From a shariah perspective, the rights and obligations of parties in exchange contracts are determined based on the different underlying contractual structures. Among the key shariah principles that provide conceptual premises for determination of yield-entitlement from an investment, include the principles of al-kharaj bil-dhaman and al-ghunm bil-ghurm. According to these two principles, in order to be entitled to a financial return or yield, the owner of an underlying asset, activity or capital must bear the related market as well as ownership risks. These two principles have a great bearing on how the shariah-compliant banking and financial activities are conducted. In the context of Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs), the requirement of dhaman exposes IFIs to a new form of risk i.e., ownership risk. To this effect, IFIs in different capacities need to assume ownership-risk to justifiably claim a financial return from a financing activity. Notwithstanding this, in the customary practices of IFIs, there are noted discrepancies in the application of the dhaman principle. The objective of this paper is to examine the application of the dhaman principle in different contractual structures of IFIs, followed by highlighting the existing gaps between the theory and practice in applying this concept. The research adopts a qualitative research approach in order to examine the issue. The paper is based on a review of relevant literature and adopts a textual analysis method. The paper argues that if there is a discrepancy in application of dhaman principle, the shariah status of the resulting yield may be affected. Among the key implications of such a discrepant application of dhaman concept include allocation of yield to a non-deserving party; the party which practically shifts the underlying dhaman of the relevant contract rather than absorbing it. As a policy recommendation, the paper suggests strategies to re-align the practice of Islamic banking with its theories, particularly, with reference to directing the relevant risk to the one who claims the yield.
In the Face of the Pandemic: Environmental Imbalances as an Ethical Reaction to Human Action
La Pandemia de Covid-19 visibilizó la vulnerabilidad de los sistemas de salud públicos sometidos al mercado libre. Pero la crisis sanitaria es apenas una muestra de la crisis civilizatoria a la que nos ha encaminado la visión colonial-moderna-capitalista. La respuesta no es una simple vuelta a la página para superar la modernidad. Dada la magnitud de la crisis es necesario hacer un planteamiento crítico para ir más allá que la modernidad. Por ello es importante escuchar a las diferentes tradiciones civilizatorias que fueron encubiertas por la modernidad. Este es el caso de la Ética indígena, la cual desde la tradición de los pueblos originarios del sur de México ofrecen una visión integral de la Ecología, expresada en su forma de vida en comunidad. El diálogo entre tradiciones civilizatorias podría ofrecer pistas para un diálogo intercultural crítico y simétrico, como medio para salir de esta crisis sistémica reflejada en la Pandemia actual.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of public health systems that are ruled by the free market. However, the public health crisis is merely an expression of a civilizational crisis due to a capitalist-modern-colonial vision. The answer is not simply turning the page to overcome modernity. Given the magnitude of the crisis, a critical approach is needed to go deeper than modernity. This is the reason why it is important to listen to the different civilizational traditions that were covered up or dismissed by modernity. This is the case of Indigenous ethics, such as the tradition of the original peoples of Southern Mexico that offers a comprehensive vision of Ecology, expressed in their way of life in community. The dialogue between civilizational traditions offers resources for a critical and symmetrical intercultural dialogue, as a way out from this systemic crisis that the current pandemic manifests.
In the study of any historical period, chronology of events plays a great role. The Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea is very important for the study of the history of the Ancient World. The work of Eusebius represents the first work in the Greco-Roman written tradition, summarizing the data of ancient chronography, and combining them with the data of the eastern, especially biblical, chronography. The Chronicle is divided into two parts, the first of which gives a brief survey of the history of a number of ancient peoples and the lists of kings with an indication of the duration of their reign, and the second part presents synchronous tables of the main events from the birth of the biblical patriarch Abraham until the twentieth year of the reign of Emperor Constantine. The original version of the work was not preserved, and two versions of it survived to our time. The first is a translation into Latin made by Jerome the Blessed at the end of the 4th century, and the second is a translation into Old Armenian made in the 6th century. In this paper, the author proposes his translation of the part of the Jerome’s version of the Chronicle, which contains information on events of Biblical history from the birth of Abraham to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. The translation is made by: Eusebius Werke Bd.7. Tl. 1. Die Chronik des Hieronymus: Hieronymi Chronicon / Hrsgb. von R. Helm. Leipzig, 1913.
This research deals with the question of whether an ecumenical ethics can be developed in South Africa that at least will be applicable in the field of political ethics and that can assist the various ecclesiastical traditions to ‘speak with one voice’ when they address the government on matters of Christian ethical concern. The research rests on the recognition of the variety of ethical persuasions and points of view that flow from the variety of hermeneutical approaches to Scripture. However, within this plethora of ethical discourses, an ‘overlapping’ ethics based on a proposed set of minimum theological ideas can be pursued in order to reach at least an outline of an applicable ecumenical political ethics conducive to the church–state dialogue in South Africa today. The article concludes that a ‘minimum consensus’ on the role of revelation in the moral discourses is possible and is enriched by traditional ideas such as creation and natural law, the reign of God and Christology, and it can provide a suitable common ground for an ecumenical ethics applicable to the moral difficulties in the political domain in South Africa today.
From the very beginning of the Church’s history the catechumenal pedagogy played a crucial role. Its aim is to foster the development of mature Christians able to show concrete signs of conversion, i.e. trust in God and love of ene mies. There were times when catechumenate was abandoned but in the most important periods of Church’s history it was fully bloomed. The pedagogy of catechumenate is based on quite simple principles: the Word of God, liturgy, and community. This pedagogy leads a candidate for baptism or an already baptized person to be able to fully receive the grace of it, which is the surrender to God’s love and forward it into the world where he or she lives. The pedagogy of catechumenate seems to be universal and applicable for many purposes: for religious education and formation, for reviving faith, for new evangelization and for reinforcing a believer on different stages of human development over time.
Uit teks: Die boek bied wat die titel suggereer: ’n Bybelse teologie wat bepaalde hooflyne en temas bevat. In die inleidende hoofstuk word die uitgangspunt en metodologiese vertrekpunte duidelik uiteengesit. Die boek is ’n Bybelse Teologie. Daarmee word bedoel “een samenhangende weergave van het spreken in de Bijbel over God en mens”. Hiermee word ’n belangrike uitgangspunt gestel. Die Bybel bied geen gesistematiseerde weergawe aan van wie God is en hoe mense God moet verstaan nie. Die vraag na ’n Bybelse teologie word beantwoord deur die verhaalstruktuur van die Bybel en die voortdurende verhouding tussen God en mens wat hom binne die Bybel afspeel, in ag te neem.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
The care of terminally ill patients can be physically, emotionally as well as psychologically exhausting. In the era where everyone is busy with his or her hectic daily schedule, caring for someone diagnosed with HIV on her or his deathbed can be a daunting challenge. Caring for someone dying of AIDS does not only challenge the physical being but rather leaves the carer emotionally drained. What was of concern to the author was to see the struggle that the caregiver goes through whilst caring for the sufferer. More often than not, pastoral care and counselling concentrate mainly on the pain and the suffering of the sick person. In the process, pastoral care loses sight of the agony, the emotional strain and, above all, the trauma of the caregivers in their search for answers as they care for the infected. This scenario has prompted the author to look into the theology of caring with an emphasis on pastoral care of the carers with a view of alleviating their emotional burden in caring for the HIV patients.
The church, as faith community, is described with the metaphor of one body, with all members interlinked to each other, helping each other, praying for each other, serving each other. The reality is that this church, like the secular community (locally, provincially, nationally, throughout Africa and globally) is divided into class, wealth and health categories. Is this “world-like” fragmented existence of the church depriving her of her unique role as source of hope in a given community? Is she loosing face in the world due to this “world-like” fragmented way of living? Can she better meet the social challenges, related to poverty and HIV, if, as alternative community, rich and poor were indeed living as one body? How would she then define and respond to poverty and HIV infection?
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life
Abstract This article makes the case for a strong affinity between pastoral studies and practical theology as conceived in the UK and the emergent field of public theology. Practical theology in the UK has resisted over-specialization in the discipline, creating an eclectic and diverse mix of institutional contexts and intellectual approaches. It has also succeeded in holding together the "public" and "private" in a way that has often put it in the vanguard of the discipline internationally. In particular, its insistence on embracing wider political, cultural and economic dynamics at work in pastoral care and counselling, pastoral studies and practical theology has avoided the pitfalls of privatization and individualism. It has also succeeded in spanning the divisions between church and society, by including strong representation from those who practise pastoral care and theological reflection on practice within secular contexts, such as industry, education, community development and public policy as well as the Church. A further challenge awaits, to consider how the sources and resources of the Christian tradition can speak into the increasingly secular and pluralist spheres of public life; but in the interests of promoting greater "religious literacy" within wider society, practical theologians must continue to do their work "in public."
This article discusses the distinction that is being made between the unknowability of God, the source of all that is, and Jesus of Nazareth, the body language of God, from the viewpoint of spirituality with Paul’s address at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:16-32) as point of departure. This speech virtually represents the oldest Christian interfaith meeting in which there is a dialogue between religious Athenians and Paul. The article reflects, first of all, on Paul’s reaction to the questions and challenges of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in his audience that relates to this distinction. A second part will investigate the mystical unity of the unknowable God and his body language in Christ. In a third part some mystical perspectives on this distinction in Islam will be analysed.
Christianity, Practical religion. The Christian life