Ultimate Salvation Research Articles

Spiritual Humanism in Devkota’s Muna-Madan

Devkota seeks spiritual humanism in order to restore moral, ethical and spiritual values in human beings. For him, the relationships between man and man, man and nature and man and God are vital. As a spiritual humanist, he focuses on acts of love and sacrifice for the good of humanity. According to him, this human world is to be guided by the universal spirit of God, the basis of spiritual humanism. He believes that God is present everywhere. Human beings have to realize it. Only spiritually motivated souls can sacrifice themselves for others. Devkota projects his ideas of Spiritual Humanism in Muna-Madan. He shows his tremendous reverence towards gods and goddesses because the marginalized and downtrodden people receive solace and living hope from God. Devkota believes that spiritually motivated people are compassionate and merciful towards fellow beings. Muna and her mother in-law unconditionally love Almighty God for their ultimate salvation from worldly sufferings. The Bhote (a pejorative term for a Tibetan man) shows an excellent example of humanity by helping an unknown person Madan. This paper highlights Devkota’s philosophy of spiritual humanism in Muna Madan.

The Salvation of Mortal Pains in Kamala Das’s Poems through the Upanishadic Principles and Krishna Consciousness

In the time of materialism and capitalism, spiritualism is becoming a more relevant place for attaining mental peace and Self-Enquiry. The more a man sticks to materials, the more he gets frustrated. It is a strange experience for everyone that the solution to every pain and suffering lies in its causes with a hidden form. It is frustration that gradually cuts the way to a solution for overcoming it. So, the way of solution is not a matter of stress and tension rather than the outcome of consciousness. Spirituality shows the ultimate salvation to save from the deliberate stroke of despondency. The poet Kamala Das faces the brutal experiences of sensual love and social traditions. Spirituality is not only a God-oriented realization but also an experience of Self-based realization. The present paper gives an insight look to investigate that the panorama of her pain prepares the soil for her Self-Realization and absolute peace. This paper shows that Krishna Consciousness removes her terrestrial ailments. The intention of this paper focuses on how her frequent hopelessness elevates her as a spiritual being. This paper clarifies that Krishna Energy stabilizes her and gives her Yogic recognition.

Pemikiran Pendidikan Abu Hamid Muhammad Bin Muhammad Al-Ghazali

In the Islamic worldview, learning holds significant meaning, as it is an integral part of human existence. Learning activities play a crucial role in education, as they involve the interaction between educators and students. Notably, Imam Al-Ghazali, a prominent Islamic scholar and educator, contributed significantly to the study of learning activities and the development of Islamic educational thought in his time. However, in contemporary times, many educators and students, particularly in Islamic Religious Education, tend to uncritically adopt the Western education concept and neglect the teachings of Islamic scholars like Imam Al-Ghazali. Imam Al-Ghazali, renowned as a Sufi scholar, provided monumental works in various areas of Islamic studies, including education. His thoughts and teachings were influenced by Sufi values, emphasizing the integration of Islamic teachings in learning and education. Al-Ghazali viewed learning as a means of worship and seeking the pleasure of Allah. He believed that the learning process was a spiritual journey to comprehend the essence of knowledge, shape behavior, and draw closer to Allah for worldly and ultimate salvation.

Addiction, Waste(d) Labor, and the Debate of the Carpenter's Tools

Addiction, Waste(d) Labor, and the <i>Debate of the Carpenter's Tools</i>

PECULIARITIES OF THE OPERATION OF CHURCH LAWS

Church laws are an integral part of ecclesiastical teaching and experiential life. It is directly related, on the one hand, to the content of the truth of divine revelation and, on the other hand, to the spiritual mission of the Church. Unlike public law, the source of canon law is divine will. Everything that happens in the Church life, is for the deification of man. Therefore, it is important for believers to abide the rulings and canons of both Ecumenical and local councils, due to if the first one mainly adjusting dogmatic and governing side, the latter relates to the moral and liturgical life of believers. Church laws are not only the authentic sources of the truth derived from the revelation of Christ, but also the guidelines by which each believer is nourished for the ultimate salvation.

What Is Man? A Journey through Biblical Anthropology by Fearghus Ó Fearghail and Adrian Graffy

Reviewed by: What Is Man? A Journey through Biblical Anthropologyby Fearghus Ó Fearghail and Adrian Graffy Donald Senior the pontifical biblical commission What Is Man? A Journey through Biblical Anthropology(trans. Fearghus Ó Fearghail and Adrian Graffy; London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2021). Pp. 366. £19.99. This is the latest document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC) and may be its longest to date. For those less acquainted with the role of the PBC, it is a commission of some twenty biblical scholars from all over the world intended to serve as a resource on biblical matters for the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and, through the Congregation, for the pope himself. First established under Pope Leo XIII, it evolved under Pius X as a monitor for Catholic biblical scholarship at a time when the church was highly suspicious of the reductionist spirit associated with historical biblical criticism. Over time, particularly under Pius XII, the monitoring role gave way to a more constructive approach. After the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI placed the PBC under the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith and confirmed its purpose as a Vatican resource on biblical interpretation. In recent years, the PBC has produced a series of expansive statements on such topics as various methods of biblical interpretation, on the key role of the Jewish Scriptures in the Christian Bible, on the moral horizons of the Bible, and on biblical inspiration. Several of these topics were expressly requested by the reigning pope (e.g., on the Jewish Scriptures by John Paul II, on inspiration by Benedict XVI); this latest presentation on biblical anthropology was requested by Pope Francis. These documents derive from the intertwined contributions of the PBC's members. Typically, the work of producing the document takes two or three years, beginning with an agreement on the overall format, and then various members producing papers on specific aspects of the topic, and finally the weaving together of this disparate material into a coherent text. The end result is that the PBC's statements are thorough, more like a state of the question than innovative, and, at times, their style reflects the somewhat patchwork nature of the production. [End Page 506] In this instance, however, the PBC's study of biblical anthropology has a unique and rich format. As stated at the outset, the document takes its cue from the account of human origins in Genesis, particularly chaps. 2–3, but with substantial reference to Genesis 1–11. The focus is, therefore, primarily on OT texts. Basic motifs from the Genesis account that reflect fundamental descriptions of what it means to be human, and the essential relationships that define the human, are described across the major components of the Bible: the Torah, the prophetic literature, and the wisdom traditions (often with particular attention to Psalms). Each segment, however, ends with the exemplification of the motif in the Gospels and in the letters attributed to Paul. The document states that its overriding methodology is that of "narrative theology"; however, this term should be taken in a very broad sense—distinguishing the document's thematic approach from a more systematic or philosophical analysis. The contents of the document are rich and accessible to the broad audience it has in mind: "members of theological faculties, catechists, students of the sacred sciences." Broad expositions of biblical motifs are bolstered (in smaller type) by incisive technical analyses of key texts (e.g., a thorough discussion of the nuance of the term "image" of God in Gen 1:26). The document is arranged in four "chapters" or major sections: (1) The Human Being as Created by God (both frail and of the earth but also in the image of God); (2) The Human Being in the Garden (taking up topics of food, work, and relationship with animals); (3) The Human Family (love between husband and wife, between parents and children, and between "brothers and sisters" understood broadly); (4) The Human Being in History (God's commands; human obedience and transgression; God's intervention in history and ultimate salvation in Christ). The opening "chapter," taking its cue from Genesis 1–11, sets the tone for the entire document and...

“RELIGIOUS FEELING” IN THE SHORT NOVEL (POVEST') BY V. F. ODOEVSKY “THE UNSPENT HOUSE”

The article offers an analysis of V. F. Odoevsky's short novel (povest’) “The Unspent House” (1840) in the context of its reflection of the “religious feeling” that was characteristic of writer-encyclopedist V. F. Odoevsky throughout his life. In the “The Unspent House”, which combines the traditions of a romantic short novel (povest’) with elements of fiction, ancient Russian legend, hagiographical texts, apocrypha, spiritual verse, “religious feeling” is manifested not only in the syncretic poetics of the work, where the gospel text sounds most clearly, but also at the level of understanding Christianity as a nationwide “religious feeling” with the most diverse connotations, but with the general meaning of forgiveness, mercy and love. The spiritual poems, whose publication V. F. Odoevsky later actively participated in, were the likely sources of the short novel (povest’). Works of medieval literature (“The Walk of the Virgin in Torment”, “The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn”) may have been the sources of the “legend”; parallels are also found with hagiographic literature. The “religious feeling” of V. F. Odoevsky, as stated in the article, intended to unite different layers of the Russian Christian culture. It asserted “joyful Christianity,” which was characteristic of book culture and oral folk art, and based on the belief in the power of mercy, compassion for sinners and the ultimate salvation of the soul.

The Attitudes of American Jews and Christian Zionists towards Politics of Israel

For Israel maintaining strong relations with Diaspora remains one of the key goals as the Jewish State. American Jewry, American Zionist organizations and Pro-Israel lobbyists have been playing an important role in organizing support and providing assistance for Israel in the US. However, in the XXI century there is a deepening crisis between the Jewish state and American Jewish community, mainly, because of dissatisfaction of Israel’s domestic and foreign policy. Managing the risks of lowering support from the US, that are the most important strategic partners for Jerusalem, Israel has intensified its rapprochement with the US Christian Zionists, who are the most consistent supporters the Jewish state as “the Zionist project”. The Christian Zionist’s interest in Israel is based on the Bible's theological interpretation of the significance of the gathering and preservation of the Jews in Palestine (and then in Israel) for the ultimate salvation of mankind. Despite the controversy of this concept to the core principles of Judaism and Zionism, the significance of their support, primarily political, for Israel is currently increasing.

Promethean struggle: Shelley, Keats, and Norwid in search of rescue in the risky world

The myth of Prometheus sacrificing his freedom to give men authority over a powerful element of nature despite the will of the gods has, in modern times, inspired authors of different languages who kept transforming it according to their views. Both Western and Polish poets of Romanticism favoured the Promethean idea. In their Promethean – or Messianic – visions Mickiewicz and Słowacki emphasized the importance of armed or spiritual struggle for Polandʼs independence against Tsarist Russia, while English language poets praised the individualʼs rebellion in the face of the oppressive society. Cyprian Norwidʼs interpretation of the myth combined the individual and the collective. He saw Prometheus as a craftsman whose gift, fire – ʻteacher of all artsʼ - is a tool for ultimate salvation through Beauty incorporated in mas terpieces. Norwidʼs philosophy is profoundly rooted in Christian soteriology. According to the poet, the revival of both his nation and of the individual is possible only through arduous work, through creative effort understood as cooperation with Christ the saviour in the attainment of salvation leading to both individual and national resurrection.

New Ecumenism in a Discriminatively Divided World

AbstractThis article explores the idea of a new ecumenism as the basis for teaching ecumenism more relevantly and emphatically in the reality of the COVID‐19 pandemic. This new ecumenism is about the symbiosis of the divine family, not simply the unity of the Christian family or the solidarity of the human family. This requires a paradigm shift toward seeking a path with all beings and creatures on Earth in accordance with the will of God – who still works faithfully for the ultimate salvation. Not only are humans created by God, but our fellow creatures are all also partners for salvation. Ecumenism needs to be about sympoiesis, making‐life‐with‐other beings, especially in the Anthropocene epoch, when people are divided not just by race, nation, gender, and class, but also by anthropocentric ways of life. What is needed is not just an eco‐friendly ecumenism but a sympoietic ecumenism, through which we treat every being on this planet as part of our extended family.

The Sin of Heresy: Opposition to Heresy in Augustine’s Confessions

Throughout the Confessions, Augustine repeatedly complains about heresy with a special focus on the heresy he once belonged to, Manicheanism. To those of us who live in a culture in which respectable people rarely, if ever, care about religious orthodoxy to such a degree, these complaints seem rather bizarre. Despite this initial appearance, Augustine presents in the Confessions several plausible reasons for thinking heresy is sinful and, therefore, detrimental to a person’s sanctity and ultimate salvation. In this paper, I argue that Augustine considers heresy sinful because it involves as many as three kinds of idolatry: loving a lie/false conception of God instead of the true God, loving one’s own beliefs more than the Truth, which is God, and loving the worldly praise one receives from developing novel opinions more than God.

Ultimate salvation: feasibility of NOTES for complications of ERCP and endoscopic ultrasound-guided procedures.

Ultimate salvation: feasibility of NOTES for complications of ERCP and endoscopic ultrasound-guided procedures.

Imagining Imperial Futures: Colonization as the Solution for Urban Uncertainty inBattlestar Galactica

In this essay, I argue that the American science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009) reflects uncertainty over survival in the urban present and in the near future, especially how humanity might survive in a closed system with no outside aid or resources. The Colonial Fleet highlights anxieties of contemporary cities driven to the edge of survivability by disaster. Through an examination of the fleet formation throughout the series—and of its survival in the series’ conclusion—I argue that Euro-American colonization provides ultimate salvation, soothing the uncertainty present throughout the series narrative, thus presenting an image of a very certain imperial future.

Wydarzenia czasów ostatecznych w hymnicznych prorocstwach eschatologicznych Księgi Daniela (Dn 12,1-3) i Testamentu Mojżesza (TestMojż 10,1-10)

In the Jewish apocalyptic writings of the Second Temple Period (from 3rd cen- tury BC till 2nd century AD) – and in the latter Christian apocalypses – events of the eschatological times are presented as a sequence of the consecutive events. The ultimate salvation of the righteous and the faithful to God and the establishment of the perfect and everlasting reality (i.e. the kingdom of God) will be preceded by a period of great oppression and the activity of evil powers that would finally be defeated and annihilated by the victorious Divine intervention. This article contains the exegetical analysis of two hymnic eschatological prophecies that are found in the biblical Book of Daniel (12:1–3) and in the apocryphal Testament of Moses (10:1–10). Both hymns date back to the mid-second century BC, that is from the time of crisis which was caused by Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ persecutions of Jews. Both writings were composed in the same social milieu, namely, in the sapiential circles of the priestly origins that focused mostly on being faithful to God, on preserving the purity, and on remaining united with the community of the spiritual world of heaven.

Periodyzacja historii w Księdze Daniela

W Księdze Daniela pojawia się charakterystyczna dla pism apokaliptycznych specyficzna koncepcja historii mająca wymiar uniwersalny, która swoim zasięgiem obejmuje dzieje całego świata. Historia w Księdze Daniela jest ukazana przede wszystkim w aspekcie teologicznym, ponieważ jedynie Bóg jest Panem historii objawiającym w niej swoją królewską władzę, potęgę i majestat, jak również Władcą kontrolującym bieg wydarzeń w dziejach wielkich imperiów ziemskich. Cechą koncepcji historii ukazanej w Księdze Daniela (Dn 2 i 7) jest jej periodyzacja, której podłożem jest tzw. schemat czterech królestw, co wyraża prawdę o tym, że historia zmierza do swego kresu. Dzieje świata są ukazane jako kolejno następujące po sobie imperia ziemskie, z których każde następne jest gorsze od poprzedniego, co uwypukla prawdę o ich stopniowej degradacji moralnej. Z powodu nasilającego się zła, wszystkie ziemskie imperia będą unicestwione, a na ich miejscu zostanie ustanowione przez Boga wieczne i niezniszczalne królestwo. W odmienny sposób periodyzacja historii została ujęta w Dn 9, gdzie w nawiązaniu do chronologii „szabatowej” (Kpł 25-26), historia została podzielona na „siedemdziesiąt tygodni (lat)”, a przy końcu tego okresu nastanie „wieczna sprawiedliwość”, czyli era ostatecznego zbawienia.

Fragmentational Poetics: Staging the Crisis of Oratory in Petrarch's Political Canzoni

Fragmentational Poetics:Staging the Crisis of Oratory in Petrarch's Political Canzoni Joel Salvatore Pastor Petrarch is many things to many people, but one thing on which we generally agree is that he is diffuse. This is especially clear compared with the usual account of Dante as an orthodox and rigorous—one might say, rigid—thinker; in contrast, Petrarch fits neatly into his assigned role as anti-Dante: modern as against medieval, lyric as against epic, relativist as against absolutist. Yet many of Petrarch's apparent self-contradictions can be shown to be purposeful gestures that illuminate the poet's philosophical instability less than his rhetorical sophistication. In what follows, I will apply this principle to the case of Petrarch's political canzoni, suggesting that these three poems compose a kind of narrative within the larger economy of the Rime, a narrative in which the chief point at issue is the ability of the poet-narrator to exercise his putative public function of moral suasion unto virtue. The manner in which he conducts this rhetorical narrative brings him into remarkably close alignment with Dante, and his conclusion, while still partial in the context of the Rime, gestures in a very Dantean direction, implying the exchange of human rhetoric for divine. Let us begin by rehearsing the case for Petrarch's incoherence. To call the Rerum vulgarium fragmenta "fragmentary" is to remark upon the defining feature of the text. It begins by suggesting a narrative in the confessional mode, then systematically refuses to submit to the narrative's demands. Whether in the misleading and obscure chronological relationships between individual poems,1 the instability of the lyric io that reduces potentially sanctifying progress to errancy, or the mere fact that one must stop reading and begin anew some 365 times in order to make it through,2 Petrarch's Rime seem to reject the very possibility of organizing his experience into a cohesive [End Page 59] whole.3 The whole inquiry into Petrarchan material culture bears this out, for what is Wilkins's chronicle of the Canzoniere manuscripts if not a monument to mutability,4 to an author whose greatest literary achievement seems at times the product of a distracted mind, whose every scratch upon the vellum is subject to infinite revision, rewriting, reelaboration? Moreover, the fragmented selfhood expressed in the Canzoniere takes on cosmic implications: as the Classical theorists used the state as a macrocosm for individual virtue, so the spiritual aspirations of which Petrarch's narrator falls short are echoed by a political agenda with a similarly disappointing outcome. Not only the poet, but Christendom itself is reft asunder. This systemic fragmentation marks a productive point of contrast with the inevitable reference for fourteenth-century compositions in the Italian volgare, Dante's Commedia. If Petrarch's "scattered rhymes" are a synecdoche for the irresolvable tensions in his portrayal of the world, Dante's chief concern is to stitch up rents in the political and spiritual fabric of Trecento Europe. To the shattered remnants of the old Imperial Order, he opposes "quella Roma onde Cristo è romano [that Rome of which Christ is a Roman]" (Purg. 32.102);5 to the archetypical divided city of Florence, swift and salutary judgment from on high. On the personal side, Dante sets the example of his own divided and imperfect will against a pageant of death and resurrection, figuring his divine vocation as that of an inspired prophet.6 It is no overstatement to say that Dante's narrative proposes itself as the final answer to the fragmentation of history. The coherence and perfection of the story of the world are inscribed upon his title page and reflected in the seamless undulation of his chosen meter: seen from eternity, even the tragedy of history becomes a felix culpa. And this turn from discord to harmony that so characterizes Dante's art seems in Petrarch's altogether lacking. Petrarch's tendency toward programmatic incoherence comes into clear focus when we consider the fraught soteriology of his Rime. Whereas Dante's composition takes the pilgrim's ultimate salvation as a narrative presupposition—having returned from his journey, the redeemed poet-pilgrim narrates it to us in the...

Ojcostwo duchowe w myśli patrystycznej – zarys zagadnienia

W Biblii oraz w pierwotnej tradycji chrześcijańskiej (I–III wiek) nie spotykamy opisów praktycznego prowadzenia duchowego. Jako ćwiczenie duchowe ojcostwo duchowe powstało dopiero w IV wieku wśród mnichów egipskich. Celem podstawowym tej praktyki było znalezienie sposobu na własne zbawienie, zaś celami doraźnymi były: dojście do dojrzałości chrześcijańskiej, przejawiającej się w duchu rozeznania siebie, osiągnięcie kontemplacji, wewnętrznego spokoju i apathei. Wiodącym wątkiem formacyjnym w ojcostwie duchowym u omawianych mnichów było dzielenie się osobistymi przeżyciami duchowymi, szczególnie istotna była zaś praktyka wyjawiania swych myśli.

로마서에 나타난 바울의 선교사상 연구

This study aims to investigate Paul’s missiological understanding mainly about God’s salvific plan for all Israel in Romans. Among Pauline epistles Romans gives us a controversial issue in terms of God’s salvation of all Israel. For example, the first eight chapters of Romans (1-8) emphasized justification by faith in Jesus Christ by highlighting all could be saved in Christ Jesus. However, the remaining chapters (9-11) did not deal with Jesus Christ or faith considering the salvation of all Israel. Rather, Paul not only stressed God’s covenant but also confirmed that “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). In this respect, many scholars wonder whether Paul believed that all Jews could be saved not by faith in Jesus Christ but by God’s mystical salvific way. For Paul, the more Gentiles believe in Jesus, the sooner the Jews will be saved. Thus, Paul always linked the salvation of Gentiles with the ultimate salvation of Jews. As a Jew, in order to participate in God’s mystical salvation plan for all Israel, Paul wanted to become a Gentile apostle. This idea leads us the following missiological questions such as “Must Christians try to evangelize Jewish people?” and “Can we preach Romans 9-11 for both Jews and Gentiles?”

Identity Politics, Class Politics, Spiritual Politics: The Need for a More Universalist Vision

Identity Politics, Class Politics, Spiritual Politics: The Need for a More Universalist Vision

Physical and/or Spiritual Exclusion? Ecclesial Discipline in 1 Corinthians 5

When Paul asks for the incestuous man at Corinth to be handed over to Satan is he calling for mere physical expulsion from the community or is he calling for something more? We argue in this paper that the nature of the man's offense—i.e., an ostentatious display of sexual immorality that also receives theological justification from the perpetrator—demanded a harsher sentence beyond mere physical exclusion. Drawing on the book of Job, we show that the disciplinary practice Paul advocates in 1 Corinthians 5 is a spiritual practice that aims to remove the spiritual protection enjoyed by the incestuous man while he remained in the body of Christ, thereby exposing him to Satan's attacks. Paul's hope was that the affliction suffered by the man at the hands of Satan as a result of this exposure would lead to his repentance and ultimate salvation.