scholarly journals Liturgy and Apophaticism

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 721
Author(s):  
Nicolae Turcan

The Orthodox liturgy is a religious phenomenon that can be analyzed phenomenologically and theologically alike, given the emphasis that both phenomenology and Orthodox theology place on experience. By proposing the Kingdom of God instead of the natural world without being able to annihilate the latter in the name of the former, the liturgy seeks divine-human communion. Through the dialogue of prayer, through symbolic and iconic openings, as well as through apophatic theology, the liturgy emphasizes the horizon of mystery as a horizon essential to the way man positions himself before God. The present text attempts to demonstrate that apophaticism, understood as an experience of the mysterious presence of God, is one of the crucial dimensions of the Orthodox liturgy; and that this apophatic presence of God reveals a way of thinking which does not become onto-theology, not even when using concepts borrowed from metaphysics. The overcoming of onto-theology is achieved here not by abandoning concepts such as “being” and “cause” but by placing the language game in the field of prayer and apophatic theology.

2012 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-71
Author(s):  
Susan Miller

In the synoptic gospels Jesus proclaims the imminence of the Kingdom of God but in John’s Gospel Jesus is concerned with the gift of eternal life. Interpretations of John’s Gospel have emphasised the relationship between salvation and an individual’s faith in Jesus. Several passages feature accounts of the meeting of Jesus and characters who come to faith in him such as the Samaritan woman, the blind man, Martha, and Thomas. The focus on the faith of individuals and their desire for eternal life has downplayed the importance of the natural world. An ecological strategy of identification, however, illustrates the ways in which Jesus is aligned with Earth. He offers the Samaritan woman living water, and he identifies himself as the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), and the true vine (15:1). This strategy of identification highlights images of fruitfulness and abundant harvests. This approach, moreover, emphasises the presence of God in the processes of nature, and the gift of eternal life is described in terms of the abundance of the natural world. An ecological interpretation of John’s Gospel challenges the view that salvation may be defined purely in terms of the gift of eternal life to an individual, and points to an understanding of salvation as the restoration of the relationship of God, humanity, and Earth.


Horizons ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-331
Author(s):  
Mary Frohlich

Contrary to what may appear in a superficial understanding of his spirituality, John of the Cross strongly affirms the goodness of creation and its capacity to mediate the presence of God. He specifically identifies the web of mutual interactions among creatures as a primary manifestation of divine love, and he affirms that the more a person participates in God, the more he or she participates fully and joyfully in this community of creatures. Activation of creation's full capacity to mediate divinity, however, depends on the full fruition of the human person in God. Experientially, this involves a lengthy process of a back-and-forth rhythm between the glimpse of God in creation and the complete renunciation of dependence on creaturely knowledge in favor of faith. John's writings invite us to participate in the healing of the natural world by pursuing this contemplative rhythm all the way to its fruitional climax.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-98
Author(s):  
Joel Archer

Miracles are commonly understood in the way David Hume defined them: as violations of the laws of nature. I argue, however, that the conjunction of Hume’s definition with a neo-Humean view of the laws of nature yields objectionable consequences. In particular, the two jointly imply that some miracles are logically impossible. A better way of thinking about miracles, I suggest, is on a neo-Aristotelian metaphysics. On that view, the laws of nature contain built-in ceteris paribus clauses that allow for the possibility of external influences in the natural world. Miracles, understood as instances of external, divine influence, would therefore neither violate the laws of nature nor be instances of those laws. In this respect, neo-Aristotelians have an advantage over neo-Humeans in providing a coherent account of miracles.


Author(s):  
Katherine Clarke
Keyword(s):  

This chapter recalls the way in which landscapes are constructed, both in literary terms and in physical terms by characters within Herodotus’ narrative. It explores some modern parallels, such as the Kerch bridge which will link Crimea to Russia, for the manipulation of landscape through monumental engineering works as a symbol of imperial ambitions. It suggests, therefore, that the narrative of Herodotus, with its subtle and differentiated presentation of man’s interaction with the natural world, especially in the context of imperial projects, and its underlying proposition that the map of empire is constantly evolving, remains of immediate relevance to the modern world.


Author(s):  
István-Attila Tárkányi

"The Contemporary Reception of Lajos Csiky’s Voluminous Works. Lajos Csiky (1852–1925) was a late 19th and early 20th-century professor of practical theology at the Theological Academy of Debrecen. His works have not yet been researched accordingly. In the first part of this short paper, we would like to present the socio-theological context in which the renowned theologian spent his creative years, focusing especially on the debate of the day between liberal and orthodox theology. In the second part, we would like to reflect on the way his major theological works were received by his contemporaries during a span of more than four decades of academic activity. Keywords: Lajos Csiky, 19th-century theological debates in Hungary, practical theology, Ferenc Balogh, Imre Révész, Mór Ballagi "


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-111
Author(s):  
Nasiba Norova ◽  

Introduction. The article discusses the poetic innovations, formal and stylistic peculiarities in the work of the talented poet Usmon Kuchkor. The poet's “muqarnas” are analyzed. The second half of the twentieth century and the period of independence have a special significance with Uzbek poetry, its charm, new tones and visual features. Methodological and formal research, the renewal of artistic thinking, the human heart and spiritual experiences, the vivid depiction of emotions form the basis of this poetry. In this, the importance of artistic thinking in particular is immeasurable. As the literary critic N. Rakhmonov noted: "The multifaceted and multilayered phenomenon - the concept of artistic thinking is a specific product of philosophical, ethical and political views, manifested in the way of thinking of the artist" [7,4]. Methods.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roseane Santos Mesquita ◽  
Késia Dos Anjos Rocha

The present text bets on the power of reflections on a pedagogy guided by cosmoperception. It is a collective call for the enchanted ways of perceiving and relating to the other. “Ọrọ, nwa, ẹkọ”, the talk, the look, the education, insurgent forces that grow in the cracks, just like moss, alive, reborn. That is the way we think about education, as a living practice, turned to freedom. Freedom understood as a force that enables us to question certain hegemonic truths entrenched in our ways of being, thinking and producing knowledge. In dialogue with the criticisms on the decolonial thought and by authors and authoresses who are putting themselves into thinking about an epistemology from a diasporic place, from the edges of the world, we will try to problematize the effects of the epistemic erasures promoted by the colonial processes and how that has affected our educative practices. The look at the educational experience that happens in the sacred territory of candomblé, will be our starting point to think about politically and poetically transformative educational practices.


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