At the beginning of the twenty-first century, based on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the prophet Trotsky’s forecast, critique of his visions of science, technology and environment have emerged. The article revisits four approaches: the green socioliberal of Sandy Irvine, the neo-luddite of Paul R. Josephson, the ecosocialist of Daniel Tanuro, John Foster and Enzo Traverso. Finally, the collapsologist by Miguel Fuentes Muñoz. At the end, a Marxist reply to their prophet's views is made with four hypotheses and a (...) conclusion about the contemporary STS heritage of Trotsky's historical materialism. Keywords Leon Trotsky – STS – environmental critique – historical materialism – prophet controversy – heritage. (shrink)

In this monologue the dying Jeito comes out as a prophet and shares things revealed to him.

Interreligious and intercultural dialogue is supposed to be the best way to solve the conflicts arising from rival religious hermeneutics and different modes to conceive the ideal of a good life in contemporary multicultural and pluralistic societies. In regard to communicative or dialogical reason, respectful coexistence can be reached only by argumentative communication between interested people. In this sense, only rational arguments, strong enough to pass the test of the shared rationality can be valid at a discursive level. However, Jewish (...) philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and Catholic theologian Johann Baptist Metz challenge the symmetrical and rational-based dialogue in order to postulate an asymmetrical relation by giving voice to the other. For them, the core of interreligious and intercultural engagement does not start from rational agreements as Habermas, for instance, has proposed; but from prophetic and anamnestic reasons. (shrink)

This article aims to provide an a priori argument—termed the Flourishment Argument, for the veracity of the Christian conception of the Abrahamic religion that centres on God’s action of sending a divine and atoning prophet into the world. This specific informal argument will be presented through the formulation of a set of a priori reasons for why God would seek to interact with the world—developed in light of the work of Richard Swinburne, John Finnis, Linda Zagzebski and Alexander Pruss—which, in (...) combination, will provide individuals with grounds for believing in the veracity of these important Christian teachings. (shrink)

Review of Jesse Norman, "Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician, Prophet" (William Collins, 2013).

(1996). What the prophet and the philosopher told their nations: A multi‐modal systems view of norms and civilisation. World Futures: Vol. 47, Unity and Diversity in Contemporary Systems Tinking: Systematic Pictures at an Exhibition, pp. 53-67.

This was printed in the Catholic Herald, Kolkata, the mouthpiece of the Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta.

Prophet (pbuh) has given notice that the Salah [prayer] is the first deed in which the Muslim servant will be brought to account on the Day of Judgement. The Prophet (pbuh) also informed that if the believer’s obligatory (fardh) prayers are lacking this will be made up from voluntary (nawafil) prayers and that the servant comes close to Allah by fulfilling obligatories and continues to draw near to him with voluntary deeds. One of nawafil is the prayer which is performed (...) before and after the obligatory Friday prayer. When we examine the Prophetic narrations about those prayers -which is also called the first and the second sunnah- and their authenticity, we witness that the Prophet (pbuh) performed prayers in differing raka’ah numbers after the obligatory Friday prayer and urged to it, but there is no authentic and clear traditon indicating that He (pbuh) perfomed any prayer before it. However, by taking into account some general statements of Prophet (pbuh), some weak narrations and some practices of companions it has been said that the Friday prayer has a sunnah before it and moreover it is a Sunnah Muakkadah (stressed sunnah) which is performed in two or four raka’ahs. This article aims to present the narrations about whether the Prophet (pbuh) and companions used to perform any prayers before and after the obligatory Juma’ prayer and their number of raka’s, to determine their authenticity and to evaluate them by reporting the comments about them. (shrink)

Book Name MUHAMMAD: A PROPHET FOR OUR TIME Review written by Mr Kashif Iqbal.

This article aims to provide an a posteriori argument for the veracity of the Christian conception of the Abrahamic religion that centres on God’s action of sending a divine and atoning prophet—the ‘Messianic Prophet’—into the world, who we can identify as the person of Jesus of Nazareth. This specific argument will be presented through Richard Swinburne’s (modified) explanatory framework, which focuses on assessing the prior and posterior evidence in support of this identification. This, however, will be done in light of (...) the work of Historical Jesus and NT scholars John P. Meier, N.T. Wright, Richard Bauckham and Larry Hurtado—which, in combination, will provide a means to ward off two important objections against Swinburne's methodology, and ultimately allow one to establish the veracity of the ‘Christian Position’, on firm historical grounds. (shrink)

Death which is inevitably for every mortal is a sadness for those who are left behind is the cause of sırrrow. While some people reflect this sadness out-word as a tear some of them rebel against this through and cry out. -/- Some of them are traditionally reguired or lamenting as showy. For this reason it is inevitable to reveal the Position of the head of the head In İslam and the fact that it is not permissible to narrate it. (...) As a result of person who dies after A person who dies and sheds tears and silent or vocal crying like the lgnorant. -/- It’s not possible to say that, Permissible to cry after And that person sheds tears and tears. Because this situation is the essence of creation and work of mercy. The prophet Muhammad and Omar (d. 23/644), Fatima (d. 11/632), Ibn Mes’ud (d. 32/652-53), Ibn Omar (d. 73/692) Arecrying because of the death of their loved ones. However it’s understood that It’s not permissible to say the merits and beauty of the person who died from the narrations and to call the shocks of shouting and shouting. And it seen that, If a dead person is crying like that and affect and contribution of the dead person in it, He will see the punishment. This article aims to present to rumors that the prophet and some of companions had cried to their death relatives cried and cried forbidden behaviors and interpret and comment on the narrations about the punishment of the dead by the cry of alive and reveal the permissible and non-pemissible behaviors and forms of crying. (shrink)

My paper is divided into three parts. In the first two parts, I intend to briefly explore three things Michael Polanyi got wrong followed by three things that Polanyi got right. In the final section, I will show how some sectors of contemporary microbiology are finding mechanisms that guide evolutionary development—just as Polanyi expected they would. Despite limitations, therefore, I shall conclude that Polanyi’s surmise that there are philogenetic forces guiding evolution has the prospect of being embraced by modern science.

In this paper we will discuss about Old Testament and New Testament Prophecies of Prophet Muhammad.

This article aims to show that although the apostle Paul did not call himself a prophet, still makes his presentation in his letters in the same way that the Old Testament prophets. The article points out the many similarities between Paul and the prophets. It seeks to analyze and interact with Scripture and literature concerning the matter.We conclude that the Apostle founded the authority of his call, highlighting the prophetic aspect of his apostolate. It is evident that the Apostle (...) had a awareness of the prophetic character of his person, mission and message. It is called and sent directly by God, records the Scripture inspired by the Spirit and has a fruitful ministry of preaching and teaching. (shrink)

Three of the chief questions this essay addresses are: 1. What justifies considering Hegel and Maimonides together in a probe of the philosophical psychology of prophetic intelligence? 2. What bearing does intellectual intuition as Hegel and Maimonides understand it have on prophecy approached from this standpoint? 3. How does the relation between intelligence and intuition and prophecy, when explored in light of the answer to the first two questions, deepen our contemporary understanding of prophecy in ways that are both (...) philosophically and religiously significant? (shrink)

Abstract This article delves into the study of the term «tark-i awlà» (abandoning performance of that which is better and doing that which is less than better) as an approach for defending the infallibility of the prophets when confronting verses from the Holy Qur‘ān that apparently prove the prophets committed sins; and after going into the semantics of «tark-i awlà», the following question has been made the focus of discussion and study: are the intellectual arguments proving the infalliblity of the (...) Prophets in agreement with the fact that the prophets committed tark-i awlà? According to the author, considering that tark-i awlà is a type of error and lapse and because the intellectual arguments for infallibility (like the trust and certitude of the people, the guiding purpose of prophet hood, the necessity of following the prophets, the principle of luṭf (grace) and absence of disinclination in the hearts of the people towards the prophets) necessitate the negation of all types of errors and lapses from the prophets, the prophets must be infallible from tark-i awlà too and this approach by Islamic theologians in justifying the verses that indicate the committing of sins by the prophets is not successful. Accepting the committing of tark-i awlà by the prophets is to accept that they committed errors and is against the belief of the Shi‘a regarding the infallibility of the prophets. As a result, Shi‘a theology will face a great challenge in justifying the verses that indicate the committing of errors and lapses by the Prophets which, according to the author, necessitates a revision of the Shi‘a theological belief in regards to the absolute infallibility of the prophets. (shrink)

In Nietzsche and Sociology: Prophet of Affirmation, Anas Karzai attempts to revive and defend the thesis that there is a crucial yet neglected connection between Nietzsche and sociology. In particular, Karzai’s book discusses the relevance of Nietzsche’s critical reflections on society and culture to modern sociological theory, which descends from Kant and Comte through Marx and Engels to Durkheim and Weber. The book has a critical agenda as well. By making use of Nietzsche’s insights into society, culture, and politics, Karzai (...) hopes to expose how modern sociological theory retains many of the assumptions and approaches that gained a foothold during the reign of orthodox positivism of the 19th century, which reflect traditional sociology’s stubborn preoccupation with the issues of social order and moral integration. -/- . (shrink)

The Jinn, which is regarded as the third kind of entity apart from the angel and the human being, has been the subject matter of several separate works written by both Muslims and non-Muslims in the past and present. In short, such works deal with the nature of jinns and their characteristics, and they cover matters such as the beliefs about jinns in several religions and cultures and their relationship with human beings. Apart from the fact that the primary source (...) of Islam, namely, the Quran, has a separate chapter called al-Jinn (The Jinn) /72, it provides information about jinns in many verses in several other chapters. Traditions also provide plenty of information about jinns. One example of such information is on the question whether the Holy Prophet have met with jinns. A study of the traditions on this matter reveals the fact that there are ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) traditions that appear to be in conflict with each other and/or with some of the verses in the Quran. In this paper, we have analyzed and evaluated the relevant traditions in order to reconcile these contradictions, thus we aimed to clarify the matter. The question on whether the Holy Prophet met with jinns is often discussed within the context of narrations coming from Ibn al-Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās. While the traditions coming from Ibn al-Masʿūd indicate that the Prophet met with jinns, a tradition narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās says the opposite. In the present work, we have analyzed the outwardly conflicting traditions narrated by both companions along with traditions narrated by other companions on this matter in the light of the chronology of the revelation of the Quran. As a result, we have concluded that the Holy Prophet have met with jinns as narrated by Ibn al-Masʿūd and that the report narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās was about the first years of Islam. (shrink)

Just like letters that go together in a word, there are soulmates who came in the symbolic “Be.” Spiritual partnership found in soulmates are far from foreign to Islam: to the contrary The Quran and Prophetic Tradition are replete with them. The need for heart based self-study and self-discovery beyond (including but not limited to) family of origin, into the Muslim meta-history is evident in the erasure of this truth from mainstream narrative. When applied with intellect The Quran and (...) Prophetic Tradition stand well on their own for depth in understanding relationships. Guidance from the Quran and Prophetic Tradition simultaneously make connections to the perennial wisdom of all faiths and spirituality of the Prophetic inclination to love and the Divine Reality of simply being. (shrink)

The wisdom of the prophets in Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fuṣūṣ al-Hikam is deeply concerned with discovering how the prophets who are taken up in each chapter exemplify different facets of the deeper spiritual process of the divine-human relation. This article examines two particular fass and wisdom of Hūd and Muhammad. The wisdom of Hud represents knowledge through the feet” (ilm al-rijl), the knowledge that can only come through actually traveling through all the tests and lessons of the earthly human existence or (...) sulūk, while the wisdom of Muhammad defines the role of love and its multiple layers. Both are seen to be a spiritual intelligence of the prophets. Spiritual Intelligence empowers people to deal with and resolve life-world issues while demonstrating virtuous behavior such as humility, compassion, gratitude, and wisdom. For Ibn ‘Arabī, spiritual intelligence is about discovering intrinsic distinctions between truth and illusion, and spiritual discernment is all about. Finally, through his particular work, Ibn ‘Arabī highlights and assumes a recurrent progression from habitual conditioning that humans usually encounter to a greater depth and breadth of consciousness. (shrink)

Hermann Cohen agreed with Immanuel Kant that ethics must be directed towards the well-being of humanity. The essential feature of this is its universality. As Cohen saw it, progress was (or at least ought to be) moving towards universal suffrage and democratic socialism. Following Kant, Cohen defended the so-called categorical imperative; that we should treat humanity in other persons always as an end and never as a means only. (Kant’s famous definition of the categorical imperative is to “act only according (...) to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.”). (shrink)

Scientific attitude represents a spirit of critical and creative inquiry. It involves the process of logical reasoning. The ability to think objectively, logically and analytically leads to the development of a scientific attitude. It is a way of looking at things, the capacity that rids an individual of all kinds of prejudice and to look at the object in its entirety and its objectivity. Having a scientific attitude consists of being willing to accept only carefully and objectively verified facts. Scientific (...) attitude is a particular way of regarding something, using a scientific method. Scientific methodology is defined as a mode of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data gathered, a hypothesis formulated and then empirically tested. Guru Nanak not only propounded a rational and logical way of life but a realistic and optimistic worldview. The teachings of Guru Nanak focus on the search for truth and spiritual knowledge, keen observation of worldly phenomena, advocacy of universal egalitarianism, exposing taboos and shams, debunking futile rituals, confronting vain practices, censuring dogmas, challenging superstitious customs and denouncing stereotypes. Viewed in this light, Guru Nanak’s life was a continuous process of scientific experimentation and statement. Guru Nanak’s life and writings are rich in several such examples wherein his scientific approach to resolve several real-life situations with logic and rationality is evident. (shrink)

This is an elaboration and a critique of Ibn Arabi's cosmology written in his book "Shajarah Al-Kawn".

This essay responds to four critical essays by Rosemary Kellison, Ebrahim Moosa, Joseph Winters, and Martin Kavka on the author’s recent book, Healthy Conflict in Contemporary American Society: From Enemy to Adversary (Cambridge, 2018). Parts I and II work in tandem to further develop my accounts of strategic empathy and agonistic political friendship. I defend against criticisms that my argument for moral imagination obligates oppressed people to empathize with their oppressors. I argue, further, that healthy conflict can be motivated by (...) a kind of “secular” love. This enables my position to immanently criticize and mediate the claims that one must either love (agapically) one’s opponent in order to engage them in “healthy conflict,” on one hand, or that one must vanquish, exclude, or “cancel” one’s opponent, on the other. In Part III, I demonstrate how my account mediates the challenge of an alleged standing opposition between moral imagination and socio-theoretical critique. I defend a methodologically pragmatist account of immanent prophetic criticism, resistance, and conflict transformation. Finally, I respond to one critic’s vindication of a strong enemy/adversary opposition that takes up the case of white supremacist violence in the U.S. I argue that the time horizon for healthy conflict must be simultaneously immediate and also long-term, provided that such engagements remain socio-critically self-reflexive and seek to cultivate transformational responses. (shrink)

The intent of this article is to discredit the much used concept (often unstated) of virtuous violence. To begin with, it is a paradox hence in need of not easily achieved justification. Here author's critique focuses on the political myth of prophetic righteousness, the ethical myth of a common good, and the myth of the infinite, which is utilized all too often to bypass finite systems. (Article sharply criticized when first presented to a faculty group.).

: This article aims to show that although the apostle Paul did not call himself a prophet, still makes his presentation in his letters in the same way that the Old Testament prophets. The article points out the many similarities between Paul and the prophets. It seeks to analyze and interact with Scripture and literature concerning the matter.We conclude that the Apostle founded the authority of his call, highlighting the prophetic aspect of his apostolate. It is evident that the (...) Apostle had a awareness of the prophetic character of his person, mission and message. It is called and sent directly by God, records the Scripture inspired by the Spirit and has a fruitful ministry of preaching and teaching. Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar que embora o apóstolo Paulo não chame a si mesmo de profeta, ainda assim faz sua apresentação em suas cartas nos mesmos moldes que os profetas do Antigo Testamento. O artigo aponta as várias semelhanças entre Paulo e os profetas. Procura-se fazer uma análise e interação com a Escritura bem como literatura pertinente ao tema. Conclui-se que o Apóstolo fundamenta a autoridade de seu chamado, destacando o aspecto profético de seu apostolado. Evidencia-se que o Apóstolo possuía uma consciência do caráter profético de sua pessoa, missão e mensagem. É chamado e enviado diretamente por Deus, registra a Escritura de maneira inspirada pelo Espírito e tem um profícuo ministério de pregação e ensino. (shrink)

The article concerns the distinction between a "plea of religion" and a religion revealed to the prophets, described in Spinoza's A Theologico-Political Treatise. The "plea of religion" was created as a result of acceptance of the roles of the employer and leader of Israel by Moses and was next consolidatetd as a way of experiencing the sacrum in the Judeo-Christianity.

This aims to be a prophetic book. In his previous work from 1998, Tom Beaudoin had begun articulating, on behalf of his own generation, a quest that reflected GenXers' irreverence toward social institutions, which have typically failed to address the spiritual dimensions of their own experience. Beaudoin began to notice that many of his own cohort were getting lost in hyperspace, collapsing their real identity into a virtual artifice. Since then, in the age of internet and Instagram, this has (...) only been magnified for GenY and GenZ (etc), and nowadays this makes Beaudoin’s worries seem as poignant as the prophet Jeremiah’s. One of Beaudoin’s challenge, which he only began to address in this book, has been how to articulate a prophetic voice without lapsing into a moralizing posture which, for his demoralized young audience, would surely de-authenticate it. (shrink)

New methods for reading and understanding the religious sources have been applied along with the modern period. Some issues, that have already gained a certain shape in the classical period, have been discussed again as a result of the application of new methods and thus a number of conclusions which exceed the boundaries framed by Ijma (consensus of the Ummah) were reached. In the course of time, these discussions were not limited to transactions [al-Mu`amalat] but also expanded to worship (al-'Ibadah) (...) and faith (al-aqāʾid) issues. One of these debate topics is the issue whether it is mandatory for the Jews and Christians (Ahl al-Kitāb) to believe in and follow prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the last holy book al-Quran to be on the straight path and to reach salvation. The detection and analysis of these historical breaking points in the modern period is of importance. To analyse these breaking points in the interpretation of the verses, two tafseers which reflect the traditional method and understanding (at-Tibyan and Bilmen’s Tafseer) are compared with two other tafseers (Çağdaş Tefsir and Kuran Yolu) which are written in the last 40 years period. (shrink)

Unlike many prophets and visionaries Swedenborg was a thorough theoretical thinker. This paper comment his experiences and theoretical point of view about the space of the visions.

During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the French philosopher Henri Bergson became an international celebrity, profoundly influencing contemporary intellectual and artistic currents. While Bergsonism was fashionable, L. Susan Stebbing, Bertrand Russell, Moritz Schlick, and Rudolf Carnap launched different critical attacks against some of Bergson’s views. This book examines this series of critical responses to Bergsonism early in the history of analytic philosophy. Analytic criticisms of Bergsonism were influenced by William James, who saw Bergson as an ‘anti-intellectualist’ ally of (...) American Pragmatism, and Max Scheler, who saw him as a prophet of Lebensphilosophie. Some of the main analytic objections to Bergson are answered in the work of Karin Costelloe-Stephen. Analytic anti-Bergsonism accompanied the earlier refutations of idealism by Russell and Moore, and later influenced the Vienna Circle’s critique of metaphysics. It eventually contributed to the formation of the view that ‘analytic’ philosophy is divided from its ‘continental’ counterpart. (shrink)

The controversy that accompanied the publication and reprinting of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed as part of a 2005 editorial in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has been widely interpreted as yet another illustration of an ineliminable tension between multiculturalism and liberalism. Such an interpretation would have us believe that what is at issue in defending the cartoons is our commitment to civil liberties as a mainstay of liberal democracy. But is this really what is at issue? A closer examination suggests (...) that what is actually being defended in this case is not civil liberty but civil privilege. In particular, what is at issue is the privilege to exclude and define Muslims. (shrink)

The Iranian prophet and reformer Zarathustra (Greek: Zoroaster) founded his religion in the 6th Century BC. In a series of visions he was taken up to Heaven and Ahura Mazda - creator of all that is good - charged him with enlisting Humanity in the fight against Aura Mainyu - the principle of chaos and destruction - offering Mankind a free choice between Good and Evil. It is hard to overstate the importance of Zoroastrianism. According to Professor of Iranian Studies (...) Dr Mary Boyce: "It was the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general Last Judgment, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body." 'The Teachings of Zoroaster' is an excellent introduction to this little-known and often misunderstood religion, giving Zoroastrianism its rightful place as the precursor of many Christian, Judaic and Islamic beliefs. (shrink)

The affection of the Prophet by the ummah (belivers) contributed to keep his words on the agenda so that various formations had emerged. these formations displayed themselves especially in the field of literature. Specifically, variety in the forty hadith literature can be example of this. New‘î who was the literary man and professor of Ottoman’s in the 16. Century and produced the Works of İslamic Science and literature. In this study, the work of New‘î which is about the forty hadith (...) written in poetic has diffused and it is tried to give information about the index of that work. Also, translations and the classic sources of the hadith which given in the work are shown in tabuler form. In addition to this, the author and his Works have tried to explain with some previously unknown topics. Lastly, it has been tried to correct misplaced issues. (shrink)

Consonant with the ongoing “aesthetic turn” in legal scholarship, this article pursues a new conception of law as poetry. Gestures in this law-as-poetry direction appear in all three main schools in the philosophy of law’s history, as follows. First, natural law sees law as divinely-inspired prophetic poetry. Second, positive law sees the law as a creative human positing (from poetry’s poesis). And third, critical legal theory sees these posited laws as calcified prose prisons, vulnerable to poetic liberation. My first (...) two sections interpret two texts at the intersections among these three theories, namely Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Defense of Poetry” and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Shelley identifies a poetic rebirth in the ruins of natural law, suggesting a philosophy of law as “natural poesis.” And Tocqueville names several figurative aristocracies capable of redeploying aristocratic law against democratic despotism, suggesting a philosophy of law as “aristo-poetic counterforce.” Finally, I propose a new theory of law as poetry bridging these two theories, “natural aristo-poetic counterforce.”. (shrink)

Abū Bakr Muḥammad bin Zakariyya’ al-Rāzī (865–925) is generally known as a freethinker who argued against prophecy and revealed religion based on arguments from fairness of God and rationality. Recently some scholars argued that Razi was not as radical as the general interpretation takes him to be. Both the freethinker and conservative interpretations seem well supported based on difference bodies of evidence. However, the evidence is based on secondhand reports. In this paper I argue there is an interpretation of prophecy (...) which is supported by primary sources and can reconcile these putatively contradictory positions. Under my interpretation Razi allows for prophecy based on the rationality of moral deference in certain circumstances. In this picture one function of prophets is to act as moral experts for deference. This interpretation provides a synthesis of the freethinker and conservative views. Razi is conservative in having room for prophecy because of his dualist nature of humanity, and Razi is still a freethinker who values reason above all, because moral expertise requires excellent command of reason. (shrink)

This article deals with the action of the Divine Word in the history of salvation by studying the Lectura super Ioannem. The Divine Word expresses perfectly the essence of God by way of intellect. When the Father intends to manifest Himself ad extra, He speaks through His Word. Creatures represent a very imperfect likeness of God. In the prophetic word the Son speaks with human words; however, the only voice entirely united to the Divine Word is the humanity of (...) Jesus. Christ, especially in His paschal mystery, constitutes the culmination of God’s revelation. Even in the beatific vision, the Word will be the mediator of our knowledge of the Father. (shrink)

Peter Harrison explains the disappearance of symbolic meanings of animals from seventeenth-century works in natural history through what he calls the “literalist mentality of the reformers.” By contrast, the present article argues in favor of a different understanding of the connection between hermeneutics and Protestant natural history. Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Brenz, Johannes Oecolampadius, and Jean Calvin continued to assign moral meanings to natural particulars, and moral interpretations can still be found in the writings of Protestant naturalists such as (...) Conrad Gesner, Caspar Heldelinus, Jeremias Wilde, Thomas Penny, and Thomas Moffett. If there are differences between Protestant and Catholic interpretations of animals, then these differences derive from the reformer’s greater insistence on providing textual support for assigning symbolic meanings, their resulting greater reluctance in assigning prophetic meanings to animals, and their elimination of spiritual interpretations of animals that are in tension with central tenets of Protestant theology. These differences in hermeneutics and theology may explain some of the divergences between the symbolic interpretations of animals proposed by Protestant natural historians and their Catholic colleague, Ulisse Aldrovandi. (shrink)

Michael Wendeler’s disputation on the Turkish republic is a discussion of Ottoman history, political philosophy, and the concept of monarchy and tyranny. Half of his disputation concerns the identification of the Turks with the little horn which arises on the head of the fourth beast in the prophet’s vision described in the Book of Daniel 7:1–28. Giving copious historical references, Wendeler explains that this little horn cannot be referring to Christ as the Jews believe, nor to the Seleucid monarch Antiochos (...) Epiphanes as the Calvinists believe. Nor can it be identifed with the Antichrist as the Catholics believe. Wendeler puts forth a detailed argument that the little horn on the fourth beast in the prophecy of Daniel can only be identified with the Turkish monarch (Ottoman Sultan). In conclusion, Wendeler draws a parallel between the monstrous ‘little horn’—the tyrannical Turkish monarchy—and the tyranny of the Catholic Church, exemplified by the untrustworthy Pope and the satanic writings of the Catholic Machiavelli. (shrink)

This paper introduces and discusses three models of future: a determinist model, a stochastic model, and the model of True Prophetic Knowledge. All three models coexist in natural languages and are represented both in their grammatical systems and in the text-building discourse strategies speakers and authors apply to.

American poet Ezra Pound wrote a letter on February 6, 1940, inviting American philosopher George Santayana to join poet T. S. Eliot and himself in writing “a volume . . . on the Ideal University, or The Proper Curriculum, or how it would be possible to educate and/or (mostly or) civilize the university student.” Santayana declined the invitation and claimed to have no ideas on the subject of education. Participation would have been morally impossible, he wrote, because unlike Pound and (...) Eliot, whom he regarded as “reformers, full of prophetic zeal and faith in the Advent of the Lord.” Santayana was “cynically content to let people educate or neglect themselves as they may prefer.”. (shrink)

The Syncretism, specific of old and new religious currents, is a phenomenon closely linked to millenarian movements and the emergence of so-called prophets that say that transmit divine messages being dependent at the same time, important social changes, economic political and, not least, religious. In the history of religions, syncretism is determined by several factors, among which are the changes in social, political, economic, and new philosophical and religious synthesis, the term acquiring a cosmopolitan sense. Syncretism occurs when two or (...) more social groups with different religions, contact, assimilating their members and various other religious characteristics specific groups and, for the most part, are foreign to their own beliefs. Religious syncretism has grown particularly intense during the first four centuries of the Christian era, but its traces can envision more or less pronounced in all religious history of humanity, with respect to the merger of two or more deities or acceptance of new forms and often contradictory in different parts of religious worship of pagan deities specifically different. (shrink)

The topic of the paper is the role of assensus, and consequently of divine and human will, in Walter Chatton’s theory of prophecy (Reportatio super Sententias I, dd. 39-41). Starting from the question “how God knows the future contingents?”, the first step will be to consider Chatton’s analysis of Scotus’s voluntarism in the light of the concept of divine assensus, meaning as a model for the prophet’s will and, more generally, for the human wills. The paper will then focus on (...) the role of assensus in the act whereby which a truth is being revealed to the prophet; it is described as a sort of “induced” assent, where the will is bypassed and so, paradoxically, “unwilling”. Finally, the role of the will returns to be crucial on a third level, namely the viator’s assent to the prophetic statements, where assensus makes freedom of will possible, consistent with the divine foreknowledge, avoiding the danger of deterministic consequences. (shrink)

Critics often suggest that Socrates’ portrait of the philosopher’s inspired madness in his second speech in Plato’s Phaedrus is incompatible with the other types of divine madness outlined in the same speech, namely poetic, prophetic, and purificatory madness. This incompatibility is frequently taken to show that Socrates’ characterisation of philosophers as mad is disingenuous or misleading in some way. While philosophical madness and the other types of divine madness are distinguished by the non-philosophical crowd’s different interpretations of them, I (...) aim to show that they are not, in fact, presented as incompatible. Socrates’ pair of speeches demonstrates that madness can be divided into harmful and beneficial kinds, and in Socrates’ key discussion of philosophical madness (249c4-e4), I argue that the crowd correctly recognises that the philosopher is mad on the basis of his eccentricity, but wrongly assumes that the philosopher’s madness is of the harmful type because it fails to realise that the philosopher is enthused. Socrates’ second speech provides information about human souls and gods which shows that philosophical madness belongs to the beneficial type and so falls under the heading of divine enthusiasm after all. Importantly, human souls and gods are shown in the speech to be roughly isomorphic. Both philosophical and other kinds of divine madness involve having something divine inside a human body (entheos): in the former a human soul has become godlike; in the latter a human soul has been displaced by a god. Because of this, I propose that philosophy is presented as a genuine form of divine madness alongside the other more conventional examples. (shrink)

The existence of a daco-roman Christianity in the carpato-danubiano-pontic areal is confirmed not only by the historians, but also by the Romanian theologians and philosophers. Inspired by the Scripture’s letter and by the teachings of the Holy Fathers, most of them developed this link in the purpose of argumentation of a “Romanian dimension of the existence”. From Nae Ionescu, Crainic, to Vulcănescu, Cioran, Ţuţea, and then Ioan Gh. Savin, Dumitru Stăniloae, I.G. Coman or Nestor Vornicescu, the entire Romanian cultural elite (...) makes a very important confession about the Christian foundation of the Romanian existence. With the help of a theological and spiritual heritage, therefore enforced by daco-roman specific, the work of these illuminated people of our nation determinates “the eternal Romanian icon of understanding the world”, finishing in the end with the confessing of “a Romanian dimension of existence”. In their kind of thinking, these “prophets of Romanian nation” “the skyline of Romanian world lays down from ordinary as far as legend, from here to beyond, from presence to absence, from then till now, from now as far as eternity, with an entire variety of Romanian modulation of nature, like Constantin Noica named them in his Romanian Feeling of Essence. And among these worlds, the passing through comes senseless, in an organic way; through a custom, but custom like place of passing through, not like a forbiddance, personally integrated in the existence like a step, not like threshold. All these words: beyond, absence, eternity are for the Romanian people qualities of his own nature”. (shrink)

The German text of Cohen’s Spinoza on State & Religion, Judaism & Christianity (Spinoza über Staat und Religion, Judentum und Christentum) first appeared in 1915 in the Jahrbuch für jüdische Geschichte und Literatur. Two years before, in the winter of 1913, Cohen taught a class and a seminar on Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. This was Cohen’s first semester at the Hochschule, after retiring from more than thirty years of teaching at the University of (...) Marburg. Cohen’s fame at the time was at its zenith, and his move to the Hochschule was a cause for celebration and excitement. According to the testimony of some students who attended the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus seminar, Cohen left no place for any expression of dissent (regrettably, the academy frequently encourages such authoritarian behavior). The text of Spinoza on State, which was the product of this seminar, still bears the marks of this “didactic” attitude. It is bombastic and feebly argued. Thus, in one moment of emotional crescendo in the text, we can literally hear Cohen shout: When Spinoza, with merciless severity, makes his own nation the object of contempt – at the time that Rembrandt lived on the same street and immortalized the ideal type of the Jew - no voices rises in protest against this humanly incomprehensible betrayal. Such patriotic rhetoric is quite typical of Cohen’s Spinoza on State, as the work reads more like a series of rants against the devil incarnated (“the demonic spirit of Spinoza”) in the figure of the traitor from Amsterdam than like a sustained and serious philosophical polemic. From time to time, one can observe hints of critical arguments, but hardly any are fleshed out. The text is also replete with rudimentary factual and interpretative errors. Thus, when Cohen argues that Spinoza traces his pantheism to Jewish sources, Cohen erroneously cites Spinoza’s reference in E2p7s to “some of the Hebrews [quidam Hebraeorum]” who argued for the identity of Sekhel, Maskil, and Muskal (the Intellect, the Intellecting Subject, and the Intellected Object) – a Maimonidean doctrine that has nothing to do with pantheism – while the text Cohen clearly had in mind was Spinoza’s claim, in Letter 73, that the traditions (traditionibus) of the “ancient Hebrews [antiquis Hebraeis]” agree with Spinoza’s claim that “all things are in God.” Similarly, and on the very same page, Cohen ascribes to Spinoza the claim that “the God of the Old Testament is only a body,” a claim which is nowhere to be found in Spinoza’s works, and which can be inferred from Spinoza’s text only through a patent fallacy. If I may add one last example, consider the following passage from Cohen’s Spinoza on State: [For Spinoza] divine law is grounded in our mind. Yet this does not mean that our mind bears responsibility for producing and obeying the law. Instead, it means that, by definition, the human mind and God are identical, inasmuch as He exists in the human mind. Hardly any claim in this brief passage is correct. Yet, what is most striking is Cohen’s derivation of the identity of God and the human mind from the claim that God exists in the human mind. If I exist in North America, this obviously does not imply that I am identical to North America (there are, for example, a couple of North American porcupines and alligators that are distinct from me). What rule of inference Cohen sought to employ in this argument, and how this impressive inference of the identity of God and the human mind is supposed to square with Cohen’s view of Spinoza as a pantheist – i.e., as considering the physical nature to be divine – is beyond my grasp. Instead of tracking down the dozens of crude errors and fallacies in Cohen’s text, I would like to concentrate here on one crucial issue: Cohen’s critique of Spinoza’s pantheism. By doing this, I will have to pass silently over a couple of surprising agreements between the two figures, such as the (false) claim that all of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible taught the same universal and simple morality. My discussion of pantheism will be divided into two sections. In the first, I will examine Cohen’s understanding of Spinoza’s pantheism. In the second, I will briefly examine the historical validity of Cohen’s claim that pantheism is a Christian doctrine, diametrically opposed to Judaism. (shrink)

Jason Springs’s Healthy Conflict in Contemporary American Society is a masterful attempt to practice productive conflict and democratic dialogue in the face of static antagonisms and deep‐seated divisions. In my response, I underscore Springs’s insistence on mediating between the moral imagination of Richard Rorty and the prophetic critique of Cornel West. For the author of Healthy Conflict, any hope in the survival of democracy relies on balancing critique of domination with constructive proposals for a more just and equitable world. (...) On the one hand, Springs rejects any strong distinction between moral imagination and socio‐political critique; in fact, he argues for their intertwinement, especially in the work of West. At the same time, there are moments when he suggests an opposition between expanding the moral imagination and engaging in the critical enterprise, especially as he identifies the limits in Foucault regarding normativity and democratic struggle. I respond to this slippage by arguing that Foucault, and critical theory more broadly, open up possibilities for rethinking ethics, politics, and our relationship to the violence that sustains the order of things. (shrink)