Journal Of Religious Thought
Year:2001 | Volume:2 | Issue:3|Papers Count:11

Ultimate happiness is something we enjoy when we achieve the good life. But what is the "good life"? Religious traditions and views of life propose a variety of ideas of the good life which provide direction for our lives and the achievement of which is claimed to make us ultimately happy. In theistic traditions like Islam and Christianity the ideal of ultimate happiness has often been sought in the enjoyment of the love of God. But what is the nature of the love of God and in what sense does that provide us with ultimate happiness? The love of God is usually interpreted as analogous to the loving relationship between human beings. However, since God is not like other people, his love cannot be identical with the love between human beings. We need therefore to explore the limits of the analogy between human and divine love. In this lecture I will first of all discuss five key features of love between human person. Then I will discuss three crucial difference between God and human persons and show what these imply for the difference between divine and human love. Finally I will show in what sense believers is Islam and Christianity might claim that ultimate happiness consists in participation in the love of God.

Politics and government are the main foundations of the society, and in an Islamic society, it is quite natural that politics and government are based on Islamic principles and goals. In such a political system, the political elites and administrators must have specific Islamic characteristics to be" logically and methodologically able to move towards the assigned goals. From Imam Ali"s (A.s.) perspective, these characteristics can be summarized in three categories. The first group includes the rational and real characteristics which are indispensable to human societies. The second group includes the ethical and humanistic characteristics which value - based societies believe in. These consist of, first, a belief in the foundations of politics and government which include four principles, second, a belief in ethical and humanistic values which include six important values, third, open - mindedness and tolerance which include five theoretical and strategic characteristics in dealing with others and one"s opponents. The third group is specific to Divine religions and Islam and have their roots in Divine teachings and the political career of Imam Ali (A.s.). These consist of, first, enjoying ethical merits which includes four important merits in the field of social ethics. second, religious outlook towards power which includes two principles regarding motivation for power and ethical principles, third, ascetic outlook towards the world and life including two ways of dealing with the world, and fourth, generous interaction with people including five fundamental strategies regarding the interaction of governors with people.

The religious of Islam and the Holy Quran have been inexhaustible and rich resources for Muslim poets and writers, and all, more or less, directly or indirectly, have been influenced by them. One of the greatest Persian poets who has artistically used these rich resources and has made references to religious and Quranic concepts in his poems is Khaghani Shervani. In this paper the writer has chosen the first seven Chakama of Khaghani"s Divan to study the poet"s use of the religious and Quranic thoughts and their artistic reflections in his poems. To avoid the prolongation of the paper, the writer has refrained from detailed explanations and has referred the reader to more comprehensive sources.

This paper deals with wittgenstein"s fideism. From a historical point of view it was perhaps Saint Augustine (354430), one of the greatest of Christian theologians, who proposed the priority of faith to reasoning. Then, Saint Anselm (1033-1109), the great Medieval Christian thinker, whose famous saying "I believe so I understand" is wellknow, followed him. But among them, soren Kierkegaard (1813-1885), the Danish thinker, is known as the Father of Fideism. He offered a solid explanation of Fideism. In early 20th century Witgenestein proposed a new reading of fideism in which faith is the necessary condition for reasoning. This paper first deals with the philosophical foundations of Witgenestein"s fideism and then discusses the main issue.

According to one view all of a priori propositions are necessary (and vice versa). Some of contemporary philosophers have reconsidered this view which holds that "a priori" and "necessary" are extensionally equivalent. Considering the literature of the present issue, I believe we can recognise two distinct approaches; the definitional and the intuitional approach. The aim of this paper is to consider the first approach during the following stages: a) some of the most important definitions which has been recently introduced for "apriori" will be investigated, b) their common element, namely the concept of "independency to sense experience" will be analysed and c) the consequences of this definitions about the relation between" a priori" and "necessary" shall be explained. Finally, I shall conclude that most of these definitions are inconsistent to that traditional view.

Mystics usually emphasize the fact that one cannot reach God through intellect and "reason. They, instead, rely on knowing the self. They believe that one can find his way to God through intuition and meditation on the self. Their top teaching is "One who knows himself, knows God". This paper aims to clarify two points: First, to show the position and nature of self from Ibn "Arabi"s and Eckhart"s points of views as the greatest Muslim and Christian mystics, and second, to study their perspectives on the nature of the union with God through the self.