Religion and social services in Nigeria has always been the subject of academic interest. Scholars have differing views about the Christian social ministry, giving special attention to the Pentecostal churches and on a narrower scale, the mega churches, as they are often accused of not sufficiently tackling the socio-economic and development challenges facing their members and the communities at large in this economically challenging times. These observations have created a lot of controversy in the school of thought, with various Pentecostal mega churches being accused of adopting economic-driven intentions, exploiting followers and commercializing the Christian faith. On the other hand, some of the mega churches in Nigeria can be described as progressive Pentecostal, whose adherence to community building development in terms of social services is germane. This paper explores the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Pentecostal mega church, hence, illustrating the crucial role of faith-based organisations in promoting the welfare and development of the community. To reinforce these results, the research utilized secondary sources of data and implemented the theory of the mission to explore the notion of mega churches and their social intervention in the spiritual and social aspects of their community at this critical time in Nigeria. As a result, the paper uncovered that the problems of Nigeria are too daunting, so that not even one or even a few Pentecostal churches can adequately handle them. Thus, the devotion of Nigerian Pentecostal churches should not be confined to building fancy structures or leading luxurious lives, but by making significant changes to their host communities in terms of social services, new religious practices, innovations and developments. It can be recommended that every church should learn what the Redeemed Christian Church did and come up with workable strategies that can help them reach more people in their communities thus changing the lives of more people in the face of the present difficult situations in the country.
The sunset of the late classics (second half IV century BC) is a time of crisis of the polis lifestyle, the way out of which was found in the transition from a “small cozy polis” to huge multi-ethnic multicultural empires, which was accompanied by profound transformations of spiritual culture and religious consciousness. In the new socio-political reality, where social relations mediated in space and time dominate, the system of consciousness is becoming more complicated. The areas of personal and social needs are divided, political particularism gives way to motives of ethnointegration, cosmopolitanism, the individual has the opportunity to delve into his own personality, the world of human feelings is enriched, the role of moral self-regulation increases, spiritual culture differentiates into elite and mass, actively reproducing a mystical worldview. With the increasing complexity of the thinking system, the process of cognition rises to a theoretical level. The cognitive and value-semantic components of the cognitive process are separated, which in theology manifested itself in the formation of two approaches. The first one is aimed at searching for generalized meanings expressing the relations of the profane and sacred worlds, in the lifestyle and actions of a person. He was represented by the so-called Socratic schools (Cynics, Cyrenaics, Megarian school, etc.). The history of these schools has shown that such meanings are not expressed by generalizing the experience of individualized personality sensuality. Cultural and historical experience is needed here, which was realized as the need to give cosmic meaning to mental constructions. Therefore, the Cynics evolve towards Stoicism, the Cyrenaics towards Epicureanism, and the Megarians towards Neoplatonism. The second approach (the construction of “authentic divinity”, a conceptual model of the sacred world) was developed by Aristotle. He integrates ontology, cosmology and theology on the basis of the extremely abstract concept of God - the only, eternal, immobile, indivisible, incorporeal, not set in motion by anything else, the beginning of all beginnings and the cause of all causes, a pure theorist and a perfect philosopher contemplating his own thinking. At the same time, Aristotelian theology is not devoid of residual elements of unreflected subjectivity (mythologism, hylozoism, ethical and aesthetic features), which further opened up the possibility of its synthesis with the theologies of the Abrahamic religions, formed on the abstract-conceptual reconstruction of the Old and New Testament mythologies.
Naylul 'Izzah Walkaromah, Zulfi Mubaraq, M. Lutfi Mustofa
et al.
The study of modern Islamic thought in Indonesia is very important to be studied more deeply. This is because the study never ceases to be debated. The purpose of this paper is to understand 3 things: First, the paradigm of modern Islamic thought. Second, the internal and external factors that influence modern Islam. Third, the positive and negative implications of modern Islam on Islamic socio-intellectual discourse in Indonesia. The method used is library research with a qualitative approach, the data is analyzed using content analysis techniques. The results found are three things: First, there are 4 forms of modern Islamic thought paradigm in Indonesia: reform, evolutionary, progressive, adaptive. Second, internally there are 3 factors that influence it: (1) the demand for renewal of Islamic teachings that are too taqlid and rigid (2) awareness of purifying Islamic practices (3) the Islamic press movement spread widely. As for externally, there are 3 factors that influence it: (1) the influence of modernity in the Western world (2) the dominance of Middle Eastern clerical thought (3) the reality of competition from other cultures and religions. Third, the positive implications of modern Islam for Islam in Indonesia are three things: (1) progressiveness in various fields (2) Islamic teachings are more rational (3) Islamic thought exists and is relevant to the contemporary context. Meanwhile, the negative implications of modern Islam on Islam in Indonesia are 3 things: (1) conflict between community groups (2) rejection from conservative groups (3) marginalization of figures and extremism tendencies. The conclusion of this paper shows that modern Islamic thought in Indonesia contains complex dynamics in shaping the social life of Muslims in Indonesia.
L’article examine la question du végétarisme dans le De abstinentia de Porphyre et son rapport avec le θεωρητικὸς βίος et le refus du sacrifice sanglant. Ce refus est fondé sur une théologie originale du sacrifice, où Porphyre établit une correspondance précise entre la hiérarchie des formes de sacrifice et la hiérarchie des types de divinités, et où la νοερὰ θυσία a pour objet le «premier dieu», alors que le sacrifice traditionnel vise des divinités inférieures. La compatibilité entre le sacrifice traditionnel et la νοερὰ θυσία est légitimée par la reconstruction, empruntée à Théophraste, d’une évolution des formes sacrificielles, où le sacrifice sanglant est présenté comme une déviation du sacrifice végétal originaire. Le régime alimentaire végétal est également justifié par le recours à l’oeuvre de Dicéarque, biaisé par une lecture platonicienne du mythe hésiodique de l’âge d’or, dont Dicéarque donne une interprétation historicisante.
Данная статья посвящена рассмотрению дискуссионных вопросов взаимоотношений Мухаммада Али Мирзы (Александра Касимовича) Казем-Бека (1802–1870) и Хусаина Фаизханова (1823–1866), к которым относится вопрос о времени начала их знакомства и вопрос о степени глубины их контактов. Известные источники, из которых можно извлечь какие-либо сведения об этом, ограничены и давно привлечены исследователями. В данной работе обращено особое внимание на архивные документы, представляющие собой рукописи, которые были переписаны Х. Фаизхановым в связи с его сотрудничеством с Императорской Академией наук в Санкт-Петербурге. Также значительное внимание уделено вопросам хронологии казанского периода жизни Х. Фаизханова, которую можно реконструировать, исходя из совокупности всех данных. Обобщение материала позволяет опровергнуть некоторые выдвигавшиеся ранее предположения о роли Шихабутдина Марджани (1818–1889) в становлении контактов между М.А. Казембеком и Х. Фаизхановым, поскольку этот вариант не соответствует формальной хронологии в биографии каждого из упомянутых деятелей. Кроме того, имеющиеся сведения о взаимоотношениях М.А. Казембека с Х. Фаизхановым позволяют настаивать на предположении, что именно М.А. Казембек способствовал решению Х. Фаизханова на переезд из Казани в Санкт-Петербург с тем, чтобы начать сотрудничество с Императорской Академией наук, что, следовательно, также опровергает ранее выдвигавшуюся гипотезу о том, что переезд Х. Фаизханова в столицу Российской империи был связан с предстоящим открытием Факультета восточных языков в Санкт-Петербургском Императорском университете.
Religion (General), Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
It is a matter to ponder that, among the three Abrahamic monotheisms, Islam places the greatest ontotheological distance between the human and the divine. While God is the ground of being Muslim, Islam excludes theophany and prohibits any tangible association between the divine and anything in the material world. God’s mode of manifesting Himself to His creatures has consisted of the most fleeting and discorporate of all means of communication, namely, sound. His words gathered in the Qur’an thus form a non-solid verbal bridge crossing over that unfathomable distance. One could then think that the relationship between the unique Creator and His creatures relies only on the strength of a blind faith founded on a dry, discursive pact. Arguing his “idea of an anthropology of Islam”, Talal Asad did posit that this religion and its culture form “a discursive tradition”. Exclusively focused on the mental modes of knowledge acquisition, this cognitivist verbalist characterization has become a certitude in Islamic studies at large. Yet, it is only a half-truth, for it overlooks the emphatic involvement, in the definition of this tradition of Islam, of the non-linguistic phenomenality of experience that implicates the pre-logical non-cognitive double agency of affect and sensation in the pursuit of divine knowledge. This article expounds this phenomenology of the Qur’an in using an innovative combination of philosophical and literary conceptualities, and in addressing some hermeneutical problems posed by the established Quranic studies.
RamezanAli Mardani, Hāmed Khāni (Farhang Mehrvash), Mahdi Afchangi
et al.
In the Prophetic Hadiths, the narrations of the great religions, prayers, myths, theological, interpretive and moral theories, and the popular beliefs of the Islamic world many references can be found to the name of God. It is often referred to as the "Great Name" (Al-Ism Al-A'zam). Muslims believe that knowing this name or having it with oneself can make a big difference in the world. Believing in the possibility of such a change in the world by mentioning the name of God - or at least believing that some letters have strange properties - has an ancient history in the pre-Islamic era. However, there is no explicit reference in the Qur'an to a Great Name or any special name with different properties for God. The time and manner of the gradual emergence of this idea in the Islamic world and the factors affecting its cultural diffusion are completely unknown, and despite the popularity of this name and the range of beliefs about its properties, less explanation can be found of the history of the idea of the Great Name of God and its development over time. The present study is an attempt in this direction. In this study, an attempt will be made to review the evidence of the emergence and development of the idea of the Great Name in Islamic culture until its final establishment. We follow this review based on reports of an era in which the Great Name was not yet accepted by the Muslim majority, and theories explaining its relationship to other Islamic doctorins and various ideological systems were of limited popularity among some minorities. As we will see, this period lasted until the middle of the 2nd century AH and Imam Baqir (AS) played an important role in adjusting attitudes towards the Great Name and creating the ground for public acceptance of its original form in the Islamic world.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
The genesis of Hesychasm is still quite unresolved. In this article, the assumption that its origins lie in late Greco-Egyptian Antiquity, in the eastern Mediterranean, and that Yoga contributed to it, remain in the background. The normative form of Hesychasm, referred to here, is that described briefly by St. Gregory Palamas. In this article, two constituents, presented by him as essential, are investigated for their likely roots in the Greco-Egyptian syncretism of Antiquity. It emerges, that meditative ‘breathing’ – which Palamas connects to the drawing inward of the mind and awareness of the meditator – also serves as a ‘vehicle’ for
drawing in the divine spirit, and the power of God, into the centre of a person, the ‘heart’ – that comprises the body, the soul, and the mind. This latter is important in testimonies of GrecoEgyptian syncretism, especially the Magic Papyry. ‘Magic’ is framed here religiously. This indicates that it is believed to be effective and theologically legitimate. The inclusion of Biblical elements in these texts suggest, that boundaries to Judaism and later to Christianity, were
fluid. Therefore, the concepts and practices presented here, are to be regarded as important to a profound understanding of Hesychasm. Palamas’ instruction, ‘to send the spirit (nou=j) inwardly by means of breathing, should therefore not be understood as limited to the persons mind and consciousness, but also, as signifying the divine spirit (nou=j), with its power, inwardly, and thus, to participate in it, for divinisation and for acting by this power.
John Polkinghorne was, undoubtedly, one of the most influential authors in the dialogue between science and religion. His attitude is characterized by a focus on the concept of kenosis in response to the ontological orientation of process philosophy and theology. God’s omnipotence implies the possibility that God created the universe as an evolutionary and autonomous world, which is not predetermined but has been created for openness. According to Polkinghorne, the position of this openness may be in the uncertainty associated with the world of quantum and chaotic phenomena. God’s self-limitation of his own omnipotence can thus be understood as an effort to respect the autonomy of natural processes and human freedom. Such an image of God is compatible with the current state of scientific knowledge, which itself becomes the starting point for thinking about God and his relationship to the world. Thus, despite the problems of some parts of its concept, Polkinghorne creates a comprehensive integrative approach to the dialogue between science and religion.
The ecological crisis goes a long way back and has been brewing for centuries. The main factors of human alienation from nature: technical progress; suppression of pagan culture, that used to be tied to nature, world religions; spread of atheism; consolidation of the positivism paradigm in scientific methodology; triumph of the market economy model. As a result, humans were pulled out of their natural environment. They live and work by rhythms and rules contradicting natural laws. The result is the growing global crisis of industrial civilization.
In this paper the researcher investigates the pastoral challenges experienced by the biblical character named Job. The main message of the book of Job is the theme of theodicy or why do bad things happen to good people. The central inquiry of theodicy is to clarify how an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God allows bad things to transpire in the world and this applies equally to those in anguish or to those observing suffering. In times of suffering, Jews and Christians alike may turn to the Book of Job where God permits Satan to test Job. Satan submits that Job would not adore God if God did not defend him. This research paper also sought to sight challenges encountered by Job with their description and analysis in the light of Job’s faith in God. The research critiques the various pastoral care interventions offered to Job by different characters in this book of Job. Finally the researcher develops a theology of suffering and he focuses on this in the conclusion.
This article seeks to address the life of the missionaries William Shaw, his wife Ann and Chief William
Shaw Kama. These Wesleyan Methodists establish a mission station in challenging times and
sought to uplift the poor. Moreover it will give an insight on the livelihood of the AmaGqunukhwebe
people before the missionaries arrived in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Also it will address how
the missionaries changed the lives of people during the eighteenth century. Furthermore it will give
highlights on how Methodist Church of Southern Africa at Annshaw in the Middledrift area faced the
wide range of poverty induced stricken challenges. Religion can and should influence a response
to dire poverty by engendering an attitude of willingness to practise generosity as we serve the poor.
Religion can indeed educate communities so there is human dignity for all. The Methodist church
has been and is part of a group of Christian churches actively encouraging and participating in
alleviating poverty for communities in dire need.
Ülke ve toplumların siyasî tarihinden daha az olmayan önemle onların sosyo-kültürel tarihinin araştırılmasında, kültürel tarih malzemesi bakımından en zengin kaynaklardan sayılan seyahatnameler, hatıratlar ve günlükler günümüz tarih araştırmacılarının zorunlu kaynakları arasındadır. Fakat siyasî tarih yazıcılığında başvurulan birinci el kaynak eserlerin yazarları kadar, seyahatname ve günlük sahiplerinin de kimliğinin önem taşıdığı bir gerçektir. Tarihi süreç içerisinde çeşitli dini ve etnik kimliklere ev sahipliği yapan Osmanlı Devleti’nin son çeyreğinde iç ve dış politikasında önemli bir konuya çevrilmiş Ermeni sorunu bağlamında yabancı seyyahların kayıtlarına yaklaşımla ilgili konu daha da hassasiyet kazanmaktadır. Müslüman Osmanlı’da gayr-i müslim tebaanın çoğunluğunu oluşturan Hıristiyanların içinde bulundukları siyasî, kültürel ve dinî durum, asırlar boyu Hıristiyanlığın hamisi vasfıyla Avrupalı dindaşları için önem arz etmiştir. XIX. yüzyılın sonlarına doğru çoğunlukla dış güçlerin kışkırtması sonucu vuku bulan Ermeni ayaklanmaları dolayısıyla yabancı diplomat ve seyyahların konuya olan ilgisi daha da artmıştır. Bu makalede Birleşik Krallığın Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nda tarihinin en ağır yenilgilerinden birini yaşadığı, 29 Nisan 1916 yılında Bağdat yakınlığında vuku bulan Kûtu’l-Amâre savaşı sonrası esir düşmüş İngiliz askerlerin günlük ve hatıratlarında Osmanlı tebaası olarak Ermenilerin politik, sosyal ve kültürel durumuyla ilgili veriler değerlendirilmektedir. Charles Towshend’in My Campaign, Barber’in Besieged in Kut and After, Bishop’un A Kut Prisoner, Sandes’in In Kut and Captivity with the Sixth Indian Division, Mousley’in The Secrets of a Kuttite isimli hatıratı araştırmanın başlıca kaynaklarını oluşturacaktır.
Religion (General), Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
The article discusses matters concerning work and the dignity attached to it. It looks at the desired employer and employee attitudes towards workplaces and work per se. A theological approach which is deep-rooted in the Holy Bible and its teachings is desirable. A polemical
method as well as an exegesis of some Holy Scriptures relating to workplace issues are addressed in this article. The synchronic approach to exegesis was employed. This synchronic aspect is interested in comprehensive biblical texts as they currently exist. The response is
from a position of faith, based on ethical truths. Narrative and rhetorical criticism were also employed to an extent. The article suggests that work when viewed from a theological perspective, originated with the Creation and was not envisioned to become malevolent but
also came to be comprehended as a punishment of sorts. Business is very dynamic and often severely challenged in diverse ways. The model workplace, has structures and relationships that work together around fundamental values and morals that transcend self-interest and
ethical behaviour. Core values stimulate ethical efforts as employees become encouraged to do the right thing at all times. It is often very difficult for employers and employees to know if what they decide is indeed the “right” thing. Holy scripture can assist as it throws some light on a particular situation and illuminates people. The Biblical moral law offers us ethical guidelines which are applicable to work and life situations. A biblical ethics of work which is presented is suggested as a yardstick for attitudinal change in employers and their employees.
Such biblical ethics of work may well be of invaluable benefit to employers and employees irrespective of creed.
This paper attempts to define mimicry based on Homi Bhabha’s definition in the context of colonial and postcolonial Philippines. It seeks to point out the lingering colonial mentality of the former colonized people in the present age in the area of speaking English, perceiving that everything from the West is the best, and desiring whiteness. It ends with the challenge to mimic Christ more than anything else as the ultimate role-model.
PÉREZ LAMBÁS, FERNANDO (2018). Los elementos rituales en las tragedias de Sófocles. Tipología y función a partir de los prólogos. Classical and Byzantine monographs 93. Turnhout: Adolf M. Hakkert. 444 pp., 80,00€ [ISBN 978-9-0256-1332-7] [Book review]
Implicit in Heidegger’s 1920–1921 Phenomenology of Religious Life is an account of religion as a radical transformation of the very structures of experience. This article seeks to apply that account to a classical Indian discourse on reality and the self, Chāndogya Upaniṣad chapter six. This classical source-text for two thousand years of Hindu theology advocates a new ‘religious life’ achieved through phenomenologically reorienting the very structures of cognition toward the broadest truths of reality, rather than the finite features of the world. The goal is to create a new form of primordial subjectivity with an altered relationship to phenomena, finitude, and the divine. The article proceeds in two parts: The first section brings out Heidegger’s theory of religion through a reading of Heidegger’s 1920 Phenomenology of Religious Life with the help of his lectures, On the Definition of Philosophy, from the previous year. The second section tries to demonstrate the value of integrating traditional textual/historical scholarship in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad with Heidegger’s method. The juxtaposition aims to both (1) foreground the phenomenologically transformative goals of this influential Indian text, and (2) challenge Heidegger’s scepticism about the religious value of metaphysical reflection.
It is interesting to realize that the discussion over the ordination of women as leaders of the Church is a somewhat late one with its roots both outside and inside the Orthodox Churches. Likewise, it takes note of the contention, which boils in different Church admissions, and this has been a wellspring of division. Orthodoxy does not join any eminence to the Priesthood. It does not see the ministry as a super-being separated from the Greek Phrase 'Laos tou Theou', signifying 'the People of God'. It does not take ordination to the Priesthood as an issue of equity, justice and political rightness. However, Orthodoxy has not acknowledged women ordination; it lauds a woman, the Theotokos (God-bearer) as the person who may be held up as a model for the greater part of God's People, male and female alike. In this light, salvation, not ordination, is the aim of Christians. Jesus taught that disciples should serve one another’ thus negating the notion of the dominance of one sex of another.
For more than 75 years, scientists and historians have been working on a theory (of some researchers called a conspiracy theory) that an Egyptian pharaoh invented God more than 3,300 years ago. If the theory would hold water, it could question the foundations of several world religions. Even today in 2018. This article will focus on Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), his religion Atenism and his motive for the first documented implementation of a monotheistic religion in the world. 1) Was it a political strategy to adopt Aton as the supreme God? 2) Did it influence or even invent the Hebrew Religion? 3) Was it a spiritual vision? 4) Was it to outstrip the powers of the priests of Amon? or 5) Was it close encounters of the fourth degree with aliens from the universe? In addition, the relations between the Hebrew religions, here especially Moses, and the Atenism is of great importance to the analysis and all considerations lead to a possible answer of the question: was it the birth of monotheistic religions in this period of Ancient Egypt’s history?
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities