Hasil untuk "Religions. Mythology. Rationalism"

Barnabas Gabriel Akadon

This paper examines migration from Africa as a response to shifting identities and the resurgence of nationalism, bringing biblical traditions into dialogue with contemporary realities. In many African contexts, contested identities, ethno-religious nationalism, and exclusionary state policies intensify conditions of displacement alongside poverty, conflict, and terrorism. As a result, migration becomes both a survival strategy and a negotiation of identity in an increasingly fragmented world. Biblical narratives of forced migration provide an interpretive framework for understanding these movements. The Hebrew Bible recounts exilic experiences, such as the Babylonian deportation, that reshaped Israel’s communal memory, identity, and theology. Similarly, the New Testament highlights dispersions caused by persecution, showing how migration functioned as a catalyst for the expansion of faith communities and the reconstruction of belonging. These texts illuminate how forced migration is not only a consequence of crisis but also a transformative process that redefines identity and community. By employing sociological and theological methods, this study demonstrates how African migration in the context of nationalism parallels biblical paradigms of exile and dispersion. It argues that African migrants’ narratives of identity, marked by struggle, hope, and resilience, echo biblical testimonies of displacement and offer theological resources for interpreting migration today. In doing so, this paper contributes to interdisciplinary debates on migration by showing how biblical exilic traditions can inform responses to Africa’s ongoing challenges of nationalism, identity, and forced movement.

Jan Witold Żelazny, Dariusz Antoni Kasprzak

Artykuł koncentruje się na znaczeniu pójścia za Chrystusem oraz naśladowaniu Go w kontekście wschodniego monastycyzmu patrystycznego. Autorzy, tacy jak Afrahat, Antoni Wielki, Barsanufiusz, Jan Prorok i Józef Widzący, przedstawiają różnorodne podejścia do tego tematu, które nie zostały dotąd syntetycznie opracowane w języku polskim. Wydaje się, że nowotestamentalny motyw pójścia (ἀκολουϑεῖν) za Jezusem traci swoją autonomię i pierwotne znaczenie, a czasami wręcz wydaje się zanikać w myśli ascetycznej wschodniego monastycyzmu okresu patrystycznego. Mnisi są ostrożni w mówieniu, że idą za Tym, który obecnie przebywa w chwale, a z którym identyfikują się przecież jako chrześcijanie. Bardziej znaczącym elementem upodabniania się do Jezus jest dla nich asceza i życie według cnót, będących duchowym i moralnym odzwierciedleniem (μιμεῖσϑαι) upodobnienia się mnicha do Chrystusa. Motyw upodobnienie się do Chrystusa w monastycyzmie wschodnim nie jest zatem ujednolicony antropologicznie, nie tworzy też do VIII w. w teologii wschodniej jakiegokolwiek ujęcia paradygmatycznego dla teologii moralnej czy duchowości chrześcijańskiej.

Hari M. G.

This paper critically looks at the representation of femininity in the poetry of Akka Mahadevi, a twelfth-century Indian saint-poet, through a hermeneutic textual analysis of her select poems. In sharp contrast to the discussion of the feminine within the framework of gender politics in contemporary literary theory, this study argues that Akka Mahadevi’s poetry redefines femininity as a spiritual force, not as a site of subjugation – a means of divine communion rather than just a mode of resistance against patriarchal structures. The study also seeks to pitch her radical conception of femininity rooted in devotion, intuition, and transcendence against the transactional logic of modernity. Through a contextual interpretation of themes such as renunciation, devotion, and feminine spirituality within the broader framework of the Bhakti tradition and mystical hermeneutics, this study highlights the dialectics of devotion and gender identity in her poetry.

Yasmin Aldamen, Dilana Thasleem

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented global crisis, affecting every aspect of life. In the difficult times, the role of the media has become even more crucial. However, it has been noted that some Indian media has spread baseless conspiracy theories, exploiting COVID-19 for certain agendas. The role of Indian media during the COVID-19 pandemic has been questioned due to the biased dissemination of information. This study aims to observe how national news channels, through their prime-time debates, propagated the narrative of a Muslim conspiracy by spreading false information during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It also seeks to understand the role of media narratives and representations in setting the Hindu nationalist agenda and portraying Muslims as anti-national" or the other of the nation. The study sample includes the content of prime-time news programs from six well-known TV news channels in India: Times Now, Republic TV, India TV, Zee News, CNN News 18, and India Today. News media organizations in India tend to favor majoritarian sentiments and ideas while marginalizing and condemning minorities and their beliefs, particularly in relation to religion and religiosity. The overt role of a number of news channels in amplifying the conspiracy against Muslims, particularly in framing them as the ‘other’ or the ‘anti-national’, aligns with the Hindu nationalist agenda. Depending on agenda setting and framing certain issues in a way that demonizes Muslims, the media could perpetuate stereotypes and fuel resentment towards those groups, which are already marginalized or misunderstood.

Yinfeng Li, Emiliano Lorini, Munyque Mittelmann

We extend concurrent game structures (CGSs) with a simple notion of preference over computations and define a minimal notion of rationality for agents based on the concept of dominance. We use this notion to interpret a CL and an ATL languages that extend the basic CL and ATL languages with modalities for rational capability, namely, a coalition's capability to rationally enforce a given property. For each of these languages, we provide results about the complexity of satisfiability checking and model checking as well as about axiomatization.

Daisuke Hirota

Cooperative systems often remain in persistently suboptimal yet stable states. This paper explains such "rational stagnation" as an equilibrium sustained by a rational adversary whose utility follows the principle of potential loss, $u_{D} = U_{ideal} - U_{actual}$. Starting from the Prisoner's Dilemma, we show that the transformation $u_{i}' = a\,u_{i} + b\,u_{j}$ and the ratio of mutual recognition $w = b/a$ generate a fragile cooperation band $[w_{\min},\,w_{\max}]$ where both (C,C) and (D,D) are equilibria. Extending to a dynamic model with stochastic cooperative payoffs $R_{t}$ and intervention costs $(C_{c},\,C_{m})$, a Bellman-style analysis yields three strategic regimes: immediate destruction, rational stagnation, and intervention abandonment. The appendix further generalizes the utility to a reference-dependent nonlinear form and proves its stability under reference shifts, ensuring robustness of the framework. Applications to social-media algorithms and political trust illustrate how adversarial rationality can deliberately preserve fragility.

Xiaoxiao Xu

The imagery of wine and tea is important in classical and modern Chinese poetry, with an intricate relationship between the two especially evident in the work of Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947), a prominent poet–monk in 20th-century China. Taixu’s attitude toward wine—a drink that is deeply rooted in Chinese culture—evolves significantly over time, from initial approval to eventual condemnation due to its detrimental effects on both personal health and society. Nevertheless, it continues to feature prominently in his poetry. The same is true of tea, which Taixu often uses to evoke either Buddhist study or his own healthy lifestyle. This article explores this and other complex meanings in Taixu’s poems, such as his association of wine with knights and tea with hermits. It also discusses how he achieves a delicate balance between the two beverages, sometimes employing both types of imagery in a single poem—a literary innovation that helped to establish his reputation as a central figure in modern Chinese poetry.

Max Schulz

Rational transformations of polynomials are extensively studied in the context of finite fields, especially for the construction of irreducible polynomials. In this paper, we consider the factorization of rational transformations with (normalized) generators of the field $K(x)^G$ of $G$-invariant rational functions for $G$ a finite subgroup of $\operatorname{PGL}_2(K)$, where $K$ is an arbitrary field. Our main theorem shows that the factorization is related to a well-known group action of $G$ on a subset of monic polynomials. With this, we are able to extend a result by Lucas Reis for $G$-invariant irreducible polynomials. Additionally, some new results about the number of irreducible factors of rational transformations for $Q$ a generator of $\mathbb{F}_q(x)^G$ are given when $G$ is non-cyclic.

Yiting Chen, Tracy Xiao Liu, You Shan et al.

As large language models (LLMs) like GPT become increasingly prevalent, it is essential that we assess their capabilities beyond language processing. This paper examines the economic rationality of GPT by instructing it to make budgetary decisions in four domains: risk, time, social, and food preferences. We measure economic rationality by assessing the consistency of GPT's decisions with utility maximization in classic revealed preference theory. We find that GPT's decisions are largely rational in each domain and demonstrate higher rationality score than those of human subjects in a parallel experiment and in the literature. Moreover, the estimated preference parameters of GPT are slightly different from human subjects and exhibit a lower degree of heterogeneity. We also find that the rationality scores are robust to the degree of randomness and demographic settings such as age and gender, but are sensitive to contexts based on the language frames of the choice situations. These results suggest the potential of LLMs to make good decisions and the need to further understand their capabilities, limitations, and underlying mechanisms.

Vahid Grami, Mohsen Jahed

There are two main approaches to evolutionary epistemology: the analogical or Spencerian approach, and the literal or Darwinian approach. The analogical approach claims that the process of the development of culture – particularly the development of science – is purely like that of living creatures and is based on natural selection. Michael Ruse calls this approach the “traditional approach” or the “analogical approach”, and sometimes calls it the “Spencerian approach.” In the latter approach, which this essay is going to consider from the viewpoint of Michael Ruse, the claim is that not only the development and evolution of animal bodies but also the development of the structures of their mind is a product of natural selection. The proponents of these approaches are divided into two groups: first, theorists like Lorenz, Reidl, and Wuketits, who believe that evolutionary epistemology is complementary to the critical philosophy of Kant. Second, theorists like Clark link evolutionary epistemology to Humean skepticism. Ruse, like Clark, believes that evolutionary epistemology is complementary to Humean philosophy and that the human mind isn’t a blank slate, but it is provided with innate capacities or secondary epigenetic rules. So, Ruse like Quine, believes that there isn’t any difference between analytic and synthetic propositions and that they all are synthetic propositions and posteriori. The difference is that Quine appeals to philosophical reasons, and Ruse appeals to biological ones. Moreover, there isn’t any necessity in knowledge according to Quine but rather, a pragmatic necessity; while Ruse believes that there is a type of necessity, that is, according to the present framework of our minds, based on our evolutionary history, we are condemned to think causally and mathematically, but we may lose this framework in the evolutionary process. It seems that Ruse’s viewpoint corresponds more with our common sense than that of Quine because we always put up resistance against those who believe that the principles of mathematics and logic are contingent. The viewpoint of Ruse was criticized, and he responds to his critics. We believe that some of his answers aren’t plausible.One of the most important criticisms against Ruse’s evolutionary epistemology is that it is self-contradictory, that is, what is important for evolutionary epistemologists is success in survival and reproduction, and the truth doesn’t matter to him, so he should accept that we need to believe that the principles of evolution itself can possibly be false. Ruse, responds to this criticism by distinguishing between the reality of common sense and metaphysical reality.We show in this essay that this solution doesn’t work because Ruse doesn’t suggest any criterion for distinguishing between beliefs based on common sense and beliefs based on metaphysical reality so we can express doubts about the examples he gives for common-sense beliefs. Furthermore, even if it were to be accepted that common-sense beliefs are infallible the problem still exists because natural selection isn’t a common-sense belief, so according to this, all of our beliefs might be mistaken, including the natural selection mechanism itself, and applying it to human knowledge.

Francesco Renzi

Andrey Kostryukov

This article is devoted to the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia to Moscow Patriarchate during the period Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky). During his years as head of the Russian Church Abroad, criticism of the actions of Moscow Patriarchate intensifi ed. The reason for criticism was the Patriarchate’s support for the Communist state, as well as its participation in the ecumenical movement. Metropolitan Filaret, who initially expressed his opinion with restraint, gradually changed his rhetoric. Partly, the Metropolitan’s sharpness was due to the infl uence of radicals, i.e. Protopresbyter George (Grabbe) (later Bishop Gregory) and Archimandrite Panteleimon (Metropoulos). The Councils and the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia also made harsh statements. In particular, it was said that Moscow Patriarchate cannot be considered the successor of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, and its orders are illegal. Attempts were made to declare Moscow Patriarchate unholy (Rus. безблагодатный, lit. ‘with no divine grace’). This opinion was expressed by the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan Filaret (Voznesensky), as well as by the secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Protopresbyter George Grabbe. They believed that the holiness (Rus. благодать) of the cleric of Moscow Patriarchate can only be obtained at the moment of joining the Russian Church Outside Russia. Despite this opinion, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia did not offi cially declare Moscow Patriarchate unholy. A large part of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia spoke of Moscow Patriarchate with respect and were ready for dialogue.

Namita Behera

We consider a minimal realization of a rational matrix functions. We perturb the polynomial part and one of the constant matrices from the realization part. We derive explicit computable expressions of backward errors of approximate eigenvalue of rational matrix function. We also determine minimal perturbations for which approximate eigenvalue are exact eigenvalue of the perturbed matrix rational functions.

Yousef جعفرزاده

Emile Durkheim, a French philosopher and sociologist, explained the relationship between religion and society in his book »The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life« by examining Australian totemism. According to Durkheim, religion has no divine or revelatory origin, but the origin of religion is society. In his view, society creates religion in order to constantly reproduce its religious sentiments through stimulation And in this view, he goes so far as to say that society is God. in the present article, we will examine and critique his view from the perspective of the " phenomenology of religion " method. According to the findings of the phenomenological method of religion, the structure of primitive religions is different from the structure of monotheistic religions, and the social form of these two structures is fundamentally different; So that the social form fits the primitive religions, "tribe" and the social form fits the monotheistic religions, "society" Accordingly, Durkheim confused religion between the two concepts of "tribe" and "society" and, consequently, the requirements of the two. The type of this research is fundamental-applied and can have a practical aspect for researchers who want to use this method in researching the history of religions by clarifying the theoretical foundations of the phenomenological method of religion. The main hypothesis of the present article is that from the perspective of the phenomenology of religion, Durkheim's view of the relationship between religion and society is consistent only with primitive religions.

David Barnes, Danny Sugrue

For G a profinite group, we construct an equivalence between rational G-Mackey functors and a certain full subcategory of G-sheaves over the space of closed subgroups of G called Weyl-G-sheaves. This subcategory consists of those sheaves whose stalk over a subgroup K is K-fixed. This extends the classification of rational G-Mackey functors for finite G of Thévenaz and Webb, and Greenlees and May to a new class of examples. Moreover, this equivalence is instrumental in the classification of rational G-spectra for profinite G, as given in the second author's thesis.

C. Paine

This worldwide study examines how religion gets into theme parks – as mission, as an aspect of culture, as fable and by chance. Gods and Rollercoasters analyzes religion in theme parks, looking at how it relates to modernism, popular culture, right-wing politics, nationalism and the rise of the global middle class. Crispin Paine argues that religion has discovered a major new means of expression through theme parks. From the reconstruction of Biblical Jerusalem at the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, through the world of Chinese mythology at Haw Par Villa in Singapore, to the great temple/theme-park Akshardham in New Delhi, this book shows how people are encountering and experiencing religion in the context of fun, thrills and leisure time. Drawing on examples from six of the seven continents, and exploring religious traditions including Christianity, Daoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, Gods and Rollercoasters provides a significant contribution to the study of religion, sociology, anthropology and popular culture.

Matthew P. Unger

That extreme metal has had a conflictual experience with religion is nothing new. However, extreme metal’s engagement with ‘God’ is much more complicated than mere mockery, disdain or satire. This article will explore, through a close analysis of Celtic Frost’s Monotheist, and Antediluvian’s Cervix of Hawaah and λόγος, the often sincere and thoughtful, yet critical, engagement with God and religion through a very particular voice that I see within the extreme metal ethos. This voice takes the form of deconstructing Christian mythology through the paradoxical aspects of the religious – where the aetiological aspects of a myth are undermined not by reasoned analysis but through the inverted repetition of biblical stories and mythology.

Etienne Helmer

The contemporary scholarly exegesis on the ancient Greek thought on slavery only examines whether some philosophers denounced this institution or not. As to the significance that they may have given to it, it is rarely raised. Contrary to this tendency, this paper will examine how Plato in the Laws reveals the political significance of slavery: far from admitting it for cultural or natural reasons, he considers it a necessary category to demarcate the civic space from its outside. Such a «slavery without slaves» operates as a political frontier.

Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski

Following Rowland’s and Foucault’s respective observations that apocalypses are not necessarily temporal, and that historical analyses have diverted attention unduly from spatial phenomena, this paper examines Revelation using a spatial hermeneutic, comparing it to the semi-contemporaneous Parables of Enoch. Analyzing ostensibly similar spaces that are presented divergently, the paper focuses particular attention on “doorway” phenomena in Revelation. Recent research in cognitive psychology by Radvansky et al. suggests that passing through a doorway has a measurable cognitive effect, inducing forgetfulness of prior thoughts. Revelation employs doorway and gateway language repeatedly, while Parables of Enoch does not. The respective spatial emphases of Revelation and Parables suggest diverging engagements with a traumatized material world. References in Parables of Enoch to oppressive landowners and transformative goals for the earth suggest a continuing critical engagement with the material world. The lack of comparable language in Revelation suggests a comparatively more escapist perspective. Revelation combines polemic against all the “inhabitants of the earth”, an emphasis on the replacement of the old order, and the use of compensatory cultic language to orient the reader away from the existing material world. The parallel narrative employment of doorway language suggests an operative governing psychology of separation and forgetfulness in Revelation.

Grigory Mikhalkin, Johannes Rau

To every rational complex curve $C \subset (\mathbf{C}^\times)^n$ we associate a rational tropical curve $Γ\subset \mathbf{R}^n$ so that the amoeba $\mathcal{A}(C) \subset \mathbf{R}^n$ of $C$ is within a bounded distance from $Γ$. In accordance with the terminology introduced by Passare and Rullgård, we call $Γ$ the spine of $\mathcal{A}(C)$. We use spines to describe tropical limits of sequences of rational complex curves.