Concept Of God Research Articles

A Jewish View of Contemporary Ideas of The Trinity

AbstractCan Jews get beyond treating the Trinity as tri‐theism? The essay reviews the relationship between Jewish theological notions of God and Christian understandings of the doctrine of the Trinity to move beyond the seeming impasse. Recent scholarship shows that Jews do not possess a pristine monotheism. Instead, Jewish theology often included complex views of God. In addition, currently Jews and Christians, especially at the highest levels of academic discourse, are in a “post‐polemical” era in which they read each other’s theological texts seriously for their own work and readily share and borrow from each other. The core of the article examines the Trinitarian thought of German Catholic theologians Karl Rahner and Jürgen Moltmann to evaluate similarities and differences between the two religions. The conclusion is that the Jewish concept of God and the Christian concept of the Trinity are not diametrically opposed in a zero‐sum way; nevertheless, actual differences between the religions should not be elided or minimized.

Thomistic Divine Simplicity and its Analytic Detractors: Can one affirm Divine Aseity and Goodness without Simplicity?

AbstractI evaluate three of the most widespread analytic objections to the doctrine of divine simplicity: that it fails to cohere with the application of accidental predicates like ‘creator’ or ‘lord’ to God, problematically entails that God is identical to an abstract object, and is inconsistent with the freedom and contingency of God’s acts in creation resulting in modal uniformity/collapse. In dialogue with Thomas’s account of the doctrine, I suggest that each objection is either the product of a misinterpretation or is addressed by Thomas himself. This defence of Thomas’s view of divine simplicity further unearths the way his account of divine simplicity is, according to Thomas, necessary to secure divine aseity and ultimacy. This places a burden upon analytic objectors to divine simplicity, questioning whether their neo‐classical conception of God offers an adequate account of divine ultimacy, aseity, and even goodness.

Exploring the Main Similarities Between the Concept of Divinity and Eastern Beliefs among Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism

This study will seek to attempt to discuss the concept of divinity in eastern beliefs, especially (Taoism, Hinduism, etc.), and then identify the similarities between the latter beliefs in relation to this concept. The goal of this paper is to find out the reasons why Eastern beliefs strayed from the worship of God and how they developed their concept of divinity. This research is very important because it provides information on the prevailing beliefs in India and China, which believe in the plurality of deities, the worship of ancestors from fathers and grandfathers, the sanctification of the forces of nature, and the practice of spiritual worship to reach the stage of union from God as they believe. This study focuses on answering the questions: Is the concept of divinity unified in eastern beliefs? The study used both the inductive and the deductive method by relying on the mother of books of eastern beliefs like the book of Tao. The most important findings of the study are that the philosophical and moral eastern religions prevailing in India and China are not based on belief in the monotheism of divinity. The study also showed that Eastern beliefs meet in a plurality the gods, and gradually and passed through stages in the search for the god that meets their needs, they worshiped the forces of nature, totem, man, and others, and practiced magic, sorcery, astrology, and other manifestations of polytheism. Key words: Buddhism, Confucius, Divinity, Eastern beliefs, Hindus

Freedom of Religion and Religious Relations (Construction of Sukarno's Thought)

The question of religious connections is constantly linked to the concept of religious freedom, which is a basic human right. This understanding of religion and religiousity must be maintained in order to obtain a tolerance attitude among religious groups. This is essential in development because religion and God are vital to human activity. The principles of the Oneness of God in the Pancasila s state foundation are the result of the Indonesian national figures thought about the problems raised above. The final dialogue of the Indonesian nation's founding fathers is the oneness og God as the foundation of all other of Panscasila principles. This article further elaborates on Sukarno's concept of divinity by combining the concepts of perennial philosophy, systems theory, and paradigm shift, which are related to the context of religious life in Indonesia.

Milton and the New Scientific Age: Poetry, Science, FictionCatherine GimelliMartin, ed. New York: Routledge, 2019. xv + 242pp. ISBN 13: 9780367182731. $140.00 (cloth).

Milton and the New Scientific Age: Poetry, Science, FictionCatherine GimelliMartin, ed. New York: Routledge, 2019. xv + 242pp. <scp>ISBN</scp> 13: 9780367182731. $140.00 (cloth).

Political Violence and Instrumental Use of Religion in the Works of Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt were active in the interwar period, a very difficult time in the history of Germany. The issues of violence, war, and the role of religion in public affairs were of vast importance for both men. I want to show that, in relation to the issues of religion and political theology, both favored instrumentalizing religious concepts in the name of their own political ideas. Schmitt used Catholicism to establish the so-called concrete order, and Benjamin used Judaism to promote Marxist and anarchist ideas of liberation. That means they were more interested in earthly affairs than in having mystical religious experiences or exploring metaphysical concepts of God and the afterworld. I believe that the instrumental use of theology and religion in the works of Schmitt and Benjamin could indicate that theology was then and is now in a big crisis.

TUHAN KAUM MISTIK: Kontribusinya Bagi Toleransi Ummat Beragama

This study aims to explore the concept of God for the mystics and its contribution to religious tolerance in Indonesia. The questions to be answered in this research are (1) What is the concept of God for the Mystics ?, (2) What and how does the concept contribute in relation to religious tolerance, especially in Indonesia. This research is a qualitative research. The data source comes from the literature. The analysis method uses a hermeneutic which consists of elements of description and interpretation. The results of this study found that the God of the mystics is an impersonal God, in the sense of not being described. Another reality besides Him is His image. He is One and the cause of everything. He can only be found or approached by those who have purified themselves. The contribution of the mystics to the tolerance of the religious community lies in the similarity of their conception of God, namely as God who is undefined. This similarity can be used as a meeting point that allows the Religious community to be more inclusive and enlarge the equation, not the other way around&#x0D;

Dio come ἀκαλλής. Conseguenze e implicazioni concettuali dell’apofatismo nel Corpus Areopagiticum

Abstract Within the Neoplatonic tradition, the absolute transcendence of the First Principle—the One-Good, from which the whole reality in its various articulations derives—plays a crucial role. This philosophical perspective implies, particularly in Plotinus and Proclus, some fundamental philosophical consequences, above all the transcendence of the Principle with respect to being and thought as well. This necessarily implies that the One-Good must be conceived of as beyond the intelligible Beauty itself. In this paper I aim to examine the theoretical implications and consequences of this perspective with specific reference to the conception of God’s absolute transcendence outlined within two texts of the Corpus Areopagiticum, overall characterized by the reworking of some fundamental Neoplatonic concepts in the context of Christian theology: the De divinis nominibus and the De mystica theologia. Indeed, in the De divinis nominibus it is shown that the names/predicates attributed to God in the Sacred Scriptures must be understood only in an allegorical-symbolic meaning, because God is above any possible definition. Not even the character of Beauty can be attributed to him, since he radically transcends it: in fact, God constitutes the absolute foundation and the very first source of Beauty itself. Therefore, God must be understood as ἀκαλλής, that is, “devoid of the connotation of Beauty”, precisely because he completely transcends it. In line with this theological and theoretical perspective, in the De mystica theologia a form of radical and absolute apophatism is developed, which in turn must ultimately lead to its own overcoming for the sake of the henosis, the mystical union with God.

The Science of Children’s Religious and Spiritual Development

The Science of Children’s Religious and Spiritual Development

Michael L. Raposa Plays with Peirce, Love, and Signs: Review Essay on Theosemiotic: Religion, Reading, and the Gift of Meaning

Michael L. Raposa Plays with Peirce, Love, and Signs: Review Essay on <i>Theosemiotic: Religion, Reading, and the Gift of Meaning</i>

Πάτερ, ημων ο εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Mt 6:9a): Reading the Lord’s Prayer with insight from Ewe cosmology

This article seeks to interpret the phrase Πάτερ, ημων ο εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς in the invocation of the Lord’s Prayer in the light of Ewe-Ghanaian cosmology. The article employs a combination of the historical-critical and indigenous mother tongue biblical hermeneutical approaches to explore the implication of the invocation for Ewe-Ghanaian Christian spirituality today. The article firstly discusses the various theological and hermeneutical positions of the invocation in dialogue with Ewe-Ghanaian concept of God and the plurality of his dwelling place. The article argues that Matthew’s use of οὐρανοῖς to suggest a plurality in God’s dwelling place resonates with Ewe cosmology, where it is believed that there are seven states of existence and that Mawugã, the Supreme Being, dwells in the first – the absolute state. Thus God exists in ‘seven heavens’ in Ewe cosmology, with the highest heaven being the eternal state of abode. On the other hand, the inclusive interpretation of the fatherhood of God in Ewe cosmology is discontinuous with the exclusive interpretation in the works of the church fathers such as Cyprian, Origen, Gregory of Nissa, Augustine and Clement of Alexandria. This hermeneutical position, the article observes, was responsible for the theological tensions that characterised the encounter between missionary Christianity and Ewe indigenous religion in the middle of the 19th century. However, the introduction of social services as evangelisation strategy, the legacy of the Ewe Bible and liturgy and the handing over of the Ewe church to the indigenous coworkers may have contributed to a large extent in ensuring religious tolerance among followers of the two religions. Today, Ewe-Ghanaian popular Christianity has shifted from its apologetic stance to a more liberal stance and employs indigenous religious and cultural categories in theologising.Contribution: Matthew’s rendition of the invocation of the Lord’s Prayer in the context of Ewe-Ghanaian cosmology is the focus of this article. The article forms part of the researcher’s contribution to the academic knowledge on the Lord’s Prayer and inspires the use of mother tongue biblical hermeneutics in the development of theological materials for the Ewe-Ghanaian Christian communities in Ghana and Togo.

How African conceptions of God bear on life's meaning

AbstractUp to now, a very large majority of work in the religious philosophy of life's meaning has presumed a conception of God that is Abrahamic. In contrast, in this article I critically discuss some of the desirable and undesirable facets of Traditional African Religion's salient conceptions of God as they bear on meaning in life. Given an interest in a maximally meaningful life, and supposing meaning would come from fulfilling God's purpose for us, would it be reasonable to prefer God as characteristically conceived by African philosophers of religion to exist instead of the Abrahamic conception of God? At this stage of enquiry, I answer that, in respect of the range of people to whom God's purpose would apply, a more African view of God would plausibly offer a greater meaning, but that, concerning what the content of God's purpose would be, the Abrahamic view appears to offer a greater one. I conclude by reflecting on this mixed verdict and by suggesting respects in which non-purposive facets of the African and Abrahamic conceptions of God could also have implications for life's meaning.

Noteworthy Problems with God’s Immutability, Impassibility, and Simplicity. Should We Treat These Divine Attributes and the Hellenic Conditions of Christian Theism as a Dogma?

The article presents problems that the concepts of God’s immutability, impassibility, and simplicity pose for Christian theism. Through the critical analysis, the author indicates the roots of these ideas (mostly, but not only, in ancient Greek philosophy) and the consequences of absolutizing them for the image of God and His relationship to the world. The more general purpose of the paper is to highlight the danger of the strong dependence of religious depictions on philosophical grounds. As concluded in the article, it is a mistake to absolutize the particular solutions that appeared at the junction of fides et ratio at one of the historical stages. The awareness of this becomes extremely important when reflecting on the divine immutability, impassibility, and simplicity. The author shows some proposals to reformulate their understanding in light of contemporary analytic philosophy. Partial reinterpretation in this regard may help to rethink the concept of the Creator’s interaction with creation and to reconcile the biblical image of God with the philosophical one.

Is Michel Henry’s Radical Phenomenology of Life a Christian Philosophy?

This paper examines two fundamental claims by Michel Henry on his philosophy’s relationship with classical phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger) and Christianity. It shows in what way Henry’s phenomenology is the radicalization and absolutization of classical phenomenology: pure phenomenological truth is the identification of appearing and what appears rather than the separation of the two. According to Henry, his notions of life and truth is fully in accordance with Christianity’s Revelation of God. In the last part, the paper challenges Henry’s claim that his phenomenology is a Christian philosophy from a Kierkegaardian point of view and argues that Henry’s phenomenology is, as a matter of fact, a philosophy without Christ. Contrary to a popular viewpoint that Michel Henry is a Christian thinker of our age, I would argue that Henry’s concept of God and Christ is essentially a scholarly philosophical invention. If Henry’s philosophy is an absolute and ultimate form of phenomenology, then it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that Christ as the Truth of Christianity is outside the boundary of phenomenology.

Building on a Solid Foundation: Conceptual Mapping Informs Schemas for Relating to God

How do individuals manage to maintain strong emotional and personal relationships with God, despite the physical (and metaphysical) challenges posed by that task? Past studies show that individuals relate to God in characteristic ways based in part on their God concepts, the ways they internally represent the nature of God. The current manuscript summarizes research suggesting that these concepts arise in part through mapping processes involving metaphor and analogy. This review suggests these cognitive processes influence the content of God concepts that ultimately determine how individuals relate to God. Future research would benefit from considering the important role that basic cognitive mapping plays in far-reaching emotional and behavioral outcomes.

Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi's Criticisms Against Materialism's Conception of Religion and God

In this study, the understanding of religion and God through matter in the historical process of materialism has been settled and determined, and the opposite views of Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi (d. 1914), one of the theologians of the New Science of Kalām period, have been tried to be revealed. In this context, first and foremost, a brief history of materialism is mentioned then Filibeli's views have given. Materialism is one of the notable philosophical schools that have found a place in the life of thought since Antiquity. The first steps of this system of thought are observed in Ancient Greece and the understanding of atomism. The common meeting place of the famous materialist philosophers of this period was the atomist understanding. On the other hand, Atomist understanding collects many divinity features such as being eternal and ever in the matter. Having significant effects on the history of thought, materialism experienced stagnation in the middle ages. The reason for this stagnation is that Christianity developed an active understanding of religion in the West, and therefore the views of the church adopted a conservative approach. It can be said that scholastic philosophy is one of the biggest reasons for the loss of the effectiveness of materialism. Afterward, the school of materialism showed a new revival during the period when the oppressive attitude of the church decreased with the scholastic philosophy and the religious reform and Renaissance movements were followed. Materialism, which has started to regain effectiveness since the 18th century, is based on matter and the field called material and does not accept any area other than matter. Materialism rejects the metaphysical field, which agrees with the entities that the sense organs can only perceive as the material field, and the information obtained through experimentation and observation. Since the knowledge and existence of beings such as God, angels, and jinn are of interest to metaphysics, spiritual beings entering this field are denied by materialism. Although it emerged in the Christian western world, materialism emerges as a system of thought that spreads in the following processes and influences the whole world. The ideas of materialism, which started to be seen in our country as a result of the return of students sent abroad with western ideas to examine the progress of the West in the political field, increased its effectiveness, especially through journals and translation. Materialism, which has made such progress in our country, has been criticized by many intellectuals, although some scholars have adopted it. Along with the spread of such ideas, a search for innovation was done in kalām, and the period of the New Science of Kalām began. One of the most important scholars of this period is Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi. Filibeli criticizes this system of thought for the general views of materialism through the concept of denial. Filibeli, who also touches on morality, states that materialism opens the door to immorality, resulting in anarchy.

Theories of Aseevagam in Tamil Philosophy

Naturally occurring minerals are grouped into five types of geological formations. Other substances that may be present in Fivefold are called constituents. The concepts of God and soul based on Vedic and Upanishad principles are not found anywhere in Tolkappiyam or Sangam literature. Nature is the unadulterated first philosophical position of the Tamils ​​in their life. It can be seen that the attempt to search for causes and factors in the dynamic nature of nature has paved the way for the emergence of philosophy and theoretical concepts. In this way, priming the object and priming the concept is taking place through time. Although Jainism, Buddhism, and Vedicism can be found in the Tamil philosophical tradition, this article has explored the auspicious thoughts that had already strengthened.

Problém zla v analytickej filozofii náboženstva otvoreného teizmu

Open theism is known for its greater logical precision, its notion of an all­-perfect personal and temporal God, and its resulting &#8216;risky&#8217; theodicy. In discussions on the logical argument from evil, the world­-order and the value of free moral agency have become crucial. One of the necessary elements of moral life is the existence of particular physical and moral evils for which there cannot be a greater particular good to justify them. Particularly problematic are the horrendous evils from which the limits of the general rationalist approach emerged. The advantage of open theism is that where other concepts resort to mystery, theological determinism, or radically limit God&#8217;s possibilities, open theism postulates God as an all­-perfect person, capable of defeating evils in the afterlife, and instructing and training us in how to overcome evils in this world. Soteriology retains the same concept of God and the same value of human freedom, and, as a result, is close to the traditional Christian understanding of eternal life.

Menggugat Eksklusivisme Umat Pilihan Allah: Tafsir Ideologi terhadap Ulangan 7: 1-11 dan Yohanes 14: 6 dalam Konteks Kemajemukan Masyarakat

Violence and conflict in the name of religion have increased in Indonesia, including Maluku. Social strife in Maluku provides evidence of the reality of an objectionable and properly managed society. Conflict in the name of religion has contributed to legitimization with bible texts, including Deuteronomy 7: 1-11 and John 14: 6. Therefore, this article is the result of re-interpretation utilizing ideological criticism of these biblical texts. Through the interpretation, the authors found that the exclusive narrative of Deuteronomy 7: 1-11 and John 14: 6 was influenced by the social, political, and economic situation. Thus, both texts need to be reinterpreted contextually regarding the plurality of Indonesian society. In the end, this article emphasizes that the concept of God's people cannot be interpreted exclusively but refers to all humankind universally.

African Philosophy of Religion: Concepts of God, Ancestors, and the Problem of Evil

AbstractThere has recently been an increased interest in debates on the nature of God, supernatural entities, and the problem of evil outside the Western tradition and there is a growing realisation that philosophical scholarship should go beyond Western perspectives in order to properly address issues in the philosophy of religion that arise in non‐Western cultures. Taking this on board, this article surveys the field of African philosophy of religion and highlights some of the concerns and issues driving debates in the field. In particular, we focus on three important debates. Firstly, we outline the two main schools of thought that divide African philosophers into theistic and non‐theistic camps. We label the theistic perspective the 'African theistic view' and the non‐theistic perpective the 'limited God view'. Secondly, we explore how commitment to the two views has led to distinct explanations of the problem of evil. Thirdly, we highlight the role of ancestors in African belief‐systems and their place in the scheme of things. Adopting the method of philosophical exposition and argument, we show how the two dominant views of God's nature define this emerging field of African philosophy and will determine the future trajectory of the field.