Concept Of God Research Articles

Is God Perfectly Good In Islam

Based on a question posed by global philosophy of religion project regarding the absence of literal attribution of omnibenevolence to God in the Qur’ān, this paper aims to examine how to understand perfect goodness in Islam. I will first discuss the concept of perfect goodness and suggest that perfect goodness is not an independent attribute on its own and it is predicated on other moral attributes of God without which the concept of perfect goodness could hardly be understood. I will examine perfect goodness by a specific emphasis on the attribute of justice as one of the conditions to be satisfied by a perfectly morally good being. In so doing, I will appeal to the distinctions made among great-making properties by Daniel Hill, and Al-Ghazālī’s definition of justice by applying them to God’s moral attributes. I will argue that justice has a crucial role in maximality-optimality balance between great-making properties and it seems quite difficult, if not impossible, to conceive of goodness without justice. Having said that, I will claim that the conceptual frame I suggest sheds light on why omnibenevolence is not literally attributed to God in the Qur’ān. Then, I will briefly show how the divine attributes mentioned in the Qur’ān and the discussions about divine names and attributes in the Islamic tradition supports the understanding of perfect goodness I defend. Consequently, I will try to show that far from indicating that the Islamic concept of God doesn’t involve perfect goodness, the Qur’ān establishes the proper meaning of perfect goodness by focusing on its constitutive attributes, and thus provides us with a sound conception of it.

Divine Simplicity and The Myth of Modal Collapse

This paper responds to the modal collapse argument against divine simplicity or classical theism offered by neo-classical or complex theists. The modal collapse argument claims that if God is both absolutely simple and absolutely necessary, then God’s act of creation is absolutely necessary, and therefore, the existence of the created world is also absolutely necessary. This means that God and His creation collapse into a single modal category of absolute necessity without any contingent beings. My response is grounded in the Islamic Neoplatonic philosophy of Ibn Sina and the Ismaili tradition. I offer four arguments that allow a Muslim Neoplatonist to absorb a modal collapse in a possible worlds modality while negating modal collapse within an Avicennian modality: First, the modal collapse objection is based on a possible worlds framework whose concept of necessity is overly broad; this framework fails to distinguish between God as ontologically necessary in Himself, created being as dependently necessary through another, and mere logical necessity, all of which are recognized by Ibn Sina and Islamic thinkers. Second, modal collapse arguments only demonstrate that creation is necessary through another but fails to prove that creation has ontological necessity or aseity––which only pertains to God; thus, no consequential modal collapse ensues when one’s modality recognizes creation as a “dependent necessary being” despite being modally necessary. Third, Islamic philosophers have a non- libertarian concept of God’s will and freedom that is immune to modal collapse objections. Finally, I argue that all classical and neo-classical theists must embrace a modally necessary creation because libertarian models of God’s will entail uncaused and brutely contingent effects.

KONSEP KETUHANAN DALAM KEBEBASAN EKSISTENSIAL KARL JASPERS

The important aspect that is studied from this article is at the level of freedom which is the pressure point for existensialists in the effort of to enlighten existence, which only can be achieved in relation with transcendence. So, Karl Theodor Jaspers sees that there are two focus issues that is existence and transcendence, that existence means dealing with transcendence. Transcendence hides itself, therefore transcendence is the basis of human freedom. The purpose of this article is attempting to describe Jaspers’ view of the concept of divinity in human existential freedom. To further examine Jaspers’ thoughts, method that the author uses is library research with an analytic-holistical content approach. The result of this article is that Jaspers has described there is freedom as human existence, and this is humans ability to decide independently. There is freedom that is lived will bring together existence with transcendence, how humans are in concreate situation can reach transcendence. Thought their exploration of chiffer as a medium to toward transcendence. So that Jaspers’ belief in the existence of transcendence that always surrounds is an authentic reality in human life.

Fluctuating maximal God, the problem of inconsistent evil, and spacetime changes

AbstractThe fluctuating maximal God thesis, developed by Jeffrey et al., offers a conception of God that removes the characteristic of divine immutability, allowing the degrees of God's great-making properties to change over time. This god-concept provides a substantial advantage over the ‘static’ maximal God thesis proposed by Yujin Nagasawa if it can adequately sidestep what I call ‘the problem of inconsistent evil’. This problem questions how a static god can be compatible with the inconsistent dispersion of evil in the world. It is founded on the observation that evil is distributed neither equally nor fairly across time, space, and individuals. I distinguish between temporally inconsistent, spatially inconsistent, and interpersonally inconsistent evil and argue that the fluctuating maximal God thesis can account for all types of inconsistent evil if God fluctuates not only through time but also through space.

Worshiping Nature in Sangam Literature

Rituals in human life are a socio-cultural phenomenon that occurs from birth to death. Ritualistic concepts of worship play an important role in all these events. 'Worship' is an activity deeply rooted in human faith. Through Sangam literature we can know that worshiping nature is an important activity in all kinds of events that happens in human life. Rituals may have originated before the concept of God or Lord. These rituals are performed based on faith, belief and customs.

Al-Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī’s Ontological Argument and Spinoza’s Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God

Al-Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī (1878-1942) and Spinoza (1632-1677), two prominent intellectuals of the Islamic and Western worlds respectively, have proposed different versions of the ontological argument for the existence of God. I present five versions of al-Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī’s argument in three general dimensions: first, the concept of the necessary being (wājib al-wujūd) as a mental concept; second, the concept of the necessary being as a representation of something external; and finally, the reality of the necessary being or what externally exists by its essence. Only one of these versions is compatible with al-Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī’s words. On the other hand, Spinoza has presented six arguments in which he has deployed the concept of God in three ways: the concept of God as a concept, the concept of God as a representation of something external, and the mental existence of this concept. In this paper, I compare the accurate construal of al-Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī’s argument with Spinoza’s six arguments, whereby I make a case for a strong similarity between the grounds and forms of the ontological argument as formulated by these two intellectuals.

Black Artistic Thought and the art of freedom

The revolution that is presented in this article is a social and cultural shift that can be experienced through the form of artistic expression. This article discusses why ‘the revolution will not be televised’ since it is more what we witness as it is presented to us through media and technological ‘devices’. I propose we use my concept Black Artistic Thought, defined as the creative thought process of many Black people (whose artwork is based on their lived experiences and used as a cultural representation of their life) to help in our moving towards revolutionary freedom. I suggest that Black Artist Thought is inborn for persons of the African diaspora, and I link its origination in childhood. My thesis is grounded in an argument that makes a clear distinction between Kant’s binding freedom and Eckhart’s anarchic way of thinking (concept of God) about freedom that frees him from detachments. I express that by applying Black Artistic Thought (rooted in Negritude) to our ontological thinking, we can move beyond the boundaries set in society. I use artworks from artists Harmonia Rosales, Hank Willis Thomas, Augusta Savage and Jacob Lawrence to show how art plays a significant role in the development of the collective group. Implementing concepts like Black Artistic Thought and learning from movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and Black Lives Matter will assist (the United States) in moving towards a revolution that is beneficial to everyone once it is understood.

Making sense of the crisis: how religion shapes the attribution of meaning during the corona pandemic

In times of existential crisis, such as the Corona pandemic, people may turn to religious traditions that help them make new sense of the depressing situation. While recent studies have shown that during the Corona pandemic, the frequency of prayer and church attendance increased in several countries, we know little about whether and how religious interpretations of the current crisis occur. Building on Crystal Park’s Meaning Making Model, the article examines whether individual religiosity, religious affiliation, and the experience of a SARS-CoV‑2 infection influence religious interpretations of the Corona pandemic. Our results show that religiosity is strongly associated with the idea of a benevolent God and weakly associated with the concept of a punishing God. Members of specific religious groups differed significantly in their religious interpretation of the Corona pandemic. Finally, we found that the experience of a SARS-CoV‑2 infection was associated with doubts about the power of God.

„Von dem einigen mitler Jhesu Christo“. Was man von Andreas Osianders Häresie noch lernen könnte

Abstract The first part of this contribution is devoted to my recollection of Christoph Schwöbel; both of us were pupils of Carl Heinz Ratschow, albeit at different times and in different roles. However, we both have been following a twofold counsel of our teacher, first not to restrict theology to value judgments but to strive for an ontology of Christian belief and second to work with a “Trinitarian definition of Christology”. Part two recounts the turmoil around Andreas Osiander in a turbulent time of a crisis of authority around 1550. He was in the end judged to be heretic and was excluded from “true” Lutheranism in the Formula of Concord 1577. Indeed, his doctrine of justification, influenced by humanistic Neoplatonism and even the Kabbala was contrary to the predominant position of the Wittenberg school. However, the crucial point was Osiander’s constellation of Soteriology, Christology and Trinitarian concept of God on a strictly exegetic basis. Part three offers a sketch of the interrelation of Osiander’s soteriological model of the believer’s ascension to God, his Christology of a mediator, and his concept of the divine Logos. In his time, Osiander in a way fulfilled Ratschow’s twofold counsel, in opposition to Christological functionalism and theological positivism. Even today, in view of the ecumenical debate on the doctrine of justification, his thought might give useful hints for revising the aforementioned tasks in fundamental theology.

The demonstrative use of names, and the divine-name co-reference debate

For an account of the reference of divine names, I follow Bogardus and Urban (Faith and Philosophy 34(2):176–200, 2017) in advocating in favour of using Gareth Evans’s causal theory of reference, on which a name refers to the dominant source of information in the name’s “dossier”. However, I argue further that information about experiences, in which God is simply the object of acquaintance, can dominate the dossier. Thus, this demonstrative use of names offers a promising alternative avenue by which users of the divine names can refer to the same referent despite having different conceptions of God. I also respond to Burling’s (Faith and Philosophy 36(3): 343–371, 2019) worship-worthiness view.

Cognitively Accessible Words Associated with God as Effective Lexical Primes

Do the words used to prime the concept of God in psychology of religion research studies accurately reflect a mental representation of God? To examine this, two samples completed a free-association task, where they listed 10 words that came to mind when they thought about God (Studies 1a–1b). We found that more than half of the lexical primes used in previous studies were rarely or never produced (< 5 times) in the 2,610 free-association responses. Using a false memory paradigm, Study 2 revealed that the most frequent free-association words produced in Studies 1a and 1b more effectively primed the concept of God than a set of prime words used in previous religious priming studies that were not frequent free-association words in Studies 1a and 1b. This research advances the methodological practices in religious priming research and contributes to an understanding of people’s thoughts about God.

THE CONCEPT OF GOD'S ABILITY (QUDRATULLAH) IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION

The purpose of this study is to describe the concept of qudratullah (the ability that Allah determines) or it can be said as destiny in relation to Islamic education based on explanations by commentators/ mufassirin and theologians in the study of kalam science, so as to straighten understanding of the concept of God's destiny. in the world of Islamic Education. This research is library research (library research) where the sources that are used as references in this research are taken from the library, such as books, books, articles, and others. This study also uses the maudhu'i interpretation method. The results of this study indicate that the verses that use the word Qadar describe the creation of the universe and everything in it and all its contents and all its provisions that apply to it is God's qadar through a just law, God also enforces it in the hereafter. All Muslims and schools of Islamic theology agree that Allah is God Almighty and Most Just in determining destiny and wills. However, when discussing the issues of free will (free will) and predestination (destiny, fatalism) they become the subject of very fierce debate among theologians. In Islamic education, the success of the educational process is not only determined by the human effort itself but is also determined by the X factor, namely biqudratillah.

The Trinity and the Old Testament

Confessing God as the triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is central to the Christian faith. A basic conviction is that the triune God is also the solitary God of the Old Testament. The problem that emanated from this conviction is how to relate the triune God with the one God of the Old Testament. It is argued that New Testament authors made use of Old Testament metaphors to conceptualise God as the triune God. The central question mentioned in this article may be formulated as follows: how do the Old Testament metaphors of God as Father, the Son of God and Holy Spirit contribute to a better understanding of the God that we confess to be the triune God? The revealing of God’s proper name in Exodus 3 and the meaning of Jesus’ name in Matthew 1 create a relationship between Jesus and God. The theological link between the name of God in the Old Testament and the name of Jesus in the New Testament functions as a firm indicator that God and Jesus are two persons in the Trinity. It is also argued that due cognisance should be taken of the fact that the Old Testament is also the Tanakh of Judaism. It is for this reason better to speak about the Trinity and the Old Testament rather than the Trinity in the Old Testament, as this would imply that the Christian concept of a triune God is read back into the Old Testament.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: These results serve as a challenge to the important and often neglected interdisciplinary debate between systematic theology and the study of the Old Testament. Insights gained from the side of Old Testament studies can enrich systemic theology in the study of theological themes. This investigation can also stimulate a debate between Old Testament studies and New Testament studies to gain a better understanding of how and why the New Testament made use of the theological vocabulary provided by the Old Testament.

Creativity Unleashed: Building a Practical Theology for Christian Leadership in a World in Flux

Abstract Discourse surrounding Christian leadership is often influenced by colonialistic assumptions and theology that centralizes the role of the leader as change agent. In this article, the author uses Gordon Kaufman’s conception of God as serendipitous creativity as a resource for moving toward a practical theology of leadership that acknowledges colonialistic undercurrents within leadership discourse and responds to the shifting place of the church in our world. Naming God as uncontrollable, unplanned creativity engenders practices of Christian leadership that focus on the power of the community, discern divine creativity in one’s midst, and embrace the mysterious emergence of new realities.

Ibn Sina's Possibility Argument and the Limits of Natural Sciences and Metaphysics

İsbat-ı vacip konusu tarih boyunca pek çok farklı ekole sahip filozofların düşünce sisteminde önemli bir yer tutmuştur. Bu konuda ortaya konulan görüşler, düşünürlerin Tanrı tasavvurlarını ortaya koyduğu gibi onların varlık anlayışlarının ayırt edici özelliklerini de belirginleştirir. Diğer yönden bu konudaki görüşler filozofların düşünce sistemlerindeki merkezi konumları nedeniyle düşünce sisteminin bütünlüğüyle de doğrudan ilişkilidir. İbn Sînâ’nın ortaya koyduğu imkân delili de kendisinin bilgi ve varlık anlayışının billurlaştığı konulardan birisidir. Ayrıca, bu konuda kendisine yöneltilen eleştirilerin genel yapısı dikkate alındığında, bu delilin, kendisine eleştiri yönelten düşünürlerin varlık anlayışlarını belirginleştirmekte de önemli bir etkiye sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Bu delil hakkında yapılan tartışmalar, felsefenin temel kavramları ve klasik mantığın tanım teorisi üzerinden gerçekleştirilmesi sebebiyle metafizik ve mantık ilminin birbiriyle ne kadar sıkı bir ilişkiye sahip olduğunu görmemize de imkân sağlamaktadır. Yine, İbn Sînâ’nın bu konuda ortaya koyduğu görüşler doğa bilimleri, mantık, matematik ve metafizik gibi felsefi ilimler arasındaki ilişkinin niteliğini ortaya koymak bakımından da son derece önemlidir. İbn Sînâ’nın imkân delilinin bir özelliği de onun ilimlerin sınırları ile ilgili görüşleriyle kopmaz bir irtibata sahip olmasıdır. Bu açıdan meşşâi felsefede insan için mümkün olan en yüksek kemal mertebesi olarak görülen filozof olma yolculuğunda insanın her bir ilimden ne beklemesi gerektiğini de ortaya koymaktadır. Çünkü klasik felsefede ilimler tasnifinden beklenen her ilmin başka ilimlerde incelenmeyen bir şeyi veya bir yönü incelemesidir. İlimlerin belli bir sırayla öğrenilmesi gerektiği düşünülmekte, her bir ilmin tahsiline başlandığında talebenin daha önce öğrenmediği bir şeyle veya öğrendiklerinin farklı bir yönüyle muhatap olduğu varsayılmaktadır.

GOD’S GENDER IN RELIGIONS PERSPECTIVE IN INDONESIA

The search and discussion of God are never-ending in the study and history of human civilization. Humans always want to prove the existence of God through arguments from thoughts, mystical experiences, or scriptures. Whether God is personal or not is also an exciting topic of discussion, including the question of God's gender, which is discussed in this article. The method used in this research is philosophical hermeneutics. The results of this study are 1) God's gender in the Hindu concept of divinity in the theological aspect of Nirguna Brahman is genderless, while in Saguna Brahman theology, God is manifested in masculine and feminine aspects, 2) Buddha has a genderless concept of God, but Mahayana sects also believe in Bhodisattvas who are respected and worshipped like one of them is Dewi Kwan Im, 3) Christians have a masculine concept of divinity as God, Elohim and the concept of the Trinity (God the Father/ Allah Bapa, God the Son/ Allah Putra and the Holy Spirit/ Roh Kudus). 4) Islam has a genderless concept of divinity, but in language it is categorized as masculine (he), 5) Confucianism believes in a transcendent God and believes in the power of Yin (female power) and Yang (male power).

Foreknowledge & Divine Emotions

In this essay, we move to further advance the work done on God and emotions by RT Mullins, exploring the role exhaustive divine foreknowledge plays as it relates to God’s emotional life. Given our preliminary investigation at the intersection of divine foreknowledge and divine emotion, and focusing specifically on the neoclassical theistic conception of God, we argue that in light of God’s foreknowledge, his emotional life is weaker when compared to that of his creation. Moreover, we argue that this is an unwanted conclusion, and provide options that allow for the neoclassical theist to avoid it. That said, our primary aim is one of exploration: Should divine foreknowledge play a role in how we understand God’s emotional life? Given our analysis, we answer in the affirmative.

Closeness with God

Have you ever wondered what God’s inner emotional life might be like? Within Christian thought, there are conflicting answers to this question. The majority of Christian theologians throughout history have said that God cannot be moved by creatures to feel anything. God does not literally have empathy, mercy, or compassion. Instead, God only feels pure undisturbed happiness. This view is called divine impassibility. In the 20th Century, Christian theologians by and large came to reject this understanding of God in favour of divine passibility which affirms that God can be moved by creatures, and God can literally have empathy, mercy, and compassion. Yet the 21st Century has seen a renewed interest in this more historical understanding of God. How Christianity came to have two radically different portrayals of God is a puzzle, to be sure, but that is not one that I shall try to address here. Instead, my interest is in unpacking these two different conceptions of God, and briefly offering reasons for affirming divine passibility. The reasons that I discuss centre around a central theme within Christian thought—the goal of entering into a close, personal relationship with God. I start by defining some key terms, and then proceed to offer two arguments in favour of divine passibility. The first is the problem of knowing God well, and the second is based on the human desire for empathy.

WHEN RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE IS RIGHT: A Case for God’s Anthropomorphic Identities

Is it possible to think about God without anthropomorphizing him? The fact that God has both anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic characteristics adds to theological confusion. Individual variances in God's views might be a reflection of how individuals understand God's portrayals. Intellectuals have argued for ages that theistic conceptions of God are excessively anthropomorphic, perplexing, and complex. The paper focused on religious language and God’s anthropomorphic identities. It employed a historico-comparative approach using library resources. The finding provides light on the limitations and potential of philosophico-religious transmission of the complex idea of anthropomorphism and offers a critical, constructive, and interpretive avenue for intellectual dialogue.

Ketuhanan dalam Diskursus Teologi Mazhab Klasik

The main mission of the Prophet Muhammad. sent by Allah to this earth, is to strengthen the Oneness of God and uphold the sentence of monotheism (la ilaha illah) and purify the aqidah of the Arabs contaminated with the culture of ignorance, and obey their ancestors. However, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the discourse around kalam or theology in Islam became hotly discussed. At the time Ali bin Abi Talib became caliph, the political context in Islam began to develop, related to theological discussions. Then the discourse developed into a flow of Islamic theology. Some of the debates around divinity, according to the Mu'tazilah, Ash'ariah, and Maturudiyah schools, namely about the nature of God, faith and disbelief, God's actions and human actions, absolute will and God's justice, revelation and reason, and perpetrators of major sins. The conception of God is at the core of every human belief. God is always at the top of the pyramid of human needs related to matters of faith. Here we can understand together that worshiping God is the human way to infinity. The infinite shutter of God is then discussed in the "limited" realm. This means that God exists in the human conception, so that the conception that is built then makes God into a certain group. This is what later became the discussion of madhhab in Islam.