معرفت ادیان

Common Ground among Religions and Its Role
in the Legitimacy of Religion

Seyyed Ahmad Tabatabai Sotodeh / M.A Student of Religion, IKI                               sats@chmail.ir

Hossein Naghavi / Assistant Professor of IKI

Received: 2015/05/24 - Accepted: 2015/11/01

Abstracts

Considering the belief that first, there is no god other than God and secondly, man’s reality and nature are subject to no change, religion can be defined as a way shown by God to provide man with guidance, and its constitution and even most of its details must be constant. It is possible to assume that all heavenly religions have common and fixed realities in three realms; beliefs, morality and precepts, in order to foster relationship with their common nature and invariable aspects. Resting on this argument, this paper investigates these realities and their role, and gives examples to illustrate this point, to sum up, although we cannot affirm the legitimacy of religion by merely relying on the existence of such common features in religion, lacking in them can result in the falsity and deviation of that religion. In other words, the common realities in the three realms; namely beliefs, morality and precepts characterize all heavenly religions. Making an investigation into these realms not only has noticeable effects on the question of the legitimacy of religion, but also on the definition of religion and the dialogues between religions.

Key words: religions, legitimacy, unity among religions, disagreement among religions common ground among religions, true and untrue religions.

A Comparative Study of the Possibility, Necessity and
the Characteristics of Resurrection in Zoroastrianism and Islam

Seyyed Mohammad Hajati Shorki / MA Student of Religion, IKI

Mohammad Ja’fari / Assistant Professor of Theology, IKI                   mjafari125@yahoo.com

Received: 2015/09/13 - Accepted: 2016/02/16

Abstracts

The belief in Resurrection is one of the basic principles of divine religions. This paper is comparative study of the view of Islam and Zoroastrianism about the possibility, necessity and characteristics of the resurrection. Like Muslems, Zoroastrians believe in the Resurrection and the books entitled Avesta and Pahlavi deal with the resurrection and the Day of Judgment in many occasions. This paper first addresses three topics: the possibility, necessity and the characteristics of the resurrection from the viewpoint of Zoroastrianism and Islam, and then underlines the points of differences and points of similarity between them in this regard. Among the similarities which the two religions have in their belief about the resurrection are the necessity of the resurrection and the belief in corporeal and spiritual resurrection. Among the differences between them are: the resurrection is discussed at greater length in Islamic texts when compared with Zoroastrian texts, besides, the resurrection of the dead is not dealt with in Avesta, whereas it is referred to in the Holy Quran. Using a comparative and analytical method, this paper focuses on the subjects of discussions which come in the Holy Qur’an, Avesta and Pahlavi.

Key words: Zoroastrians, Islam, resurrection, the possibility of the resurrection, human body in the hereafter body, corporeal resurrection.

The Origin of Christian Morality in the New Testament

Somayeh Emadi Andani / PhD In the Sciences of the Qur’an and Hadith, Isfahan University              

Received: 2015/06/25 - Accepted: 2015/11/26                                                     s.emadi64@yahoo.com

Abstracts

Christian morality, which is one of the most ancient religious moral codes, has exerted great effect on the consequent moral schools. Therefore, this issue has been a source of interest to researchers. The New Testament is considered as the basic source of Christian morality. Although it is not considered as a work of morality and it contains no special and separate part on moral teachings, we can extract many moral teachings from it by analyzing its Shariat propositions, admonitions and narratives.  This paper seeks to present an overview of the moral aspects in the New Testament as well as the harms and moral approaches in it, and review some of the educational and moral principles thereof.

Key words: morality, Christianity, the New Testament, the Gospel.

The Challenges Facing Protestantism

 Hassan Safa'i / Ph.D Student of Department of Religions, IKI                                                              

Seyed Ali Hasani / Assistant Professor of Department of Religions, IKI             seyedAli5@Gmail.com

Received: 2015/07/12 - Accepted: 2015/12/24

Abstracts

Today, Protestantism has greatly extended in the world of Christianity. What has made this movement have a distinct position in Christianity is the emphasis of the leaders of this movement on the necessity of reforming the Catholic Church and the need for abiding by the Bible as the sole source of authority. Contrary to the wishes of the leading figures of this movement, the reforms have finally led to its separation from the Roman Church. Emphasizing on the importance of people's understanding of the Bible, Protestantism rejects the role of clerics clergies and church authorities, and feels that it has a legal duty to participate freely and actively in every field and act in good Faith under the guidance of Jesus Christ. This approach has made the Protestants and other Christian groups face significant challenges. Referring to the historical sources of the religious reform movement and the sects belonging to it, this paper seeks to review and comment on the reform policy and points out to the problems which it brings. It shows how adopting such an approach has seriously challenged the Protestants and prepared the ground for dividing them. This study provides reformists with a practical example and illustrates the serious menace of implementing reforms in religion.

 Key words: Christianity, Protestantism, priestly character of believers, understanding the Bible, menace of implementing reforms in religion.

The Epistemological Record
of Liberation Theology _ Half a Century after Its Emergence

 Mojtaba Nemayndeh Niyasar / PhD Student of Comparative Studies of Religions, University of religions and denominations                                                                                                        Mojtaba.nemayandeh1366@gmail.com

Hossein Heydari / Assistant Professor of Department of Religions, University of Kashan                     

Received: 2015/06/29 - Accepted: 2015/12/06                                                Golestan1387@gmail.com

Abstracts

At the beginning of "Liberation theology", it was mainly dependent on Roman Catholicism and greatly indebted to the driving force of the Second Vatican Council. Liberation theologians believe that the goal of liberating the poor and the oppressed is reflected in the Bible, especially in the discussion about the "exodus" of Israelite and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In addition to its being in line with Marxism in its struggle against exploitation, methodologically, this theological school was greatly indebted to Marxism, and it emphasized on the cycle of "action- thinking -action". The failure of socialism, the relative sovereignty of secularism and the return of neoliberation economic policy in Latin America evoked the feeling that liberation theology was collapsing. However, considering the fluid and critical epistemology of the first generation of the leaders of the movement, the second generation of its leaders expanded the scope of their studies on such issues, like globalization and capitalism, human rights, women's and children's rights, environmental ethics and so on. Using an analytical approach, this paper studies the principles of Catholic view liberation theology about the salvation of man, the status of Christ in man's salvation, liberation hermeneutics of the Bible, and redefining the duties of the church. It also evaluates the innovations of this movement in the last fifty years.

Key words:Christianity, Catholicism, liberation theology, Second Vatican Council.

A Critique of the Role and Status
of Great Chain of Being in Oriental Religions and Schools of Thought

Ali Asghar Musleh / Professor of Philosophy, Department of Allameh Tabatabai University                

Mojtaba Etemadinya / PhD Student of Comparative Philosophy, Allameh Tabatabai University          

Received: 2015/10/06 - Accepted: 2016/02/02

Abstracts

The great chain of being in most pre-modern civilizations indicates that the downward trend from top to base is the creator of an immaterial and material world. This trend gradually turns sheer delicacy into impurity, sheer unity into multiplicity, non-determination to determination in, absolute into relative and the realm of manifestation into a realm of latency. Using a theoretical- analytical approach and examining the viewpoint of oriental religions and schools of thought in this regard, this study reviews and criticizes the position and relationship between the components and levels of beings in the expositions of the Great chain of being, and then presents a clear picture of the ontology of cosmological order in Daoism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Key words:  Great chain of being, oriental religions, cosmic order.