scholarly journals PHILOSOPHICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL IDEAS IN THE WORKS OF PERSONALITIES OF FRATERNAL SCHOOLS (XVI – XVII CENTURIES)

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-108
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Philosophy Of Life ◽  
Surrounding World ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

In the article the author tries to analyze the representation of philosophical and anthropological ideas in the works of fraternal schools in the XVI–XVII centuries. It is noted that man was considered in the unity of soul and body as a microcosm and one that was created in the image of God. Self-knowledge was interpreted as a way of liberation from the burdens of the surrounding world, dependence on earthly sensuality. In particular, Stefan Zizaniy had a rationalist vision of the dogmas of orthodox Christianity. The work of Kyrylo Tranquillion-Stavrovetsky shows a neo-Platonist tradition associated with humanism. In accordance with the traditions of the Renaissance, the philosopher turns to the idea of double truth, considering wisdom from the standpoint of theology and practical philosophy of life. K. Tranquillion-Stavrovetsky, according to the Stoic doctrine, regarded man as a dual nature. But the philosopher also emphasized the unity of soul and body, because they are strongly interconnected. It is noteworthy that the scientist reveals the problem of soul and body from the Renaissance-humanistic moral-ethical and epistemological positions. Isaiah Kopynsky emphasizes that self-knowledge and cognition of the surrounding world does not occur through the study of nature and observation of natural phenomena, but, on the contrary, through immersion in your inner spiritual world through “smart deeds”. It contributes to the knowledge of the outside world, self-knowledge and knowledge of God. I. Kopynsky’s views are close to early Hesychast Byzantine theology. The anthropological views of the theologian are focused on the individual who takes an active part in the historical process. In his works, M. Smotrytsky also pays special attention to the transcendent nature of the human spirit, in particular, analyzing the question of the interaction of action and will. The author concludes that the philosophical and anthropological ideas of the fraternal schools were formed in the context of European philosophical culture and were a reflection of the cultural and historical features of the historical period we are studying.

On the transcendence and immanence of God

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nestler
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Divine Punishment ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Image Of God

Transcendence and immanence are two terms used to differentiate two realities, one of transcending worldly experience and the other of an inner-worldly experience. In scholastic theology (kalām), a respective distinction is being made regarding the image of God, whereby transcendence (tanzīh) is set against anthropomorphism (tašbīh) to solve the problem of how to deal with Quranic expressions that attribute human – formal or essential – characteristics to God. Also, in mysticism, the notion of transcendence and immanence of God plays a central role, for instance, in the teachings of Ibn al-ʿArabī. He mainly discusses this distinction in the chapter of Noah in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (“The Bezels of Wisdom”), regarding knowledge of God. He rejects a pure theology of transcendence as it describes only a part of the divine reality. However, he points out that even though His immanent reality can be experienced, it is not comprehensible, because it is unlimited. Both realities interlock through the idea of the Oneness of Being or Unity of Existence (waḥdat al-wuǧūd), because ‘in reality’ they are nothing else than God. Ibn al-ʿArabī illustrates this ontological dependency by the example of Noah’s legend, by showing that the prophet supported the belief of the absolute transcendence of God, which was unacceptable for his people, not because they negated God’s existence, but because they had an immanent image of God. Accordingly, Ibn al-ʿArabī interprets the divine punishment, instead of misfortune, as immersing in the sea of knowledge of God. In this way the soul becomes a place of manifestation or a mirror of the divine reality.

scholarly journals Grundtvigs natursyn

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-104
Author(s):  
Kim Arne Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Main Tool ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Symbolic Image ◽  
Near Future

Grundtvig’s conception of Nature.By Kim Arne Pedersen.In this paper Grundtvig’s view on non-human nature and natural science is examined with the contemporary Danish discussion about theology and natural sciences (Viggo Mortensen) as a starting-point. It is argued against the use of Grundtvig’s ideas as a model for a dialogue between these fields of scholarship.Earlier researchers’ (C. I. Scharling) denial of Grundtvig having a view on nature is rejected, and Kaj Thaning’s conception of the autonomy of natural sciences in Nordens Mythologi 1832 is modified.Grundtvig’s conception of nature is defined as rooted in the Western European theological tradition’s Neo-platonic oriented cosmological interpretation of Genesis. Grundtvig takes up the understanding of natural objects as images of the invisible, spiritual world, but he shows his awareness of the rational, scientific interpretation of this tradition.The article points out 4 phases in Grundtvig’s elaboration of his view on nature after 1810, connected with the years after Kort Begreb af Verdens Krønike 1812, the magazine Danne-Virke 1816-1819, the years after Nordens Mythologi 1832 and the period from 1855 to 1860-1865. In the first phase Grundtvig rejects the independence of natural sciences as a tool of Antichrist in the final battle of the near future. In Danne-Virke nature is understood as a tool used in man’s symbolic knowledge of God. The main tool is man’s knowledge of himself because of his exceptional position inside creation as a creature with self-consciousness and language, and therefore the natural sciences are subordinated research on the history of man. Grundtvig’s thesis of femininity as representing nature and man’s body as a microcosm both in a rational, scientific and in a symbolic way is connected with this leading idea. In the years after Nordens Mythologi Grundtvig gives nature and natural sciences a much more independent position, but at the same time he stresses nature’s connection with man because of the state of man’s body as a microcosm. Grundtvig also attacks the Copernican picture of the universe.In the years after 1855 Grundtvig’s attitude towards natural science is sharpened. Apocalyptic motives return, and now Antichrist is connected with the rejection of God’s omnipotence and man’s exceptional position inside creation. As an alternative to the natural sciences Grundtvig emphasizes the interpretation of nature as a symbolic image of God.

scholarly journals Fantastic theology of Robert Sheckley: A pseudo-secular world

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
S.V. Ryazanova
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Formal Similarity ◽  
Value System ◽  
Fantastic Literature ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Religious Systems ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

The article considers one of the views on God existing within the modern Western literary tradition and out-side of religious systems. The image of God was chosen as a cultural phenomenon relevant for interpretation, which exists both in religious and secular discourse. The research involved the creative heritage of Robert Sheck-ley – one of the most popular authors of fantastic literature in the mid-20th century. The analysis was based on fantastic tales, since they provide the opportunity to prove all strategies for social behaviour, as well as different views on life. The image of God created by Sheckley was reconstructed using intertextual analysis, which helps identify original mythological and religious narratives and individual allusions. This provides the opportunity to define the features of Sheckley's individual fantastic theology and find the reasons for using the image of God in secular literature. The analysis revealed that the used religious names, denominations and plots bear only formal similarity with the traditional ones. They are used and interpreted arbitrarily. God is interpreted as being anthro-pomorphic, pragmatic, partial and not interested in the fate of his creation. Communication with God is described as commercialised and is built on the model of the consumer society. The works of Sheckley indicate the possibil-ity and necessity of contact between the man and God with the obligatory personal participation of the individual. The American writer creates texts that are modernised in terms of the plot using traditional Christian ideas about the spiritual development of people and the need to preserve the Christian value system as a universal one. In this connection, Sheckley offers possible behavioural models for the created image of God.

On the transcendence and immanence of God

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nestler
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
The Other ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Divine Punishment ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Image Of God

Transcendence and immanence are two terms used two differentiate two realities, one of transcending worldly experience and the other of an inner-worldly experience. In scholastic theology (kalām), a respective distinction is being made regarding the image of God, whereby transcendence (tanzīh) is set against anthropomorphism (tašbīh) to solve the problem of how to deal with Quranic expressions that attribute human - formal or essential - characteristics to God. Also, in mysticism, the notion of transcendence and immanence of God plays a central role, for instance, in the teachings of Ibn al-Arabi. He mainly discusses this distinction in the chapter of Noah in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (»The Bezels of Wisdom«), regarding knowledge of God. He rejects a pure theology of transcendence as it describes only a part of the divine reality. However, he points out that even though His immanent reality can be experienced, it is not comprehensible, because it is unlimited. Both realities interlock through the idea of the Oneness of Being or Unity of Existence (waḥdat al-wuğūd), because ›in reality‹ they are nothing else than God. Ibn al-ʿArabī illustrates this ontological dependency by the example of Noah’s legend, by showing that the prophet supported the belief of the absolute transcendence of God, which was unacceptable for his people, not because they negated God’s existence, but because they had an immanent image of God. Accordingly, Ibn al-Arabi interprets the divine punishment, instead of misfortune, as immersing in the sea of knowledge of God. In this way the soul becomes a place of manifestation or a mirror of the divine reality.

The theological value of autonomy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adiel Zimran
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
The Will ◽  
Abrahamic Religions ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Will Of God

Abstract Western liberalism is based on two different humanistic traditions: First, the biblical tradition of the Abrahamic religions, according to which man was created in the image of God; and, second, the tradition that developed in the age of Enlightenment, which claims man’s absolute independence of any heteronomous or transcendental being and views the very existence as a goal in and of itself. Each one of these two traditions restricts the autonomy of the individual in different ways, thus influencing the constitutional structure one of whose principal functions is to safeguard the autonomy of the citizens. This article deals with the theological value of autonomy. It analyzes the tension between the humanistic-anthropocentric worldview, which sanctifies human freedom, and the humanistic-theocentric way of thinking, which sees God as the source of all norms and holds that the freedom of man is limited by the divine imperative. Subsequently, the article presents three different models of understanding the relations between the will of God and the will of man, through an analysis of the exegesis of three Jewish thinkers on the stories of man’s creation in the image of God and the sin of the Primordial Man. These models represent three attitudes towards the theological value of autonomy. After having presented the different models, I shall compare them to each other and explicate the conceptual differences between them. To conclude, I shall further assess the contribution of these models to contemporary discourse on autonomy and liberty.

The Law of Homicide

2011 ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
David Novak
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
The Political ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Rabbinic Judaism ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter argues that the law prohibiting murder is the Noahide commandment most immediately and rationally evident. The rabbis considered its prohibition from two distinct points of view, the theological and the political. In theological terms, murder is the intentional taking of another human life, a life created in the image of God. In political terms, murder wrecks social life. Regarding murder at the individual level, the rabbis differentiated criteria for the punishment of Jews and gentiles. For Jews who commit murder, the death penalty is employed only under the strict standard of “hatra'ah,” or forewarning. Such a dispensation was not available to non-Jews. The law of homicide also deals with the morally knotty issue of abortion. Rabbinic Judaism permitted abortion only when the mother's life was in danger, but for Noahides, abortion was proscribed in every case.

Eschatological Aspects of Orthodox Poetics. The Novel F. M. Dostoevsky «Demons»

2020 ◽  
pp. 316-340
Author(s):  
Олег Иванович Сыромятников
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Spiritual World ◽  
Special Place ◽  
Xixth Century ◽  
Russian Intelligentsia ◽  
Spiritual Consciousness ◽  
The Image Of God

Православная поэтика представляет собой совокупность средств выражения православного вероучения в образности литературного произведения. Ее основы лежат в «Слове о законе и благодати» (XI в.), но свое наивысшее развитие она получила в XIX в. в трудах православных писателей, среди которых особое место принадлежит Ф.М. Достоевскому. Найденные им художественные средства позволяют изображать процессы, протекающие в духовном мире человека и общества. В творчестве писателя вопрос о личном спасении человека неразрывно связан с вопросом об исторической судьбе России. Ярким примером является роман «Бесы» (1872), непосредственным поводом к написанию которого послужило преступление, совершенное революционной группой под руководством Нечаева. Его главной причиной Достоевский считает углубляющуюся апостасию русской интеллигенции, ставшую следствием гордыни, эгоизма и гедонизма. Писатель показывает, как желание насытить страсти разрушает в человеке образ Божий, после чего образующуюся духовную пустоту заполняет зло, и человек постепенно приобретает черты антихриста, о появлении которого предупреждает Священное Писание. Прежде всего это относится к образам Ставрогина и Петра Верховенского - в каждом из них есть свойства, атрибутируемые антихристу: гордыня, злоба, неспособность любить и др., но ни в одном из них они не воплотились во всей полноте. Тем самым Достоевский предупреждает, что если разрушение духовного сознания русского общества вовремя не остановить, то эти черты смогут воплотиться и в одном человеке. Orthodox poetics is a set of means to express the Orthodox creed in the imagery of a literary work. Its foundations lie in the «Word of Law and Grace» (the XIth century), but it received its highest development in the works of the Orthodox writers of the XIXth century, among whom a special place belongs to F. M. Dostoevsky. The artistic means he found allow him to describe the processes taking place in the spiritual world of man and society. In the writer’s works, the question of personal salvation is inextricably linked with the question of the historical fate of Russia. The novel «Demons» (1872) is a striking example: an immediate occasion for writing it was the crime committed by the revolutionary group headed by Nechaev. Dostoevsky considers the deepening apostasy of the Russian intelligentsia to be the main reason for it, being a consequence of pride, egoism and hedonism. The writer shows how the desire to satiate passions destroys the image of God in man. After that, the resulting spiritual emptiness is filled with evil, and man gradually acquires the features of the antichrist, whose appearance is predicted by the Holy Scriptures. First of all, this applies to the images of Stavrogin and Peter Verkhovensky - in each of them there are features attributed to the antichrist: pride, anger, inability to love, etc., but in none of them they are completely fulfilled. Thus Dostoevsky warns us that if the destruction of the Russian society spiritual consciousness is not timely stopped, these traits can be embodied in one person.

GENESIS OF OLD BELIEVERS ANTHROPOLOGY

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-57
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Parilov ◽  
Lev E. Shaposhnikov
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Old Believers ◽  
Original Works ◽  
Game Simulation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

Introduction. The modern globalized postmodern consumer society, total game simulation, colossal disconnection is extremely destructive for the individual. The Old Believer outlook, which affirms the soborn-person, attached to the fundamental foundations of the national religious culture, the bearer of higher transcendent meanings, acquires a particular urgency today. Accounting for both positive and negative experience of Old Believer anthropology will allow to determine the ideal of an integral convinced person who overcomes the extremes of conformism and fanaticism. Materials and Methods. The article is prepared on the basis of the original works of the Old Believer authors; pre-revolutionary, Soviet, modern Russian and foreign studies of Russian culture and the Old Believer worldview. The methodological basis was: a civilizational approach to history, methods of hermeneutics, comparative-historical, the unity of historical and logical, analysis, synthesis, analogy. Results of the study. The article deals with socio-cultural, spiritual factors of the borderline era of the 17th century, under the influence of which a unique Old Believer anthropology is formed, reflecting the worldview characteristics of the Russian Middle Ages and Russia of the new time. The dynamics of Old Believers’ views on man during the XVII–XX centuries is investigated; revealed spiritual, historical reasons for the transformation of the anthropological views of the Old Believers. Discussion and Conclusion. It is established that the early Old Believers, as representatives of the medieval people’s Orthodox consciousness, affirm a person of a sacral, conciliar, but individually immature. However, under the influence of modern trends, Old Believer gives rise to the idea of the charismatic personality of the Old Believer apostle. For the Old Believers of modern times, anthropocentric tendencies, significant existential interest, exaltation of man as the Image of God, especially his reasonable abilities, are characteristic. But due to the self-consciousness of the last defenders of Holy Russia, the guardianship, the Old Believers miss the fact of the damage to human nature, underestimate the need for spiritual development.

scholarly journals THE IMAGE OF GOD WITHIN MAN – THE FOUNDATION OF SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Leontin POPESCU ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
God's Image ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God

The human being is a mystery, he is not only nature, and he is not only soul, but these two together and more than that, he represents the divine seal on the individual. The human being can only be defined as a being impossible to define. Man created in God’s image is immortal, unique, non-recurring and we can even say impossible to clone. Beyond these statements, deep within himself, man discovers himself as a being animated by light and grace that do not come from within, but from the outside, as tension that is above all laws and mechanisms caused by it and which could be altered. Not only by means of his soul, but also by means of his body can any man achieve uniqueness, which makes it so that no body is completely identical to another. We find proof in finger prints or even in the composition of strands of hair, which differ from man to man. With each body, as with each soul, God wanted to make one of His special thoughts come alive. That is why it is not allowed to treat people as simple, identical copies of the same reality, but each person should be considered and treated as a unique value in time and space.

scholarly journals An Examination of the Significance of the Trinitarian Theology of St. Augustine

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Zolt Salontai
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Essential Function ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Trinity

Despite the noble efforts of modern Christian theologians in attempting to revive popular level interest in the classical Christian doctrine of the Trinity, there has been within the everyday praxis of the individual Christian a discernible neglect and ignorance of this cardinal doctrine. However, with the 20th century advent of Freudian and Jungian psychology, a new opportunity has arisen for a Trinitarian revival in the popular consciousness of the faithful. Due to an increasing level of interest in the notion of understanding the conscious and unconscious cognitive processes that govern the human psyche, there arose an indubitable opportunity for a re-examination of the Trinitarian theology of those writers who based their Trinitarian discourse upon the self-consciousness of man as created in the image of God. Therefore, the essential function of this paper is to explore the Trinitarian theology of St. Augustine, who being the originator of psychological analogies in Trinitarian discourse warrants exceptional contemporary interest given the aforementioned increased receptivity to psychological self-awareness.

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