Indian and Russian Tolstoy: one among strangers and a stranger among one’s

Author(s):  
Svetlana M. Klimova ◽  

The article examines the phenomenon of the late Lev Tolstoy in the context of his religious position. The author analyzes the reactions to his teaching in Russian state and official Orthodox circles, on the one hand, and Indian thought, on the other. Two sociocultural images of L.N. Tolstoy: us and them that arose in the context of understanding the position of the Russian Church and the authorities and Indian public and religious figures (including Mahatma Gandhi, who was under his influence). A peculiar phenomenon of intellectually usL.N. Tolstoy among culturally them (Indian) correspondents and intellectually them Tolstoy among culturally us (representatives of the official government and the Church of Russia) transpires. The originality of this situation is that these im­ages of Lev Tolstoy arise practically at the same period. The author compares these images, based on the method of defamiliarisation (V. Shklovsky), which allows to visually demonstrate the religious component of Tolstoy’s criticism of the political sphere of life and, at the same time, to understand the psychological reasons for its rejection in Russian official circles. With the methodological help of defamiliarisation the author tries to show that the opinion of Tolstoy (as the writer) becomes at the same time the voice of conscience for many of his con­temporaries. The method of defamiliarisation allowed the author to show how Leo Tolstoy’s inner law of nonviolence influenced the concept of non­violent resistance in the teachings of Gandhi.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-222
Author(s):  
Mathias G. Parding

Abstract It is known that Kierkegaard’s relation to politics was problematic and marked by a somewhat reactionary stance. The nature of this problematic relation, however, will be shown to lie in the tension between his double skepticism of the order of establishment [det Bestående] on the one hand, and the political associations of his age on the other. In this tension he is immersed, trembling between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand Kierkegaard is hesitant to support the progressive political movements of the time due to his skepticism about the principle of association in the socio-psychological climate of leveling and envy. On the other hand, his dubious support of the order of the establishment, in particular the Church and Bishop Mynster, becomes increasingly problematic. The importance of 1848 is crucial in this regard since this year marks the decisive turn in Kierkegaard’s authorship. Using the letters to Kolderup-Rosenvinge in the wake of the cataclysmic events of 1848 as my point of departure, I wish to elucidate the pathway towards what Kierkegaard himself understands as his Socratic mission.


MELINTAS ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Fransiskus Borgias M.

<p>Since the arrival of Christianity together with the colonial rulers, Manggarai, Flores, Indonesia, undergoes physical and spiritual changes. These changes can be explained with theory of intellectual voluntarism (the free will of the repentant) and theory of structural determinism (enforcement by external factor). It appears that the changes in Manggarai happen because of the mixture of both factors in their diverse variants, such as the political-economical, educational, social-services related, and religious-theological factors. There are two horizons in the whole process of encounter and transformation in this area. On the one hand, there is the horizon of European Christian missionaries (supported by government), and on the other hand, the horizon of the Manggarain, with their cultural life in the broadest sense of the word. The two horizons fuse to each other in one drama of cultural encounter throughout the growth of the Church. Following the hermeneutical discourse of Gadamer, it might be said that the fusion of the two horizons results in the emergence of a new face of unique local and contextual Christianity. In its uniqueness and locality, it has also something to be contributed to the universal Church.</p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (29) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Paul Allain

Appropriately, this feature on the Polish theatre group Gardzienice is something of a cultural mix, in which the impressions of an English visitor may be contrasted with the voice of a Polish admirer – and the beliefs of the group itself, expressed in the words of its director, Wlodzimierz Staniewski. In the winter of 1989–90, Paul Allain, a graduate student at Goldsmiths' College, University of London, visited the company at its ‘headquarters’ – which is also, in effect, the small and remote Polish village from which Gardzienice takes its name. This was at a time when the new. Solidarity-led government had yet to be fully felt. Here, Allain describes the training methods and disciplines of the company which, within the context of its physical environment, have come to constitute a lifestyle as much as an approach to theatre. Janusz Majcherek writes rather of the significance of Gardzienice in relation to the ancient and fundamental need for a homeland – a need which, in Staniewski's writings, is related to the company's own hopes and plans. All this material was in our hands well before the upsurge in nationalist feeling which has succeeded the political changes in eastern Europe: and it may be felt to reflect ironically upon alternative ways of ‘returning home’ – on the one hand through the actuality or threat of civil war and the struggle for an elusive slice of the ‘free market’, on the other in that quest for a lost history and inheritance, for healing connections with one's environment, which is reflected theatrically in the work of Gardzienice.


Ritið ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Lára Magnúsardóttir

The article recounts the account from the Árna saga about Loftur Helgason’s trip to Bergen in 1282 and his stay there over winter, explained in terms of the formal sources about the organization of the government and changes in the law in the latter half of the 13th century. These changes were aimed at introducing into Iceland the power of both the King and the Church and in fact marked the actual changes throughout the Norwegian state. Loftur was Skálholt‘s official and the story about him was part of a long-standing dispute about the position of the chieftains versus the new power of the Church and the opposition to its introduction. The article defines the political confusion described in the Árna sagain Bergen in the winter of 1282-1283 as, on the one hand, changes in the constitution and, on the other hand, legislation, and at the same time whether the Kings Hákon Hákonarson and his son Magnús had systematically pursued a policy of having the Church be an independent party to the government of the state from 1247 onward until the death of the latter in 1280. When the disagreement is looked at as continuing, it is seen that Icelanders had made preparations for changes in the constitution with assurances of introduction of the power of the Church beginning in 1253 and the power of the King from 1262, but, on the other hand, the disagreements in both countries disappeared in the 1270s in the face of the conflict of interests that resulted from the laws that followed in the wake of the constiututional changes. Árna saga tell of this and how the disputes were described, but also that their nature changed as King Erikur came to power in 1280, as he gave the power of the King a new policy that was aimed against the power of the Church. Ousting of the archbishop from Norway and the Christian funerals of the excommunicated chieftains are examples of the conditions of government that could not have been, if the King had no longer had executive power over Christian concerns, as he had already conceded power over spiritual issues to the Pope in Rome with the Settlement at Túnsberg in 1277.


2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-78
Author(s):  
Marcelo Blidstein

This article examines the political and ideological components of the Mexican Constitutional Assembly of 1917 and offers a new and more heterogeneous interpretation of this composition. Here, a dividing line is drawn between the political followers of either Carranza or Obregón, on the one hand, and other representatives who, despite their ideological proximity to the obregonistas, acted independently on the political sphere. A further group comprising those representatives who were not aligned with any of the other three groups is also considered. / Este artículo trata sobre la composición política e ideológica del Congreso Constituyente mexicano de 1917 y propone una interpretación nueva y más heterogénea de dicha composición. El artículo traza una línea divisoria entre los diputados constituyentes aliados políticamente a Carranza y a Obregón, por un lado, y a otros delegados, que pese a compartir una ideología que guardaba gran similitud con la de los obregonistas, eran independientes en cuanto a la esfera política. Además de ello, existía un grupo, mayoritario y heterogéneo formado por diputados que no estaban alineados con ninguno de los otros tres grupos.


2021 ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
D. A. Filimonov

Early eighteenth century was the age of Peter the Great’s transformations, which affected many spheres of life of Russian society, and, in particular, caused the restructuring of the highest political elite. The reforms were, on the one hand, conditioned by the processes of the late seventeenth century, on the other hand, by the specificity of Peter’s absolutism and the long period of warfare. The article analyses the features of Peter’s reforms of the higher political elite. The background to the reforms has been examined, and Peter the Great’s personnel policy, approaches and principles have been analysed. Particular attention has been paid to institutional change, looking at the mechanisms used by Peter the Great in replacing obsolete institutions with new ones. An analysis of the qualitative composition of the elite made it possible to establish a continuity between the political elite of Peter the Great and the aristocracy of the earlier period, with a change in the principles of interaction. The post-reform Russian state is no longer built on the principles of the “servant state”, but on absolutism with a rationalist approach and the principle of “suitability”. 


Author(s):  
Valerii Sekisov

The paper provides analysis of the teachings of K. Barth and S. Hauerwas on the relations between church and state. Unlike the Reformers, Swiss theologian proves the possibility of a positive connection between church and state and points out some ways of its realization. According to K. Barth, both church and state, belong to the Christological sphere, which legitimizes the latter for the church community, as well as calls for mutual service. According to S. Hauerwas, the criterion of power is the legitimization of violence, while the special feature of the church is the ability to make peace. In addition, Hauerwas demonstrates the danger of uncritical acceptance of dominant narratives on the example of liberalism. Thus, on the one hand, the paper demonstrates, the differences in the views of K. Barth and S. Hauerwas, and on the other hand, reflects on common grounds of both theologians, making this research highly relevant today.


TEKNOSASTIK ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Dina Amelia

There are two most inevitable issues on national literature, in this case Indonesian literature. First is the translation and the second is the standard of world literature. Can one speak for the other as a representative? Why is this representation matter? Does translation embody the voice of the represented? Without translation Indonesian literature cannot gain its recognition in world literature, yet, translation conveys the voice of other. In the case of production, publication, or distribution of Indonesian Literature to the world, translation works can be very beneficial. The position of Indonesian literature is as a part of world literature. The concept that the Western world should be the one who represent the subaltern can be overcome as long as the subaltern performs as the active speaker. If the subaltern remains silent then it means it allows the “representation” by the Western.


2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.


Author(s):  
Nicolas Wiater

This chapter examines the ambivalent image of Classical Athens in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Roman Antiquities. This image reflects a deep-seated ambiguity of Dionysius’ Classicist ideology: on the one hand, there is no question for Dionysius that Athenocentric Hellenicity failed, and that the Roman empire has superseded Athens’ role once and for all as the political and cultural centre of the oikoumene. On the other, Dionysius accepted Rome’s supremacy as legitimate partly because he believed (and wanted his readers to believe) her to be the legitimate heir of Classical Athens and Classical Athenian civic ideology. As a result, Dionysius develops a new model of Hellenicity for Roman Greeks loyal to the new political and cultural centre of Rome. This new model of Greek identity incorporates and builds on Classical Athenian ideals, institutions, and culture, but also supersedes them.


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