Faith and Morality

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-309
Author(s):  
Abdul Khaliq
Keyword(s):  
Jugular Vein ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Religious Person ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World ◽  
The Image Of God

There is a point of view popular with some religious thinkers-amongthem Muslims-that religion and morality are two separate institutions andhave very little to do with each other. This is because the former is centeredin God, while the latter is entirely human in content and approach. Accordingto this view, an individual can be moral without subscribing to anyrecognizable religion. Furthermore, a deeply religious person occupies a stationin life where usual relations with the world, including those with otherpeople, are perceived as being so lowly and mundane that they become irrelevant.This is, to say the least, not the essential Qur’anic standpoint.The Qur'an , as well as a number of sayings of the Prophet, does not envisagean estrangement between God and humanity. Human beings are said tohave been created after the image of God: Who is nearer to each person thanhisher own jugular vein (Qur'an 50:16). They a so close to each other thatthey may possibly enter into a mutual dialogue. There is thus an organicallyintimate relevance of the individual’s religious faith with the subsequent performanceof the corresponding moral actions. In the Qur’an, the word amanu(they held on to faith [in God]) is almost invariably followed by ‘amilu alsalihat (they performed good actions). However, it must be undelstood thatfaith is not an honorific term, a characteristic that may be inculcated into anperson’s character in its own right. It rather refets to a barely psychologicalstate, an attitude of mind A person may have faith in the all-good God or insome evil being(s) (Qur’an 4:31). In the first case, such an individual isnecessarily good, in the other, he/she is bound to be morally bad ...

scholarly journals RETHINKING THE OTHER FOR MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION – FOCUSED ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF BUBER AND LEVINAS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seungeun Choi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Ethics ◽  
The Relationship

The number of foreigners residing in Korea exceeded 2.5 million for the first time ever. As the ratio of foreigners to the total population approaches 5%, it is evaluated that Korea has actually entered a multicultural society. It is known that among the types of foreigners staying there are many young foreigners who visit Korea for the purpose of employment. The number of marriage immigrants was 16,025, an increase of 4.3% from the previous year. Of these, 82.6% were women. Entering a multicultural society in a situation where empathy for each other is insufficient can lead to social conflict. In particular, in the COVID-19 pandemic, hostility toward foreigners is more prevalent, and hatred for strangers is increasing. This study critically analyzes these social phenomena and seeks to raise the philosophical basis for multicultural education by establishing a concept with a new perspective on the other. This paper focuses on the philosophy of Buber and Levinas. By establishing 'I and You' as a meeting, Buber presented a new relationship with others. Meanwhile, Levinas emphasized human ethics and responsibility as the absolute and infinite being of the other. According to Buber, in the world there is a relationship between 'I-You' and 'I-It', and in order to live a true life, you must establish a relationship between 'I and you'. The relationship between 'I and it' is a temporary and mechanical relationship where objects can be replaced at any time by looking at the world from an instrumental point of view. However, the relationship between 'I and You' is a relationship that faces each other personally, and the only 'I' that cannot be changed with anything and the 'You' that cannot be replaced exist in deep trust. In phenomenology of otherness, Levinas intends to describe the encounter with the something outside the subject. The concepts of possession, distinctiveness and understanding are replaced by those of approaches, proximity, care and fecundity. In Korean society, a policy that seeks to use foreigners as human resources and, especially in the case of marriage immigrant women, as a solution to a society with low birthrates along with the labor force, shows how society treats others. Therefore, multicultural education must rethink the existence and dignity of human beings through the perspective of the other as asserted in the philosophy of Buber and Levinas.

scholarly journals The The Understanding of the Image of God in the Early and Medieval Church History

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Franklin Hutabarat ◽  
Reymand Hutabarat ◽  
Deanna Beryl Majilang
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
God's Image ◽  
The Image Of God

It is only in the Bible whereby precise details in regards to humanity's origin from the conservative Christian point of view, are recorded. The Bible clearly states that in God's image, man was made (Gen 1:27). This statement reflects the belief that the essence of human beings was created in the likeness of God, and demonstrated that man did not merely turn out to be in God's image but was carefully crafted to be so. However, despite the exalted position of man among creatures, theologians still have questions and debates about the image of God is, and what does it consists of. Many scholars have wrestled with the precise sense of the image of God from the time of the Early Church until the Medieval Era. This research uses qualitative method, whereby the early works of the fathers of the medieval church are analyzed. The research is carried out on a descriptive basis. It is the aim of this research to offer a structural and systematic understanding of the image of God, based on the perception of the early church and medieval church fathers. As a result, a conclusion is formed.

scholarly journals Om forholdet mellem skabelse og syndefald hos Grundtvig og Luther

2003 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-125
Author(s):  
Anja Stokholm
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Proper Form ◽  
The World ◽  
Natural Man ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Image Of God

Om forholdet mellem skabelse og syndefald hos Grundtvig og Luther[Grundtvig and Luther: on the Relationship Between Creation and Fall]By Anja StokholmTheologically speaking, two circumstances determine human life: on the one side, Creation and the creativity of God, on the other the Fall of Man and human sinfulness. Because God’s good creation is continuous, a positive understanding of the status and existence of natural Man is possible; but because Man is fallen and sin destroys creation, a negative perception of human life must also be acknowledged. Useful comparison may be made between the ideas of Grundtvig and Luther on this ambiguous relationship. One may ask of each: was the image of God in Man destroyed at the Fall or does the likeness of God remain a reality even in the fallen human being? Is it possible for natural Man to understand the Gospel and the Christian life? Can the understanding of the Gospels only have a negative character because it is reached from out of consciousness of sin; or can this understanding have a positive character because, sin notwithstanding, momentary experiencing of the truth of the Gospels may be granted? Are the views of Grundtvig and Luther too divergent to be reconciled?Regin Prenter maintained that their two positions closely corresponded, arguing that Grundtvig consistently developed Luther’s reformatory principles rejecting the possibility of human beings gaining justice or salvation by their own merit, and thereby also accepted that only in consciousness of the fallen condition of the world, the subverted nature of humanity, and sin, could the Gospel’s promises be received. Prenter’s harmonisation of Grundtvig and Luther, however, gives insufficient weight to the differences. Luther contends that the image of God in Man is lost, that Man is wholly sinful and unjustified; that just as inward spirit and outward flesh are discrete and cannot mix so are the justified and the unjustified states; and it follows that the unjustified human being is to be perceived a flesh alone. In so far as continuous creation, and manifestations of the positive such as the human capacity to recognise and comply with the demands of the law, are to be found in the world, these arise not from the inner resources of human beings but from the unmerited gift of God.Grundtvig too emphasises the seriousness and destructive nature of sin; but he insists that a remnant of the image of God persists in humanity - for instance in Man’s capacity to live in faith, hope and love, and to nurture the Word (that is, speech); and that its manifestation is a token of God’s continuing, and good, creation. Crucially important is Grundtvig’s conception that the image of God is located in the human heart, for this implies that goodness and the positive phenomena of creation express human life and nature in their true and proper form, and thus Grundtvig is able to identify natural human life, governed by the heart, as a positive context within which the word of the Gospel is indeed comprehensible. In differentiation, then, from Luther, Grundtvig maintains that natural Man also has a spirit and can be the agent of love and of goodness.Is this position incompatible with Luther’s doctrine on justification? Does the notion of goodness imply that Man can and must contribute to his own salvation? Grundtvig is careful to maintain that positive qualities such as love and goodness are a creation of God in Man, not an autonomous human achievement; and that the grace of God’s continuing creation in Man does not render salvation unnecessary. Man still needs the redeeming creation of Christ.Thus there are considerable differences between Grundtvig and Luther; but Grundtvig’s ideas are to be seen as a renewal and an independent continuation of Luther’s principal doctrine: that God alone can accomplish salvation. Yet acknowledgement and awareness of the differences, which arise in part through the different times and circumstances in which these independent thinkers worked, is conducive to a productive dialogue between the two.

scholarly journals The human being and the world as God’s creation: Present-day ethical conflicts and consequences of the doctrine of creation in the perspective of the doctrine of justification

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich H.J. Körtner
Keyword(s):  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Conflicts ◽  
The World ◽  
Hermeneutical Theology ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Specific Contribution

All the medical and bioethical questions, ranging from stem cell research to converging technologies and synthetic biology, touch on the question regarding the image of human beings and their position in the cosmos, by which we are able to orient ourselves. This article argues that the biblical belief in creation and the discourse about humans as created beings by and in the image of God can still be proclaimed as a viable form of human self-interpretation in the present. The distinction between practical knowledge and knowledge of orientation may be of help here. Guidance for how to live and act is not best found in abstract principles, but rather in meaningful stories, in metaphors and symbols. On this level, too, is also where faith in creation and the certainty of our own creatureliness is located.Contribution: This article interprets the doctrine of creation by a hermeneutical theology. It analyses the interdependence between hermeneutics and criticism in the process of reinterpreting the classical propositions about the human being and the world as God’s creation and the relation of anthropology and ethics. The aim is to show what might be the contribution of Christian faith in creation to the approach of an ethics of responsibility in the field of bioethics and ecology. The specific contribution of this article to current debates on an ethics of creation is the thesis that the key to a well-balanced theological approach to all this is the Pauline doctrine of justification as interpreted by the protestant reformers.

scholarly journals Alone in the world? Imago Dei from theological anthropology to Christology

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Marais
Keyword(s):  
Theological Anthropology ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects ◽  
The Image Of God

In Princeton theologian Van Huyssteen’s (2006) major interdisciplinary work, Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology, human uniqueness is rhetorically coupled with human aloneness. A comparison with a contemporary theological anthropology, namely Yale theologian Kelsey’s (2009) Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology, shows an alternative approach to the notion or concept of the imago Dei, namely a theological shift from viewing human beings as image(s) of God, to viewing human beings as images of Christ, or images of the image of God. This contribution responds to the invitation implied in Van Huyssteen’s book title – are we alone in the world? – by exploring some of the rhetorical implications of a Christological interpretation of the imago Dei. One such implication may imply a different answer to Van Huyssteen’s question – are we alone in the world?; not yes, but no. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s idea of Christ’s promeity illustrates how the rhetorical dynamics behind such a move in response – from yes to no – may potentially look, and that a rearticulation of human uniqueness could have direct consequences for how we imagine our human aloneness in the world.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article contributes to a specifically intradisciplinary conversation in Systematic Theology, on reading and interpreting the notion or theological idea of human beings being created in the image of God. This article does this through a close reading and comparison of two interdisciplinary projects on what it means to be human, namely Van Huyssteen’s Alone in the World? and Kelsey’s Eccentric Existence.

scholarly journals Pico della Mirandola on the Dignity of Man and Some Contemporary Echoes of His Philosophy

Clotho ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
Marko Uršič
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Marsilio Ficino ◽  
Renaissance Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Quality ◽  
The Image Of God

The Oration on the Dignity of Man makes a claim, characteristic for the Renaissance, that the dignity of man, the real “excellency of human nature,” is not present in any specific human quality or ability. Neither is it present in the role of the human soul as the “tie of the world” (copula mundi), as Marsilio Ficino has taught. Even higher than this eminent human role in the world is the freedom of man to choose his role and task himself. At the same time, Pico believes that Man was created as the image of God, in the sense that no man is determined in advance: human free will reflects God’s free will in creation. From the point of view of the mainstream modern dualism, this is a paradox, even a contradiction. This paper argues the opposite: that the human free will is even nowadays, not less than in the Renaissance period, compatible with the belief in God. However, this is only the case if God (being transcendent or immanent to the world) does not command anything, if God does not demand anything – except love. Violence and killing are eo ipso prohibited, especially in the name of faith. Therefore, freedom and faith are perfectly compatible. Even more, modern humans are fatally unfree either in the secular “radicalization” of faith or in the atheistic secularization of the world. Unfree due to their existence (Dasein), enslaved by the Angst of “mere nothing.”

scholarly journals Bio-etiek sonder grense en menswaardigheid: 'n Gereformeerd-etiese beoordeling

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riaan Rheeder
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Ethical Assessment ◽  
World Community ◽  
The World ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Point Of Departure

Bioethics without boundaries and human dignity: A Reformed-ethical assessment. The Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBH) seeks to guide the world community in ethical principles with regard to medicine, life sciences and related technologies. Human dignity as a principle was requested by the world community and serves as a point of departure in most human rights instruments, as well as in the UDBH. Human dignity serves as a foundation for ethical principles and human rights. In this article, attention was given to the question of whether human dignity could be accepted as part of the Biblical message. Human dignity as a principle and grounding in the UDBH was accepted by most major religions of the world. There exists today a universal consensus that human dignity is an extremely important concept in bioethics. In light of the Reformed tradition, all human beings have dignity, as they had been created in the image of God. Because God is absolute value, humans have derived, but definite value. Human dignity is not just a status, but also a command. All the ethical principles and human rights in the UDBH should be regarded as a way of giving expression to the dignity of man. When the dignity of the humans beings is infringed upon, an undignified image of God is revealed, and serves as a direct insult to God.

scholarly journals QUR'ANICVERSES TRANSLATION SEEN FROM PERSPECTIVE OF THEIR SENSITIVITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolar Yuwono
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Quality ◽  
The People ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Ways Of Life

<p>This paper discusses the translation quality of quranic verses from the point of view of their sensitivity. As containing many values and ways of life the problem that the people are facing is how to understand the values that exist in, between and beyond the lines of the Quran verses. The question is whether translation and interpretation can answer it. As a matter of fact, Qur’an verses have sensitivity to be responded in the form of the translated texts. The translated texts of Qur’an can be sensitive and controversial. Several translation version of quranic verses were taken as data to see the level of their sensitivity which can be seen from some aspect: that it may be contrary (1) to the state, (2) to religion (in a broad sense to the culture), (3) to decency, and (4) to private citizens. This category leads to a concomitant quartet of grounds for censorship: sedition, blasphemy, obscenity, and libel. The word “Yaddullah” in the section of “Al fath -verse-10”, for example, from the perspective of the contextual content of the text, would have become dichotomical meaning or even multicotomical ones. The first one tends to use the foriegnization, while the second tends to use domestication. Those who defend the word “Yaddun” as “the hand” or “tangan” as its word equivalence want to make their translation original not going out of the context of Islamic teaching. They believe that those who have gone out of Islamic teaching include unbelievers (that reject faith) and idolaters. The translation of “yaddu” into “hand” or “tangan” , according to some Muslims, contains the implication that the translator has its implied lack of respect for the original text, and because of the defeatist view of the ability of the target audience which entails.On the other hand, those who have translated that word “yaddun” into “power” or “kekuasaan” think that the translation into “hand” or “tangan” will disrupt and distort the image of God (Allah) existence. They are afraid that people think God is like human being having hands, head, legs and other part of the human body. Qur’an as a God’s text which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad via the archangel Gabriel, and intended for all times and all places needs to be perceived carefully because many of its verses are still stated in the forms of general statement. They need to be translated and interpreted in a way that makes people live peacefully, not on the other way around. The deference point of view in understanding Qur’an verses must be supposed to be something that makes perspective of Muslims wide and tolerant.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

Persons Together

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Mittleman
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Image Of God

This chapter moves into the political and economic aspects of human nature. Given scarcity and interdependence, what sense has Judaism made of the material well-being necessary for human flourishing? What are Jewish attitudes toward prosperity, market relations, labor, and leisure? What has Judaism had to say about the political dimensions of human nature? If all humans are made in the image of God, what does that original equality imply for political order, authority, and justice? In what kinds of systems can human beings best flourish? It argues that Jewish tradition shows that we act in conformity with our nature when we elevate, improve, and sanctify it. As co-creators of the world with God, we are not just the sport of our biochemistry. We are persons who can select and choose among the traits that comprise our very own natures, cultivating some and weeding out others.

Gandhian Method of Conflict Resolution: Perception of Educated Youths

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. P. K. Kar
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Negative Concept

Gandhiji’s method of conflict resolution was based on truth and non-violence. Truth was for him the image of God. He did not believe in personal God. For Gandhi truth is God and God is truth. Life is a laboratory where experiments are carried on. That is why he named his autobiography “My Experiment with Truth”, without these experiments truth cannot be achieved. According to Gandhi, the sayings of a pure soul which possesses nonviolence, non-stealing, true speech, celibacy and non-possession is truth. The truth of Gandhiji was not confined to any country or community. In other words , his religion had no geographical limits. His patriotism was not different from the service of human beings but was its part and parcel(Mishra:102). Gandhiji developed an integral approach and perspective to the concept of life itself on the basis of experience and experiments. His ideas ,which came to be known to be his philosophy, were a part of his relentless search for truth(Iyer:270). The realization of this truth is possible only with the help of non-violence The negative concept of Ahimsa presupposes the absence of selfishness, jealousy and anger, but the positive conception of ahimsa demands the qualities of love ,liberalism, patience, resistance of injustice, and brutal force.

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