Secular Culture Research Articles

A.S. Barsov and Academic Book Printing in the 18th century

In 2018, we celebrated three hundred years birth anniversary of the prominent Russian scholar A.S. Barsov (1718—1763). While scientific legacy of other Lomonosov’s contemporaries has been hugely studied in dozens of articles and books, Barsov’s name has been rarely mentioned in the indexes of the extensive literature devoted to M.V. Lomonosov. Meanwhile, a vast array of documents have been preserved and partially published, indicating that Barsov played an important role in the development of book printing in Russia and elaboration of the Russian literary language norms. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of A.S. Barsov in the process of formation of new, secular culture in the post-Petrine time. The authors attempted to highlight the life and manners of academic students and employees in the middle of the 18th century, to show in what difficult conditions there were created the book masterpieces of the Academy, preserved in hundreds of libraries around the world. The article established the main milestones of A.S. Barsov’s life path. He was born in the family of priest; studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. After five years at the Academy Gymnasium and University, he was examined by professors and appointed proofreader at the Academic printing house; later on — supervisor of the printing house and its Figure chamber; shortly before his death, he was subjected to severe administrative sanctions. The authors analyse the fate of A.S. Barsov as one of the typical representatives of the early development stage of the academic science in Russia. The article introduced into scientific circulation a number of sources that allow assessing from a new, unexpected angle the evolution of the Academy of Sciences in the 1730s — 1760s. The authors revealed the degree of influence of his activity on the development of publishing activity and librarianship in Russia. The results of this study can be used in preparation of fundamental works in the field of science studies, library science, history of publishing, historiography, as well as special courses on the history of culture.

The Ambivalence of Turkey’s Soft Power in Southeast Europe

Although Turkey is lost in the shuffle in global academic discussions evoking the concept of soft power, it occupies centre stage in soft power debates in the context of Southeastern Europe and beyond, among Turkey originated and regional experts. Since the beginning of the second decade of the new millennium, a divergence of ideas and even facts regarding Turkey’s soft power position in Southeast Europe have been occupying both academic and topical discussions. Taking all the various approaches into account, it might fairly be argued that Turkey is not a purely effective and unarguable soft power in Southeast Europe, according to Nye’s coining of the term. Yet, considering the transnational state apparatuses, such as the Diyanet, Yunus Emre Institutes and others, that the country runs and the image that it carries among the Muslim populations of the region, it may also be fairly claimed that Turkey displays strong elements of soft power. Therefore, I argue that while Turkey has many soft power tools and much soft power potential, it has also many weak points within its current circumstances. Challenging the previous discussions on whether Turkey is a soft power or there is a discursive level of transformation into the Turkish soft power, within the paper, I claim that Turkey is an ambivalent soft power particularly in the context of Southeast Europe. According to Nye, soft power is the ability of a state to persuade others to do what it wants without sanctions, force or coercion. Countries’ skills in digital diplomacy, cultural outputs, economic models, commitments to basic freedoms, human rights and democracy are also the other aspects of the soft power. Under these circumstances, roughly between 2002-2013, Turkey’s AKP initiated a pro-democratic agenda alongside its unofficial coalition partner the Gulen Movement, a shift that positioned Turkey externally as an influential rising soft power player focused on democracy and humanitarian aid, in the region. However, I underlined that Turkey has not managed to establish itself regional as a permanent, solid and indisputable soft power player because 2010 the AKP has been shifting in the direction of authoritarianism, shrinking economic environment disproportionate use of Islamist discourse and policies at home and abroad, particularly into the countries of Southeast Europe. This new-born religion-based and repressive policy of Turkey, it seems, can not simply be regarded as an element of soft power. It creates, however, different effects on different actors in the region: some groups (mostly Muslims) are rather happy with Turkey’s religiously fuelled approach, while some others are seriously concerned. This one of the reasons of why I prefer to define Turkey as an ambiguous actor which has not been instrumentalising its soft power resources efficiently. Yet, Turkey can still increase its capacity. In order to do so, it should increase its democratic credentials and strengthen the constitutional institutions, and thereby boost the EU process. It should declare that it will not use its religious influence to provide guardianship for Muslims in a hegemonic way. On the contrary, it should promote religious freedom and peaceful coexistence both domestically and in the region. Supporting a specific religious group would harm Southeast Europe that has suffered greatly from religious divisions and conflicts. Bringing its sui generis secular culture to the fore would differentiate Turkey from Wahhabi and Salafist powers that are also trying to exercise influence on the region. Turkey should also be careful in its emphasis on the common Ottoman heritage with the countries of the region, because this does not necessarily imply a peaceful and harmonious past, as envisaged by the AKP elite. Lastly, Turkey should not view the region as a single entity and should avoid implementing wholesale policies for the region. Rather, it should tailor specific policies for each country considering the sensitivity of historical, cultural, sociological and political dynamics in each context.

The Truth Will Make You Free: The New Evangelization for a Secular Age, a Study in Development by Robert F. Leavitt

Reviewed by: The Truth Will Make You Free: The New Evangelization for a Secular Age, a Study in Development by Robert F. Leavitt Frank DeSiano, CSP, DMin Leavitt, Robert F. The Truth Will Make You Free: The New Evangelization for a Secular Age, a Study in Development. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2019. 332 pages. Paperback. $34.95. ISBN: 9780814646687. The key to Robert Leavitt’s very helpful review of the present state of the New Evangelization lies in the second part of this book’s title: “A Study in Development.” Leavitt has taken upon himself to review most of the major documents and literature in this area, along with the multi-layered dynamics of several centuries which have led us to our present situation. If you have ever been stumped when asked, “What Is the New Evangelization?” this book explains why answering that question is often so difficult. After providing a synopsis of the development of evangelization/new evangelization (33–37), Leavitt, in the rest of this book, elaborates on his theme, an elaboration that underscores the context of broader philosophical and cultural ideas. Right from the beginning, Leavitt positions the discussion of New Evangelization in the context of secular culture. The early chapters present the long-range framework for the secularism and religious indifference we see today, much of it rooted in a totally proper rejection of the violence that has been associated with religion (82 ff.); “the gift of tongues for a secular age requires a contemporary translation of the Gospel of Christ that can move the apathetic disciples and the religiously indifferent” (104). He then reviews “the long nineteenth century,” with its stark confrontation of the newer manifestations of secularity and the Church’s drawn-out reaction to it. The Second Vatican Council sought to move the Church beyond the impasse that had arisen between church and world. He reviews the council documents that caused the greatest negative reaction in some church sectors, notably the Declaration on Religious Freedom (124). This sets up the framework for the chapter, “The Mission to the Courtyard of the Gentiles,” in which the term New Evangelization emerges during the ministry of St. John Paul II. “In the chapter that follows, Leavitt addresses how Pope Benedict openly deals with this tension. He cites at length Benedict’s address to [End Page 237] the Pontifical Council for Culture in 2008 along with a 2009 speech in which Benedict references the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” (153–4). Benedict’s emphasis had moved to reflecting on the ways in which Christian and secular humanism might be open to each other. Benedict convened the “Synod on the New Evangelization” in 2010 and presided over it in 2012. His retirement that year meant that this apostolic emphasis would now devolve to his successor, Pope Francis. “One thing, however, is clear about it. Secularism was parsed more carefully in The Joy of the Gospel than before” (155). Leavitt reflects deeply about secular culture, using the thought of Paul Ricoeur, Daniel Bell, and Charles Taylor. To talk about secular culture as if it was a simple thing with which faith could readily deal becomes, upon Leavitt’s treatment, a rather naïve idea. “Modernity is far from the simple concept and identity we like to imagine it is. It keeps shifting in meaning” (185). In other words, to the extent that New Evangelization might define itself against modernity and secularity, it can also overlook both the many layers of modern life as well as potential ways of dealing with it. Needless to say, the argument of this book offers an important contribution to our thinking about faith and culture, Church and world, New Evangelization and secularity. After looking at the nuances of secularity in Chapter 8 by presenting the thinking of Charles Taylor, Leavitt moves on to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel.” He uses this document to create positive direction for the development of the theme he is treating. In the conclusion of this book, Leavitt offers six directions for evangelization and modern life. In the end he asserts, “In this book I have argued that only by broadening our idea of what secularism means...

Evangelizing A Modern Agnostic Culture

Evangelizing A Modern Agnostic Culture Eugene P. Trager (bio) One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe." A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then stretch out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!" Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me." (John 20:24-31) In recent years, there has been an effort by biblical scholars such as John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Bishop Robert Barron, Andrew Newberg, and Eugene D'Aquili to provide interpretations of scripture that would appeal to modern highly educated, scientifically minded agnostic people in our secular culture who live on the fringe of our religious traditions. This is a rather unique evangelistic strategy. The problem with such an approach according to Cardinal John Henry Newman is that in order to be evangelized, people need to believe in something that cannot be apprehended by the senses or understood by reason. [End Page 354] (Apologia 1865-Chapter 5) That's a problem for modern agnostics. This article examines the evangelizing efforts of Crossan, Borg, Barron, Newberg and D'Aquili in their attempt to deal with this problem. Borg and Crossan begin by focusing on the epistles attributed to St. Paul and the text of Acts. They point out that Paul's epistles to the churches he established make up over one-fourth of the New Testament, that he is considered the greatest missionary in Church history and that without him there would not be Christianity as we know it. Therefore to address the agnostic's doubt, evangelization must begin with Paul. First, in trying to make Paul appeal to modern agnostics Borg and Crossan emphasize that Paul was transformed from a radical egalitarian champion of democracy and freedom for all, including slaves, women and the poor, to a conservative defender of the status quo by others writing or editing in his name.1 Clearly this is an appeal to the liberal political sentiments of modern agnostics: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,There is no male and female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus: (Galatians 3:28) But then: Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. (Ephesians 6:5-8) Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. (Romans 13:1) I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet. (Timothy 2:12) Second, they point out that the problem with the biblical account of Paul's trip to Damascus was that he could not have been empowered with authority from a high priest in Judea to go to Damascus to arrest dissident Jewish followers of Jesus, and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment, because a Jewish high priest in Judea could never exercise authority across Roman provincial borders, especially as far away as Damascus.2 More likely, they imply, Paul went to Damascus, his old stomping grounds where he was educated, to ally himself with his former Jewish [End Page 355] colleagues, the members of the Damascus synagogue where he received his Pharisaic education, in order to develop a strategy for punishing members of the Jewish Jesus sect. This alternative explanation appeals to the modern agnostic's concern about scripture's legal and historical inaccuracy and provides a more credible explanation. Third, and more compelling, Crossan and Borg suggest that when Paul...

Augustine on Sex and the Neurochemistry of Attachment

Secular culture often advocates for the liberation of human libido and views Christian morality as a source of damaging restrictions. However, closer examination of Church teaching reveals a depth of understanding of human nature not found in contemporary secular culture. One Church father in particular, St. Augustine, offers a keen understanding of human sexuality and its importance not only as a means of promulgating the human race but also as a means of fostering the sort of spousal unity that improves life in general. Studies of neurochemistry seem to confirm much of what Augustine claimed about human sexuality over fifteen hundred years ago.

Jesus and Paul on the Meaning and Purpose of Human Sexuality

Jesus and Paul on the Meaning and Purpose of Human Sexuality Paul Gondreau We live in a weirdly schizophrenic culture when it comes to sex and marriage. Recently, I witnessed a wedding celebration of a second-generation Chinese American man and a first-generation German American woman. They opted for a dual-styled wedding ceremony, the one "Western" and the other traditional Chinese. The Western-styled ceremony, held in a hotel-like ballroom, was first. Utterly secular with no mention of God and no appeal whatsoever to religious imagery, this ceremony blurred boundaries by offering moments of inappropriate humor (the groom, for instance, entered to the theme song of 2001 Space Odyssey playing on the speaker system) and by having a martial arts instructor act as the officiator. In a word, the Western ceremony bore little resemblance to anything approaching what one could term "traditional." Indeed, it openly flouted tradition. Instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen, for instance, there were "bridespeople" and "groomspeople," as both wedding parties were composed of men and women alike. And why not? I asked myself. Declaring the male and female roles in a marriage to be interchangeable, and therefore meaningless, with biological sex having no essential bearing on the role of bride and bridegroom, our secular culture as a result has blown up all the rich and ancient nuptial symbolism that is expressive of the sexual complementarity of the spouses. Traditionally, of course, a wedding would mark the celebration of a man and a woman who stood before God and society to vow a life of love and fidelity to each other, a newly conjoined life with profound bearing on their lives, on all who know them, and on society as a whole, not least [End Page 461] of which because of the offspring their union was naturally designed to produce. The role of the wedding parties, whereby male groomsmen would flank the male bridegroom, while female bridesmaids would stand alongside the female bride, serves to magnify and enrich the symbolic significance of the complementary joining of man and woman. Today, however, such symbolic significance must be deemed retrograde, a binary straitjacket that unfairly excludes alternative forms of sexual union and sexual identity. Bridesmaids must thus give way to bridespeople, and groomsmen to groomspeople. In the particular instance of this wedding, one of the "groomspeople" was a woman, dressed in a tuxedo, who was herself in a lesbian "marriage." It would not have been a shock, at least to me, if Rod Sterling had suddenly appeared as the officiator, announcing that we had entered the nuptial Twilight Zone, or, short of that, the world of nuptial nominalism. The Chinese ceremony, on the other hand, offered an abrupt about-face. This latter was a lesson in how to observe tradition down to the finest ceremonial detail and with due regard for the most symbolic and venerable of rituals. The centerpiece was the tea ceremony, which consists of the bride and bridegroom, dressed in traditional Chinese attire, serving tea to the elders in their family. They serve the tea on their knees, except to the elders who are younger than the parents of the bride and/or bridegroom, in which case they serve the tea standing up. According to Chinese custom, the couple is not considered married until this tea ceremony is completed. I found myself moved at how powerfully this tea ceremony ritual testifies to the hierarchical structure of the family, and to the fact that marriage, because ordered to the continuation of the family line, marks the direct concern of generations past and generations present and future. As Western secular society adopts evermore a view of marriage as exclusively for the mutual benefit of the spouses, Chinese custom testifies to the larger truth: marriage marks a union that is much larger than the spouses themselves, since it is also for the benefit of children, of progeny. Ordered not simply to the private good of the partners, marriage is ordered ultimately to the good of human society itself. So much so that Chinese culture sees not the exchange of vows as the moment in which the nuptial union is realized, but a touching ceremonial gesture of...

Kébir AmmiBen Aïcha

necting the discussions to existential issues of mortality, the sacramental, and the metaphysical . Finally, in part 3, we encounter five more essays, two in which Gioia considers the earliest of Christian writers (St. Paul) and the true business of martyrs as witnesses of “uncompromised truth,” and three in which Gioia explores Catholic artists in three other media—painting, sculpture, and music. It’s difficult to convey the rewarding nature of these essays and interviews. Gioia’s mind is teeming with original insight and pertinent but arcane details, things that do not excerpt easily from the contexts in which they arise. Additionally, there are many off-script observations and hints about writing, life, and culture. It’s easier to portray the structure of his arguments. For example, in the title essay, he opines that Catholic writers are increasingly not represented in current poetics. While Catholics themselves (as distinguished from other Christians) number sixty million in the current US population, they are essentially barely represented in the current arena. Why is there no concern for the underrepresentation of nearly one-fourth of our population, he asks, stating, “Some kinds of diversity are evidently more equal than others .” He acknowledges that contemporary culture is secular culture but laments the loss of the spiritual depth, magnitude, and tradition that Christian artists brought to Western art in over two millennia. He talks to us of Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, Baudelaire, and many others but then also of more recent writers—in both fiction and poetry—such as James Joyce, Graham Greene, J. R. R. Tolkien, Flannery O’Connor, and Czesław Miłosz, to name a few of the most prominent. In our own immediate time, however, he contends that “The retreat of the nation’s largest cultural minority from literary discourse does not make art healthier. Instead, it weakens the dialectic of cultural development. It makes American literature less diverse, less vital, and less representative.” Whether or not the reader initially agrees with the position stated, he or she is likely to be engrossed in Gioia’s wide-ranging argument. This is true of each of these essays and is true of the assertions discovered in the interviews as well. Readers find themselves in the presence of a deeply original and capacious intellect that is unpretentious and direct yet simultaneously concerned with shades of perspective and nuances of thought. Here is another vital book by one of our finest and most original authors. Fred Dings University of South Carolina Kébir Ammi Ben Aïcha Montréal. Mémoire d’encrier. 2019. 166 pages. THE AGE OF Louis XIV conjures images of pomp and splendor, court intrigues and trickeries, loose morals and scabrous adventures, ribaldry and chivalry. In this lawless world, feelings are sacrificed to greed, ambition, or duty. In this exclusive , elitist normalcy, where everyone and everything is an extreme version of itself, life becomes a perilous adventure. Sudden escalations to and plunges from power highlight the caprices of destiny, leaving the characters resigned to their dispossession . Add Barbary pirates, diplomatic negotiations, and hopeless romance, and you have a spiced-up cloak-and-dagger novel. Such is the setting of Kébir Ammi’s latest and ninth novel, Ben Aïcha. In it, he returns to historical fiction to sketch the life of a Moroccan admiral and ambassador sent to France in 1699 to negotiate an agreement about reciprocal prisoner releases. Negotiations become complicated when Ben Aïcha meets the king’s daughter , Marie-Anne de Bourbon, Princess of Conti. Their subsequent clandestine, short-lived love affair goes through the traditional extremes of passion and despair when the weight of royal power crushes the lovers’ dream of freedom. In the background of this tale of rebellion against societal norms, Ammi examines class relations and Christian-Muslim encounters . The bookish Orientalist knowledge of French scholars is echoed by popular cultural prejudice against Mahometans in seventeenth-century France. Ben Aïcha’s observations of France reveal a less than flattering scene. The Muslim world is not ideal either, being wracked by cruelty, poverty , and isolation. Ammi’s modern style and expressions (with the exception of oldfashioned formulas of politeness) bring this dialogue between civilizations into the...

Роль городской культуры в формировании башкирского национального искусства дореволюционного периода

The article presents some basic information about the development of city musical culture in the Orenburg gubernia and in Ufa during the pre-revolutionary period. The regularity of the formation of the phenomenon of the city cultural milieu is traced by the examples of such components as concert and theatre practice, in the context of which the foundations of compositional and performance professionalism indispensable for the development of European genres were perfected. As the result of an overview of various forms of musicmaking at home and the concert and theater practice, the foundations of which had been installed by the direct bearers of European culture itself — Polish insurgents banished to the gubernia in the 18th century — the fact is substantiated that the Russian-European academic musical tradition conditioned the environment due to which national concert life was established in the early 20th century. It is proven that the Europeanization in Bashkir culture began not during the period of the Soviet cultural development, but on the wave of Jadidism in the activities of the new-method madrassahs, which in the beginning of the previous century became the main centers for sacred and secular culture. At the same time, the emergence of combined Tatar-Bashkir dramatic theatrical troupes conducive towards the onset of national theatrical music is the greatest accomplishment of Bashkir music in the prerevolutionary period, which connected the pre-revolutionary epoch with the period of formation of national compositional schools.

The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research, and Institutional Life for the Twenty-First Century ed. by Margaret Benefiel and Bo Karen Lee

Reviewed by: The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research, and Institutional Life for the Twenty-First Century ed. by Margaret Benefiel and Bo Karen Lee Anita Houck (bio) The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research, and Institutional Life for the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Margaret Benefiel and Bo Karen Lee. A volume in Advances in Workplace Spirituality: Theory, Research, and Application. Series editor Louis W. (Jody) Fry. Charlotte, NC: IAP—Information Age Publishing, 2019. 157 pp. Paper $30.00, hardcover $40.00 In many ways, The Soul of Higher Education: Contemplative Pedagogy, Research, and Institutional Life for the Twenty-First Century is most remarkable for the scale of its aspirations. As the subtitle and series title suggest, the collection explores contemplative approaches not just to teaching, but to research and workplace structures as well. Further, the book aims not just to study higher education, but to help change it—as co-editor Bo Karen Lee writes, to “increase compassion and kindness in our institutions, and to promote healing in the academy and beyond” (xv). In the process, the book takes on the challenge of bridging the divide between the guilds of contemplative studies and Christian spirituality. Following Louis Komjathy’s observation that contemplative studies generally “privileges Buddhism, especially ‘secular” Buddhism, and Western science,” co-editor Margaret Benefiel presents the book as “a modest attempt” to bring “Eastern and Western perspectives together, to let those with different perspectives inhabit the same territory and perhaps begin to speak to one another and learn from one another” (xiii). The book’s tripartite structure embodies its ambitious scope, with sections on the “epistemological foundations” of contemplatively grounded higher education; “contemplative teaching, learning, and research”; and “contemplative organizational structures.” In the first section, Benefiel argues that “contemplative higher education has stronger epistemological foundations than the dominant world-view” (4), which privileges scientific materialism and “objective” knowledge at the expense of “subjective.” She then turns to alternative models—from William James to Bernard Lonergan—that productively overcome the subjective-objective bifurcation. The second essay seems to offer another such model, as Mary Frohlich’s carefully argued chapter draws on the methodology of spirituality to propose “a meta-method that invites us consistently to ground ourselves in the spiritual foundations of ‘why and wherefore’ we do what we do in our research and teaching” (25). The second section begins in the humanities classroom, with three chapters by scholars familiar to many students of Christian spirituality. Barbara Newman offers an engaging, wide-ranging “homily” (38) on the question “How can we nudge our students toward a more contemplative mode of being, even as they take advantage of new digital worlds at their fingertips?” (33). Stephanie Paulsell’s elegant essay on reading ties the history of lectio divina to contemporary pedagogical practices like rereading, compiling, and contemplatively based writing, ultimately offering a lively apologia for the humanities, indeed for the liberal arts as a whole. Lee’s deeply self-implicating reflection asks, “Is it possible to teach [whatever subject we teach] so that we engender more compassion in the world?” (54, brackets in original). She responds by recounting her experience teaching Ignatian meditation, echoing her introduction as she envisions how Christian contemplative traditions, and indeed Christ, can promote compassion in the academy and wider world (64, cf. xv). The next two chapters bring important disciplinary breadth to the volume. Dan Barbezat, a major voice in contemplative pedagogy, describes exercises that lead students to approach economics through self-awareness and [End Page 263] altruism. The chapter contributed by the late André L. Delbecq reports on a focus group of six alumni of his MBA seminar on Spirituality of Organizational Leadership, identifying themes and practices that support professionals living “contemplative spirituality in a secular organization culture” (99). Moving from the focus on teaching, Jacob Holsinger Sherman’s thought-provoking essay, previously published in Spiritus, explicitly engages the guild divide, proposing that “the maturation of contemplative studies requires it to engage more fully with scholarship produced by those in spirituality” (106). Applying Harold Roth’s important concept of “’cognitive imperialism,’ the more or less subtle ethnocentrism involved in taking European religious, philosophical, and scientific conceptions as academically normative” (109...

Principios de implementación del componente religioso en el sistema educativo ruso: enfoques y soluciones

An active discussion of the questions of the advisability of forming new principles of national unity and creating an orderly harmonious world in the minds of people, strengthening the educational functions of the state, its concern for public morality do not primarily concern education, humanization of its content, and revision of the educational process. The formation and implementation of a state policy adequate to this problem must comply with the requirements of our time, create, on the one hand, conditions for ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens, including the observance of the fundamental principles of religious freedom, and on the other, develop legislative norms that regulate these rights. A legal democratic state provides for the formation of public policy in accordance with the needs of society and taking into account public thought. The secular nature of public education is not an obstacle to the introduction of disciplines in the provision of religious knowledge in the educational process of schools, religious knowledge can and should be considered as an element of secular culture. Knowledge of religion should be carried out by secular teachers, be neutral in content and not be accompanied by religious rites. The problems of the formation of moral and spiritual values, the worldview of a person, the introduction of religious disciplines in secondary schools are vividly discussed in scientific, educational, government circles, as well as among representatives of the clergy. The religious component in secular education will give importance to folk culture and traditional religion, which will form concepts such as tolerance and respect for other faiths and cultures, which is important in the context of globalization of the world.

Participation in God: A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics by Andrew Davison

Reviewed by: Participation in God: A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics by Andrew Davison Rudi Te Velde Participation in God: A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics. By Andrew Davison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xii + 423. $34.99 (paper). ISBN: 978-1-1087-0404-5. This wonderful book is the fruit of the growing interest among theologians in the notion of participation and the participatory way of thought, not only as found in an exemplary way in the thought of Thomas Aquinas, but more broadly as characteristic of a Christian (biblical and patristic) understanding of God’s creative and saving presence in the world. It is a form of theology that dares to speak freely in a metaphysical register without feeling cornered somehow by the secular presuppositions of modern philosophy. The book shows signs of being influenced by the Radical Orthodoxy movement, with its predilection for Platonic participation. Even though the book does not assume that movement’s full force of a critical and polemical stance towards modern secular culture, it does oppose modern varieties of nominalism, with its individualist ontology, voluntarism, and the modern split between the human subject and the world. The general approach is positive, aiming at setting out a broad Christian vision of the world that has the notion of participation at its heart. The book’s closest parallel, explicitly mentioned as a source of inspiration, [End Page 326] is Hans Boersma’s Heavenly Participation (2011), which has introduced many readers to a participatory account of theology. The author proves himself to be an excellent teacher who in a clear and simple language draws a persuasive and well-informed picture of the Christian participatory view of the world in its relation to God. To the author, participation means first and foremost that the world is approached in terms of sharing and receiving, or of communion. The spirit of participation is recognizable, for instance, in the question posed by the apostle Paul: “What have you got that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4:7). The double message of participation is that a creature is nothing apart from God’s gift, while at the same time, by God’s gift, it truly exists and has being. The book’s subtitle is “A Study in Christian Doctrine and Metaphysics.” The perspective may be called distinctively theological, even in the sense that the relevant sources used to elaborate the participatory way of thought include biblical texts. The author acknowledges that Plato is the philosophical father of participatory thinking, and that the presence of participation in the writings of the Church Fathers (not least Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and in the Latin west, Augustine) is due to the comprehensive influence of Platonist metaphysics in the period of late Antiquity. The most prominent source in this book is, undoubtedly, Thomas Aquinas, “the master of the participatory perspective” (7). The author does not intend his book to be a scholarly study about participation in Aquinas; nonetheless it is Aquinas with his broad and consistent participatory vision in the whole of theology who provides the author’s main point of reference. The book is divided into four parts. The first part—“Participation and Causation”—treats of creation, the notion that everything comes from and depends upon God. Creation is approached from the angle of the Aristotelian four causes: God is the efficient cause, the creative agent by which everything is made; he is the (extrinsic) formal cause in the sense that creatures are made “after God’s likeness” and have a characteristic form corresponding with the idea in God; he is the final cause in the sense that creatures are made for the sake of God and have their fulfilment in God; and God is not the matter out of which things are made, but rather creatures are made out of nothing (ex nihilo). In this way, the author describes a threefold pattern of God’s creative causality, which is then linked explicitly with the Trinitarian life in God which is the exemplary model of participatory relatedness and communion. Part 2 is devoted to language—“The Language of Participation and Language as Participation.” It begins...

Биоэтика и культурные войны

The term “culture wars” has been used to describe deep, apparently intractable, disagreements between groups for many years. In contemporary discourse, it refers to disputes regarding significant moral matters carried out in the public square and for which there appears to be no way to achieve consensus or compromise. One set of battle lines is drawn between those who hold traditional Christian commitments and those who do not. Christian bioethics is nested in a set of moral and metaphysical understandings that collide with those of the dominant secular culture. The result is a gulf between a moral life and an approach to bioethics framed in the face of a transcendent God and a final judgment versus a moral life and an approach to bioethics framed as if the world were without ultimate meaning and as if death were the end of personal existence. These approaches are separated by a moral and metaphysical gulf that sustains incompatible life worlds and incompatible understandings of bioethics. Attempts to bridge the gulf with secular reason are ineffective because there is no shared conception of reason or standard of evidence. Efforts to use the state to enforce a particular set of metaphysical and moral commitments, whether secular or religious, lead to public disputes with a war-like character.

MARGINAL FEAR OF DESPAIR AS AN EXPLICATION OF THE INTEGRITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS (CREATIVE COMPONENT)

The article considers the marginal fear of despair, which causes a vacuum in the soul as an explication of the anxiety of nothingness and uncontrolled fear of death are chains of a single process, symptoms of the «creative disease» of European culture. Unfortunately, modern culture rejects marginal fear as something superfluous, unnecessary to man, as something outdated and does not meet today’s needs. Ironically, the first «bells» of secular culture began to sound in the late Middle Ages. As anxiety, it can destroy human life on an individual and social level. But in fact fear is necessary and cannot be completely eradicated. One must always balance between security and freedom, moving towards the other as a value. First, the main content of the methodological analysis of fear is one way or another, the metaphysical break of man with society, need or necessity. According to Protestant philosophers, the Fear of God (marginal fear) creates a set of religious and existential barriers that existentially prevent man from sin and evil, and at the same time it is the «beginning of wisdom», «the beginning of love», and even more so unites all believers in one common, consolidating and optimizing Fear. It was then that the accents began to change and in the face of death, man discovered the secret of his individuality. This connection shown by the Epicureans was long removed from the system of collective ideas and re-established in the minds of people only in the late Middle Ages. And since then individualism has influenced today’s world. The anxiety of non-existence, which destroys the logocentrism of being and the fear of death as a logical consequence of this anxiety lead to the marginalization of man, his attempts to somehow justify his existence, which results in individual destructive forms such as suicide (when anxiety grows into despair) destructive forms: neo-fascism, extremism, racism (in case of substitution of the Absolute by quasi-absolute). It is clear that in this way a person, in a situation of lonely, alienated existence in the world, distracts himself with surrogates of meaning, avoiding feelings of anxiety.

Ethics in Internet (Document)

Today, the earth is an interconnected globe humming with electronic transmissions-a chattering planet nestled in the provident silence of space. The ethical question is whether this is contributing to authentic human development and helping individuals and peoples to be true to their transcendent destiny. The new media are powerful tools for education, cultural enrichment, commercial activity, political participation, intercultural dialogue and understanding. They also can serve the cause of religion. Yet the new information technology needs to be informed and guided by solidarity in the service of the common good bridging the digital divide within and among nations. The value-laden message of Western secular culture to people and traditional societies in many cases ill-prepared to evaluate it leads to widespread crisis, for example, in regard to marriage and family life. This technology can be a means for solving human problems, promoting the integral development of persons, creating a world governed by justice, peace, and love. It also can help men and women in their age-old search for self-understanding. Like today's world itself, the world of media, including the Internet, has been brought by Christ, inchoately yet truly, within the boundaries of the kingdom of God and placed in service to the word of salvation.

ИНТЕНЦИОНАЛЬНОСТЬ НУМИНОЗНОГО

On the basis of the phenomenological concept of the sacrednuminous R. Otto, the development of the meanings of numinous in modern culture in the context of a pandemic is considered. The specificity of the sacred with its foundation in the numinous, as presented by R. Otto, is studied as a methodology for comprehending the empiricism of a pandemic. An appeal to the empirical cut leads to the identification of transformations in the phenomenological status of the numinous. It is noted that the religious experience of a person at the beginning of the 20th century and the religious experience of the modern man has certain differences associated with the development of secular culture. R. Otto’s thought about the reality of the numinous, understood as the Divine expression of the will of an incomprehensible transcendental object, whose intentions largely determine human life, are presented in correlation with the intentionality of the challenge thrown to humanity by the pandemic. At the same time, a certain reduction of the components of the experience of the numinous by the modern man is noted.

Tinjauan Teologi Islam di Dunia

The purpose of this article is to find out the paradigm of classical to modern Islamic theology, and how Islamic theology is in North American settings. Classical kalam science is Islamic theology which is more inclined to the theocentric or divine discussion which is the subject of its discussion. Theology of modern kalam theology of Islam is a system of values ​​that are divine, but from a sociological point of view, it is a phenomenon of civilization, culture, and social reality in human life. Theology needs to be improved among North American Muslims to protect the community against internal divisions and disputes and to defend Muslims from the challenges and provocations of the strength of outside agencies, whether secular culture and institutions, institutions or Christian Da'wah. At the very least theological discourse needs to be revived and expanded if it is only intended to be apologetic, namely to maintain Islamic faith and order in a free market regarding ideas and beliefs that are not normally done by Muslim immigrants. Classical and modern Islamic theology in essence is only for the purpose of apologetics.

현대 세속문화의 대항문화 형성을 위한 오순절 신학의 방향과 역할 고찰

현대 세속문화의 대항문화 형성을 위한 오순절 신학의 방향과 역할 고찰

The Social Mission of the Church

Many theologians and sociologists claim that in order to restore the social and postmodern man’s original image and resemblance to God, turning him into a “complete person,” with spiritual, religious, or cultural needs, a complex theological approach is needed. This approach, known as Social Theology, includes both a social dimension and a theological one in a Chalcedonian unity and morally regulates the relationship between man and society, between Church and modern and postmodern secular society. By means of this term, the Orthodox Church and Theology want to recover the social, just as “secularized culture experiences the recovery of religion, which it has transferred to the private sphere of people’s life;” it summons the social to dialogue, collaboration and mutual responsibility, in order to recover the “contemporary individual.”

Apocalyptic reflections in the studies of the Russian orthodox priest Alexander Men

The relevance of the article is due to the increased interest in the cultural heritage of the last century. The creative achievements and worldviews of priest Alexander Men, which are a significant component of the spiritual Russian culture, have been investigated. The works of Alexander are open to secular culture, science, to other faiths, non-Christian religions and deep church roots, they are accessible and simple for readers. Alexander Men did not create a special doctrine, because his main task was spiritual enlightenment and the exaltation of souls. Alexander Men was gifted not only with an analytical mind but also with a prophetic gift. Predictions about future are picked up by ignorant people and not only mislead them, but also become a source of distorted ideas about the Bible argued Alexander Men. First of all, Alexander Men in his researches seeks to answer the main questions that concern people, to reveal the very essence of the mysterious book of the Bible, to make its deep content not only a narrow circle of specialists, but also a wide reader. In the article a comprehensive analysis of the interpretation of the theologian's apocalyptic prophecies has been conducted. Alexander Men denies literal understanding of the Apocalypse images and emphasizes to allegorical character of this book. Numerous symbols, fantastic images and visions are revealed through the images of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. His initial thesis is to understand the Apocalypse as a permanent reality. Therefore, according to the theologian Alexander, apocalyptic prophecies are constantly being fulfilled and reproduced. The reasons for not accepting the apocalyptic reflections of Alexander Men by Orthodox priests have been defined: contradictory interpretations of Scripture, admiration for scientific facts, inclination for Catholicism, distortion of spiritual Orthodox practice, excessive liberalism, ecumenism, admiration for Western theology. However, Alexander Men played an important role in the Orthodox Church, he had many adherents (believers, priests, and researchers) and he is still mentioned in articles and conferences.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗВИТКУ АМАТОРСЬКОГО ТЕАТРАЛЬНОГО РУХУ В СХІДНІЙ ГАЛИЧИНІ НАПРИКІНЦІ ХІХ – ПОЧАТКУ ХХ СТ.

The article considers the peculiarities of the development of the amateur theatre movement in Eastern Galicia at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries and it is proved that the amateur movement contributed to the coverage of ethno-national peculiarities of the Ukrainian people as well as its language, traits of national character, worldview and, most importantly, national identity. It is shown that the secular culture in Western Ukraine intensified in the middle of the 19th century, which was the time of awakening of the national and social consciousness of the Ukrainian people. It states that the educational work conducted by the professional theater society “Ruska Besida” turned into new views of professional theater art of Galicia over time, whose activity was aimed at the formation and realization of the national personality, its spiritual potential, as well as humanization of the social relations.A distinctive phenomenon in the cultural and national life of Ukrainian Galicians in the early twentieth century was the creation of the Hutsul National Theatre. Theatrical activity of amateur dramatists became a driving factor in the national and cultural education of the local population in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Amateur groups were organized under the auspices of the Ruska Besida Society, which were distributed in cities and towns of Eastern Galicia. They produced plays by both Ukrainian-language authors (I. Kotlyarevskiy, H. Tsehlinskiy) and foreign (M. Gorky, Moliere). The main function of amateur groups was to educate the broad sections of Ukrainians in the region, their national upbringing by means of theatrical art through the formation of linguistic culture, respect for national customs and traditions.The most extensive cultural and educational network in Eastern Galicia was Prosvita Society, which had branches and reading rooms in the most remote corners of the region. The activities of the amateur circles in the Prosvita centers focused mainly on the production of plays by Ukrainian authors – those were dramatic works, comedies and vaudevilles. In the history of Ukrainian theater amateur theatre troupes and playgroups played an important role, as they spread Ukrainian culture, conducted educational activities, contributed to raising the national consciousness of the Ukrainian people. The theater became a real stronghold of folk revival, pure folk language sounded from its stage; the plays themselves attracted audiences by colorful, bright national music raising educational awareness.