, service books, and books of liturgics concerning the relationship between preaching and liturgy from the 16th century to the recent days. The importance of preaching overshadows the liturgical function of the sermon; prayers, church music, hymns, and psalms are consequently losing relevance in the worship. The theoretical and practical books emphasize consistently, that the preaching must be presented and regarded as one of the elements of the liturgy/service. Preaching takes place within the service; the sermon has to be based on and contacted all the liturgical elements of the congregation’s worship. Balance between preaching and liturgy should be discovered, and established in order to worthily celebrate our services.
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