Essence Of Faith Research Articles

The Harm of Nature and the Light of Man: Philosophical and Theological Reflections on Gratitude and Growth from Disaster

This article explores in depth the multiple implications of natural disasters, especially in the context of scientific progress, human solidarity, and theology. Firstly, this paper reviews the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and discusses the multi-dimensional effect of natural disasters on human society and its profound philosophical and theological significance. Despite the devastation and suffering caused by the disaster, Americans have shown a strong sense of gratitude. Then, from the dialectical point of view, the author analyzes the cosmological view of the coexistence of good and evil and emphasizes the positive role of natural disasters in promoting scientific and technological progress, promoting human unity, stimulating learning motivation, and demonstrating free will.Further, from the perspective of philosophy and theology, the paper expounds on the intrinsic value of pursuing knowledge and exercising natural disasters on free will. The learning process of natural laws deepens human understanding of the world. It strengthens human free will, making people more autonomous and independent in the face of good and evil choices.At the same time, from the theology perspective, this paper compares the different understandings of natural disasters and human suffering between atheism and theism. It reveals the respect for human autonomy and the essence of faith behind God’s non-intervention. In the end, the article concludes that natural disasters, while a source of suffering, are also catalysts for human growth and gratitude, encouraging us to look at disasters from a broader perspective and draw strength and wisdom from them.

The Meaning of Sacraments as “Signs of Faith” – Reciprocity between faith and sacraments

God, through the Church, enters into a personal dialogue with man out of his desire to save him. This dialogue is carried out in different ways and based on certain criteria. One of these is the sacramental reality. The sacraments are a concretization of the divine action that fully realizes the mystery of salvation. In 2020, a document of the International Theological Commission was published with the title: Reciprocity between faith and sacraments in the sacramental economy. Here it is reaffirmed that the essence of faith is found in the principle of sacramentality. This principle represents the very nature of Christian revelation, namely, the dialogical response of the believer and the Christian community, such that there is no authentic sacramental celebration without faith. The theological study has always linked the doctrine of the sacraments and their celebration to the gift of faith that the believer receives from God exclusively based on the merits of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Christ, giving birth to the sacraments, also gives them the ontological power that works on the inner plane in the human being. This gives the believer a certain spiritual experience that enables him to live and act as a person of faith. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between faith and sacraments, starting from the meaning of the notion of faith

Engaging with the Other

AbstractThe World Council of Churches (WCC) has recently stated that we live in a “poly‐crisis” world. This context raises questions about finding common ground with people of other faiths or no faith for the common good. How do Christians practise ecumenical diakonia in the public sphere and offer transformative diaconal services in their contexts? To explore these questions, I reflect on the essence of faith in Korean Sŏn Buddhist monk Chinul (知訥, 1158–1210) and that of the contemporary Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall to identify implications for the practice of ecumenical diakonia and its commitment to interreligious dialogue. Chinul and Hall agree that faith encourages reaching out to others. Buddhists and Christians can be companions on the journey of working together across differences for the common good of the world.

Ebū’l-Muʿīn en-Nesefī’de İmanın İki Yönü ve İnsanın Özgür İradesiyle İlişkisi: Felsefi Bir Analiz

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between knowledge (ʿilm or maʿrifa) and faith (īmān), or intellect (ʿaql) and religious assent (taṣdīq), in the thought of Abū al-Muʿīn al-Nasafī (d. 508-1115), the most distinguished theologian after the founding father of the Māturīdī school. Regrettably, the works of al-Nasafī and his school have not received the recognition they deserve in academic circles of the English-speaking world. This study aims to fill this gap and contribute to the studies already conducted in Turkish academia. The study distinguishes itself from other works in Turkish scholarship by exploring the philosophical reasoning behind the moral praiseworthiness of the act of faith in the Māturīdī tradition, as represented by al-Nasafī. To this end, the initial focus of this article involves conducting research on the essence of faith using al-Nasafī’s corpus. It then explores the relationship established by al-Nasafī between knowledge and faith, or intellect and religious assent. This paper also examines the impact of God’s intervention on human free will in the act of faith and whether this act should be viewed as a human or divine act. The findings of this study show that, according to al-Nasafī, the truth or legitimacy of a religious belief can only be established through knowledge or evidence (dalīl). Imitating the beliefs of forefathers (taqlīd), relying on intuition (ilhām), or trusting in the goodness of those beliefs cannot be a means of acquiring true knowledge of religions. Nevertheless, faith cannot be reduced to knowledge. Instead, faith is a special assent of the heart that is grounded in knowledge. With this voluntary assent, a person adopts the Islamic faith and its values as the most fundamental guiding principle of their life. The assent that al-Nasafī deems worthy of being called faith is a special kind of assent of this kind.

‘병(病)’을 통해서 본 믿음의 본질 - 『유마경(維摩經)』과 『동경대전(東經大全)』을 중심으로 -

본 논문의 목적은 수운과 유마힐이 보여준 믿음의 본질과 탐구의 여정을 검토하려는 것이다. 이를 위해 수운과 유마힐이 보여준 삶의 행적과 믿음 그리고 그들이 사회에 끼친 영향 등에 대한 논의들을 참고하고, 또 「좌잠」에 등장하는 구절 “불박진념기(不怕塵念起), 유공각래지(惟恐覺來知)”와 『수심결(修心訣)』의 구절 “불박념기(不怕念起), 유공각지(惟恐覺遲)”를 비교함으로써 논의를 진행한다. 먼저, 수운과 유마힐이 자기 자신(自身)을 한 발짝도 떠나지 않고 자신의 소리를 듣고서 자신(自信)에 도달하는 과정을 분석할 것이다. 이어서 수운과 유마힐은 민중과 중생이 곧 하늘님이자 부처임을 천명하는데, 왜 민중과 중생들 스스로는 하늘이자 부처임을 자각하지 못하는가를 분석할 것이다. 끝으로 그들이 어떻게 민중과 중생의 ‘병’을 치료하고 있는가를 분석함으로써 믿음의 본질과 치료의 실천성을 논의할 것이다. 이러한 논의에서 유마힐과 수운이 말하는 마음의 ‘병’이 무엇인지 자신하고 자증함으로써, ‘범부즉부처’ 또는 ‘중생즉천주’임을 스스로 확인한 것은 매우 중요하다. 그들은 진단한 ‘병’이 말과 글에 의지해서는 치료될 수 없음을 분명히 하고 있으며, ‘오심즉여심’과 ‘범부즉부처’가 믿음의 본질이자, 이를 실천하는 것이 ‘병’을 치료하는 것임을 보여주고 있다.

칼뱅의 아디아포라 사상 고찰

This study examines the adiaphoristic thought of John Calvin, which was the most prominent reformer, in the sixteenth century Reformation. Historically Calvin was imprinted as a negative image, such as dictator, strict theologian, and pronoun of intolerance. But these standardized image is formed through a fragmentary aspect about Calvin. His works emphasizing freedom of adiaphora in non-essential things show that Calvin had a flexible thought and tolerant attitude. The main object of this study is to find essential principles for the union and concord of the Korean Church which is at risk because of fragmentation and opposition today by studying and applying adiaphoristic thought from a new perspective. I first examined the study on Calvin’s adiaphora, and then studied what term Calvin used as the concept of adiaphora, and looked at the subjects that influenced the formation of Calvin's concept of adiaphora in two categories: philosophy and church history. In philosophy, ancient Stoic philosophy, and in church history, the fathers of the ancient church and fellow Reformers in the sixteenth century influenced the formation of Calvin's adiaphora. And I suggested that Calvin did not recognize the concept of adiaphora only ideologically, but applied it to specific theological themes such as the ceremony, the status of women, and the political system of the church. Calvin said that external norms and ceremonies other than the essence of faith, such as justification, worship, and salvation, were not explicitly mentioned in the bible, so they should be practiced freely according to the circumstances of the times and the church. Calvin also considered that the public leadership of women was acceptable in critical or special cases. In addition, Calvin, who preferred the elder system, did not argue that only the elder system was the correct system, but tolerated the supervisory system. Finally, I emphasized that adiaphora should be within the limits of love, order, and decorum. Based on this study, I hope that Calvin's adiaphoristic thought will be discussed in more deeply in Korean churches, and will be an important basis for the union and concord as they are specifically applied in theology and pastoral fields.

Ontološka analiza vere u islamskoj filozofiji

The term faith has different meanings. Belief in religious ideas or in general cognitive judgments is the meaning that will be discussed in more detail in this paper. Given the exceptional importance of faith in designing a person's life, even in a non-religious aspect, we will explore different dimensions of this human phenomenon in the Islamic tradition. Given that theological debates do not talk about the essence of faith but about its relationship with human actions, we have paid attention to Islamic philosophers and their ontological view of faith so as to present the essential properties of faith. The names of man's cognitive powers relating to the origin of belief are not the same in all Islamic scientific disciplines and are based on different descriptions of the human cognitive system. The mind and the heart are the two most frequently mentioned powers from which man's belief originates, and according to the Qur'anic text and Islamic traditions, they have enough common properties to be marked as the highest level of not only human knowledge but also of being. In Islamic philosophy the intellect is a supramaterial being that does not depend on matter either in its being or in its actions.

М.К. Ганди – неортодоксальный «ортодокс»

The reference to the native tradition by thinkers of modernizing societies is a complex, multidimensional process. It includes endeavours of rational recon­sideration of their own religion, which as a rule are accompanied with reformers’ declarations about revival of true ancient essence of faith and about their ortho­doxy. The typical example of the last one is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s ar­ticle “Who is a ‘Sanatani’ Hindu?”. Translation of this text into Russian is pre­sented to the readers. And though the question about consideration Gandhi as а reformer of Hinduism is debatable, his approach to religion has many similar features with reformative practice by Rammohun Roy (1772–1833) and his fol­lowers. Reflection on originality of the Indian civilization and particularly on Hinduism, which is characteristic for the thinkers of that period, can’t be under­stood without analysis of modernization context and especially for Gandhi with­out attention to anti-colonial struggle. The meet with the West divided Indian so­ciety to three parts: those who gladly copied European lifestyle, others who refused all foreign and those for whom the discovery of new culture became the reason for the recognition of the past and the present of their native country. The last thinkers weren’t contented with just safe-keeping of Indian civilization in the situation of the colonial crisis and therefore they defined another aim – to revive its ancient greatness. Every reformer created his own project of religious renaissance based on his own conception of ‘true’ ancient Hinduism, which was corrupted in time. But there is something common in interpretation of Hinduism by different thinkers of that direction, and by Gandhi too. All of them tried to find the essence of Hinduism, which brings it together with other religions and which defines its uniqueness in order to show to the compatriots and to the world the special role which Indian civilization should play in all-human destiny.

Recent Thornton Wilder Scholarship: 2016–2020

Recent Thornton Wilder Scholarship: 2016–2020

Учение об обожении финской лютеранской школы как точка соприкосновения с православным понятием теозиса

This article examines the teachings of the Finnish Lutheran school and the Orthodox Church on theosis with the purpose of trying to find points of agreement between what would otherwise at first glance seem to be incompatible traditions. First, the theological basis of the doctrine of theosis in the Orthodox Church is explored. Next, the Lutheran concept of soteriology is discussed and a parallel is drawn between justification according to Luther and theosis in the Eastern tradition. Then, the concept of theosis in the Finnish interpretation of the writings of Luther and the Orthodox Church is analyzed.This analysis revealed common ground in four areas: first, in their similar definitions of theosis; second, in their perceptions on the essence of faith; third, in the parallels between the ontological aspects of Lutheran justification and the Orthodox church’s central soteriological concept of theosis; and fourth, in their analogous view on the method of theosis through the sacraments and the manifestation of love.The doctrine of theosis, therefore, has ecumenical potential and could serve as a foundation for continued interfaith dialogue. The search for common ground helps to discover points of similarity between opposing church traditions. This promotes mutual understanding among churches, which, in turn, is a testament of love between Christians.This study is useful for students of religious institutions and laymen who are interested in issues of interfaith dialogue and is particularly beneficial to those who are on the periphery of Eastern and Western traditions.

Faith in reincarnation in world mythology

The purpose of the research is related to the question of faith in reincarnation in mythology. Its main focus is the analysis of the origins of mythical representations as a component of the common belief of man. The analysis involves the thought and vision of this problem by well-known researchers, philosophers, available written sources and mythical retellings. The methodology of the research is to apply historical-comparative, comparative and logistic methods. Their application helps to diachronically analyze the phenomena of primitive culture and mythical beliefs. In some cases, elements of structural analysis are used to identify the essence of belief in reincarnation. The scientific novelty of the work is to reveal the general essence of faith in the reincarnation in mythology and its place in the life of a modern man as a spiritual support; features of the origins of mythical motives; ways of affirming and disseminating them in the culture of peoples from antiquity to the present; features of communication of beliefs in reincarnation with the phenomena of nature and events in people's lives. The conclusion is that the disclosure of the general essence of faith in the reincarnation in mythology makes it possible to give a scientific assessment of its significance in the modern life of the people, of each individual, and of the development of culture in general.

FEATURES OF RELIGIOUS FAITH UNDERSTANDING IN THE WORKS OF LEV SCHESTOV

This article presents an analysis of the views of L.Shestov, representative of the philosophy of the Silver Age, on the essence of faith and the possibility of its implementation in the spiritual life of man. The relationship between faith and reason, understanding of truth and necessity, science and philosophy in the context of the existential doctrine of the philosopher is considered. Truths as universally binding dogmas cannot serve as a solid foundation of human existence, man must accept the absence of «soil» and be freed from coercion of rationality and morality. Only faith (which is interpreted by L. Shestov as an existential breakthrough into another world, the world of God, beyond the limits of human cognition and understanding) frees and saves a person, contrary to common sense and formal logic, gives hope that the impossible can come true, that evil can be overcome, while changing both the future and the past. Attributive characteristics of faith, from the point of view of the Silver age’s thinker, are «baselessness», freedom, hope for a miracle/divine arbitrariness, spontaneous creativity, salvation. It is stressed the complexity and paradox of Shestov’s doctrine of faith.

Theological Anthropology at the Basis of Inter-Denominational Controversies: Dialogue within the World Council of Churches

The article discusses moral concerns, which are a challenge for Churches and constitute principal foci of controversy. Anthropological questions underpin moral issues. The answer to the question about the source of human dignity and inherent human rights determines the response to specific matters, such as defining the beginning of human life and its inviolabil- ity, the approach to abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, and even disability. The crea- tion of man in God’s image and cooperation with the Creator in the development of creation results in the need for a proper setting of the world, including the establishment of a social, political, and economic order serving each man. The way to overcome the differences in the interpretation of Christian anthropology – and thus determine the moral issues – are ecumenical dialogues in which the parties seek to discover the truth. Dialogue must be made in the two dimensions simultaneously: vertical (the essence of faith) and horizontal (social and moral issues). The unity of faith determines the unity in moral issues. If dialogue is to bear fruit in the form of mutual recognition, the parties should avoid anthropological errors contained in contemporary thinking (a.o. materialism, atheistic socialism, genetic reductionism, utilitarianism, and relativism as well as the falsehood of gender ideology). The recipe for this is to return to the biblical anthropology and to a patient and humble search for the truth.

AŞKA SEMAH DÖNMEK

Alevism–Bektashism is an expression of the interpretation of Islam by love. Love that forms the very essence of faith has been the most important determiner of the established procedures and pedestals of the Alevi path. Divine love as accepted as unique and genuine among all different orientations of love is sought. While Alevism becomes a path, it connects itself to the Prophet via Hazrat Ali and the ancestry of Ahl al-Bayt. The reason, essence, direction and eventually destination of love have been expressed as “the path of ‘Haqq–Mohammed–Ali’”. Because, according to the Alevi faith, Allah has created the earth, sky and eighteen thousand universes for the love of Mohammed–Ali’s children. It is also accepted that the true faith is possible only with love. Meanings present in the definition of love, such as suffering and pain, are the expected distresses in the pathway to love. On the way, the love related to the world and all things but Allah will be burned by the fire of love and annihilated. Thus, the man will die before his real death and reach the status of a human being. Within this framework, the interpretation of the faith, which is practiced through love, will be examined with reference to the main resources of Alevism–Bektashism. In addition, styles and applications, developed by using the principal resources as basis, will also be taken into consideration and examined.

With Heart, Tongue, and Limbs: Ibn Hazm On the Essence of Faith

AbstractIn the Kitāb al-īmān or Book of Faith, a section from Ibn Hazm of Córdoba's major treatise on religions and heresies entitled Al-fasl fi al-milal wa al-ahwā' wa al-nihal, the author uses the exegetic techniques of Zāhirism to lay out what he believes are the essential characteristics that make one a Muslim. Those characteristics fall into three categories: belief held in the heart (tasdīq bi al-qalb), profession of belief with the tongue (iqrār bi al-lisān), and pious work of the body (amal al-jawārih). His intent in the Kitāb al-īmān is to attack the concept of religious tolerance and to reaffirm that being a Muslim means being different from Jews and Christians in thought, word, and deed. His use of Zāhirism as a guide to reading scripture directly supports his attack on Christianity and Judaism.

The Vicarious Repentance of Christ in the Theology of John McLeod Campbell and R. C. Moberly

The name of John McLeod Campbell (1800–1872) is well-known among historians of Scottish church history. A pastor who spent most of his life in Glasgow, Campbell is remembered best for his deposition from the Church of Scotland in 1831 because of the preaching of unlimited atonement and of assurance as belonging to the essence of faith. Among historians of doctrine, Campbell's notoriety stems from his later work, The Nature of the Atonement. The book aroused controversy from the moment of its publication. Among the highly original themes set forth by Campbell, one continues to stand out as the most perplexing and controversial: Campbell's teaching on Christ as providing a ‘perfect response’, a ‘perfect repentance’, a ‘perfect sorrow’ and a ‘perfect contrition’ before the judgment of the Father on the sins of humanity.

Lectures on the Essence of Religion, and: The Essence of Faith According to Luther (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 101 the elements of all our cognition," and, "though all our knowledge begins with experience , it does not follow that it all arises out of experience." The senses contribute the "matter" of experience, but it is the understanding that makes "the representation of an object possible at all." Kant speaks vaguely of experience as "a synthetic combination of intuitions." The thrust of his argument is that "experience is possible only through the representation of a necessary connection of perceptions." It is "constitutive," however, only when "informed" through sense perceptions. So far Kant has identified experience with the particulars of sense perception. But there is another interpretation in the first Critique. As Kant puts it, there is "only one experience in which all perceptions are represented as in one thorough-going context according to law." In this sense, the term 'experience' can be used only in the singular: No matter how many perceptions may be "given," their interconnections occur only in one and the same experience. But this thesis of the singularity of experience is rather strange in light of Kant's initial position. Still, he explains it as the "totality concept" and the "context" of all perceptions. Kant's favorite expression is "field of experience" (CPR, B 13); and in this sense experience is the ground which supports the progress in human cognition. He who proceeds on this basis is "in the world." Kant himself formulates the principle of the unity of experience as the exclusion of everything that destroys the unity of the form of experience. The context of the perceptual objects is complete, thanks to the principle of causality; and this principle is constitutive of nature. Kant thus states that "nature is the one and only all-inclusive experience taken as the totality and the context of appearances." Nature is thus conceived as nothing other than the all-inclusive concept and context of a singular experience. It follows that a sphere beyond experience in this sense is conceivable but not knowable. The idea of an absolute whole of appearances is inherently contradictory; for the whole itself is not given, but given as a task. That is to say, it is a regulative idea of experience. Part IV of Holzhey's book is concerned primarily with problems of a philosophical anthropology and adds nothing of significance to the arguments already presented. The author does not take into consideration the arguments of the Opus postumum. But it is clear from what has been presented that the development of Kant's thinking, as related to the problem of experience, moves from an essentially Humean position to something radically different. The book under review gives us a step by step progression of this development and thus places our interpretation of Kant's transcendentalism in a new light. We now see the progression of Kant's thoughts as a progressive coming to terms with the problem of what experience really is. For the students of Kant's philosophy, neglect of this book would therefore be a serious blunder. W. H. WERKMEISTER Florida State University Lectures on the Essence of Religion. By Ludwig Feuerbach. Trans. by Ralph Manheim. (New York, Evanston, and London: Harper and Row, 1967. Pp. xv+ 359. $9.50) The Essence of Faith According to Luther. By Ludwig Feuerbach. Trans. by Melvin Cherno. (New York, Evanston, and London: Harper and Row, 1967. Pp. 127. $4.50) In these two translations readers of English now have, respectively, the richest overview of his thinking about religion that Ludwig Feuerbach wrote and the only 102 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY essay that he devoted to interpreting a particular theologian. There is more to these volumes than this, as I hope to show. First, though, I wish to note a Gestalt in which they seem to be involved. Suddenly, in the late 1960s, more writings by Feuerbach have appeared in English than appeared in over a century after Marian Evans published her rendering of Das Wesen des Christenturns in 1854. A translation of Das Wesen der Religion appeared in 1873, the year after Feuerbach died. (That brief essay of 1845 is the basis from which he developed the above Lectures.) It was not until 1966...

The Essence of Faith According to Luther, by Ludwig Feuerbach, translated by Melvin Cherno. 127 pp. New York, Evanston, and London, Harper and Row, 1967. $4.50

The Essence of Faith According to Luther, by Ludwig Feuerbach, translated by Melvin Cherno. 127 pp. New York, Evanston, and London, Harper and Row, 1967. $4.50

Book Review: II. Historical—Theological Studies: The Essence of Faith According to Luther

Book Review: II. Historical—Theological Studies: The Essence of Faith According to Luther