Kršćanska teologija kao odgovor na islamski izazov – Historijska perspektiva

Author(s): Stefan Schreiner / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 61/2015

Od samog početka su kršćani, osobito kršćanski teolozi, Muhamedovu objavu, i iz nje proizašlo nastajanje islama kao religije i religijske zajednice sa zahtjevom na vlastitu Objavu i iz nje izvedenim odnosno na njoj utemeljenim zahtjevom na Istinu, na jednoj strani, i brzo širenje ove nove religije i područja vladavine njenih pristalica, na drugoj strani, shvatili ne samo kao društveno-politički nego, upravo, i kao teološki izazov. To se po kršćanskom uvjerenju uopće nije moglo desiti da se post Christum natum, nakon objave kroz Isusa (Mesiju) Krista, tačnije: nakon samoobjave Boga dogodi još jedna druga, nova Božija objava, kada se samoobjava Boga kroz Isusa Krista po svjedočanstvu poslanice Hebrejima dogodila “jednom za sva vremena” i “konačno” (Heb 7,27).

Цветан Тодоров (1939–2017) – апостолът на хуманизма, мечтателят за свобода

Author(s): Valentina Sharlanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

ORIJENTALNA MUDROST - TEOZOFIJA SVJETLOSTI

Author(s): Shaykh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi al-Maqtul / Language(s): Bosnian

Shihāb ad-Dīn Yahyā ibn Amirak ibn Abī al-Futuh Suhrawardī, renowned Persian philosophy, theosopher and Sufi, was born in 549 AH (1155 CE) in the province of al-Jabal in Azerbaijan, formerly a province in north-western Iran. He is now known in philosophical and theosophical works as Shaykh al-Ishrāq (master of Illuminationist philosophy), in recognition of his founding a distinct philosophical, theosophical and Sufi tradition known as Falsafa al-Ishrāq (illuminationist philosophy) or al-hikma al-mashriqīyya (oriental theosophy). He was imprisoned in Aleppo on the orders of Salah ad-Dīn (Saladin), on account of his Sufi teachings, and finally put to death at the age of thirty or thirty-eight (1191). He is thus also known in Sufi writings as Shaykh al-Maqtūl (the murdered master) or the martyred shaykh (shahīd). The most comprehensive information about his life is now to be found in a work by his pupil Shahrazūrī, also known as an authentic commentator on Suhrawardī’s great work of philosophy entitled Kitāb hikma al-ishrāq (the Book of Illuminationist Wisdom).

Калист Kатафигиот: съзерцанието – „плод на обожението“

Author(s): Dimitar Petrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

This text aims to discuss the ideas of Сallistus Cataphugiota elucidated in the treatise On union with God and life of contemplation. The work advanced the main idea that contemplation is “fruit of deification“. Different definitions of contemplation, its three stages and final goal – deifying unity with the transcending Unity, were put forward. The article aims to illustrate the significance of the theology of contemplation, developed by Callistus Cataphugiota for Hesychastic tradition and Orthodox spirituality.

Екстатичната практика Рабъта – религиозни и исторически проявления

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2016

The present article deals with the phenomenon of rabata – sufic and neosufic practice and ritual typical of the Nakshibend order and its branches. In the article, several aspects of rabata are discussed: the descriptions of rabata in the writings and works of Nakshibend authors, the different kinds of rabata and their places in the Nakshibend ritual complex and belief system, the theosophical and ecstatic aspects of rabata and its early history. Final conclusion is that the origin of rabata must be sought among the Persian speaking Muslim communities influenced by the Middle age batinism and Sufism.

Modern Quranic Hermeneutics: Abdulkarim Soroush on the Expansion of Prophetic Experience

Author(s): Abdullah Rexhepi,İsa Memishi / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

. Since early times, Muslims have speculated on the nature of Revelation and the Divine Speech. This has resulted in Muslim scholars developing divergent approaches to this problem. With the constitution of the orthodoxy, the former school became dominant and it postulated that the Quran is the Word of God dictated to Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jabrail. However, during the last decades in Iran emerged scholars, such as Abdulkarim Soroush, who proposed new approaches to understanding and interpreting Revelation. This paper discusses the hermeneutical project put forward by Soroush by discussing his article on the “Expansion of Prophetic Experience”. In this article, the author argues that his modern hermeneutics is radically different from orthodox theology and problematizes that the idea that the Quran as a human creation brings about other implications outside theology, such as for instance opening the Muslim thought and liberating it from scriptural readings.

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.

CLASSICISM AND ORIENTALISM IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW GLOBALIZATION THEORIES

Author(s): Ljuben Tevdovski,Ile Masalkovski / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

The intense and dichotomous relationship between orientalism and classicism that has been created over the last decades of the XX century, reaches new dimensions through the rapid scientific growth, the discoveries of new historical sources and artifacts, and, most importantly, through the paradigms change in many scientific disciplines. This development is also influenced by the rapid and multifaceted societal transformations in the intensively globalizing world of the new millennium. In this context, the paper explores the new understandings of these two important conceptions in the research of the past, and their redefined scope and relation in the light of the globalization theories and through the paradigm of ancient globalization.

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.

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.

Сотириологията на православната аскетическа традиция в Древната църква и днес въз основа на словата на св. Доротей Газски (+560) и св. Порфирий Кавсокаливит (+1991)

Author(s): Stoyan Chilikov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

The text aims to explore the soteriological nature of the ascetic views of two of the most remarkable ascetic fathers. Based on a comparative analysis, are traced the general moments in their writings, as well as their differences, which outline the development of the ascetic tradition from antiquity to the present day. Abba Dorotheos conveys the ascetic experience of the Egyptian ascetics of the sixth century, the core of which is the spiritual struggle, the cutting off of passions and the acquiring of virtues. At the heart of the Christian feat, St. Porphyrios places the love for God, which transforms passions, converts evil and deifies man, with the focus being not on the fight against the passions, but on Christ and the communion with Him. Sacraments, prayer, worship lead one to praise and contemplation of God. In the words of St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalivia the correlation between soteriology and ecclesiology is much more clearly expressed.

THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE IN REFERENCE WITH PHILOSOPHIES OF PLATO AND ARISTOTLE: A CRITICAL STUDY

Author(s): Sooraj Kumar Maurya / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The concept of justice has been a constant issue since its conception. The Greeks also attempted to define justice. They have observed justice as goodness in deeds and so a virtue. In the Greek mind, fairness was an attribute of the spirit or soul, while injustice was a sin. Both Plato and Aristotle defined justice as kindness as well as a desire to follow the law. It alluded to the connection between rights and duties. In human interactions, justice was the pinnacle of excellence and the attitude that animates folks in the right fulfillment of their responsibilities. The development of harmony and peace in thinking and conduct was pre-eminently social. In the same way, Aristotle's and Plato's fairness are complementary; both philosophers seek to discover a concept of ability by which unity, harmony, virtue, and pleasure may be produced in a community. Despite this shared agreement, they are fundamentally different in many ways. In this paper, an attempt has been made by the author to discuss the similarities and dissimilarities in theories of justice propounded by Plato and Aristotle.

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.

Еврейските мотиви в „Сказание за буквите“ на Константин Костенечки – културни и интерпретационни проблеми

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The present article deals with the translations of Hebrew and non Hebrew but presented as Hebrew anthroponyms and oikonyms in the work of Konstantin Konstenechki “Treatise of Letters” dating back to the first decade of the 15th century. Up to this moment excluding Jagić the researchers have not pay significant attention to this part of work and according to common opinion Konstantin did not know Hebrew language. However the careful language and textological analysis indicates that a big part of the translations of names and words loaned from the Old and New Testaments are identical or stay close to the etymologies including in the modern dictionaries and other are result of phonetic comparison to Aramaic. There are also translations influenced by Midrashes and the works of Philo of Alexandria.

Херметични влияния в съчиненията на Константин Костенечки

Author(s): Hristo Saldzhiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

The present article regards the influence exerted by the Hermetic philosophy on the original works of one of the last representatives of Tarnovo literary school – Konstantin Kostenechki. They are found not only in the explicit mention of Hermest Trismegist in “The Biography of Stefan Larzarević” among philosophes to whom God has partly revealed “the truth” but also in one long and sophisticated syllogism where God Father is presented as “Mind” and “The Sources of the First Mind”. Some specific terms, the description of the Serbian anchorites and one unusual transformation of the Gospel text (Mathew 6:6) also must be ascribed to Hermetic influence. All of these hermetic elements most probably have been loaned from Greek sources having included fragments of “Corpus Hermeticum” and some other hermetic texts.

The Spiritual Path to Celestial Symphony: Rambam, Abraham Ben Moses Ben Maimon, Moses Ben Shem Tov De Leon, Abū Sa‘īd Al-kharrāz

Author(s): Silviu Lupaşcu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

During the Ayyubide dynasty (1171-1260), founded by the sultan Saladin or Salah-ad-din (1137-1193), the son of Moses ben Maimon, Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon (1186-1237), followed his father as leader of the Jewish community in Egypt, nagid (Hebrew), al-raʼīs or al-rayyis (Arabic). In accordance with the analysis of Elisha Russ-Fishbane, Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon, in the work The Sufficient [Guide] for the Servants of God, continued Moses ben Maimon’s arguments in Moreh nevukhim on prophetic gift as reaching human perfection. Unlike his father, who used as bibliographic background the system of thought whereby Al-Fārābī (ca. 870-950) had evinced ontological continuity due to which divine inspiration animates the political ideal of the “king philosopher” as a hypostasis of reason and the theocratic ideal of the “legislator-prophet-imām” as a hypostasis of imagination, Abraham opted for a limited proximity to the mystic theology of medieval Sufism.

The Idea of Solidarity in the Concept of Man Created in God’s Image

Author(s): Marek Petro / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

Moral theology concerns the morality of society and acts of an individual or a group of individuals that constitute that particular society. Morality teaches us to properly respond to God’s calling, so that we can fulfil our ultimate goal. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, regarded as a compendium of the doctrines of the magisterium of the Church, can also serve as a valuable source for teaching moral theology. In the first section (“Man’s Vocation Life in the Spirit”) of the third part (“Life in Christ”) of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we can learn that man has been created “in the image and likeness of the Creator” (chap. 1, art. 1), where solidarity plays a significant role. The present paper analyses this issue.

Ethics and Solidarity as Hope in the Philosophy of Józef Tischner

Author(s): Pavol Dancák / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

In this paper, the concept of solidarity will be introduced as voluntary cohesion, mutual help and support not only within a loose group, but, above all, within the whole human race. Tischner wants to help contemporary man because he is aware that contemporary man has entered a period of profound crisis of his hope. The reflection on solidarity and hope in the philosophy of Tischner represents a neuralgic point which has its justification in Christian thought. Hope is the prospect of something better which, together with mutual support, removes both fear and isolation, and brings about the development of both the individual and the community. The deepest solidarity is solidarity of conscience. The community of solidarity differs from many other communities precisely because it is “for him” that is fundamental. It is only on this foundation that the community of “we” grows.

The Concept of Subjectivity in the Light of Józef Tischner’s Thought

Author(s): Krzysztof Wielecki / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

Reverend Józef Tischner was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding Polish philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. What we owe to this student of Roman Ingarden is the flourishing of phenomenology and the philosophy of dialog not only in our domestic philosophical, but also sociological, psychological, and anthropological thought. His philosophy of drama is an original and very important current, which is enriched not only by the “Queen of the Sciences” but also offers great support to the related sciences, particularly sociological sciences. Within them, subjectivity is an extremely important subject of contemplation. This article is a sketch of the analysis of the benefits that a sociologist, researcher of subjectivity, can derive from reading Józef Tischner’s works.

Dignity of the Human Person

Author(s): Adrian Loretan-Saladin / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

The Vatican II fundamentally changed the ecclesiastical view towards the human person. Especially in Nostra aetate, Gaudium et spes, and Dignitatis humanae it strengthens the dignity of the human person and personal freedom as base for a world with equal rights for all mankind. Therefore, the council qualified discrimination of all kind as against God’s will. These statements have a huge impact on the necessary further development of theology and canon law.