Polemical Works Research Articles

Against Reason: Juan Pablo Forner and the Enlightenment of Sentiment and Sensibility

AbstractThis article explores Spain's positioning in the shifting currents of the later Enlightenment through the polemic works of lawyer and satirist Juan Pablo Forner. Forner's attempts to prove the existence of an autochthonous tradition of Spanish pragmatism and empiricism form an index of the penetration of intra‐Enlightenment debates into Spanish thought in the late eighteenth century. Forner, profoundly aware of tensions between Cartesian rationalism and Lockean sentimental empiricism across Europe, intervenes on the side of empiricism, insisting that Cartesianism is nothing but a guise of Scholastic hyperrationalism. The article disputes scholarly perceptions of Forner as a Christian reactionary.

Formation and development of the idea of guaranteeing human and civil rights and freedoms in the theoretical and legal heritage of Ukraine

The article is devoted to the analysis of historical development and formation of the ideas of guaranteeing human and civil rights and freedoms in the context of the theoretical and legal heritage of Ukraine. The author examines the key stages of the evolution of legal ideas, from ancient times to the present, noting the influence of different historical periods on the formation of the modern concept of human rights. Knowledge of the historical experience and theoretical foundations of human rights guarantees helps to formulate strategies and policies that can ensure real protection of fundamental rights and freedoms in conditions when they are threatened by external aggression and internal challenges. The article focuses on the importance of developing a natural law concept based on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, which are considered fundamental to understanding human rights. A special place in the analysis is occupied by the study of the Lithuanian Statute, Magdeburg Lawand the role of polemical works in the development of legal consciousness. The authors point to the multifaceted approaches to the study of human rights, their origin, content and relationship with the state, emphasising the importance of democratic regimes in the consolidation and enforcement of rights and freedoms. The conclusions emphasise that the notion of human rights as natural and primary is crucial for the development of Ukrainian political and legal thought, which contributed to the formation of the rule of law and civil society in Ukraine. In the context of post-war reconstruction, the authors emphasise the critical importance of respecting and ensuring human rights and freedoms as a basis for the restoration and development of a democratic society. Democratic regimes that uphold the principles of freedom, equality and justice are key to the effective reconstruction and stabilisation of society. The adoption of international human rights standards and their integration into national policies will be key to successful post-war reconstruction, while laying a solid foundation for Ukraine’s future development.

ТЕОДОР СКУМИНОВИЧ: СПРОБА РЕАБІЛІТАЦІЇ ІМЕНІ

Background. In the article it is analyzed the dedication and preface to the work of the little-known in Ukraine polemicist-theologian of the 17-th century Theodore Skumynovych "Przyczyny porzucenia Disuniey przezacnemu narodowi ruskiemu podane" (1643), which is considered a bibliographic rarity. The relevance of the research of the creative work of Theodore Skumynovych is explained by the fact that it has not been studied in detail. Methods. The research uses cultural-historical, comparative-historical, descriptive and textological methods of analysis of monuments of literature. Results. The publication provides biographical information about Theodore Skumynovych, examines the objectivity of the accusations brought against him by former co-religionists, and outlines the main ideas of his polemical work. In the dedication of the work to the bishop of Vilnius Abraham Woyna and the foreword to the reader, Theodore Skumynovych briefly spoke about the reasons for his conversion to Catholicism, shared the details of his move from Volhynia to Vilnius and the difficulties he had to face. The image of Theodore Skumynovych, which appears in the introductory part of the work, contrasts with that how he is negatively presented in the complaints made by his opponents in the judicial books, which gives reason to question the credibility of the accusations made by them. The article clarifies the constants of theological and writing thinking of Theodore Skumynovych, reveals his point of view on the reasons of the decline of Byzantium. Conclusions. According to Kasiyan Sakovych, Theodore Skumynovych belonged to the most educated theologians of Ukraine in the 17-th century. Before converting to Catholicism, he was the Father Superior of the Orthodox St. Michael Monastery in Goshcha, the rector of the local school, and also a member of the metropolitan consistory. As an Orthodox clergyman, Theodore Skumynovych sharply criticized the dogmatics of the Roman Church. However, after reading the works of Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius, in which he explained the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans with the "Great Schism", reflecting on the Creed of Athanasius the Great, studying the works of the Greek fathers of the church and observing the crisis of monastic and church life in the Kyiv's Metropolitanate, he changed his opinion about the Catholics. The books written by Theodore Skumynovych were highly rated among famous scientists of Western Europe. In particular, his works were admired by Gottfried Leibniz, Jacob Masen and Plempius Vopisk Fortunatus.

Concise History of Right-Speech Singing (1832) in the Context of the Dissent of the Monin Prayer House of the Pomortsy Old Believers

This article analyses The Concise History of Right-Speech Singing (1832), a previously unknown essay by Makar Yakovlev, written in the centre of the Fedoseevtsy denomination of the Bespopovtsy Old Believers, i.e. at the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery in Moscow a few years after the dissent of metropolitan Monin’s community of the Bespopovtsy of the Pomortsy denomination over church singing practice. The purpose of the study is to criticise and analyse the source in the context of the events which led to its creation. The author employs several methods of archaeography, examining the paper, handwriting, design, and structure of the text. The arguments given in it in defence of the practice of right-speech singing are compared with the arguments of other polemical works of the Old Believers on the same topic. The author establishes a circle of persons associated with the origin of the essay analysed, except for Makar Yakovlev himself, making several suppositions about him. It is noted that the essay was supposed to be copied. The article clarifies the time frames for the creation of the text On the Words of Church Singing by Andreian Sergeev, one of the leaders of the dissent of the Monin community, and the reliability of the message of the pre-revolutionary researcher N. I. Popov about the role of the Fedoseevtsy community of the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery’s choir in organizing church singing for the Bespopovtsy of that time. It is noted what kind of arguments the essay introduces into the dispute about right-speech singing, and that they are mostly based on rumours proving the ancient character of this practice, which is how they differ from the usual arguments of the advocates of “right speech”, based on the analysis of language. The author concludes that the source is interesting for clarifying the process of work on the transfer of Ivan Anisimov’s community, which the dissenters joined, to right-speech singing.

Aḥmad Rażā Khān's Oeuvre

The Indian Ḥanafī polymath Aḥmad Rażā Khān Barailvī (d. 1340/1921)—the eponym of the “Barailvī movement” within contemporary South Asian Islam—is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential Muslim scholars of the last two hundred years. As an author, Khān was incredibly prolific, with over 670 works to his name. ‘Abd al-Mubīn Nu‘mānī, a contemporary Barailvī historian, has noted that 531 of these are original works while 148 are glosses or annotations. A little over 250 of Khan’s works have been published thus far; therefore, the bulk of his scholarship awaits editing and printing. To help shed light on Khān’s impressive scholarly legacy, I have attempted to provide a descriptive bibliography of 200 of his published writings, although there are many others.

"ДОСТОВЕРНЫЙ ЗНАК, ЧТО ПАПА – АНТИХРИСТ"

Публикуется перевод одной из глав полемического сочинения английского реформатора Уильяма Тиндела (1494–1536) «Ответ на Диалог сэра Томаса Мора». Перевод выполнен по изданию: Tyndale W. An Answere into Sir Thomas More’s Dualogue // The Whole works of W. Tyndall, John Frith and Doct. Barnes, three worthy Martyrs and principall teachers of this Church of England collected and compiled in one tome together, being before scattered now in in print here exhibiten to the Church / Ed. by J. Foxe. L.: Printed by J. Daye, 1573. P. 247–339. Комментарии и предисловие переводчика. This publication is one of the most important chapters of the polemical work of the XVI –th century English reformer William Tyndale (1494–1536) «An Answer into Sir Thomas More’s Dualogue» (1531) translated by T.G. Chougounova from English with comments. The translation is based on the edition: Tyndale W. An Answere into Sir Thomas More’s Dualogue // The Whole works of W. Tyndall, John Frith and Doct. Barnes, three worthy Martyrs and principall teachers of this Church of England collected and compiled in one tome together, being before scattered now in in print here exhibiten to the Church / Ed. by J. Foxe. London: Printed by J. Daye, 1573. P. 247–339. The comments and preface are made by the translator.

Genesis 1:26 through the Eyes of Manicheans in the Roman Empire

Abstract The present article reconstructs the evolution of the Manichaean exegesis of Genesis 1:26 based on the texts that circulated within the Roman Empire. Mani’s Epistula Fundamenti, Adimantus’ Disputationes, Kephalaia of the Teacher, Faustus’ Capitula 24, as well as polemical works of Christian authors provide ample evidence of the Manichaean use and interpretation of the biblical narrative. Two complementary exegetical traditions can be distinguished: the first one, going back to Mani himself, introduces vetero-testamentary elements in the Manichaean doctrine without directly referencing or criticizing the Jewish Scriptures, while the second tradition that directly engages in the exegesis of the Jewish Scriptures text emerged through polemics with Christians and is likely to originate from Adimantus. The study illustrates a dual role of the Book of Genesis in Manichaeism: as one of the sources of the Manichaean mythology and as a central point of contention in Christian-Manichaean polemics.

Fragment of an Anti-Christian Polemic with a Syriac Gospel Quotation

Abstract In the “Afghan Genizah,” a recently acquired collection of texts in Judeo-Persian, Early New-Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic from the tenth to thirteenth centuries, I recognized a Judeo-Persian fragment of a Jewish, anti-Christian polemic work. This fragment may be – or may not be – part of the Toledoth Yeshu literature. It contains a Gospel quotation in Syriac in Hebrew letters.

Luther in Hungarian

This article documents the publications of Martin Luther's writings in the Hungarian language. Luther's publications first reached Hungary in 1521, but nothing was translated into Hungarian for another fifteen years. Six of Luther's hymns were his first works to appear in Hungarian in 1536, while the Small Catechism was translated in 1550. In 1562 a Hungarian Bible was printed that was greatly inspired by the Luther Bible. Six volumes of Luther's works in Hungarian were published in the early twentieth century. The text selected for translation were largely polemical works against Catholicism along with a few that attacked Luther's Protestant foes. After World War I, several of Luther's edifying and exegetical works began to be translated. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Hungary's Martin Luther Bund has created broad scholarly interest in Luther's works through a series of short translations, as well as conferences and reading retreats. This renewed interest has led to the twenty-first century's Luther válogatott művei (LVM), which is the first attempt to create a translation of Luther's Works in Hungarian with a robust and balanced choice of texts. This edition aims to uphold the highest scholarly standards.

„Biorąc prawa poważnie”. Liberalna teoria sprawiedliwości Ronalda Dworkina

The idea of Ronald Dworkin (1931-2013), the remarkable representative of contemporary philosophy of law, is considered to be one of the most influential and widely discussed among the achievements of modern jurisprudence. It has been a contribution to the developement of many, often polemical works. In his debates Dworkin treated teories of Johan Rawls with full acceptance and recognition, adopting his model of justice as fairness. Justice is the law assigned to any individual person, regardless of status, special features, merits. It is the natural rule to equal attention and respect for the rights by people who bestowed with reason are able to render justice. Dworkin analyzes Rawls’s theory in the chapter VI of his work: “Taking rights seriously” entitled “Justice and law.” It assigns the axiomatic and fundamental value to the right to equal concern and respect.

«Самообладание» и «неудержимая ярость»: споры о вере в английском католическом сообществе XVII в.

Early Modern European culture abounded in various forms of public controversies. These included university debates, literary dialogues, printed polemical works, etc. The Reformation and the resulting confessional conflicts added numerous religious disputations. Religious disputations were closely linked to conversions to the ‘true faith’ and could be addressed to either national audiences or to relatively small groups. How were these ‘private disputations’ perceived and described by those who witnessed such events? In the 16th–17th centuries the European audience was well versed in the arguments of both Catholic and Protestant theologians. What, then, could be considered a victory when almost every argument of the disputants was predictable? The article presents an analysis of a disputation narrative — the story of the debates between an Anglican divine, William Chillingworth, and a Jesuit, Thomas Holland, which were held in 1634 at the house of Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland. The disputation was organized to help persuade the daughters of Lady Falkland, newly converted Catholics and future nuns Anne, Lucy, Elizabeth and Mary Cary, who experienced a religious crisis. The disputation narrative was part of the biography of Lady Falkland written by her daughters. The story was closely connected to the narrative of the conversion of the mother and the daughters to Catholicism. The process was presented as an “intellectual conversion” through rational arguments. However, the story of the disputation focuses not on the arguments but on the behavior of all the participants, and on their emotions. This is a reflection of the views of the 17th-century polemicists regarding the role of emotions and passions in the process of religious conversion and the search for truth.

Groza konfliktów religijnych we Francji w Kronice Pierre’a Belona du Mans (1517-1564)

PIERRE BELON, naturalist and traveler of the 16th century, known for his publications in the field of botany and zoology, and above all for his account of the voyage to the Levant (1546-1549), is also the author of the Cronique, unpublished in the sixteenth century. This polemical work describes the events of the beginning of the French Wars of Religion that Belon witnessed. It consists of a speech addressed to King Charles IX and two accounts of the sieges: that of Moulins imposed by the Huguenots and that of Bourges by the royal army. The Cronique is an important source of information on the religious and political conflicts between Catholics and Huguenots. The article presents the historical context of the events described by Belon as well as the circumstances of the creation of the work. The selected fragments show issues addressed by the author such as the horror of religious conflict, the horror of war, the fear experienced by the people and the apocalyptic vision of the future of France. Although Belon was first and foremost a doctor and naturalist, he showed great interest in the language and coined many neologisms that defined the Huguenots and their activities. The value of the Cronique resides above all in the fact that, thanks to the observations it contains, it makes it possible to better understand the atmosphere of the tragic period of the fratricidal wars in France.

Ideas and Values: Britain and Russia in an Era of Transition

This article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the cognitive-rhetorical strategies of prominent British and Russian intellectuals in the context of the systemic crisis of the “era of transition” and in the process of the formation of cultural/imperial/national identities in Britain and Russia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The authors focus on identifying a semantic shift in the cultural code of the emerging British and Russian identities based on the material of polemical works, sermons, and travelogues of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The authors employ the historical-comparative approach. It helps reveal the “golden ratio” of the cultural code, i. e. a value scale that undergoes cardinal changes in a tense intellectual discourse in a situation of the collapse of the universal picture of the world and the formation of new ideas about man, society, and the state. The study demonstrates an affinity between the logic of change and the dramatic collisions that accompanied the thinkers in the transition. Nor do the authors seek to smooth over the contradictions in contemporary historiography by offering their vision of the era.

Билингвизм Московской Руси и его отражение в литературных памятниках XVI века

The article examines the problem of bilingualism in literary monuments of the XVI century. A brief digression into the history of the study of this issue in the Russian linguistic tradition is given. The conservatism existing in scientific practice in the consideration of semiotic processes, which are often reduced only to the opposition “Church Slavonic — Old Russian”, is emphasized. The richness of stylistic forms and speech formulas in the language practice of the XVI century is noted. The polemical works of this period are analyzed in order to identify and prove the unevenness of bilingualism and its dependence on socio-cultural conditions, the linguistic personality of the author, the genre of the literary monument and axiological characteristics that are indirectly included in the text. Historical-linguistic, contextual-semantic, comparative and stylistic methods are used in the course of studying the language material. They allow us to explore the monuments of different cultural traditions in line with the multifunctionality and polysemanticism of the so-called hybrid literature of the XVI century. The most characteristic features of the monuments are documented: contamination of colloquial and everyday elements, command speech and Church Slavonicisms; the use of biblical intertexts; reflection of high and low in the semantics of verbal turns; emotive fullness of language as a new rhetorical technique in the communicative space of the Old Russian text. The conclusion is made about the ambiguity of language processes in the heyday of bilingualism in Moscovite Rus’ of the XVI century, about the change and complication of bilingualism due to the growth of intercultural ties in literature, the transformation of the book tradition and the emergence of new speech habits in verbal creativity.

Shiʿi Theology and Polemics between Iran and India: The Case of Saiyed Nūrollāh Šūštarī (d. 1019/1610)

Connected intellectual history is one of the modes in which we can consider the ways in which ideas, theologies and even polemical exchanges travel between different geographical and political milieux. In this case study, I examine the theology and polemics of Saiyed Nūrollāh Šūštarī between his birth and intellectual formation in eastern Iran and his career and eventual death at the Mughal court. I indicate how his polemical works played a role in transmitting theological ideas and debates from the Iranian milieu to Indian scholarly circles, and how the fluctuating fortunes and reception of his work followed the political shifts and patronage at court.

“...Sered Skytiv-Chynbariv”: Approach to the Symbolism of Shoes in Viktor Petrov-Domontovych’s Works

The article proves the importance of the philosophy of things, clothes/shoes in the literary works, scientific article, and memoirs of Viktor Petrov-Domontovych. This theme is analyzed in the context of the philosophy of clothing of Tomas Carlyle and Barbe d`Oréville. An analysis of works “The Girl with the Bear,” “Doctor Seraficus,” “Alina and Kostomarov,” and the article “Petersburg Tales of Gogol” shows that in Viktor Petrov`s works there is a complex of motives: eccentric – saint – traveler – man – villain – boots/shoes (thing) – gait – poetry. Observations of the dynamics of images in each work also revealed an important intertext: a dialogue with Georges Duhamel (the novel “The Diary of a Saint” and a theoretical essay on vers libre “Theory of Free Poem” (written with Sh. Vildrak)); intertextual connections with Honore de Balzac`s novel “Seraphite”; Barbe d’Oréville`s essay “Dendism and George Bremmel”; and polemic works by Ivan Vyshenskii. In the article it is also shown how these motives emerge in Victor Petrov`s memoirs. It is argued that in the works by Viktor Petrov the motif of shoes/boots is one of the most important: it actualizes both the philosophy of things and the motives of the poet, vers libre, holiness, and traveler; also it should be underlined that the metonymy is the most important trope for creation of the images in the literary works by Viktor Petrov.

Conflicting relations in Christine Angot’s Un amour impossible [‘An Impossible Love’

As a force that both sets apart and drives together, impelling a relationship even as it impedes it, conflict pervades Christine Angot’s œuvre. The incestuous abuse that she figures so insistently seems to encapsulate the violence of this double bind, and in narrative terms, its ‘victor or vanquished’ outcome. In several of her polemical works, which both invite and unsettle an autobiographical reading, the narrator ‘Christine’ compulsively articulates the harrowing details of her abuse. Her speaking out has the effect of suppressing her mother’s perspective, and the latter supplants the father as the focus of Christine’s hostility. Angot’s 2015 publication, Un amour impossible, by contrast, marks an attempt to accommodate the mother’s side of the story. By unpicking the narrative dynamics of the text, this article evaluates the success of this endeavour, and considers how the conflicting relations Angot portrays cut through illusions of balance and concord in relational life-writing.

Professional capital and social work futures: Contemporary challenges for Australian social work

Abstract The future of social work preoccupies scholars and educators in the field, with consideration periodically extending beyond ‘trends’ to the fundamental question of whether social work per se even has a future. A recurring theme in these debates concerns social work’s professional project, and whether professionalisation enhances or undermines social work’s values and aims. Whilst contributing to the conceptual articulation of a social work habitus, few of these contributions are informed by the views of practitioners in the field. This article analyses 122 practitioners’ perspectives on current issues for social work, through data taken from a survey conducted in Victoria, Australia in 2018. Practitioners’ perspectives are analysed in relation to the theoretical construct of professional capital. In contrast to modernist interpretations of professionalisation-as-status typical of polemical works, a professional capital perspective construes social work’s professional project as a legitimation strategy, the primary aim of which is to secure recognition of the unique view of the social world which informs social work practice. From that perspective, arguments against professionalisation misrecognise the role professionalisation plays in securing social work’s future, unwittingly placing its future in jeopardy.

The Polemical Impetus of a Far-Reaching Act

The aim of this article is to trace the influence of the polemical works of the Jesuit priest Piotr Skarga (1536–1612) on the religious life of Ukraine and on the Ukrainian culture of his era. The writings of Piotr Skarga, Stanislaw Orzechowski, Benedict Herbest, Herasym Smotrytsky, Ivan Vyshensky, and Hypatius Potius are the sources examined in the author’s scholarly study. Works about Skarga and his era by Józef Tretiak, Ludowik Piechnik, Janusz Tazbir, and Stanisław Cieślak, writings about interfaith polemics concern- ing the Union of Brest by Volodymyr Antonovych, Nikolaj Skabalanovich, Stepan Golubev, Vladimir Zavitnevich, Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Kyrylo Studynskyi, Porfyriy Yaremenko, Ihor Mytsko, Borys Gudziak, Vitalii Shevchenko, Leonid Tymoshenko, and Ruslan Tkachuk, as well as courses in the history of Ukrainian literature are analyzed to comprehensively present Skarga’s impact on Ukrainian culture. A comparative methodol- ogy is applied. Skarga’s writing talent was brought out during his stay in Vilnius – one of the centers of Reformation movements in the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, the residence of Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitans (1416–1795). The multi-confessionalism of Vilnius challenged Skarga. He wrote O jedności Kościoła Bożego (1577) – a book in which he expounds Tridentine ecclesiology, enumerating from his point of view heresies and schisms characteristic of the Orthodox East. He outlines the prospects of returning the Church of Kyiv to unity with the Apostolic See of Rome. In 1596 the Synod of Brest proclaimed union with the Catholic Church. Skarga was present at the synod as an observer and adviser. He pub- lished a documentary description of the synod’s proceedings – the book Synod Brzeski with an appendix – Obrona Synodu Brzeskiego (1597), which defends the canonical validity of the synod, adding a historical retrospec- tive to justify the need to overcome schism. These works became important catalysts in the development of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which proved its viability during the period of persecution and entered the post-communist era as a most creative spiritual force, combining the careful nurturing of local church tradition with the universality of the apostolic mission.

‘According to Right Law’: John Jewel’s Use of the Ius Antiqua in His Defense of the Elizabethan Church

Abstract In his Apology of the Church of England as well as many of his other works, John Jewel defended the orthodoxy of the Elizabethan Church on the basis of the following criteria: Scripture, the first four general councils, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the example of the primitive church.1 By emphasizing these authorities, the bishop of Salisbury also sought to impeach the Roman Church’s claim to orthodoxy by arguing that doctrines and practices which developed subsequently to the early church as defined by these criteria contradict them, thereby nullifying its charge of heresy against Protestants while simultaneously indicting the papacy itself as heretical. A question that emerges from studying Jewel’s prodigious polemical works concerns the source of this means of determining orthodoxy. Answering this question requires a close analysis of the apologist’s use of sources. This article will attempt to answer this question by arguing that this criteria for defining orthodoxy derived mainly from canon law tradition that is confirmed specifically by Gratian’s Decretum. This thesis maintains that Jewel’s criteria constituted a form of the ius antiqua with which he attacked the ius novum that provided the authoritative basis for papal supremacy, and in so doing, sought to vindicate the Elizabethan Church’s place in ancient catholic tradition.