Traditional Gods Research Articles

Folklore of Megibung and Its Digitalization as an Effort to Sustain the Balinese Tradition in the Globalization Era

This research is qualitative descriptive research that aims to (1) describe the elements of humans, nature, and God in the megibung tradition, (2) the relationship between humans, nature, and God in the megibung tradition, (3) describe the transfer of the vehicle for digitising gibing folklore as a type of folklore that is always maintained in the globalisation era. Data collection methods used in this research are documentation, observation (observations in the field), and interviews. The research results show that in the megibung tradition, the elements of humans, God, and nature are interrelated and influence each other. Humans are associated with the presence of God through gratitude and offerings, while the human relationship with nature is reflected in the use of natural resources and awareness of natural balance. This tradition teaches spiritual values, gratitude, and concern for nature as integral to the megibung experience. One of the efforts that can be made so that the gibing tradition remains stable in the digitalisation era is to transfer the vehicle for the gibing tradition from documentation in the form of oral discourse to digitalisation. Through this digital vehicle, people worldwide can get to know and appreciate the richness of Balinese culture and the gibing tradition virtually. It can also be an exciting way to promote tourism and preserve Balinese cultural traditions in the digital age.

God or Self? The Re-Emergence of God in the Unconscious

Toward the end of the Age of Enlightenment, rationalism’s demise gradually entailed the transcendent God’s demise. In this article, I will draw on the resurfacing of God in the ensuing tradition of the unconscious. Whereas philosophers such as Schopenhauer or Eduard von Hartmann, undermining the alleged rational consciousness, assumed the existence of an impersonal, unconscious, yet collective will, others took one step back and maintained a higher yet individual “consciousness” beyond the threshold of sense perception. I am referring to the philosopher–spiritualist Carl du Prel (1833–1899), whose notion of a personal unconscious inaugurated both Freud’s and Jung’s “psychologies” of the unconscious. In many respects, Du Prel’s “personal unconscious” (“transcendental consciousness”) interestingly corresponds to the traditional conception of God; it is morally binding and has a cosmological impact. I will explore to what extent Carl du Prel, in his philosophy of the unconscious, allows for a re-emergence of God in the form of a personal unconscious. I will also try to specify the conditions of possibility for equating these unruly notions (“God” and “unconscious”). My question will be as follows: can we consider the personal unconscious (or transcendental consciousness), as developed in Carl du Prel’s work, as a re-emergence of a more traditional conception of a transcendent God in terms of reason and intelligibility?

Evil is still evidence: comment on Almeida

AbstractMichael Almeida has recently tried to show that if S5 correctly represents metaphysical necessity, there can be no non-trivial evidence for or against the existence of the traditional God. Evidence would thus be irrelevant to the reasonability of traditional theistic belief. Almeida's argument has implications beyond its announced target: it amounts to a new argument for sweeping scepticism. Almeida's argument for the irrelevance of evidence to the existence of God would apply to any state of affairs that entails some metaphysical necessity. In S5, every state of affairs entails some metaphysical necessity, so Almeida should conclude that non-trivial evidence for or against any state of affairs is impossible. I argue that the problem is not with S5 but with inadequately motivated assumptions about evidential support. Avoiding those assumptions disables the argument for sweeping scepticism and without foreclosing the possibility of non-trivial evidence for or against the existence of the traditional God.

Schmidgen, Wolfram. Infinite Variety: Literary Invention, Theology, and the Disorder of Kinds, 1688–1730

Schmidgen, Wolfram. <i>Infinite Variety: Literary Invention, Theology, and the Disorder of Kinds, 1688–1730</i>

Dendara as a Counterpart of Heliopolis in Ptolemaic Texts

The relationship between the two famous cities Heliopolis and Dendara is very strong. This relationship is shown in the similar names Iwnw and Iwnt. The Ptolemaic texts give a special relationship between those two cities as they make both of them equal, considering Dendara as the Upper Egyptian female counterpart of the northern Heliopolis. The texts of Dendara Temple emphasize that Dendara of the south replaces and takes the place of Heliopolis of the north; the relationship is also mentioned in the common name of Dendara TA-n-Itmw that means ‘The Land of Atum’ who is the traditional god of Heliopolis. The aim of this paper is to examine special texts quoted from Dendara and other temples and discuss its significance. It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian language used a lot of synonyms for the idea of replacement and equals. Such as m-isw; m-ḏbAw; m-idnw.

Estoński bóg grzmotu Pikne – próba definicji kognitywnej

The aim of this article is to provide a cognitive definition of the supernatural entity associated with the phenomenon of thunderstorm (the Thunder god) in Estonian vernacular tradition and folk beliefs. The article will firstly investigate the lexicon connected with thunderstorm and its components, and secondly the etymological roots of the theonym. Subsequently, I will organize the linguistic data into facets such as homonyms and synonyms, co-hyponyms, hyperonyms, appearance, features unrelated to appearance, actions performed by the god, authority, addressee, address, and location. Finally, a cognitive definition will be proposed. The documentation will be shown in the original language alongside an English translation.

Evil is not evidence

AbstractThe article aims to show that, if S5 is the logic of metaphysical necessity, then no state of affairs in any possible world constitutes any non-trivial evidence for or against the existence of the traditional God. There might well be states of affairs in some worlds describing extraordinary goods and extraordinary evils, but it is false that these states of affairs constitute any (non-trivial) evidence for or against the existence of God. The epistemological and metaphysical consequences for philosophical theology of assuming that S4 or Kσρ is the logic of metaphysical necessity are equally untenable. S4 guarantees that God does not exist if there is the slightest evidence against the existence of God. And Kσρ guarantees that God might survive the loss or acquisition of any essential property at all.

You be a Mensch. Der ›Homo ethicus‹ in der hebräischen Bibel und in der jüdischen Tradition

In his contribution, Krochmalnik describes the understanding of homo ethicus from the perspective of the Jewish religion. He emphasizes the importance of man being made in the image of God in Jewish theology and tradition. As a creature of God, man is clearly subordinate to God, but as his image he is in a certain way equal to the Creator. Ultimately, according to this understanding, man is neither completely equal nor completely different from God. Rather, as a reflection of God, man is a shadow, which without the light of God is an insubstantial image. The author makes it clear that according to the Jewish religion, Adam, the first man, was created perfectly from the moment of his creation and therefore does not need to be perfected. However, people are considered »corruptible«, i. e. they very quickly deviate from the right path; but even if he falls deeply, his likeness to God will remain. According to this belief, even a criminal or murderer does not lose human dignity. According to the author, human beings move in a three-dimensional coordinate system consisting of their biological, social and spiritual characteristics. homo ethicus is understood as a consequence of being made in the image of God, because a person without knowledge of good and evil would not be a worthy image of God. Therefore man should act as God would act, without wanting to be like God. If man is merciful and gracious, then he is like God. According to this understanding, sin is the exact opposite of being made in the image of God. Furthermore, man is regarded as God’s representative on earth, but as such he is »bound by instructions«. Man’s original sin is that he is not satisfied with this position. Man is a symbol of God’s sovereignty, which exercises his world rulership on his behalf. This mandate to rule must lead to a humanization of the earth, because ultimately man is responsible to God.

INDIGENOUS COUNSELING: KARAKTERISTIK SPIRITUAL DALAM TRADISI ROBO-ROBO PADA MASYARAKAT KECAMATAN SUNGAI KAKAP, KALIMANTAN BARAT

The robo-robo tradition is a traditional ritual carried out by the Sungai Kakap people as an effort to resist danger. This study explored to describe and identify the characteristics of people spirituality in the process of providing assistance through local community traditions. This research was a qualitative research using descriptive method. Data was collected by observing people’s life in the field and interviews. The result revealed that: 1) amongst their existence as human, they had an awareness of the need for the God's help. 2) close to nature and living environment. 3) had close relationships amongst people, social values such as the value of togetherness, the value of sharing and respect, and the value of kinship. 4) The relationship with God in the robo-robo tradition was divided into three groups, namely: first, religious people had faith in Allah SWT, and did not want to involve themselves in the robo-robo tradition. Generally, this group considered this custom to be a deviation in religion. Second, they had faith in Allah SWT, were involved in cultural celebrations but did not believe in the belief traditions developed in these celebrations. Third, they had faith in Allah SWT but also they had faith in other supernatural beings (soul / ancestral soul).

Imitating the Traditional Gods

Abstract This paper examines moral virtues and cult practice in Plato’s Laws. It explores the symposium and the chorus and their potential to provide a recognisable cultural setting, in which the Magnesian citizens can test their responses to pleasurable and painful experiences and thus train their moral virtues. The challenge to this reading is to explain what additional input to moral habituation is provided by the religious aspect of these institutions. This paper draws attention to the relationship between the people and the patron gods of the respective institutions. It argues that the cult practices are designed to reflect the virtuous character of the traditional gods, who serve as the ethical role models for the worshipers. In this way, the worship of the traditional gods not only facilitates moral progress by exemplifying the objective of virtuous life, but also gives an egalitarian version of the ideal of godlikeness to its citizens.

THE VEDAS AND BHAKTI HARMONIZED - KOVALUR: THE MUTAL ALVARS AND TIRUMANKAI

The unanimous opinion among religious philosophers is that the Vedas and bhakti are two different denominators of approach to God in Indian tradition. However, the Tamil Vaiṣṇava mystics, the Āḻvārs find a harmonious blend of the two modes in ritual worship. The present article examines the pros and cons of the problem from a study of the hymns beginning with the Mutal (Early) Āḻvārs and last in the train, Tirumaṅkai. The cited hymns are replete with the bounties of nature associated with the divyadeśa-Kōvalūr that we examine for a case study. Bhakti or the Veda is the euphony linked with nature. The present article explains how the Āḻvārs had harmonized the Veda with bhakti. These are complementary modes of approach to God. They are not conflicting phenomena. By the way, data bearing on flora and fauna dumped in the twenty-one hymns on Kōvalūr are presented in a capsule (Attachment).

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF GRAPHICAL STYLISTICS IN THE SACRED TEXTS OF KHANTY “PESNI PЕLYMSKOGO TORUMA”

This article is devoted to revealing of stylistic resource of graphics in printed sacred texts. It also gives opportunities in finding out ways of coding and decoding emotive information. Sacred texts are perfect because they include ancient traditions of oral saving and delivering of information. They contain appeals to the nation traditional Gods. Such texts are always emotional. They have been being a wellhead of highest moral, religious, philosophic and language culture. Text is accompanied by sacred ritual and so it is a language in use. The lines of the Khanty text “Pesni Pеlymskogo Toruma” are the data for analyzing. They are one of the random texts which have graphical form of presentation. This fact could be explained by newly scripted position of Khanty language, by small amount of language data and by strict taboo of ritual participations: not everybody is allowed to be member or attestor of sacred proses for example children, woman, outsider. So, specialness of this research work is firstly investigating of graphical stylistics potential capacity, which is undeservingly ignored in finno-ugric linguistic study, secondly it gives an opportunity to connect graphics with other levels of the sacred texts stylistics. It demonstrates particularity and uniqueness of Khanty people’s sacred texts. For the aim achieving it is necessary to identify the inventory of graphic stylistics. All the results are proved by the Khanty language folklore texts, which are collected and compiled by the specialist in folklore, ethnographer and native language speaker T. A. Moldanova

Идеальная религия для идеального государства

All of us have an idea of the ideal conditions in which we would like to live. They will vary according to the degree of ambition and level of education. However, people have common wishes since we don’t live in isolation (perhaps with rare exceptions) and we require guarantees from other people that they are willing to accept certain rules and conditions for the best possible coexistence. Plato was the first to look for such general or even necessary requirements to create an ideal social structure. He considers different aspects of social reality – the division of society into classes, the specifics of upbringing and education, even the physical structure of the city and its religion. The article is devoted to the consideration of religious practices, associated cult activities and holidays. In ancient Greece, religion permeated all areas of human life. It would be more correct to say that religion simply did not exist separately from everyday life. Of course, we can distinguish major religious events in the form of solemn organised processions marking the change of seasons, dedicated to the harvest or some other memorable dates. But more often, religious practices were tightly woven into people’s lives, so that even political and military actions were accompanied by an offering to the gods or consultation with the oracle. Understanding the role that religious activity plays in educating citizens, Plato does not seek to create an entirely new popular religion, but as a philosopher interested in the common good, he begins to interpret the images of traditional Greek gods differently. He focuses most of his attention on Zeus, Dionysus and Aphrodite. By comparing traditional notions of the gods with the way Plato portrays them, we conclude that the philosopher has done serious work to rationalise their images. Zeus ceases to be a famous womanizer and head of Olympus, and acquires the traits of a creator, the only good god who is incapable of any evil or injustice. The raucous fun, dancing and intoxication that used to be the cause of many misfortunes and associated with Dionysus are now being declared useful in terms of testing strength and honesty on the one hand, and, on the other, are understood as a necessary means of getting rid of negative energy and bringing people together. The uncontrolled erotic desire sent by Aphrodite is seen by Plato as behavior that is unacceptable in the citizens of an ideal state, and so he develops the doctrine of the two Aphrodites, heavenly and vulgar, in which the heavenly Aphrodite is declared to be a certain stimulus that leads the soul to the supreme good.

Knowing God in Eastern Christianity and Islamic Tradition: A Comparative Study

The currently existing type of dialogue of Western and Eastern cultures makes a philosophical exploration of Christianity and Islam compelling as they are fundamental monotheistic religions capable of ensuring the peaceful interaction of various ethnic cultures in the age of deepening secularization. The present analysis of the philosophical and epistemological teachings of the Greek Byzantine Church Fathers and the thinkers of classical Arab-Islamic culture aims at overcoming stereotypes regarding the opposition of Christianity and Islam that strongly permeate both scholarly theorizing and contemporary social discourses. The authors scrutinize the epistemological principles of the exoteric and esoteric knowledge of the Islamic Golden Age and the apophatic and cataphatic ways of attaining the knowledge of God in Early Christianity. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the concepts of personal mystical comprehension of God in Sufism (fanā’) and in Christianity (Uncreated Light).

Nomination of God in Biblical-theological tradition of Eastern (Oriental) Christians

The goal of this research is the philological examination of principles of nomination of God in the Oriental theological tradition of Christianity. The concurrent conceptual objective lies in comparison of Eastern Christian (Oriental) doctrine of nominations of God and the Cappadocian divine onomatology. The subject of this article is the so-called revealed nomination Other nominations of God are interpreted as replacements for the proper name of the Biblical God Yahweh, the profane usage of which was a taboo back in the Old Testament era. The research employs the methodological principles of Biblical exegetics and linguistic hermeneutics. The author differentiates the exegetic and hermeneutic approaches accepted in the theological science. It implies that that the firs is associated with the particular philological methods of interpretation of Biblical texts, while the second &amp;ndash; with the theological generalizations and interpretations that are based on the results of exegetic explication. The conclusion is made that the key features of Syriac (and Eastern overall) divine onomatology consist in a distinct categorization of divine nominations, among which special status belongs to the proper name (nomen proprium) of God, which is inherited by Eastern Christians from the Old Testament Jewish traditions; as well as in preservation of the common to Old Testament religiosity sacralization of the name of God as a source of sanctifying power and symbol of God&amp;rsquo;s presence. Therefore, within the Syriac Christian tradition, which prompted the development of traditions of all Eastern (Oriental) non-Chalcedonian churches, was formed a special type of divine onomatology based on the Old Testament cult of the nomination of God, which is an attribute of semitic sense of the world, manifested in linguistic peculiarities of Biblical translations into Semitic languages (Targum and Peshitta).

Isis the immigrant and Roman toleration

In adopting a foreign cult, ancient Roman worshippers were not searching for a new religion to replace their old one, but rather seeking to expand the range of gods and practices at their disposal. They assumed that all traditional gods and religions were valid and effective. There was, therefore, an implicit toleration built into the system of ancient polytheism, and this was admired by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, though the Roman state never guaranteed freedom of worship. The cult of Isis was distasteful to the Roman élite, and the government often reacted brutally to particular actions by her worshippers. Nevertheless, her cult was always popular with the general public and the state never wished to abolish it, and eventually built a public temple to Isis. The worshippers of Isis tested the limits of Roman toleration and demonstrated its vitality.

God and Human Sovereignty in Islamic Political Tradition

The debate on the concept of political sovereignty leads to the question of whether sovereignty comes from God or humans. It is related to the foundation of state management and has implications for the political system. Islamic political tradition has not an authoritative text that explains sovereignty. This thesis was conducted based on the evidence of Islamic political history which did not present a concept of universal and standard sovereignty. Muslim thinkers proposed some alternative ideas of sovereignty such as nomocratic, theo-democracy and democracy. The author sees that the sovereignty concept in Islam is discussed as ijtihādiyyah (intellectual interpretation and judgment) which lead to multiple interpretations in some contemporary Muslim countries show that the sovereignty concept in Islam is dynamic and can be negotiated according to the political needs of the society.

The concept of God: From the lens of students of integrated Islamic elementary schools

Children at elementary schools have been able to develop their logical thinking and the ability to understand symbols and fundamental principles, yet still in a concrete fashion. Religion, however, introduces the concept of God, which is quite an abstract concept. Therefore, a learning method that can help children to develop their understanding of God is required. This research aimed to identify the conception of God on children enrolled in Integrated Islamic schools (SIT). The study used qualitative method with the indigenous psychology approach. The study collected data from 200 students at Grade Six from Integrated Islamic elementary schools in Pekanbaru. The data was processed using thematic analysis based on the conception of God in Islamic tradition. The results showed that the majority of the respondents (97.73%) described their conception of God with their understanding of God as the Creator ( tawhid al-rububiyya) involving the perfection of God, the willfulness of God, and the existence of God. The implementation of the understanding of God in daily life ( tawhid al-uluhiyya) is then applied through prayers, compliance to religious rules, and submission toward God’s commands. These results suggest that respondents comprehend the concept of God and implement such understanding through their daily activities

Cynicism and Christianity in Antiquity by Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé

Reviewed by: Cynicism and Christianity in Antiquity by Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé Carson Bay Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé Cynicism and Christianity in Antiquity Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019 Pp. xvii + 278. $75.00. Public masturbation and copulation, belligerent shouting, hitting people with sticks—these are a few things for which Cynics were known in antiquity. Such a movement appears prima facie an unlikely correlate to early Christianity. But this same movement was also known for poverty among its disciples, rejection of societal norms, pursuit of ascetic morality, and dismissal of the traditional gods. For this reason, scholars have depicted Jesus and early Christians as Cynic-like, and in late antiquity, the Cynic-Christian nexus did evince some puzzling permutations. All of this makes particularly valuable a book written by one of the foremost authorities on ancient Cynicism which examines all evidence for connections between Cynicism and Christianity (here an English translation of Cynisme et christianisme dans l’antiquité [Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 2014]). The first hundred pages of Goulet-Cazé’s book are an up-to-date introduction to Cynicism in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. This is an excellent introduction to ancient Cynicism. Goulet-Cazé ultimately dismisses the distinction between a “soft” Cynicism (friendly, adaptable, relaxed) and an “austere” Cynicism (rough, rigorous, audacious) propounded by, for example, Abraham Malherbe. Instead, she simply posits different temperaments/personalities between figures like Crates and Diogenes. Goulet-Cazé acknowledges the dichotomy posed by Diogenes Laertius: was Cynicism a school of thought (αἵρεσις) based on δόγματα, or was it rather a “way of life” (ἔνστασις βίου)? Cynicism’s status as a philosophy and the question of who could do Cynicism hinged upon the question. Goulet-Cazé shows that the issue was complex under the Roman Empire. A related question: was ancient Cynicism literate and elite, or popular and “street”? Goulet-Cazé [End Page 473] shows that, by and large, “Cynicism in the imperial period was a Cynicism of the popular classes” (78–79). But she acknowledges elite and non-elite practitioners and sees a literature expressive of “popular Cynicism’s state of mind” (85), namely the pseudepigraphical Letters of Diogenes and Crates and Pseudo-Lucian’s The Cynic. These works embody what Goulet-Cazé terms “genuine Cynicism,” defined “from the moment that a bodily asceticism began . . . with a moral goal that involved rejecting all the δόξαι imposed by society, and human naturalness began to display itself . . . without pretending” (88). The end of Chapter One compares this practice to Stoicism, which Goulet-Cazé casts as more spiritual, less ascetic. Chapter Two explores contacts between Judaism and Cynicism, summarizing the Judaism-and-Hellenism discussion and surveying pertinent sources: the Septuagint, Meleager of Gadara, Philo, Josephus, Oenomaus of Gadara, and the Talmud. There emerges a picture of minor literary engagement between Jews and Cynics, the possibility of interaction in ancient Gadara, and the parallel phenomena of Hellenistic chreia in Jewish/Christian and Cynic literatures. Chapter Three begins by rehashing scholarship on “Q,” the much-theorized yet still hypothetical proto-source of the Synoptic tradition. Goulet-Cazé engages scholars who have discussed relationships between Q and Cynicism. John Kloppenborg and Gerd Theissen appear exemplary, as their research emphasizes parallels between Q/Jesus and the Cynic literature/movement without assuming actual interaction, ideological or literary. F. Gerald Downing, Burton Mack, John Dominic Crossan, the Jesus Seminar, and especially Bernhard Lang receive less hospitable reading. Showing that similarities between Christianity and Cynicism are usually superficial and their perspectives completely different, Goulet-Cazé graciously concedes that the “Cynic Hypothesis” has “brought to light many interesting similarities between” Cynicism and Christianity (183). Still, the final words of the book will be: “. . . I hope I have at least helped . . . by warning against invalid appeals to surface similarities and against ideological bias of any kind” (248). The end of Chapter Three deals with Paul, who engaged “a common sociocultural legacy” of popular philosophy to which Cynicism and Stoicism contributed (196). The upshot of the chapter: Cynicism and earliest Christianity were in ways socially and literarily akin, yet any genetic relationship between them is highly speculative. Chapter Four will be the most interesting to the average JECS reader. It deals with Cynicism and Christianity in late antiquity. First Goulet-Caz...

Role of culture and law in sustaining trokosi institution in southern Ghana

The study carefully examined trokosi—the keeping of virgins (henceforth referring always to girls and not boys) in traditional religious shrines in Ghana, using a shrine in Afife as a case study. The study tried to find out whether culture, including its primary constituent, religion, and law play any role in sustaining the trokosi institution in spite of efforts by the Ghana Government and human rights activists to eliminate it. The study used qualitative approach that involved in-depth interviews with key informants, local people, and observation. The primary data was supplemented by relevant secondary data. The research identified that trokosi as an institution persists because of its use of religio-cultural techniques such as social structuring and meaning. Other findings that sustain the institution include the overt endorsement of the religio-cultural institution by local and international human rights laws; government‘s inability to enforce criminal laws; government officials‘ and trokosi practitioners‘ fear of reprisals from the traditional god that is the basis of the institution; and indigenes‘ adamancy to preserve trokosi as a religio-cultural heritage even if it infringes on fundamental human rights of women and girls. The study is important because, among other things, it contributes to existing discourses on religious and cultural institutions and practices both locally and internationally.