The Influence of Zāhirī Theory On Ibn Hazm's Theology: the Case of His Interpretation of the Anthropomorphic Text "the Hand of God"

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
AL Makin

AbstractBoth the Bible and the Qur¸ān contain anthropomorphic passages, and so a theological debate over their interpretation is very common in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the Qur¸ān, there are several anthropomorphic texts which describe God as having bodily features like those of human beings. For instance, God is said to have a face, eyes, feet, and hands. Various attempts were made to interpret such texts, either literally by accepting the corporcality of God or metaphorically by avoiding the implication of anthropomorphic texts. It is interesting how Ibn Hazm, who upheld Zāhirī theory (maintaining the literal meaning), tried to interpret Qur. 38:76, 5:67, 48:10 and 36:70 where reference is made to "the Hand of God." On the one hand, he felt he should maintain the literal meaning, according to which god is supposed to have hands. On the other hand, he declared himself to be a defender of tawhīd (the unity of God), which demanded that he reject all possibility of similarities between God and any of his creatures. This paper will focus on Ibn Hazm's argument by looking at his al-Fisal wa al-Milal wa al-Nihal.

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110448
Author(s):  
Balázs M Mezei

In this article I overview Paul Ricœur’s understanding of divine revelation on the basis of some of his relevant writings. I argue that Ricœur’s hermeneutics of revelation has two aspects: on the one hand Ricœur’s explains the complex ways of acquiring and interpreting divine revelation especially with respect to the Bible; on the other hand, he acknowledges that revelation, originating in God’s freedom, is immediately given. In Ricœur’s view, the understanding of this immediacy is tainted by the presence of evil in human understanding which hinders the realization of revelation itself. As a critique of this standpoint I argue that the immediate givenness of revelation is logically and phenomenologically presupposed in our interpretations. Any hermeneutics of revelation entails a phenomenology of revelation. This phenomenology contains both the self-founding of human beings and, at the same time, the recognition of the absoluteness of the divine. Husserl’s phenomenology offers a way to the understanding of the immediacy of revelation through his central term of Eigenheitlichkeit. Ricœur understands this term not as genuine reality but rather as appartenance, ‘belonging to’, and reshapes its meaning in line with a hermeneutical naturalism. This explains his difficulty to conceive properly the sovereignty of revelation and the importance of phenomenology in the understanding of its immediate character.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg W. Bertram

AbstractThe concept of second nature promises to provide an explanation of how nature and reason can be reconciled. But the concept is laden with ambiguity. On the one hand, second nature is understood as that which binds together all cognitive activities. On the other hand, second nature is conceived of as a kind of nature that can be changed by cognitive activities. The paper tries to investigate this ambiguity by distinguishing a Kantian conception of second nature from a Hegelian conception. It argues that the idea of a transformation from a being of first nature into a being of second nature that stands at the heart of the Kantian conception is mistaken. The Hegelian conception demonstrates that the transformation in question takes place within second nature itself. Thus, the Hegelian conception allows us to understand the way in which second nature is not structurally isomorphic with first nature: It is a process of ongoing selftransformation that is not primarily determined by how the world is, but rather by commitments out of which human beings are bound to the open future.


Diogenes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitko Momov

Rosemberg (1991) has made a critical review of a long-standing discussion between Eastern philologists and Buddhist philosophers. The discussion is centered around the translation of the doctrine on the one hand, and its philosophical systematization on the other hand. When scientific-philological translation prevails, the literal meaning of Buddhist terminology is declared to be its basis. The young scholar, who had specialized in Japan, studied Buddhism from Japanese and Chinese sources and collected lexicographic material from non-Hindu sources. After comparing them, he encountered inaccuracies in the translation. In an attempt to overcome them, he preferred the point of view of the philosophy of Buddhism. The conclusion that he has drawn in the preface of this edition is that the study should begin with a systematization of antiquity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 617-642
Author(s):  
Antonio Di Chiro

In this essay we will try to analyze the thought of the philosopher Giorgio Agamben on the pandemic. The aim of the work is twofold. On the one hand, we will try to demonstrate that Agamben’s positions on the pandemic are not to be understood as mere extemporaneous statements, but as integral parts of his philosophy. On the other hand, we will try to show how these positions are based on a deeply paranoid and anti-scientific vision, since Agamben believes that the effects of the epidemic have been exaggerated by the centers of power in order to create a “state of exception” that allows to crumble social life and to use the fear of poverty as a tool to dominate society. We will try to demonstrate that it is precisely starting from the critique of Agamben’s positions that it is possible to rethink a philosophy and a politic to come and a new reorganization of social and intimate relations between human beings.


Author(s):  
Leo-Paul Bordeleau

Can sport claim to be an educative means, and what becomes of Greek paideia in the world of sport? The author intends to answer these questions through the use of a semantic and historical clarification of the notions of sport and education. Indeed, on the one hand, sport appears like a social practice not much propitious to education; on the other hand, modern education seems to have deviated from the Greek paideia’s trajectory. Therefore, to take into account this deviation and, by doing so, to make precise the idea of education, and then demonstrate that sport carries all characteristics of modern rationality which has produced it, will allow the author to conclude that sport could be considered one of the preferential means of human beings’ formation. Nevertheless its educative function more likely belongs to the nature of "poïèsis" than to the nature of "praxis."


Dialogue ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 701-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray Miles

InLeibniz: Perception, Apperception, and Thought, Robert McRae alleges a flat “contradiction” (McRae 1976, p. 30) at the heart of Leibniz's doctrine of three grades of monads: bare entelechies characterized by perception; animal souls capable both of perception and of sensation; and rational souls, minds or spirits endowed not only with capacities for perception and sensation but also with consciousness of self or what Leibniz calls (introducing a new term of art into the vocabulary of philosophy) “apperception.” Apperception is a necessary condition of those distinctively human mental processes associated with understanding and with reason. Insofar as it is also a sufficient condition of rationality, it is not ascribable to animals. But apperception is a necessary condition of sensation or feeling as well; and animals are capable of sensation, according to Leibniz, who decisively rejected the Cartesian doctrine that beasts are nothing but material automata. “On the one hand,” writes McRae, “what distinguishes animals from lower forms of life is sensation or feeling, but on the other hand apperception is a necessary condition of sensation, and apperception distinguishes human beings from animals” (McRae 1976, p. 30). “We are thus left with an unresolved inconsistency in Leibniz's account of sensation, so far as sensation is attributable both to men and animals” (ibid., p. 34).


Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 393-404
Author(s):  
Janusz Królikowski

Origen is the exegete and Old Christian writer whose influence on the under­standing of the Bible has always been determinative. Undoubtedly, for ecclesiasti­cal reasons he deemed the Septuagint superior and regarded it as the Christian Old Testament. He thought highly of Hebrew text as well, which he often used for his research. An expression of this belief was among others the Hexapla worked out by Origen, which can be regarded as an exceptional manifestation of esteem towards the Old Testament and its Hebrew version. Origen’s attitude towards the Bible can be characterized by two approaches: on the one hand it is the ecclesiastical approach which gives the first place to the text commonly accepted in the Church namely the Septuagint, but on the other hand he is open to every other text Hebrew or Greek, trying to understand it and take it into account in his commentary.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Fitri Yuliana

Di satu sisi, penekanan modernisme pada rasionalitas dan historisitas telah menghasilkan kristologi yang kritis-objektif. Di sisi lain, pascamodernisme yang berepistemologi pluralis menghasilkan kristologi yang subjektif. Menanggapi dan menjembatani dua sisi persoalan ini, pendekatan hermeneutis redemptive-historical diajukan sebagai pendekatan alternatif injili. Pendekatan yang berpusat pada Kristus sebagai kulminasi sejarah penebusan (seperti yang disaksikan Alkitab) ini mengaitkan tiga horizon yaitu: textual, epochal, dan canonical untuk menginterpretasikan teks Kitab Suci secara holistik. Pendekatan ini menganalisis sintaksis, konteks sastra, konteks sejarah dan genre-nya (textual horizon), mengaitkannya dengan sejarah penebusan (epochal horizon), dan melihatnya dalam terang keutuhan kanon (canonical horizon). Penggabungan ketiga unsur tersebut menekankan dinamika pemenuhan janji Allah dalam kulminasi tersebut. Dengan demikian, pendekatan hermeneutis redemptive historical dapat mengarahkan orang Kristen pembacaan dan penafsiran Alkitab yang kristosentris. Kata-kata kunci: Pendekatan Redemptive-Historical, Epistemologi, Kristologi Modern Kristologi Pascamodern, Hermeneutika Injili Kristosentris On the one hand, the emphasis of modernism on rationality and historicity has produced a critical-objective Christology. On the other hand, post-modernism with a pluralist epistemology produces subjective Christology. Responding to, and bridging the two sides of this problem, the redemptive-historical hermeneutical approach is proposed as an alternative evangelical approach. The Christ-centered approach as the culmination of the history of redemption (as witnessed to in the Bible) links three horizons, namely: textual, epochal, and canonical to interpret the text of the Scriptures holistically. This approach analyzes syntax, literary context, historical context and its genre (textual horizon), links it to the history of redemption (epochal horizon), and sees it in the light of the canon (canonical horizon). The combination of these three elements emphasizes the dynamic fulfillment of God’s promises. Thus, the historical redemptive hermeneutical approach can lead Christians to read and interpret the Christocentric Bible. Keywords: Redemptive-Historical Approach, Epistemology, Modernist Christology, Post-modernist Christology, Christ-centered Evangelical Hermeneutics


Author(s):  
Simone Zurbuchen

The chapter explores the ambiguity of the notion of dignity in Pufendorf’s natural law theory. On the one hand, dignity (dignatio) denotes the moral status of human beings in virtue of which they have to treat each other as equals. On the other hand, Pufendorf holds dignity and natural equality to be compatible with social inequality, notably with servitude and slavery. Moreover, when he deals with the comparative value and reputation (existimatio) of human beings, he admits that their moral status is conditioned by their readiness to behave as social beings. Human beings can thus lose their basic moral standing and are then considered as common enemies of all.


Augustinianum ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-384
Author(s):  
Sabrina Antonella Robbe ◽  

The paper focuses on Rufinus’ translation of Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica 1, 1-3, which discusses trinitarian and christological matters. Firstly, I will analyze how Rufinus amends or removes statements which are close to Origenism and Arianism, sometimes replacing them with orthodox ones; I will then examine Rufinus’ way of citing and interpreting the Bible, by correcting Eusebius’ reading, when it is suspected of heresy, or by explaining passages himself. This work of emendation reveals, on the one hand, Rufinus’ desire to give the readers a text which fits perfectly with the nicen-constantinopolitan creed, and, on the other hand, his aim of protecting himself from accusations.


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