Sacred Books Research Articles

The Role Of Women In Abrahamic Scriptures: A Comparative Study Of Selected Sacred Books

The Role Of Women In Abrahamic Scriptures: A Comparative Study Of Selected Sacred Books

Old Testament translations in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and their contexts

From the 15th century onwards, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a multiconfessional and multicultural state. Apart from Lithuanians, its population comprised Ruthenians (the ancestors of Belarusians and Ukrainians), Poles, and smaller Jewish, Tatar, and Karaim communities. After its Christianization, Lithuania officially fell under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, but most of its inhabitants were of the Eastern Christian rite. Reformed Protestantism spread among the nobility at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, while Lutheranism flourished in Lithuania Minor. Smaller ethnic groups also had their confessional communities. All confessional groups had their sacred books. This article gives an overview of Christian vernacular translations of the Old Testament that were read in the Grand Duchy between the 15th and the 18th centuries. It briefly discusses the circumstances of the translation of the Old Testament into Ruthenian (the Skaryna Bible), Old Church Slavonic (the Ostrog Bible), Polish (the Brest, Nesvizh and Gdansk Bibles) and Lithuanian (the Bretkūnas, Chylinski and Quandt Bibles) as well as their characteristic features.

The phenomenon of veneration of St. Luke of Crimea in Greece

Despite historical, cultural, and religious storms and instabilities that intermittently cloud interstate relations, the shared Orthodox faith has consistently fostered the strengthening of ties between the Russian and Greek peoples. Within Orthodoxy, authorities for the Church are not only the texts of sacred books but also revered individuals—saints. The veneration of ascetics unites different nations in a single spiritual realm. Biographies of Russian saints garner significant interest among Greek readers. Apart from numerous translated and compiled works, there exist many original research pieces. Some Russian ascetics are even more renowned in Greece than in their homeland. A particular phenomenon is the veneration of Archbishop Luke of Simferopol and Crimea (Valentin Voyno-Yasenetsky). This article attempts to trace the origins, scale and nature of the veneration of St. Luke in Greece. Greeks first learned about Archbishop Luke of Simferopol and Crimea during his lifetime, in 1957, when a lecture about him was delivered for the first time. However, the true nationwide popularity of St. Luke’s name was earned thanks to the efforts of Archimandrite (since 2013, Metropolitan of Argolis) Nectarios (Antonopoulos). He first heard about St. Luke in the summer of 1996. Archimandrite bought a book about Archbishop Luke by Archdeacon Vasiliy Marushchak, “The Blessed Surgeon: The Life of Saint Luke of Simferopol” in Crimea and commissioned its translation into Greek. He then extensively traveled to the places where the saint once lived. For many years, Antonopoulos independently collected archival materials and interviewed people who knew Valentin Voyno-Yasenetsky. As a result of this work, in 1999, Father Nectarios published his book “Archbishop Luke. A Saint Pastor and Physician Surgeon” in Greek, which has been reprinted multiple times (the 28th edition was released in 2020). This article discusses this and other publications dedicated to St. Luke in the Greek language. It also focuses on academic conferences devoted to understanding the legacy of the saint. As of 2016, more than 40 newly constructed churches dedicated to St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky) were consecrated in Greece. The article details the most famous centers of veneration of the saint in Greece and some of the churches built and consecrated in recent years. Additionally, it provides some information on the veneration of St. Luke in the Balkan Peninsula and Cyprus.

Self-Education and Narrative Power in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: (Re)Discovering Marginal Women Characters

Despite the secure position of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) in academic and popular culture, the novel may not seem the first choice for a work that features both conventionally appealing characters and reliable narrators as well as modern delineations of class, gender, and race. This study argues that in Wuthering Heights reading, writing, education, and learning resist a unified interpretation, but nonetheless can provide a compass for navigating its unwieldy narrative. In the novel, the landed gentry is above the law of state, and women are at all stages disadvantaged. These depictions come in a continuous social spectrum: the woman who annotates sacred books to write her own story and chooses the cultured gentry but denies her own rough, wild nature (Catherine I), the woman exposed to culture from the cradle who educates the illiterate in a reconciliatory educator-disciple matrimony (Catherine II), the housekeeper born into the servile classes who moves beyond the limits imposed by gentility and social segregation, and has exclusive access to all the personal and social histories embedded within Wuthering Heights (Nelly Dean).

Нашествие Батыя: Вавилонский плен Русской земли

Starting from Nikolai Karamzin, the earliest reports preserved in the three oldest Rus’ chronicles were the basis for the reconstruction of the events of Batu’s invasion of Rus’. However, textual analysis shows a high level of literary borrowings in these chronicle texts, originating from the Byzantine historical writings and the Holy Scripture. As a result, the quality of these accounts as historical sources is undermined. The purpose of the article is to determine the functions of the identified quotations and paraphrases, the existence of links between their content and the data that is provided by parallel written sources and archaeological studies. As we found out, there seem to be some real details of the Mongol conquest behind these accounts in the chronicles, and the use of suitable excerpts from historical and sacred books was a method to describe this reality, which is based on the principles of the universal medieval ideas of the historical process inherited by Rus’ from Byzantium.

Environmental Consciousness as Reflected in Indian Literature since Vedic Era

Since the dawn of ancient era, the scriptures and Vedas have portrayed the inter-relation between man and environment. It preaches us its importance and how to protect the environment and use its resources judiciously. A hymn from the ‘Atharva Veda’, ‘Prithvi Sukta’ describes that ‘Earth is my mother and I am her son’. The Hindu scriptures also present a message that God is present in every element of the world and spreads a message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The whole world is one family). Hence, every organism should be treated equally. These evidences prove that people back then whole heartedly followed the scriptures and traditions and developed a linkage of religion with conservation of the ecosystem. The present study aims to identify the essence of environmental thoughts present in the Vedas and other sacred books, our rich folklore, and literature, including Indian English and our Bhasa literature, written since Vedic era to the modern time.

Participation of Russian Neo-Pagans in the Activities of Russian Political Parties (1990–2017)

The paper investigates the participation of neo-pagans in the political life of post-Soviet Russia. Until now, such studies have mostly focused on the rituals and mythology of neo-pagan practices and the study of their sacred books and artifacts. According to the author, contrary to stereotypes about the escapism of neopagans, the analysis shows that neo-pagan organizations are very active. Neo-pagan organizations are characterized by their focus on infi ltration into the parties and organizations, either leftist (the Russian Communist Workers’ Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Russky Lad, created in 2012 within this party) nationalist (the National Power Party of Russia (NDPR), the Russian All-People’s Union (ROS), the National Democratic Party of Russia), ultra-liberal (PARNAS, Navalny Headquarters) or ecological (Union of Greens of Russia). There are a number of cases when the leaders of regional branches of political parties simultaneously performed the functions of priests of pagan cults. For example, the head of the Russian Bloc – Saratov movement Pavel Galaktionov or the secretary of the Kirov district Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Saratov Vladimir Maslov, who in 2014–2017 lobbied for the construction of a neo-pagan temple in the center of Saratov. In 2002, the same claim was addressed by the capital’s neo-pagans to the Moscow authorities under the slogan, “Let there be a shrine on Poklonnaya Hill!” In addition, the paper reveals the infl uence of neo-pagan fi gures on the right-wing youth, provides extensive evidence on this subject, and examines the attitude of neo-pagans (both ideologists and their ordinary followers) to Christianity.

Modernization of the image of the Huli Jing and the transformational nature of Reality in V. O. Pelevin's novel «The Sacred Book of the Werewolf»

The article analyzes the image of the Chinese werewolf fox, or Huli jing (Chinese: 狐狸精), in Victor Pelevin's novel «The Sacred Book of the Werewolf». The comparison of the main character of Pelevin's work with the images of Huli jing in classical Chinese texts is made. In the center of consideration is the nomination of the heroine, her appearance, habitat, the ability to turn around and impose a hassle, the nature of sexuality, lifestyle. It is established that the image of the werewolf fox in Pelevin is a synthetic image created on the basis of mainly two cultures – Chinese and Russian. At the same time, she was influenced by mystical, religious, cultural and literary Chinese traditions. The writer relies on the components of the image of the Huli jing, borrowed from Chinese books, but offers an expanded and reinterpreted version of them. Pelevin is primarily interested in the desire of the werewolf fox not for bodily, but for spiritual transformation, on the way to which his heroine, relying on eastern philosophy, studies the principles of her mind. The Huli jing of the «Sacred Book of the Werewolf» and the confusion that it induces act as a metaphor for reality as a whole (man, time, space, language, the outside world, etc.). The nature of reality, according to Pelevin's novel, is transformational at its core, and this feature of it is due to its illusory nature. The relevance of the article is determined by the high interest of domestic and foreign literary criticism in the work of Viktor Pelevin and comparative studies (in this case, affecting Russian and Chinese cultures). The novelty of the work is due to the expansion of the concept of werewolf in Pelevin's novel – from the bodily inversivity of the main character to the characteristics of various aspects of reality.

Moral Cultivation and Divine Revelation: James Legge’s Religious Interpretation of the Yijing (Book of Changes)

James Legge (1815–1897), arguably the most prominent missionary sinologist in the nineteenth century and the founding Professor of Chinese in Oxford in 1876, produced an English translation of the Yijing (Book of Changes), the prominent Chinese classic, in 1882. This translation was included in Max Müller’s monumental Sacred Books of the East series. While existing scholarship has outlined some background and features of Legge’s Yijing translation, this version deserves more in-depth textual analysis to unearth Legge’s primary sources of reference and theological positions behind his interpretive approach. Perceiving the Yijing as a Confucian classic with profound moralistic connotations, Legge even revered it as a “sacred book” containing certain elements of divine revelation. He asserted that the Chinese term Shangdi (Supreme Ruler) referred to the Christian God, insisting that “God” was the “correct” translation of Shangdi, and that the operations of nature in the different seasons are the work of Shangdi. This paper examines Legge’s pioneering attempt of translating the Yijing to the West, with special reference to his religious interpretation of the seminal Chinese classic. This endeavor engendered profound inter-religious encounters and dialogues between Confucianism and Christianity.

Avicenna: A Curriculum Output of Wisdom-Based Education

Introduction: The present study is a journey in an honorable past to introduce a role model for today`s learners. Avicenna is a zenith standing on the medicine pinnacle who also was master of other common sciences in his time. He was immersed in immortality education in such a way that after passing 1000 years, it is possible to conduct research on him. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the educational facets of Avicenna life. Methods: This historical-analytical-educational study is to investigate Shahnameh as basic reference by focusing on Khosravani Education, regarding different narrations according to the study context. Shahnameh stories can be interpreted and inferred in different narrations as mythological, epic, historical, gnostic, political, symbolic, and educational; the appropriate interpretation cannot be achieved providing germane commentaries were securitized meticulously. Results: Owing to the same nature of reason and wisdom in Shahnameh and the related word families, their bounds, categories, levels, lexical combinations, collocations, and derivations regarding valid studies were scrutinized. A point of consideration on Hikmat and Kherad is a same English equivalent for both which is wisdom. Conclusions: In regard with aforementioned sections of the study, three conclusions can be drawn as follows: A) interaction of civilizations and cultures over the years and in this interaction, Iran was a bridge between East and West. B) interaction of sacred books which are identical in foundations and principles and if the similarities are focused then human beings are members of one whole. C) educational similarities of religions possessing same value system owing to the fact that foundation and principles are identical and the understanding of the mentioned issues can be fruitful for the today learner to find the role model.

The Christian Question in Jamnia Academy at the End of the 1st Century AD? An Attempt to Re- and De-construct the "Myth"

The author of this article asks whether the Christian question was discussed in Jamnia Academy at the end of the first century. In order to find the answer, an attempt is made to determine, based on the sources, what happened in the Jamnia Academy at that time (1). The literature on this issue indicates that a synod was held at Jamnia, which established the canon of Jewish sacred books, rejected the Septuagint as an inspired book and excluded Christians from the Synagogue. The second part of the article seeks to re- and de-construct the “myth of Jamnia” (2) while its third part provides the answer to the central question asked in the title (3). The conclusion proves that only the thesis that Christians were excluded from the Synagogue is supported by the sources.

من جهود المرأة في تفسير القرآن في العصر الحديث

In the modern era, several women have made significant contributions to the interpretation of chapters of the Holy Quran. Prominent among them are Bint a Shati', Zainab Alghazali, and Hannan Lahham. A notable milestone was reached in the late nineties with the publication of "Al-Mubsur Linoor Al-Quran" (Sightings of the Light of Al-Quran) by Naa'la Sabree, providing a comprehensive interpretation of all the chapters of the Holy Quran. Recently, two other interpretations by women have been published, namely "Tayseer Al-Tafseer" (Facilitating the Interpretation) by Fawqyyah Alsharbeeni and "Al-Lu'lu' Wa Al-Marjan Fi Tafseer Al-Quran" (Pearls and Corals in the Interpretation of Al-Quran) by preacher Kareeman Hamza. These interpretations form the core focus of this research. The first part of this research includes a brief introduction to the life of the interpreter Fawqqyah, a justification for her writing the book, a description of the book itself, followed by references and the attributes of her interpretation. The second chapter centers around the second interpreter, Kareeman, and follows the same approach as the first chapter. Both interpretations showcase the capacity of women to engage in scholarly research in Islamic Studies and their ability to author comprehensive interpretations of the Holy Quran, a domain that was previously exclusive to men. These interpretations remain aligned with the original interpretations while adapting to the needs of the contemporary era, aiming to guide and promote integrity within the Islamic community. Fawqyyah's interpretation stands out for its concise and precise title, offering ease and clarity to readers. On the other hand, Kareeman's book excels in its literary style of Dawah or preaching, utilizing the necessary resources of interpretations. It provides explicit details on scientific miracles, draws comparisons between the Quran and other sacred books, and presents engaging narratives. We hope that these two interpretations mark the beginning of further fruitful efforts that guide the new generation in their contemporary age, fostering a deeper understanding of the Holy Quran and its timeless wisdom.

Almeida Bible—Keeping a Heritage Alive: The Historical Path and Current Challenges of a Seventeenth-Century Translation

Until the seventeenth century, no Portuguese person or any other individual had either planned or accomplished a full translation of the Bible into Portuguese. As research has shown, there is a significant quantity of partial Bible texts in Portuguese during the late medieval period, but it was João Ferreira de Almeida (ca. 1628–1691) who undertook the “first common translation … of the Sacred Books.” Since the mid-eighteenth century, the “Almeida Bible” has been published in different versions, first in the Far East—Java and India—and, from the early nineteenth century, in Europe and America. This paper focuses on the historical context in which the Bible translation undertaken by João Ferreira de Almeida emerged and the main characteristics of the translation. It also provides a historical analysis of the revisions that the initial texts underwent in their different chronological and geographical environments, and ends with suggestions for a new revision of the European Portuguese version of the Almeida Bible.

A study Of Regional And Cultural Elements In The poetry Of Baba Farid Ganj Shukar

Sufism is a unique style of understanding the existence of supreme power. It practices for the betterment of society. Sufism in the south Asian Subcontinent benefited the people of these instructions a new interpretation of Sufism and religion was brought by Ghulam Fareed Ganj Shakar. His poetry contains a significant share in the Guru Granth (Sacred Book of Sikhism). Hi, stresses self-realization or Allah’s realization. This article attempts to understand the cultural values of the sub-continent through the legendary poetry of the fabulous Baba Fareed Ganj Shakar.

CRITICISM OF THE CONCEPT OF INTERTEKSTUALITY OF THE QURAN WITH JEWISH TRADITION IN ABRAHAM GEIGER'S VIEW

The main focus of this research is the thoughts of Abraham Geiger regarding the Al-Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad SAW. Abraham Geiger is an orientalist who has a skeptical attitude and gives a negative assessment of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Through his monumental work entitled "Wat hat Mohammad aus dem judentume Aufgenommen", Geiger tries to prove the existence of Jewish influence in the Al-Qur'an adopted by Prophet Muhammad SAW. The researcher uses library research and hermeneutic analysis to analyze the data. The results of this study show that Geiger appears to give a negative assessment of the figure of Prophet Muhammad SAW and believes that the Al-Qur'an is influenced by Jewish tradition. However, critical analysis shows that it is not possible for Prophet Muhammad to adopt Jewish teachings due to his relatively short interaction with some Jewish figures. In addition, the Al-Qur'an also consists of various fields of knowledge that exist before and after the Al-Qur'an was revealed. This shows that the Al-Qur'an gives high appreciation to previous sacred books and also confirms that the Al-Qur'an is not only influenced by Jewish tradition, but also by other religious languages. However, despite this, Abraham Geiger's study of the Al-Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad SAW cannot be fully accepted due to his skeptical attitude and negative stigma towards Islam.

Ясауидің «Диуани Хикметі» мен Дантенің «Құдыретті комедиясында» бейіш пен тозақтың бейнеленуі

The aim of the paper is a comparative analysis of the verbal aitys of heaven and hell in the «Divani Hikmet» by Khoja Ahmed Yasawi with samples of aitys characteristic of the Turkic verbal art, as well as with the description of heaven and hell in the «Divine Comedy» by Dante Alighieri. The spiritual, philosophical and artistic value of Yasawi’s Hikmet is considered, and the concepts of heaven and hell in the consciousness of mankind are studied.It is religiously justified in the sacred scriptures that a soul in the afterlife falls into one of two worlds, depending on its actions in this world. The image of heaven and hell became the basis of sacred books and works of art.Yasawi provides great humanistic ideals, providing a controversy between heaven and hell. The fact that a person’s moral existence is assessed by conscientiousness, as well as the principles of spiritual value are most clearly expressed in the text of verbal competition.The purpose of aitys is to defeat the opponent with meaningful words. Hikmet takes the form of aitys as a genre in harmony with the Turkic verse in content and form, and an effective way of conveying thoughts.

Is purity a distinct and homogeneous domain in moral psychology?

"No" is our answer to the question in our title. In moral psychology, a purity violation (defined as an immoral act committed against one's own body or soul) was theorized to be a homogeneous moral domain qualitatively distinct from other moral domains. In contrast, we hypothesized heterogeneity rather than homogeneity, overlapping rather than distinct domains, and quantitative rather than qualitative differences from other hypothesized domains (specifically, autonomy, which is harm to others). Purity has been said to consist of norms violations of which elicit disgust and taint the soul. Here we empirically examined homogeneity: whether violations of body (e.g., eating putrid food) belong in the same moral domain as violations of the soul unrelated to bodily health (e.g., selling one's soul, desecrating sacred books). We examined distinctness: whether reactions to purity violations differ in predicted ways from those to violations of autonomy. In four studies (the last preregistered), American Internet users (in Studies 2 and 4, classified as politically conservative or liberal; Ns = 80, 96, 1,312, 376) were given stories about violations based on prior studies. Nonhealth purity violations were rated as relatively more disgusting, but less gross (the lay term for the reaction to putrid things) and more likely to taint the soul than were health-related ones. Surprisingly, both health and nonhealth purity violations were typically judged as only slightly immoral if at all. Autonomy violations were rated as more disgusting and tainting of the soul than were purity violations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Distortion of the Torah and the Bible: An objective Quranic study

Through research, we learned about the distortion of the Jews and Christians of their sacred books, the altawrat wal'iinjil, through the verses of the Holy Qur’an, sometimes through forgery, and sometimes through cloaking the truth with falsehood, as well as forgetfulness, concealment, twisting of tongues, and other malicious methods that they used for alteration, distortion, and change.
 We presented a set of examples for the People of the Book Evidence for this, and we have reached conclusions, including that the Torah and the wal'iinjil are no longer sacred books as God revealed them, and that the Qur’an abrogated all the heavenly books, but we have to believe in them before distorting them, and this is a call to the followers of distorted religions to leave them and believe in the Holy Qur’an.

Pahlavi tōšn (tušn) in Denkard VII

Abstract Denkard VII which considered as the “Legend of Zoroaster” has been the subject of several investigations. The first translation was by E.W. West (1897: The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 47. Clarendon: Oxford University Press: 26); Many years later Marijan Molé (1967) published a French version of Book VII; in Persian, Ahmad Tafazzolī and Žāleh Āmūzgār (1993: 55–110) translated some parts of the book VII; the last version which is in Persian belongs to Rashed Muhassel (2012: Denkard VII. Tehran: Pažuheshgāh-e olūm-e ensāni). Chapter two, sentence 34 of Denkard VII contains a word transcribed as tōšn/tušn of which this essay aims to have a critical view.

Розвиток змісту поняття «свобода» в іудаїзмі

Against the background of quite frequent historical periods of physical imprisonment of the Jewish people, this people became the bearer of the Revelation of Truth, which led to the conscious use of freedom of choice in favor of preserving divine gnosis with further ethical direction of freedom. At this stage of the design of the Torah as a collection of sacred books, and the subsequent management of its commandments, the freedom of the individual was sacrificed to the general religious goals of the community. The sacred fear of the greatness of God led to the realization of almost total predestination. The Talmudic and rabbinical currents, which initially continued to cultivate the content of freedom that began in the Torah period, later adopted the anthropocentric ideas of medieval Europe and gradually transformed their religious and cultic positions under the influence of civil liberties. so-called "modern Judaism". The common general orientation of the freedom of the Jewish people has been divided into the political and social freedoms of each individual Jew, where each is responsible for the ethical consequences of his own existence.