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Human sacrifice seems to have been a well-known phenomenon of religious practices in the Ancient Near East. Our sources reveal different forms of this practice which we can label as collective and individual sacrifices. Collective sacrifice is the war made in the name of or by the order of gods. Its biblical form is called חרם presented e.g. in the Book of Joshua. Similarly collective sacrifice is the putting to death the died ruler’s servants. Next to these cases, when a group of people performed the sacrifice on another group, a separate case is the execution of a single person by a group. Individual sacrifice made by individuals (the homo necans) was the most popular and children, generally the firstborns were the victims. The substitutional character of this sacrifice is recognized in several religions, but in the orthodox Yahwistic religion the human firstborns were also substituted. This act was connected to the atonement for sins and became the typos of this idea in Christianity.
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The article addresses the issue of the rise of theological speculation proper within Greek philosophy. Delineating the criteria that distinguish earlier theistic cosmologies from theology, it argues that genuine theological concerns might be attributed to Xenophanes as its earliest Greek representative. Xenophanes᾽ speculations on divinity must be distinguished from those of his Ionian predecessors not only on the grounds that he puts reasoning (of an a priori kind) directly in the service of a coherent reflection on the nature of god rather than on that of ‘the divine’ (the first criterion for θεολογία, characteristic of ‘natural theology’), but also because of his (ethico-religious) practical concerns. His God is not posited to serve as an ultimate metaphysical or physical principle or cause (‘the god of the philosophers’), but is characterized as a truly eternal, omnipotent and omniscient supreme person, worthy of a more profound religious reverence than the gods of Homer and Hesiod. Hence, θεολογία in Xenophanes is not merely ‘rational thought’ about the divinity, but also ‘reverent speech’ befitting the sublimity of the supreme Godhead (the second criterion for θεολογία, functionally equivalent to ‘supernatural theology’). Through speaking of God and calling for worshipping Him by ‘reverent myths (μῦθοι) and pure words (λόγοι)’ (B1.14), Xenophanes not only created theologia, but performed it, hence ( factually) turning it into cultic practice (the third characteristics of Xenophanean θεολογία, in the purview of ‘political’ or ‘civic theology’). Thus, the earliest Greek theology proper is opposed only to ‘mythical theology’, but its ‘natural’, ‘supernatural’ and ‘political’ aspects are deeply intertwined. It is further concluded that at the birth of Greek theology philosophy served neither as a handmaid, nor as an opponent, but as a midwife.
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The article attempts to summarise the role of maat in Ancient Egyptian kingship. As such, it is important to consider which gods were connected with kingship, like Osiris, Ra, Horus and Seth. It seems that Egyptians thought these and other gods were kings before the predynastic period. The Golden Age myths and the story of Osiris could be a great example for the kings of the Historical period. During the Old Kingdom, especially during Hufu’s reign, the sun god had the main role; Hufu may have identified his reign with the Age of Ra. The same ideas appeared during the kingship of Amenhotep III, and may have had an important effect on Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. The unsuccessful end of the Amarna era could be the reason for the negative perception that such associations carried in later times. The Amarna era was considered as a period of chaos which was incompatible with the traditional view of the Egyptian kingship.
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In the analysis of ancient goddesses, the study of the statues of Artemis Ephesia proves most exciting. A great number of monographs, articles, and books have been published on this topic, but many unsolved problems remain. One of the most frequently occurring ornaments on the Artemis Ephesia statues is the women with wings on the chest. No agreement has been reached on who these figures could be: they were interpreted as representations of Victoria/Nike, the Horae, or even as reborn souls. Former research on these elements analysed them separately from the astrological signs which also appear on the chest of the statues; we should, however, consider them as parts of one common scene. The most frequent variant is when two winged women figures hold a wreath above a Cancer. With the help Porphyry’s De antro nympharum we can identify the Cancer as a gate, more exactly as the Gate of Souls, and the female figures as the guardians of these gates. Although the ‘Gate of the Soul’ is the most frequent variant of the scene, there are some other versions, too: two women with wings with more than one astrological sign (or without them), astrological signs without women, four women with wings with four or more astrological signs (or without them). Despite the variation of the scene, in most of the cases the woman figures can be classified as Horae on the basis of their numbers and attributes.
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This article is the first attempt in Hungarian scholarship which aims to present the history of Roman religious studies, focusing especially on the evolution of the theoretical currents within the discipline since G. Wissowa. By presenting the methodological and terminological changes and the process of interdisciplinarisation in the last three decades, the study focuses on the recent methodology of the Lived Ancient Religion project and its perspectives and limits in the study of Roman religion as a space of intraconnectivity within the Roman Empire.
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Muskilü’l-Qur’an means the problematic and so-called contradictory verses in the Qur’an, which at first glance seem to contradict each other, as well as the name of Qur’anic science that aims at researching those problematic verses in the Qur’an and getting reasonable answers to them. Since the very first decades of Islam these verses have been exploited as to arouse suspicions and questions in the minds of ordinary people about the divinity character of Qur’an. In the first centuries of Islam the atheist groups, which had been identified in the history of Islam by the terms “zenadika” and “melahida”, had made an attempt to misuse these verses. By the colonization history of Islamic countries during the 18. and 19. centuries, we see that the Western Orientalists and recently especially after the extended using of Internet the missionary cites had been paying more attention to and interested in these verses with the same purpose as before. In this work we will handle and study the term of Mushkilu’l-Qur’an, problematic and so-called contradictory verses, the reasons that cause them to be misunderstood and the methods of interpretation being used to deal with those verses, as well as we’ll examine the scientific literatures that have been written by the Muslim scholars in this field century by century.
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The first stage in a study on any subject is to examine and evaluate prior studies on that subject. Modern computer technologies offer the researcher good facilities to do this easily. However, to do this, it is very important to choose the right tools and right method. The relational database systems are the right tools for this task. This article offers a database model for collecting the data from the tafsir history books and converting them to a database. If this model is developed and published as online, it would be very useful data source for tafsir researchers.
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İslâm’da en erken iki ayrılıkçı mezhep olan Şiîlik ve Hâricîlik, Müslüman toplumun liderliğinin meşruiyeti problemiyle ilgili olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Adlandırılageldiği gibi, imamet sorunuyla ilgili Şia örneğinde, her iki hareket için Şia söz konusu olduğunda birinin imamet problemiyle ilgili konumları, bu her iki hareket içinde temel kurucu bir işleve sahiptir.
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Şu veya bu konuda her şeyin söylenmiş olduğu kanaati, yabancının (ve hatta ötekinin bilgi dalları hakkında uzman olan yarı-yabancının) daimi yanılsamasıdır. Hepimiz, yarının buluşları önünde acınacak şekilde imgeleme gücünden yoksun oluyoruz. Fakat tarihle ilgili düşüncelerin – hatta belgeler ancak mütevazı bir şekilde artsa bile- sürekli yenilenmesi, ruhumuzun bu yetersizliğine hep meydan okur.
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The Mongol invasion can be considered as one of the most interesting events in general World history, particularly in Islamic history. As a result of it, almost all Turkish Muslims living in Central Asia had to move to Anatolia, where they had established the Ottoman Empire. The relation of Mongols with the Ottoman Turks had been based on the enmity. However, in the years before the World War I, due to the spread of the West currents among the Ottoman intelligentsia, there appeared some studies dealing with the relationship between the Turks and the Mongols, and the resemblance of these two nations in linguistics and cultural area. Some Muslim historians, disappointed from most of these studies, and in turn they also published some articles about this matter. Taheer al-Mawlawi, in particular, issued a series of article entitled as “to the Muslim soldier”. In these articles, he gathered most of the accounts that had been recorded by Muslim historians, and he also cited the Mongol cruelty and collected them under the title “Cengiz ve Hülâgû Mezalimi” (The cruelties of Genghis and Hulagu), [1906, Istanbul]. His work is regarded as a good concise work on Mongol invasion, in particular against the Islamic World.
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Eş‘arî’nin Makâlâtu’l-İslâmiyyîn adlı eserinde imanla ilgili tartışmalara dair birçok nakil vardır ve bunlara başka kaynaklardan nakiller de eklenebilir. Ayrıca iman konusu bazı sahih hadis kaynaklarında özellikle de, imanı İslâm’dan ayırt eden kaynaklarda da yer alır.
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At the second part of the 19'h century the Catholic Church encouraged its members to create new organizations and religious orders for organizing the missionary activities in a more systematical and modern way. These orders shared the certain part of the world among them for their activities. The Assomptionist order, which is the subject of this article, with the promotion of the Church, chose the East European countries including Turkey. The main task of the order is the integration of the Eastern Churches to the Catholic Church. Emmanuel d'Alzon who is the founder of the order, is a French bishop. In order to realize its main task, the order, which has been backed by the French Catholics, uses all sorts of press and the media facilities and the educational activities. They also organize pilgrimages to religious sites. The Assomptionists organized most of these activities in different cities of Turkey over the long years. In this article we tried to analyze the historical development of this order, its founder and its activities, especially in connection with Turkey.
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This article deals with the problem of the universality of the prophecy of Muhammad within the context of the claims of the Isawiyya school. There are several reason for our choice of this issue: From an earlier period the universality and particularity of the prophecy of Muhammad was an important issue of debate within the interreligious discussions. As a result, this issue was discussed in the Theological and Heresiographical sources. In this context, first the school of Isawiyya, who first claimed that the prophecy of Muhammad belongs to Arabs only, will be presented. Then the universality of the prophecy of Muhammad will be discussed and rational, traditional and historical arguments of Muslim scholars will be evaluated.
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Mevdudî, yaşadığı dönemde hadîslerin anlaşılmasına yönelik pek çok soruyla karşılaşmış ve bunlara cevap vermiştir. Acaba Mevdudî’nin hadîs tahlillerinde dikkat çeken yönler var mıdır? Hadîs tahlillerinde herhangi bir metodoloji takip etmiş midir? Hadîslere karşı tavrı eleştirel midir yoksa savunmacı mıdır? Örnekler ışığında bunları görmeye çalışalım.
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Al-Bandirmavî (1111/1699, Uskudar/Istanbul-1172/1758-59, Bandirma/Balikesir), connu sous le nom de Kuçuk Hamid Efendi, était un grand savant de hadith et aussi un mystique musulman. Après son enseignement, il fut nommé maître à Selami Ali Efendi Tekkesi. Il a écrit, selon sa déclaration, 80 livres, dont trois ou quatre livres seulement sont arrivés jusqu’à nos jours. C'est lui qui a écrit premièrement un dictonnaire de terme de la méthodologie du hadith. Il donnait l’importance à la qualité. C’est pourquoi qu’il cite dans ses œvres pour chaque renseignement, si court soit-il, toute ses sources.
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Mevdudî, bir ilim adamı olduğu kadar, aynı zamanda fikir ve hareket adamıdır da. Çağın sorunlarıyla uğraşmış ve bu alanda pek çok eser vermiştir. Tefsir, hadîs, fıkıh, İslam tarihi onun ilgi sahasına girdiği gibi siyaset ve iktisat da ilgi sahasına girmiş, bu alanlarla alakalı da bir çok kitap yazmıştır.
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Burada “sır dinleri” anlamını tercih ettiğimiz ancak “gizem” olarak da tercüme edilebilecek olan kelime, mystery karşılığı olarak kullanılmıştır. Bir Dinler tarihi kavramı olarak söz konusu kullanım, “dinler tarihi ekol”ünün hellenistik dönemle ilgili çalışmaları sonrasında literatüre girmiştir.
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Şimdi, Tanrının varlıkta (sebep ve sonuçları tabiî bir nizam içinde) tesis ettiğinden dolayı, hususî sebepler ve kendisi tarafından tesis edilen nizamdan bağımsız olarak Allah’ın varlıkta bir sonuç meydana getirmesinin bu nizamda bir değişiklik olmaksızın yapılamayacağı söylenirse, bu itiraz varlıkların birçok tabiatları sebebiyle reddedilebilir.
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At the beginning of the article the author shortly speaks about social-religious circumstances in which Christ's Church was born, because it is necessary to put both the Church and its martyrs in the historical context. The article later on elaborates etymology of the term and meaning of the word martyrdom. Short overview of the governmental prosecution of the Church is given the next. The emphasis is put on the most severe prosecutions in order to illustrate the most important events from the first three centuries in which the Church was going through terrible pain and suffering, but it was also the time in which martyrs' blood became the seed for the new shoots of the Christ's Church. The fourth and the most important part of this article is theology of martyrdom in the early Christianity. Different opinions of the Christian fathers from the first centuries are given here. Some of these Church fathers also became martyrs.
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