We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The academic discipline of the history of religions is intrinsically interdisciplinary, and perhaps in a position to contribute particularly useful insights to the dialogue across academic boundaries. This essay is intended to present a very thin slice of cultural responses to our contemporary condition, and to suggest a few possible resources for analysis of them.
More...
Why then should we be interested in the Jaina tradition and its relations with the West? First, the numbers do not give an accurate picture of the importance of Jainism. Jains like Anju Jain, former co-CEO of Deutsche Bank, are influential in the world of business and trade. In India, Jains both male and female are much more likely to be literate than their Hindu compatriots. The Jain tradition is rich and beautiful, both in the historical and contemporary perspective. Jains have made central contributions to Indian culture. In Indian philosophy they sought to position themselves in the middle ground between the “one-sided” views of other schools.
More...
We often wonder: What are the limits of religious tolerance? Why can we be very open to the idea of tolerance, as a principle, and still, when it comes about our own family/actions, to be, in many cases, intolerant?1 What is the difference between the idea of tolerance and its particular application? And why, so many times, we are tolerant in words, and intolerant in practice? Why does this difference occur? And why are we showing indifference when we should implicate ourselves and make a difference? Yes, we play with notions, but we actually do this in everyday life.
More...
The substance of the secularization theory, as formulated by most sociologists in the 1960s and 1970s, presupposed that modernity would implicitly lead to the decline of religion in society, ultimately to its elimination. Secularization, as a separation of the sacred-profane spheres, was the direct result of modernization. Today's reality contradicts this religious skepticism.
More...
Professor Surendranath Dasgupta (1887-1952) is probably best remembered as a Philosopher and for his contributions to the historiography of Indian Philosophy. This spirit of philosophical enquiry can also be discovered in his famous works on Yoga and Tantra – knowledge systems which are based in praxis. However, as a thinker, Professor Dasgupta defied all disciplinary boundaries and wrote and lectured on the sciences, literature, art history, aesthetics and so on. Even a cursory look at his teaching career establishes the essentially interdisciplinary nature of his calling: among other things, Dasgupta served as a Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali in Rajshahi and Chittagong College; then taught Bengali at Oxford University; became Professor of Philosophy at Presidency College; then Principal of Sanskrit College; afterwards Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta. He was deeply influenced by poetry, especially Rabindranath Tagore, and many of his essays on philosophy would include Tagore’s poetry as an instance to prove his point or as a moment of epiphany in an otherwise structured argument. Besides these scholarly pursuits, he has also authored poetry collections and novels in Bangla. Dasgupta liked to keep himself informed about the latest developments in World Literature and at times, he even participated in the literary debates that were taking place in the public sphere at that period. Perhaps, his initial training as a student of Sanskrit served as the foundation for this lifelong engagement with languages and literatures. My presentation seeks to locate this literary persona of Professor Dasgupta through a reading of some of his works including Sāhitya Paricay and The History of Sanskrit Literature – in which he worked as an editor and as one of the two contributors. Supplementing these with texts on art and aesthetics by Dasgupta, we seek to understand his way of approaching literature – characteristically comparative; looking for patterns of relationships and connections across time, space, cultures
More...
While God is the creator and giver of life, man can become co-creator in having offspring by following His command to “increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1: 28). Man's synergy in the creation of life is expressed by the free will of the future parents and is reflected in the resemblance between the parents and the child, due to the laws of heredity. Parenthood is therefore not determined solely by God, but it is also shaped by man based on his personal desires and goals. At the same time the notion of man as a cocreator indicates that his reproductive freedom should be in accordance with divine providence and wisdom. Therefore, procreation should not only be understood as a personal right, but also as a significant responsibility, both towards God and the child who comes into existence. The theological understanding of man as co-creator allow us to come to some conclusions regarding the ethics of termination of the unborn human life through abortion, and the human desire to overcome the obstacle of infertility through the methods of assisted reproduction.
More...
Modern medical science aims at the benefit of the patient which is achieved through the treatment of the patient. The physician must act in the best interest of the patient and consequently his health. In an ideal world every doctor besides treating a patient would also love him. In this text, there will be examined two fundamental ethical imperatives that can be applied in the doctor – patient relationship. On the one hand the position, do not do unto others as you would not like to do unto you, on the other hand the positive formulation of that sentence which is, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. The first of those two positions can be found in the ancient oath of Hippocrates, whereas the second position is the basis of the Golden Rule of Christian ethics. These two ethical imperatives will be examined in the context of modern bioethics as well, since the benefit of the patient is the major concern of two of its basic principles, namely the principle of beneficence and that of non-maleficence. The oath of Hippocrates moves in the realm of the moral idea that you should not do to others what you do not want to be done to yourself. The above position is based on the affirmative propositions that are imprinted within the oath. On the other hand, the Golden Rule of Christian ethics consists of a positive exhortation, to do to the other what you would like to happen to you. Each Christian is called to love his fellowman as he loves himself, since the supreme good in Christian morality is the love of God and fellowman that fulfills the purpose of man’s existence, which is the communion with God. Both positions examined in the text have relevant content, aiming at the benefit of the patient, the patients good, either by a direct positive obligation, or by preventing the doctor from harming the patient.
More...
Mythology is the basic feature of every ethnicity.The Creation of the world is an important starting point and is differently represented by every nation. In addition, myths are spread into pieces. Here is a brief comparison of the Chinese, Greek, Japanese Egyptian, Indian and Hittite Anatolia mythology. Each of them has its unique features, but they also have some overlapping points. Generally speaking there are one and the same elements, people or things appearing in the myths mentioned above. For example we can find the conception of the Chaos not only within the Chinese myths but also in the Greek and Indian ones.
More...
The article treats the means of expression of hesychastic apophaticism, used by Old Bulgarian writers of the 14th – 15th centuries, and the author tries to show that these means are very old, and were characteristic even for the mind of primitive people. He pays attention to the synonymy of ‘aphophatic’ negative pronouns and ‘cataphatic’ summative pronouns; to the pleonastic use of the negative particle не; to the syntactic but- constructions; and to necessative constructions.
More...
Common trends of Balkan painting as basic cultural locus of old Byzantine culture influenced Medieval iconographic models of wall-painting heritage of Christian temples in Tarnovo and its region dating from XV – XVIII century. Iconography was developed and enriched by symbolic images and interpretations of motives and events fundamental in Christian philosophy, Bible and hymnography. Artistic tradition of Christianity, strongly apparent in theocentric compositions of church vaults of that period revealed the ideas of Protoimage of God and its realization in cognizable world.
More...
