Akaṉānūṟu. Podia for Myths and Legends

Author(s): Raju Kalidos / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The Akaṉānūṟu, listed under the Caṅkam classical anthology, Eṭṭuttōkai, is a logical preamble to the Puṟaṉānūṟu. Akam (domestic environ) and Puṟam (beyond the home, exterior aṟam, righteous war) are keywords in Tamil literary tradition. In a work dealing with domestic behavior, evidences relating to myths and legends may be expected. Specialists in art history are naturally interested in myths. I have tried to show how akam is interlaced with pan-Indian mythologies adumbrated in the itihāsas and purāṇas, while retelling autochthonous cultures, and integrating the southern and the northern of the “Indian Asia”, cf. Tamiḻ-iṇppap pā […] vaṭa-moḻip-paṟṟāḷar “bliss offering Tamil poems, the lovers of the northern language (Sanskrit)” (PT 1.4). This is emotional integration. I guess mahākavi-Kāḷidāsa knew Tamil if Poykai Āḻvār was an expert in the Vedas (TI, 33 maṟai “Veda”, antiyāḷ “Gāyatrī”).

Superhuman River. Stories of the Ganga

Author(s): Mihaela Gligor / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

review

Между ереста и кабалата – адамитство и адамизъм в средновековна България

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2020

The present article regards the history of an adamitian sect practicing “ritual nudism” and the specifics of peculiar cult of Adam in the 14th century Bulgaria. On the basis of comparative analysis of other cases of “adamitism” in North Africa and Western Europe in Late Antiquity and Middle Ages it is proposed the hypothesis that Bulgarian “adamitism” was due to the influence of gnostic gospel texts belonged to Early Christian communities. In respect to “adamism” which is specified as a cult of non-biblical and non-Christian Adam, the view that it stemmed from the Jewish community inhibiting the capital of the Second Bulgarian tsardom and reflected religious notions connected with the medieval mystical Judaism is introduced. Chronologically the spread of “adamism” must be attributed to the 1350-ies. Then, according to the contemporary sources, Judaic religious ideas were actively propagandized in the capital city of Tarnovo and its vicinity.

СРПСКИ ДОПРИНОС ОБЕЛЕЖАВАЊУ ПЕТСТОГОДИШЊИЦЕ ПРОТЕСТАНТСКЕ РЕФОРМАЦИЈЕ

Author(s): Branka B. Ognjanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 70/2019

PREZENTĂRI BIBLIOGRAFICE

Author(s): Maxim Moraru,Stelian Gombos,Cătălin Varga,Răzvan Fibișan / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 07-09/2020

Joannesa Molanusa recepcja trydenckiego dekretu o obrazach

Author(s): Dariusz Klejnowski-Różycki / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 20/2020

Rola religii w życiu współczesnych społeczeństw w ujęciu przedstawicieli Ośrodka Myśli Politycznej

Author(s): Marek Pabich / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 20/2020

Artykuł jest poświęcony zagadnieniu roli religii w życiu współczesnych społeczeństw w ujęciu wybranych autorów publikujących w Ośrodku Myśli Politycznej. Religia stanowi dla nich niezbędny dla państwa fundament aksjologiczny, wokół którego możliwe jest zbudowanie wspólnoty obywatelskiej. Zapewnia ona państwu wartości potrzebne do prawidłowego funkcjonowania, których jego instytucje same nie są w stanie wytworzyć. Odniesienie do transcendencji pozwala ponadto na pogłębioną interpretację losów danego społeczeństwa na przestrzeni dziejów. Współcześnie chrześcijaństwo stanowi jedyną liczącą się alternatywę dla dominujących w świecie zachodnim prądów liberalnych. Zapewnia ponadto ciągłość między europejskim dziedzictwem kulturowym a współczesnością. Poglądy omawianych autorów sytuują się w ramach nurtu konserwatywnego.

Eberhard Schockenhoff (1953–2020) – teolog na barykadach współczesnych debat etycznych

Author(s): Konrad Glombik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2020

Prikaz vjerskih običaja Bošnjaka iz životnog ciklusa

Author(s): Elvir Duranović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 2/2020

The series of events in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the early 1990s had an undeniable impact on society and contributed significantly to rupturing the continuity of popular and religious customs. In the meantime, social openness means that Bosniaks are increasingly exposed to religious and cultural influences from both the East and West. This situation has made it exceptionally diffcult to preserve the continuity of Bosniak religious customs. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the refraction of intercultural and inter-muslim influences in Bosnia and Herzegovina is reflected in Bosniak religious customs. The author therefore examines a selection of Bosniak religious customs related to the lifecycle: the birth of a child, marriage, and death, all of which show Bosniaks cleaving strongly to the regulations of Islam, with a gradual adoption of Western attainments and cultural values.

Църковният събор от 1360 г. в Търново и българо-еврейският религиозен конфликт от 50-те години на XIV век

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

The article focuses on problems relating to the Jewish community’s origin in medieval Tarnovo, the reasons that provoked the Bulgarian-Jewish conflict from the 1350ies and its aftermaths. The hypothesis that Tarnovo Jews originated from Byzantine and appeared in medieval Bulgarian capital at the end of the 12th century as manufacturers of silk is proposed. The religious clash from the 1350ies is ascribed to the influence exerted by some Talmudic anti-Christian texts on the local Jewish community, to the broken inner status-quo between Christians and Jews after the second marriage of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander and to the reactions of part of the Christian population against the breach of this status-quo.

MIR, ODRŽIVOST I DRUGAČIJE VJERSKO

Author(s): Muhammad Suheyl Umar / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 17/2013

This paper focuses on the establishment and functionality of multiethnic societies in the world today and in the light of the role of religion and spirituality in building democratic structures and new relationships between peoples belonging to different cultural and religious traditions. The author notes that modern secular society is a priori averse to any interference of religious communities and especially of Islam and its principles. He reminds us that the most prominent problem in the 19th century was nationalism, which in the 20th became ideology since, during the greater part of the century peoples were entrenched on opposite sides of the ideological divisions and conflicts of the Cold War. However, now that the Cold War is over, and the ideological war ended, the biggest problems that occur in the 21st century are ethnic conflicts. Since these conflicts are partly encouraged by religious conflicts, the author argues to bring our attention to this danger and do everything we can to solve the problems of human society in this context, i.e., in order to maintain peace, we have to accept the other and different in what religion, especially Islam, plays a significant role.

MUSLIMANSKI TEOLOŠKO-FILOZOFSKI DOPRINOS RAZVOJU EUROPSKOG KULTURNOG IDENTITETA

Author(s): Adnan Silajdžić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 15/2011

In this paper we discuss the Muslim contribution to the development of European culture. Meeting with European nations of the Middle Ages (Sicily and Spain) Muslims spurred a strong impetus to their scientific and cultural development. The first section briefly presents the Muslim-Christian experience of intercultural exchange and mutual influence of trends in the process of formation of classical Islamic and medieval Christian culture and civilization.

“BEGIN AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON”: THE OPENING CHAPTERS OF THE PALAEA HISTORICA IN GREEK, SLAVONIC, AND ROMANIAN

Author(s): Mihail-George Hâncu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The aim of this paper is to provide a starting point for a comparison between the four edited versions of the Palaea Historica: the Greek one, the first Slavonic translation, the Romanian translation and the recently published second Slavonic translation. The four versions diverge from the very beginning, with the Greek and the first Slavonic translation providing a discussion on the Holy Trinity before moving on to God’s creation of the world, whereas the Romanian version omits the theological introduction and expands the cosmogonical portion with a paraphrase of Epiphanius’ Hexaemeron. The second Slavonic translation omits the entire description of the six days of creation in order to focus on Adam and the symbolic importance of his name. Another point of interest is the treatment of a fragment condemning the heretical view that Satan was Cain’s father, which is not conserved in the first Slavonic version and the Romanian versions.

On the image of Padmasambhava in Tibetan texts preceding Zangs gling ma

Author(s): Iulian Lucian Maidanuc / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

This paper reviews five texts regarding Padmasambhava, which were written before Zangs gling ma (dBa' bzhed and four manuscripts discovered in Dunhuang – Pelliot tibétain 44, IOL Tib 321, IOL Tib J 644 and Pelliot tibétain 307), in an attempt to outline a historical portrait of Padmasambhava, different from the mythologized portrait shaped by Zangs gling ma and the revealed biographies following it.

The Baptism of Relics of Oleg and Yaropolk: Ethical, Theological and Political Aspects

Author(s): Roman Dodonov,Vira Dodonova,Oleksandr Konotopenko / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

A stereoscopic view on a particular historical event, in which contemporary assessments are combined with mental stereotypes of a medieval man, allows a slightly different assessment of the chronicle plot about the posthumous “baptism of bones” of Oleg and Yaropolk, Princes of Kyivan Rus, in 1044. While from theological positions it is perceived as an absurdity and a direct violation of the rules of the church, in the Middle Ages this act did not contradict the mass religious beliefs. From an ethical point of view, the action of Yaroslav the Wise was regarded as concern for the souls of the ancestors who died pagans and therefore did not claim for the salvation. The soteriological optimism that prevailed in the eleventh century in countries of the late Christianization, including Kyivan Rus, gave hope that living people were able to influence the fate of the souls of the dead. From a political point of view, the baptism of the ashes of the ancestors and their reburial in the family tomb of the Princes of Kyiv in the Church of the Tithes was aimed at expanding the circle of heavenly patrons and protectors of the princely dynasty, expanding the period of the Christian history of Kyivan Rus, and, as a result, legitimizing the power of Yaroslav the Wise.

ST. MARINA BETWEEN VENICE AND THE BALKANS

Author(s): Valeria Fol / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

In this article I return to St. Marina, on whose folkloric image and faith I worked many years ago. My goal is to supplement my previous observations with new ones and to expand the territorial scope. Special attention is paid to the veneration of the saint’s sacred relics in the Mediterranean and the reactivation of her cult. I also consider the transformational models in the believers’ notions of the cave and nature, and the periodic renewal of those notions through archaization and return to archetypes personified in the cult of St. Marina.

STAGE INCARNATIONS OF TOTALITARIAN MYTHOLOGEMS IN THE BULGARIAN THEATRE

Author(s): Joanna Spassova-Dikova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The presentation addresses issues related to the construction of the socialist canon in the Bulgarian theatre on the basis of certain postulates and ideologemes that provoked the creation of new totalitarian mythologems (Jung, Kerényi). By its very nature, European totalitarianism of the 20th century did not tolerate gods other than those whom it had named itself. Rejecting the centuries-old faith in the Christian god, the system had to elevate its idols. Here the magic that art and artistic image possess was put into reconsideration. Totalitarian culture and art incorporated the powerful tradition of esoteric notions of image in order to create a new religion with new rituals that affect consciousness through the archetypal in a grand spectacle (Debord). In this theatre, the stage incarnations of totalitarian mythologems about the party leader, the positive hero, the youth, the masses, etc. became the main means of forming the type of socio-political thinking necessary for the power.

ПРЕНОС НА САКРАЛНОСТ ОТ ЕЗИЧЕСКА ДРЕВНОСТ ДО ХРИСТИЯНСКОТО СРЕДНОВЕКОВИЕ И СЪВРЕМЕННОСТТА: ПРИМЕР

Author(s): Lubomir Conev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 19/2021

The period V–VIII cent. AD is particularly dramatic in the history of Bulgarian lands. Cardinal changes occur on the Balkan Peninsula, but up to this day it is lively debated whether and to what extent these changes are accompanied by cultural and ethnic continuity. The present study offers a number of facts expressing such continuity.

Madhva and Calvin. A Comparative Study of the Views of Two Medieval Theologians of Hinduism and Christianity

Author(s): B.N. Hebbar / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

This article compares and contrasts two eminent theologians, one Hindu (Madhva), and one Christian (Calvin) who had similar ideas in terms of the sovereignty and majesty of God and the doctrine of Predestination of souls each, of course, based on their respective religious-cultural contexts and scriptural texts.

The Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi, in 1961, in the Asian Religious Context of the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

Author(s): Ștefan Popa / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The Third General Assembly of the World Council of Churches took place in New Delhi, a multicultural and interreligious town in India. By this means, the World Council took a step forward towards the dialogue with the world’s religions. From ancient times, India was a place of dialogue between adherents of different cultures and religious traditions. At the Third General Assembly of the WCC, the interreligious dialogue which will be more acknowledged throughout the years became a leitmotif on the ecumenical agenda of the member churches. In this study, I try to present how this historical ecumenical event has shaped the interreligious dialogue architecture of the World Council and how it fits in the Asian interreligious landscape. It was the first General Assembly of the WCC outside the traditional Christian space, which up to that moment represents more or less the European and North-American geographical space.