Idea Of God Research Articles

God and the Structure of the Transcendental Dialectic: On Willaschek’s Kant on the Sources of Metaphysics

AbstractMarcus Willaschek’s new book Kant on the Sources of Metaphysics: The Dialectic of Pure Reason (Cambridge University Press, 2018) is a penetrating analysis of the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. In his comments, the author first raises some questions concerning the structure of the Transcendental Dialectic (and Willaschek’s reconstruction of it) and then proposes that looking at the second Critique and continuing on into the third Critique will reveal more roles for the idea of God in Kant’s reconstruction of traditional metaphysics than Willaschek’s treatment suggests.

The Christian Idea of God: A Philosophical Foundation for Faith. By Keith Ward

The Christian Idea of God: A Philosophical Foundation for Faith. By Keith Ward

Confession and Hope: Ekklesia’s Task in the Global Emergency

Humanity is currently faced with deadly dangers that could bring about the breakdown of civilization, and even the end of human life on earth in short order. The Marxist and Green thinker Rudolf Bahro spoke of a ‘logic of salvation’, which involved a return to the idea of God. Ekklesia arose as a witness to such a logic of salvation. It can be understood as a social movement, that sketches out a prefigurative politics that can then be realised. The contemporary church needs to recover this understanding, adopting climate change as a confessional issue that defines its common life. This could be part of a practical logic of salvation.

Ideas of God, freedom and evil in works of Vladimir Korolenko and Fyodor Dostoevsky

Ideas of God, freedom and evil in works of Vladimir Korolenko and Fyodor Dostoevsky

САКРАЛЬНІСТЬ У ПАЛІТРІ СУЧАСНОЇ ЛІТЕРАТУРИ: ГУМАНІЗМ ЧИ ЦІННІСНА ДЕСТРУКТИВНІСТЬ?

In a secularized society, on the base of the rapid development of technologization and globalization, we also observe an intensive "return" of the sacred. It "returns" with the growth of nostalgia for the personalism of social relationships. And this return is reflected, in particular, through the phenomena of contemporary art – some of them are filled with appropriate symbolism and emotional atmosphere. Undoubtedly, there is no historical period, which would be characterized by complete secularization and the absence of any sacredness. However, in the modern era, the uniqueness of the sacred is that it is not just a religious phenomenon. Because today's semantic space of the sacred is not only the idea of God, it is also about justice, identity, self-sacrifice and the search for answers. This is one of the main categories of value orientations, which relates to anthropological reality in all its diversity. In this article, the author analyzes the manifestations of the Christian worldview and sacred meanings in modern literature work: the means of their expression and symbolism. After all, the Bible in modern literature is used in a unique way. Definitely, there are still a number of important Christian literature works, but more and more often artists use biblical symbolism to embody their creative ideas without mentioning Christian saints or biblical quotations. The researcher examines a number of particularly popular fantasy novels of the early third millennium, in which the plotline is interwoven with elements of Christian sacredness and value categories, the meanings of their ideological guidelines. Cult literature works are also analyzed, where sacredness is hidden under other layers of meaning. In these works, the sacred is not immediately demonstrated, it may be seen in the value potential of the profane. The reverse side of Christian sacredness is also comprehended – on the basis of works of art about demons and Satan, the artistic and ideological purpose of these works is considered. All this is subordinated to the goal of understanding the influence of ideas about the sacred (and in general – the transcendent) in its modern cultural expression on the transformation of the aesthetic axiosphere. The research is at the interdisciplinary intersection of religious studies, philosophy of religion, culturology and aesthetics.

AROUND THE IDEA OF GOD: RILKE MEETS SPINOZA

Rilke se topó con Spinoza supuestamente a través de Goethe. El poeta se sorprende de los puntos de coincidencia que comparte con el filósofo. Buscar las razones de esta fascinación implica el riesgo de asimilar dos autores muy diferentes: Spinoza buscando la transparencia de la geometría para diseccionar los afectos humanos, Rilke amando la oscuridad como única fuente de novedad. Sin embargo, en su idea de Dios, no parecen estar tan alejados, tal y como intenta mostrar este artículo.

Метафизика Божественного мышления у Мария Викторина и ее философские источники

The article deals with the doctrine of Marius Victorinus (ca. 281/291‒382/386) on the Divine thinking or intellection, and provides a reconstruction of its possible philosophical sources. In the beginning the author after a breaf mentioning of Aristotle’s noetic theory in his “Metaphysica” emphasizes an important role of the neoplatonic doctrine of the “intelligible triad” in the Trinitarian doctrine of Victorinus, in which God is seen as the unity of the three Divine attributes, potencies or acts: being, life and thought, which correspond to the persons of the Christian Trinity. It is noted that the relationship between these Divine acts has a dynamic character, based on the logic of the eternal process of self-determination of God as the pure Being (Father), which defines himself as the Life (Son) and returns to himself as the Intellect (Holy Spirit), by which the fullness of Divine self-knowledge is achieved. This process Victorinus also connects with the idea of God as an absolute Spirit –a Substance that exists, lives and thinks of itself. Further the author consideres Victorinus’ concept of two actions and movements in God: one is internal, characterizing God the Father, the other is external, characterizing the Son-Logos. It has been argued that this doctrine goes back to the similar doctrine of Plotinus, which he applies to the One and the Intellect. It is noted that Victorinus in the light of the Neo-Platonic dialectics of the One and the Intellect reconsidered an Aristotelian theory of Divine intellect, which thinks of itself. He not only applies it to the Son-Logos, but also joins to it a Plotinian-Porphyrian conception of the “super-thinking” of the One, as a result of which Divine thinking according to Victorinus has two different forms: an internal, potential, hidden and unmanifest thinking (or “super-thinking”) of God the Father, and an external, actual and manifested thinking (or “self-thinking”) of the Son-Logos; the latter initially dwells in the internal thinking of the Father, and then was genereted from it as a Divine thinking that thinks both of the Father and of itself, becoming self-knowledge or self-thinking.

Łyżeczki Menasa. O wierszu „Hagia Sophia” Andrzeja Buszy

An outstanding poem, “Hagia Sophia” by Andrzej Busza uses the historical context of early medieval Byzantium in order to describe the universal situation of a human being that confronts the ideas of God and divinity. While reading this poem, the deeper meaning of its reality and symbols putting forward the byzantine setting can be traced; moreover, such a process makes it possible to attempt at deciphering the mysterious inscriptions engraved on the silver spoons of Menas, the protagonist of this poem, with regard to the tragedy of human faith and doubt, an issue that has never lost its significance. In fact, this poem is a bitter and idiosyncratic meditation on the uncertainty embedded in human existence and the doubtful usefulness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Wade Rowland’s Morality by Design reflects the religious renaissance in philosophy; and ‘it’s pretty toxic’ for women and LGBTQ

ABSTRACTRowland’s message in Morality by Design mirrors Kant’s ‘moral argument’ for God. As such, he is part of a global trend in philosophy towards a ‘religious renaissance’, also reflected in the work of orthodox critical realists, especially those who are drawn to (Kantian-inspired) Jurgen Habermas and/or (Pragmatist) John Dewey in addition to Roy Bhaskar. Many orthodox critical realists may not realize that their approach – which assumes the existence of an absolute, innate, embedded morality – ultimately requires the idea of God to be consistent. By conflating faith with reason, this religious renaissance offers a progressive-sounding discourse that can be used to legitimise activism to achieve socially conservative, yet politically left wing, policy outcomes, norm formation and judicial interpretations. It therefore threatens the hard-won rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community. This review essay offers Bhaskar's original critical realism as an antidote to the religious renaissance in philosophy.

An Inconsistency in Aquinas's De veritate Account of Divine Ideas

An Inconsistency in Aquinas's De veritate Account of Divine Ideas

The Concept of Virtue in Religious Philosophy of Hermann Cohen

The concept of virtue was of great interest and importance for H. Cohen. In the interpretation of this concept in his latest work “Religion of reason from the sources of Judaism” the most important concepts of this work were brought in the focus: the specificity of definition of what is the religion of reason; understanding of the uniqueness of God; correlation; messianism. For Cohen, a single system of virtues presupposes a single and unique ethics and correlates with the idea of the unity of humanity. The last concept, in his opinion, maturated in the fold of monotheism. Humanity is one, because all people are creations of the unique God. “Religion of reason” treats of the common universal virtues. In the religion of reason, the idea of God and morality are inextricably linked. Cohen rejects metaphysical speculation about the nature of God, about the attributes of God inherent in himself. The religion of the mind speaks of God only in correlation with man. God is a moral ideal and reveals himself to man by giving him moral commandments. Morality connects man and God, and this connection is revealed in detail by Cohen in the theme of virtues. Understanding God as Truth is important for the disclosure of this topic. The corresponding virtue for a person is faithfulness to truth, or truthfulness. In addition to truthfulness in the usual sense, for Cohen, faithfulness to truth requires correct worship of God. The correlation culminates in the idea of messianism, which is interpreted by Cohen as an endless movement of a whole humanity to the social justice.

THE PROBLEM OF VIKTOR NESMELOV’S PSYCHOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS CHRISTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY: “PRO ET CONTRA”

The article is devoted to the analysis of “psychological” argument for the existence of God of Viktor Nesmelov, professor of Kazan Theological Academy, represented in his fundamental work “Science of Man”. The main interpretations of this argument, formulated both contemporaries of Nesmelov (Nikolay Berdiaev, bishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky)) and modern researchers of his legacy (priest D. Lushnikov, bishop K. Goryanov) are considered. The basic prerequisites and origins of Nesmelov’s anthropological doctrine are analyzed. The main of them were V. Snegiryov’s psychological doctrine and anthropological ideas of St. Gregory of Nyssa. The main ideas of Nesmelov’s Christian anthropology, related directly to his formulation of “the idea of God” (the doctrine of consciousness and self-consciousness of man; idea of man as the “main riddle” of the universe; idea of the fundamental “duality” of human nature; doctrine of Theosis and God-manhood, doctrine of sin and universal salvation (apokatastasis), etc.) are revealed. Besides that, Nesmelov’s criticism of the main existing arguments for the existence of God (ontological, cosmological, teleological, psychological, etc.) is analyzed. The main conclusion based on the analysis of Nesmelov’s anthropological system is made: his argument for the existence of God represents rather a methodological program for creating such argument in the future. The base of this argument should be made of not only by an “ abstract knowledge”, but the “living worldview” and the “living unity of God and man”.

SACRED PLACES IN BUDDHISM OR THE PLACE OF THE SACRED IN BUDDHISM

Abstract: The paper aims to examine the meaning of sacredness in such a religion as Buddhism where there is no idea of God or any supernatural being. Instead, there are elaborated inner practices for achieving enlightenment. The paper consists of two parts. The first one analyses the place of the sacred in Buddhism considering the two important concepts of samsara and nirvana. The second part discusses sacred places in Buddhism comparing two different space structures: stupa as representative for a vertical structure and mandala for a horizontal one. On the base of juxtaposing these seemingly opposite concepts and structures the paper reveals that in terms of Buddhism the real sacredness is non-sacredness: a term that transcends the opposition sacred-profane and expresses the specific Buddhist vision of non-duality.Key words: Buddhism; sacred-profane; non-duality

Joseph Ratzinger’s ‘Kierkegaardian option’ in Introduction to Christianity

ABSTRACTAlthough scholars increasingly recognize the debts of twentieth-century Roman Catholic theologians to Søren Kierkegaard, no one has yet traced this influence to Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI). As is frequently observed, Ratzinger’s most famous book, Introduction to Christianity, opens with a meditation on a Kierkegaardian parable from Either/Or. We argue that Ratzinger’s use of Kierkegaard extends well beyond this opening image, to some central moments in his articulation of the idea of God, Christology, and theological anthropology. Upon closer inspection, we argue, Ratzinger’s use of these arguments is owing to the fact that his diagnosis of the ills of contemporary society and the orientation of contemporary Christian theology is the same as that of Kierkegaard, despite their seemingly different contexts. Identifying the Kierkegaardian influence on Introduction to Christianity helps draw our attention to the necessarily ‘introductory’ character of Christianity, which otherwise risks being lost.

Z rodowodu klasycznego prawa naturalnego

The issue of natural law has been mentioned by almost all philosophers of law, from the classical ones of ancient Greece to contemporary postmodernists, and is presented in various ways. In compliance with Cicero’s observation that “history is the herald of the future” we have attempted to go back to the sources and to start our considerations ab ovo. The historical review does not address systematically the issue discussed here, and only serves to properly explain what natural law in a classical reflection of ius naturale is. Therefore, our approach to the classical natural law has been narrowed down to three selected sophists, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and their views of ius naturale in opposition to ius positivum have been briefly outlined. The article consists of two parts: the first one entitled From Heraclitus to Socrates and the second entitled From Plato to Aristotle. The first part presents sophists’ views on the law of nature. It is worth noting that sophists did not analyse the essence of the law of nature; they were primarily interested in the relationship of the law of nature to positive law. Thus Socrates, by deriving the existence of universal and unchanging laws from human nature, gave birth to the doctrine of natural law with unchanging content. The second part contains the views of Plato and Aristotle on the question of the law of nature. Plato is considered to have discovered the ideal trend of natural law, although in his dialogues the term “law of nature” is not found. It was the theory of Plato’s ideas that became the model for the concept of lex aeterna as an arrangement of divine ideas. Whereas, Aristotle distinguished two types of good that law puts before man, and accepts them as the basis for the dichotomous division of laws. He described good that is indifferent to man, which due to specific circumstances becomes the object of his desire, as positive law. Good that is closely related to the nature of man, which is always and everywhere the object of his desire, is good indicating the natural law.

Dialectical logic for mythical and mystical superstructural systems (ii)

Purpose The distinction between essence and existence cannot be a distinction in God: in the actual infinite, essence and existence coincide and are one. In it, maximum and minimum coincide. Coincidentia oppositorum is a Latin phrase meaning coincidence of opposites. It is a neo-Platonic term, attributed to the fifteenth-century German scholar Nicholas of Cusa in his essay, Docta Ignorantia. God (coincidentia oppositorum) is the synthesis of opposites in a unique and absolutely infinite being. God transcends all distinctions and oppositions that are found in creatures. The purpose of this paper is to study Cusanus’s thought in respect to infinity (actual and potential), Spinoza’s relationship with Cusanus, and present a mathematical theory of coincidentia oppositorum based on complex numbers. Design/methodology/approach Mathematical development of a dialectical logic is carried out with truth values in a complex field. Findings The conclusion is the same as has been made by thinkers and mystics throughout time: the inability to know and understand the idea of God. Originality/value The history of the Infinite thus reveals in both mathematics and philosophy a development of increasingly subtle thought in the form of a dialectical dance around the ineffable and incomprehensible Infinite. First, the authors step toward it, reaching with their intuition beyond the limits of rationality and thought into the realm of the paradoxical. Then, they step back, struggling to express their insight within the limited scope of reason. But the Absolute Infinite remains, at the border of comprehensibility, inviting them with its paradoxes, to once again step forward and transcend the apparent division between finite and Infinite.

The Development of Modalism in Early Church History

A study of modalism in the second and third centuries is significant for at least three reasons: (1) It was one of two major ways in which early Christians articulated the distinctive Christian view of God. (2) It was the predominant Christian view of God for over a century. (3) There is some similarity to modern Oneness Pentecostalism, which has thirty million constituents. To study ancient modalism, we trace the doctrine of God in the second and third centuries, situate modalism within this historical context, and contrast it with early trinitarianism. First-century Christians embraced both strict monotheism and a high view of the deity of Jesus. Only later do we find significant modifications of monotheism in favour of binitarianism and trinitarianism. Instead of speaking of multiple divine persons, early Christians simply said God acted in Christ and was revealed in Christ. The major issue became how to reconcile Greek ideas of God’s transcendence with the New Testament depiction of God’s immanence in Christ. Subordinationists said the supreme God could not directly enter the physical world; thus, Jesus is the incarnation of a second, subordinate, divine person. Modalists maintained that Jesus is the incarnation of the one, indivisible God. Modern trinitarianism may be more compatible with modalism than with subordinationism. In other words, by modern trinitarian standards, modalism might be the best expression of orthodoxy in the second and third centuries. Indeed, if measured by majority opinion, it was the orthodoxy of the pre-Nicene era.

Memahami Konsep Kepentingan Diri menurut Agustinus dan Hobbes

While for Plato, self-interest is a harmonization between reason, emotion, and lust, for Augustine, it is a dark act rooted in self-love. Plato is of the opinion that emotions and passions must be subordinated to reason. Augustine believes that reason, emotion, and lust are to be subjugated to the absolute God since God is the source of harmony. Hobbes dismisses the idea of God as the source of harmony because God is considered as a metaphysical concept that is incomprehensible and cannot be proven empirically. Hobbes’ approach is scientific and empirical. A society should be based not on the idea of God as the source of harmony, but on the power of the leviathan, because in Hobbes’ view the natural state of humans is bellum omnium contra omnes.

A literary character as a co-author: The presence of Zuzanna Ginczanka in Józef Łobodowski’s book of poems Pamięci Sulamity („In memory of Shulamite”)

The article is devoted to the relationship between the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka and the volume of poetry Pamięci Sulamity (In memory of Shulamite) by Józef Łobodowski. The use of stylized elements referring to the work of other writers is characteristic of Łobodowski’s writing. The article addresses the question of how Zuzanna Ginczanka, the poet’s friend from his youth, is present in his volume In memory of Shulamite. A relevant context for such an examination is the problem of writing after the Holocaust and the idea of God’s silence in the face of the tragedy of war. The article also discusses the infl uence of the biblical tradition, in particular the Song of Songs, on the works of Zuzanna Ginczanka and Józef Łobodowski.

Locke and Holenmerism

Locke’s conception of God’s manner of being present everywhere is unclear. As Jasper Reid noted in The Metaphysics of Henry More, Locke seemed to agree with the Cambridge Platonist Henry More that God, like spirits, is substantially present in space (a conception which More labelled “anti-Nullibism”); however, it is not clear whether he endorsed More’s idea of God as an infinitely extended being, filling space with His amplitude of presence, or rather the alternative, scholastic conception, which More named “holenmerism” and which affirmed that God is present everywhere as a whole in the whole and a whole in the parts. The paper attempts to explore this question in detail by focusing on an episode in Locke’s later correspondence, which suggests that he voluntarily maintained an ambiguous attitude towards holenmerism. The episode focuses on the dispute which Locke had with Johannes Hudde in 1697 on how to prove God’s uniqueness; the “physical” proof he provided to settle the dispute could support both holenmerism and anti-holenmerism. However, Locke’s proof relied heavily on the analogy between spirits and bodies which he had drawn in the Essay, when he had defined their identity over time in the same way; the paper suggests that this and other evidence coming from the Essay, involving Locke’s reading of Newton’s De gravitatione, seems to indicate that he conceived of anti-holenmerism as the hypothesis to be preferred from an epistemic point of view.