scholarly journals Interests: Christian and economic views

2012 ◽  
pp. 483-502
Author(s):  
Bosko Mijatovic
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Historical Changes ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Universe

This paper provides a brief overview of the evolution of views on interest from ancient times to the present day. Historical changes, including legal acts prohibiting and restricting interest as well as theological and economic views and disputes about the justification of its existence, are followed. It turned out that life has sought and found ways to bypass bans, and that placing man at the center of the universe after the Renaissance decidedly marked a shift towards the legalization of interest. It was continuously tolerated in Orthodox countries, with less confrontations than in the West.

scholarly journals The chemical composition and manufacturing technology of glass beads excavated from the Hetian Bizili site, Xinjiang

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Wang ◽  
Rui Wen ◽  
Julian Henderson ◽  
Xingjun Hu ◽  
Wenying Li
Keyword(s):  
Glass Beads ◽  
Manufacturing Technology ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Raman Spectrometry ◽  
The West ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Southern Route ◽  
The Silk Road ◽  
Plant Ash ◽  
Lead Antimonate

AbstractThe Hetian Bizili site in Lop County, located on the southern route of the Silk Road in Xinjiang, China, was a trade and cultural hub between the East and the West in ancient times. In 2016, a large number of glass beads were unearthed from the 40 tombs excavated on this site. In this study we determined the chemical compositions and manufacturing technology of bodies and decorations of twelve glass beads from the M5 tomb of Bizili by using LA-ICP-AES, EDXRF, Raman Spectrometry, and SR-μCT. The chemical compositions of the beads were all Na2O–CaO–SiO2, with plant ash mainly used as a flux. Lead antimonate and lead stannate were used as the opacifying agents. We detected elevated levels of boron and high levels of phosphorus in some beads: this is discussed in the context of the type of flux used and the possible use of a P-rich opacifier. Some of the beads with high contents of aluminum may potentially come from Pakistan. In terms of manufacturing technology, the craftsmen made ‘eye’ beads in different ways and also trail decorated beads.

scholarly journals Ethos in Early Chinese Rhetoric: The Case of “Heaven”

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Yong-Kang Wei
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
The West ◽  
Chinese Tradition ◽  
Rhetorical Tradition ◽  
Chinese Rhetoric ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Collective Ethos ◽  
The Universe

Though applicable in many Western historical-cultural settings, the Aristotelian model of ethos is not universal. As early Chinese rhetoric shows in the example of cheng-yan or “ethos of sincereness,” inspiring trust does not necessarily involve a process of character-based self-projection. In the Aristotelian model, the rhetor stands as a signifier of ethos, with an ideology of individualism privileged, whereas Chinese rhetoric assumes a collectivist model in which ethos belongs, not to an individual or a text, but rather to culture and cultural tradition. This essay will be concentrating on the concept of Heaven, central to the cultural and institutional systems of early Chinese society, in an attempt to explore collective ethos as a function of cultural heritage. Heaven, it shall be argued, plays a key role in the creation of Chinese ethos. This essay will also contrast the logocentrism of Western rhetorical tradition with the ethnocentrism of Chinese tradition. The significance of Heaven in its role as a defining attribute of Chinese ethos is reflective of a unique cultural heritage shaped by a collective human desire in seeking a consciousness of unity with the universe. Just as there are historical, cultural, and philosophical reasons behind logocentrism in the West, so the ethnocentric turn of Chinese rhetoric should be appreciated in light of a cultural tradition that carries its own historical complexities and philosophical intricacies.

Art. XIX.—An old Hebrew Romance of Alexander

1897 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-549
Author(s):  
M. Gaster
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
The Real ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bibliographical Information ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Great Mass

More marvellous and more remarkable than the real conquests of Alexander are the stories circulated about him, and the legends which have clustered round his name and his exploits. The history of Alexander has, from a very early period, been embellished with legends and tales. They spread from nation to nation during the whole of the ancient times, and all through the Middle Ages. Many scholars have followed up the course of this dissemination of the fabulous history of Alexander. It would, therefore, be idle repetition of work admirably done by men like Zacher, Wesselofsky, Budge, and others, should I attempt it here. All interested in the legend of Alexander are familiar with those works, where also the fullest bibliographical information is to be found. I am concerned here with what may have appeared to some of these students as the bye-paths of the legend, and which, to my mind, has not received that attention which is due to it, from more than one point of view. Hitherto the histories of Alexander were divided into two categories; the first were those writings which pretended to give a true historical description of his life and adventures, to the exclusion of fabulous matter; the other included all those fabulous histories in which the true elements were smothered under a great mass of legendary matter, the chief representative of this class being the work ascribed to a certain Callisthenes. The study of the legend centred in the study of the vicissitudes to which this work of (Pseudo-) Callisthenes had been exposed, in the course of its dissemination from the East, probably from its native country, Egypt, to the countries of the West.

scholarly journals On generalized Lemaitre–Tolman–Bondi metric: Fractal matter at the end of matter–antimatter recombination

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150086
Author(s):  
Sergio L. Cacciatori ◽  
Alessio Marrani ◽  
Federico Re
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Relativistic Effects ◽  
Partial Explanation ◽  
First Order ◽  
Acceleration Of The Universe ◽  
Particular Solution ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Recombination Epoch ◽  
Ltb Metric

Many recent researches have investigated the deviations from the Friedmannian cosmological model, as well as their consequences on unexplained cosmological phenomena, such as dark matter and the acceleration of the Universe. On one hand, a first-order perturbative study of matter inhomogeneity returned a partial explanation of dark matter and dark energy, as relativistic effects due to the retarded potentials of far objects. On the other hand, the fractal cosmology, now approximated by a Lemaitre–Tolman–Bondi (LTB) metric, results in distortions of the luminosity distances of SNe Ia, explaining the acceleration as apparent. In this work, we extend the LTB metric to ancient times. The origin of the fractal distribution of matter is explained as the matter remnant after the matter–antimatter recombination epoch. We show that the evolution of such a inhomogeneity necessarily requires a dynamical generalization of LTB, and we propose a particular solution.

Reflecții asupra conceptului de artă obiectivă în contextul artei contemporane

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
Carmen Belean
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Arbitrary Element ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Universe

"Reflections on the concept of objective art in the context of contemporary art. Objective art communicates about the human being and his/her place in the universe, about the cosmic laws and the role they play in human life and provide clues as to how man can relate to them. From literary sources attesting to the idea that art in its origin had the role of transmitting knowledge to future generations, we deduce that in ancient times all art forms could be read like a book, and those who knew how to read, fully understood the meaning of the knowledge that was incorporated in these art forms. Nevertheless, there are two forms of art, one very different from the other: objective art and subjective art. Everything that we call art today is subjective art. Objective art is the authentic work resulted from the deliberate, premeditated efforts of a conscious artist. In the act of his creation, the artist avoids or eliminates any subjective or arbitrary element and the impression that such a work evokes in others is always defined. Keywords: objective art, the art of antiquity, contemporary art "

Islamic Modernism: Its Scope, Method and Alternatives

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fazlur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
Islamic Reform ◽  
The Status ◽  
Spiritual Issues ◽  
The Right ◽  
Law Of Evidence ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Status Of Women

The classical Muslim modernists of the nineteenth century envisaged Islamic Reform as a comprehensive venture: it took in its purview law, society, politics and intellectual, moral and spiritual issues. It dealt with questions of the law of evidence, the status of women, modern education, constitutional reforms, the right of a Muslim to think for himself, God and the nature of the universe and man and man's freedom. A tremendous intellectual fervour and ferment were generated. The liberals and the conservatives battled; the intellectual innovators were opposed and supported, penalized and honored, exiled and enthusiastically followed. Although the modernist movement dealt with all the facets of life, nevertheless, in my view, what gave it point and significance was its basically intellectual élan and the specifically intellectual and spiritual issues with which it dealt. This awakening struck a new and powerful chord in the Muslim mind because intellectual issues had remained for centuries under a state of selfimposed dormancy and stagnation at the instance of conservative orthodoxy. The nineteenth century was also the great age of the battle of ideas in the West, ideas and battles whose strong injections into Muslim society found a ready response. The character of this movement was then primarily intellectual and spiritual.

Art. VII.—Account of the Province of Rámnád, Southern Peninsula of India. Compiled from the “Mackenzie Collection,” and edited by the Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society

1836 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 165-188
Keyword(s):  
General Aspect ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The North ◽  
Artificial Lakes ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Government ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society ◽  
North Latitude

This province, the government of which is now administered by the British, formed in ancient times the greater part of the principality, or fiefship, of the Sétu-pattis, the chiefs or guardians of the passage leading from the continent of India to the island of Ráméswara, and thence to the opposite coast of Ceylon, called Ráma's Bridge, or Adam's Bridge. These chieftains, dating their authority from the period of the establishment of a place of pilgrimage on the island of Ráméswara, by the Great Ráma, claim an antiquity even higher than that of the Pándyans, or kings of Madura, but to whom, it would appear, that they were, in general, tributary, though now and then asserting and maintaining their independence. Of their history, however, we are not now to speak, but of the province as it was in the year 1814, when the data were taken from which chiefly the following account is compiled. It lies between the ninth and tenth degrees of north latitude, and the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth of east longitude; is bounded on the north by the provinces of Tanjore and Pudukotta, on the south and east by the sea, and on the west by the districts of Tinnevelly, Madura, and Sivaganga; and comprehends an area of nearly two thousand five hundred square miles. Its general aspect is that of high and low lands, the latter having numerous artificial lakes, constructed for the purpose of promoting cultivation; the former exhibiting a variety of dry grain-fields, while the northern districts abound with extensive groves of Palmyra trees, with scarcely a vestige of jungle. The whole is divided into seventeen districts, comprising one thousand six hundred and sixtyeight towns and principal and subordinate villages, with a population, at the period to which we allude, of about one hundred and fifty-seven thousand.

scholarly journals Seals from Harappa

1912 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-701
Author(s):  
J. F. Fleet
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Full Size ◽  
The North ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
North Western ◽  
The Way

Harappa is a village, having a station on the North-Western Railway, in the Montgomery District, Panjāb: it is situated in lat. 30° 38′, long. 72° 52′, on the south bank of the Ravi, some fifteen miles towards the west-by-south from Montgomery. The place is now of no importance: but extensive ruins and mounds, one of which rises to the height of sixty feet, indicate that the case was otherwise in ancient times; and it has yielded thousands of coins of the “Indo-Scythians” and their successors. Amongst other objects of interest from this place, there are the three seals, full-size facsimiles of which are given in the accompanying Plate. The original seals are now in the British Museum, in the Department of British and Mediæval Antiquities in charge of Mr. Read. In all three cases, the substance of these seals seems to be a claystone, hardened by heat or some other means. In the originals, the devices and characters are sunk: the illustrations represent impressions from the originals, with the devices and characters reversed, as compared with the way in which they lie in the originals, and standing out in relief. The animal on A has been held to be a bull, but not an Indian bull, because it has no hump: another opinion, however, is that it may be a male deer of some kind. The animal on C has a tail of such a nature as to suggest that this creature cannot be a deer. On A the hind legs were not fully formed; and it is possible that a similar tail has been omitted there.

scholarly journals "INCREASING SCOPE OF RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION"

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (9SE) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Rakesh Kavach ◽  
Kiran Baderia ◽  
Alok Goyal
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
The West ◽  
Natural Properties ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
National Environmental

Environmental pollution is an occasional problem in which the difficulties of life for the bio-world including humans are increasing. Due to the qualitative degradation of the environmental elements, the natural properties of life-like elements such as air, water, soil, vegetation, etc. are getting diminished due to which the relationship between nature and organisms is deteriorating. It is well known that environmental pollution is a product of modernity. Although the phenomenon of pollution has been occurring even in ancient times, but nature was able to prevent it, due to which its outbreak was not as fierce as it is today. As the amount of pollution has exceeded the limits of nature today, its effect has started reaching near the crisis point. Environmental elements like water and air are losing their natural quality due to environmental pollution, the vegetation is getting destroyed, the nature of the weather is changing and human is getting trapped in the clutches of various diseases. It is detrimental to the bio-world, as it is oriented in the path of environmental degradation to ecological degradation. Scientists believe that if the same momentum of pollution continues for the next 50 years, a catastrophe can come. The Western Industrial Revolution has made man insensitive to such an extent that he is cutting the branch on which he is sitting. Some scientists of the developed countries have been forced to say that the progressive nations of the west are exporting pollution to poor developing countries.According to the National Environmental Research Institute, pollutants causing harmful changes in the natural environment are released from matter and energy releases in the form of wastes resulting from human activities. Pollutants that pollute the environment are placed in two groups on the basis of origin. Can be (a) natural pollutant and (b) man-made pollutant. पर्यावरण प्रदूषण एक ऐसी सामयिक समस्या है जिसमें मानव सहित जैव जगत् के लिए जीवन की कठिनाईयाँ बढ़ती जा रही हैं। पर्यावरण के तत्त्वों में गुणात्मक ह्रास के कारण जीवनदायी तत्त्व यथा वायु, जल, मृदा, वनस्पति आदि के नैसर्गिक गुण ह्रसमान होते जा रहे हैं जिससे प्रकृति और जीवों का आपसी सम्बन्ध बिगड़ता जा रहा है। यह सर्वज्ञात है कि पर्यावरण प्रदूषण आधुनिकता की देन है। वैसे प्रदूषण की घटना प्राचीनकाल में भी होती रही है लेकिन प्रकृति इसका निवारण करने में सक्षम थी, जिससे इसका प्रकोप उतना भयंकर नहीं था, जितना आज है। चूँकि आज प्रदूषण की मात्रा प्रकृति की सहनसीमा को लाँघ गई है फलतः इसका प्रभाव संकट बिन्दु के समीप पहुँचने लगा है। पर्यावरण प्रदूषण से जल और वायु जैसे जीवनदायी तत्त्व अपनी नैसर्गिक गुणवत्ता खोते जा रहे हैं, वनस्पतियाँ विनष्ट होती जा रही हैं, मौसम का स्वभाव बदल रहा है और मानव विविध बीमारियों के चंगुल में फँसता जा रहा है। यह जैव जगत् के लिए अपषकुन है, क्योंकि पर्यावरण ह्रास से पारिस्थितिकी विनाष के राह में उन्मुख है। वैज्ञानिकों का मानना है कि अगले 50 वर्षों तक यदि प्रदूषण की यही गति बनी रही तो महाप्रलय आ सकता है। पष्चिमी औद्योगिक क्रान्ति ने मनुष्य को इस हद तक संवेदनहीन बना दिया है कि वह जिस डाल पर बैठा है उसी को काट रहा है। विकसित देषों के कुछ वैज्ञानिक यह कहने के लिए बाध्य हुए हैं कि पष्चिम के प्रगतिषील राष्ट्र, प्रदूषण का निर्यात गरीब विकासषील देषों में कर रहे हैं।राष्ट्रीय पर्यावरण शोध संस्थान के अनुसार मनुष्य के क्रिया-कलापों से उत्पन्न अपषिष्टों के रूप में पदार्थ एवं उर्जा विमोचन से प्राकृतिक पर्यावरण में होने वाले हानिकारक परिवर्तनों को प्रदूषण कहा जाता है।पर्यावरण को प्रदूषित करने वाले प्रदूषकों को उत्पत्ति के आधार पर दो समूहों मेें रखा जा सकता है- (क) प्राकृतिक प्रदूषक तथा (ख) मानव निर्मित प्रदूषक।

scholarly journals Some Remarks on the Islamic and the Secular Paradigms of Knowledge

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-544
Author(s):  
Taha J. Al Alwani
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
The West ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

By the time secularist thought had succeeded, at an intellectuallevel, in challenging the authority of the Church, its roots had alreadytaken firm hold in western soil. Later, when western political and economicsystems began to prevail throughout the world, it was only naturalthat secularism, as the driving force behind these systems, shouldgain ascendency worldwide. In time, and with varying degrees of success,the paradigm of positivism gradually displaced traditional andreligious modes of thinking, with the result that generations of thirdworld thinkers grew up convinced that the only way to “progress” andreform their societies was the way of the secular West. Moreover, sincethe experience of the West was that it began to progress politically,economically, and intellectually only after the influence of the Churchhad been marginalized, people in the colonies believed that they wouldhave to marginalize the influence of their particular religions in orderto achieve a similar degree of progress. Under the terms of the newparadigm, turning to religion for solutions to contemporary issues is anabsurdity, for religion is viewed as something from humanity’s formativeyears, from a “dark” age of superstition and myth whose time hasnow passed. As such, religion has no relevance to the present, and allattempts to revive it are doomed to failure and are a waste of time.Many have supposed that it is possible to accept the westernmodel of a secular paradigm while maintaining religious practices andbeliefs. They reason that such an acceptance has no negative impactupon their daily lives so long as it does not destroy their places ofworship or curtail their right to religious freedom. Thus, there remainshardly a contemporary community that has not fallen under the swayof this paradigm. Moreover, it is this paradigm that has had the greatestinfluence on the way different peoples perceive life, the universe,and the role of humanity as well as providing them with an alternativeset of beliefs (if needed) and suggesting answers to the ultimate questions ...

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