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God, Logic and Lies: Intra-Ḥanafī Polemics on Divine Omnipotence in Colonial India
By Safaruk CHOWDHURY, Cambridge Muslim College
This article is the first logical exploration of a major Islamic theological controversy regarding divine omnipotence (qudra) emerging in early 19th century northern India and persists today. The controversy involved two interconnected propositions. The first is known as ‘imkān-e naẓīr’, which is the proposition that God is able to create another identical Prophet Muḥammad. The second dubbed ‘ikmān-e kidhb’, is the possibility of God being able to lie or say untruths. The article will examine the arguments of two formidable scholars. The first is the one who detonated the controversy Shah Ismail Dihlawi (d. 1831) who argues for the possibility of God to actualise an identical Muḥammad and to lie and the second is his opponent and archnemesis Fazl-e Haqq Khayrabadi (d. 1861), who vehemently rejects both possibilities. The focus of the article is a detailed logical analysis of the structure and premises of the arguments as well as the core modal concepts assumed in the debate.
Link: https://doi.org/10.18317/kaderdergi.1360521
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Tags: #God #Logic #Kalam #Theology #Islam
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Maktab education: a community imperative and the making of Muslim ambassadors
By Imran Mogra, Birmingham City University
Contemporary discourse on Muslims and Islam has included a reassessment of traditional educational institutions; makātib and madāris. Hitherto, understanding insider aspirations and anxieties appear to be rare. To this end, the perspectives of Muslim female teachers in makātib (supplementary schools for Muslims, sometimes known as ‘mosque schools’) in England were surveyed. This original article attends to their views regarding the aims of this educational provision. Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction is used to rationalise their perspectives. The findings reveal their professional aspirations and suggestions to better the learning processes. They expose a changing phenomenon. Furthermore, through their services, they challenge stereotyped assumptions about makātib and their functions. The data de-mystifies the visions they hold for Muslim children and the wider society.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2023.2278129
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Tags: #Sociology #Religion #Pedagogy #Islam
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Poetry and Sufi Commentary: A Case of/for Religious Reading in Premodern Sufism
By Arjun Nair, University of Southern California
One of the obstacles in the study of post-classical Sufi literatures has been the sceptical attitude toward Sufi commentary on Arabic and Persian lyrical poetry (specifically ‘mystical’ or ‘Sufi allegorical’ readings of the lyric). This attitude has prevented a wider appreciation of Sufi interpretations of such poetry. While there are signs of a shift in attitudes as scholars grapple with different Sufi commentators and their discussions of notable verses, many still hold to their scepticism. Although studies of individual commentaries will be necessary to reform these attitudes, a general response to the sceptical views may help to orient those studies, particularly one that draws its evidence and arguments from representative Sufi commentators and theorists of the lyric. This paper attempts such a response. Following a brief outline of critiques of Sufi commentary, and the reasons for continued scepticism toward commentators, I suggest how shifting understandings around the ambiguity present in the lyric should help to make allegorical interpretations seem more plausible as a collection of meanings in the archive that was persuasive to many readers, the figurative language of the lyric being able to support both literary-historical and allegorical interpretations of words, phrases, or images in particular verses. Sufi commentators used this ambiguity as a means by which to explore the meanings of the allegory according to the principle ‘The figurative is the bridge to the Truth–Reality’. Sufi theorists, moreover, discussed how the figurative language of the lyric and its allegoresis by way of commentary could serve distinct functions for different kinds of readers in Sufi knowledge–practice. If the figurative form of the lyric was more suitable for non-Sufi readers or novices in Sufism to encounter its ‘specific meanings’, commentary, expressed in the technical language of Sufism, could assist more advanced Sufi readers to verify its ‘general meanings’. Far from diminishing the lyric, Sufi commentary only enhanced its value, showing it to possess both literary beauty as well as profound depth of meaning. I invoke Paul Griffiths’s ‘religious reading’ to suggest that an approach to the lyric that privileges the views of Sufi commentators is not only feasible, it can even be valuable for specialists of the lyric in the contemporary academy.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etad057
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Tags: #Sufism #Religion #History
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God and the Problem of Evidential Ambiguity
By Max Baker-Hytch, University of Oxford
When it comes to what many of us think of as the deepest questions of existence, the answers can seem difficult to make out. This difficulty, or ambiguity, is the topic of this Element. The Element begins by offering a general account of what evidential ambiguity consists in and uses it to try to make sense of the idea that our world is religiously ambiguous in some sense. It goes on to consider the questions of how we ought to investigate the nature of ultimate reality and whether evidential ambiguity is itself a significant piece of evidence in the quest.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009269841
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Philosophy
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A Moral Fine-Tuning Argument
By Martin Jakobsen, Ansgar University College
This paper develops Mark D. Linville’s brief description of “a sort of moral fine-tuning argument”. I develop the argument in four ways: I unpack the argument and give it a clear formulation, I unpack the theistic explanation of why a somewhat reliable moral capacity is expected, I point to the significance of not seeking to explain a perfect moral capacity, and I put the argument up against the recent work on non-theistic moral epistemology by Derek Parfit, David Enoch, and Erik Wielenberg.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010031
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Tags: #God #PoE #Morality #Metaphysics
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On the Privation Theory of Evil
A Reflection on Pain and the Goodness of God's Creation
By Parker Haratine, University of St Andrews
Augustine’s privation theory of evil maintains that something is evil in virtue of a privation, a lack of something which ought to be present in a particular nature. While it is not evil for a human to lack wings, it is indeed evil for a human to lack rationality according to the end of a rational nature. Much of the literature on the privation theory focuses on whether it can successfully defend against counterexamples of positive evils, such as pain. This focus of the discussion is not surprising, given that the privation theory is a theory about the nature of evil. But it is also a theory that protects venerable theological concerns, namely, that God is the good creator of everything, and that everything is good. It is the purpose of this article to further this discussion on both fronts. I argue that the counterexample of pain still defeats the privation theory despite the most recent defense. What is more, I suggest, this is not theologically disastrous. The individual who rejects the privation theory is not obligated to reject the theological theses which motivate it. To show how a rejection of the privation theory is a live option, I offer an alternative view of evil that also maintains these theological theses and encompasses both privative and positive evils.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v7i2.65803
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Tags: #God #PoE #Evil #Metaphysics
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Islam and the Contemporary World: Interview with Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr
By Kaleem Hussain, University of Birmingham
In 2009, I had the honour to interview Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who is a Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, Washington, DC, as part of the ‘Muslim Heritage Interview Series’. During the interview, Nasr touched on various topics related to Islam and modernity, Sufism, spirituality, consumerism and the environment. Thirteen years had elapsed since that interview and, with so many changes having taken place across the world in this intervening period, I was keen to speak to him again on some of the core themes we discussed then and to see how things have evolved in those areas over the years. The interview with Nasr covers some rare gems and insights from his illustrative career along with the following themes - Islamic Environmentalism, Trust, Resaclarization of the Sacred Tradition, Inspirational Scholars, The Concept of al-insān al-kāmil, Impact of Covid-19, Extremist Narratives, Globalization, Saudi 2030 Vision, Iran, Social and Geo-Political Trends, Traditionalism and Modernity. I conducted the interview with Nasr at George Washington University in December 2022. I do hope that the readers find the interview both enlightening and beneficial.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2023.2292935
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Tags: #Islam #Religion #Sufism #Modernism #Tradition
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Why Space is No Problem for Religion … But Time is
By Brian Patrick Green, Santa Clara University
Space exploration might seem like it would pose a threat to human religion, both religion-in-general and various religions-in-particular. However, this paper argues that it is not predominantly discoveries in space that might cause problems for religions, but rather the ongoing passage of time which will do so. By examining six scenarios, various salient concerns will be investigated, but it is really only the danger of overtly, actively hostile extraterrestrial intelligences that pose an existential threat to human religions. Other than that extreme possibility, the time horizon of the scenario – 100 years – is likely to have more impact upon religion.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2023.2292923
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Tags: #Time #Science #Religion #Exotheology
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Hearing God speak? Debunking arguments and everyday religious experiences
By Lari Launonen, University of Helsinki
Against claims that cognitive science of religion undercuts belief in God, many defenders of theistic belief have invoked the Religious Reasons Reply: science cannot undercut belief in God if one has good independent reasons to believe. However, it is unclear whether this response helps salvage the god beliefs of most people. This paper considers four questions: (1) What reasons do Christians have for believing in God? (2) What kinds of beliefs about God can the reasons support? (3) Are the reasons rationalizations? (4) Can cognitive science undercut the reasons? Many Christians invoke everyday religious experiences (EREs)—such as experiences of divine presence, guidance, and communication—as reasons to believe. Unlike another popular reason to believe in God (the appearance of design and beauty in nature), EREs can support beliefs about a relational God who is present to me, who guides my life, and who speaks to me. EREs are not rationalizations since they seem to cause and sustain such beliefs. Nonetheless, EREs like experiences of hearing God speak are problematic reasons to believe. ‘Soft’ voice-hearing experiences are easily undercut. ‘Hard’ experiences of an external, audible voice are probably underpinned by similar cognitive processes as audio-verbal hallucinations.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09896-9
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #CSR
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Conceptions of Supreme Deity
By Graham Oppy, Monash University
This paper attempts to provide a high-level comparison of Eastern and Western conceptions of deity. It finds some significant similarities—involving worshipworthiness and the ideal shape of human lives—and some important differences—concerning the ultimate nature of reality, the relation of supreme deity to the rest of reality, and the relative frequency of divine incarnation.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-023-00987-8
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Tags: #Religion #God #Metaphysics
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The Qur’an: An Oral Transmitted Tradition Forming Muslims Habitus
By Lina Dweirj, Western Sydney University
This paper examines the relation between religious practices and the forming of moral dispositions in light of the Qur’an. Using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, this paper explains the way religious practices mentioned in the Qur’an could form moral dispositions for Muslims. The question that this research aims to answer is whether being a Muslim has anything to do with how he is expected to behave in society. It also investigates how central the Qur’an is in Muslims’ lives. Moreover, it discusses how and why Muslims act and what guides their practices and actions. This paper aims to clarify the ethical, moral and spiritual consequences of embodying religious practices. For example, practices like prayer and charity may give Muslims moral direction and help them be good citizens.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121531
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Tags: #Islam #Quran #History
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Islamic Perspectives on Polygenic Testing and Selection of IVF Embryos (PGT-P) for Optimal Intelligence and Other Non–Disease-Related Socially Desirable Traits
By A. H. B. Chin, Singapore Fertility and IVF Consultancy Pvt Ltd.; Q. Al-Balas, Jordan University of Science and Technology; M. Ghaly, Hamad Bin Khalifa University; M. F. Ahmad, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
In recent years, the genetic testing and selection of IVF embryos, known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), has gained much traction in clinical assisted reproduction for preventing transmission of genetic defects. However, a more recent ethically and morally controversial development in PGT is its possible use in selecting IVF embryos for optimal intelligence quotient (IQ) and other non–disease-related socially desirable traits, such as tallness, fair complexion, athletic ability, and eye and hair colour, based on polygenic risk scores (PRS), in what is referred to as PGT-P. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning–based analysis of big data sets collated from genome sequencing of specific human ethnic populations can be used to estimate an individual embryo’s likelihood of developing such multifactorial traits by analysing the combination of specific genetic variants within its genome. Superficially, this technique appears compliant with Islamic principles and ethics. Because there is no modification of the human genome, there is no tampering with Allah’s creation (taghyīr khalq Allah). Nevertheless, a more critical analysis based on the five maxims of Islamic jurisprudence (qawa'id fiqhiyyah) that are often utilized in discourses on Islamic bioethics, namely qaṣd (intention), yaqın̄ (certainty), ḍarar (injury), ḍarūra (necessity), and `urf (custom), would instead reveal some major ethical and moral flaws of this new medical technology in the selection of non–disease-related socially desirable traits, and its non-compliance with the spirit and essence of Islamic law (shariah). Muslim scholars, jurists, doctors, and biomedical scientists should debate this further and issue a fatwa on this new medical technology platform.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-023-10293-0
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Tags: #Islam #Ethics #AI #Science #Medicine
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God and Value Judgments
By Kevin Kinghorn, Asbury Theological Seminary
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009296137
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Tags: #Religion #God #Theism #Metaphysics
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The Search for Originality within Established Boundaries—Rereading Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī (d. 716/1316) on Public Interest (maṣlaḥa) and the Purpose of the Law
By Serdar Kurnaz, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
With the arrival of the twentieth century, in their legal theory, Muslim scholars began emphasizing public interest (maṣlaḥa) and the objectives (maqāṣid) of the Sharia. This stood often in contrast to the standards of traditional legal theory. To overcome this gap, scholars searched for concepts of premodern scholars, interpreted them in a way that allowed focusing on abstract categories like maṣlaḥa. An often-quoted figure in this regard is Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī (d. 716/1316). In his hadith commentary entitled al-Taʿyīn, al-Ṭūfī developed a legal framework in which he gave precedence to maṣlaḥa over the Quran, Sunna, and Consensus in cases where there are conflicts between these sources concerning the ruling for a given matter. Many contemporary scholars interpret al-Ṭūfī’s concept from a modern perspective. This approach either leads to overemphasizing al-Ṭūfī’s theory or rejecting it entirely. The present study will analyze al-Ṭūfī’s theory of maṣlaḥa within the established premodern epistemological and hermeneutical boundaries that al-Ṭūfī himself accepted. In doing so, it will locate al-Ṭūfī’s conception of maṣlaḥa in its historical context and in relation to al-Ṭūfī’s biography. The study will show that al-Ṭūfī’s theory, regardless of its modern reception, and with all its pitfalls, is an original attempt to find new ways for deriving norms within the boundaries of a well-established legal theory and in a specific historical context.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121522
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Tags: #Islam #Shariah #Law
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The Problem of Divine Action in the World
By Joel Archer, Duke University
The world's major monotheistic religions share the view that God acts in the world. This Element discusses the nature of divine action, with a specific focus on miracles or 'special' divine acts. Miracles are sometimes considered problematic. Some argue that they are theologically untenable or that they violate the laws of nature. Others claim that even if miracles occur, it is never rational to believe in them based on testimony. Still others maintain that miracles are not within the scope of historical investigation. After addressing these objections, the author examines the function of miracles as 'signs' in the New Testament.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009270328
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #DivineAction
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Pedagogy of tolerance and violence prevention in the Arab world
By Ahmed Ali Alhazmi, Jazan University
This article is a conceptual examination of tolerance and pedagogy with regard to the prevention of violence in the Arab world from a critical theory perspective. Tolerance is a socially and culturally bound system, indicating that any pedagogy of tolerance must be authentic to its context. Therefore, the value of adopting a nuanced Western pedagogy in the Arab world is limited. Consequently, a pedagogy of tolerance in the Arab world must incorporate its diverse codes of ethics and reasoning, and the dominant Arabic Islamic culture. However, politically constrained education systems have questionable abilities to help those previously colonised accept the negative impacts of colonialism and serve as an effective tool against ignorance-based intolerance and violence, especially since the tolerance agenda is largely driven by the formerly colonising countries. Thus, to reduce intolerance-based violence in the Arab world, the pedagogy of tolerance must depart from Western-based constructions and reflect the region’s values.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2023.2254511
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Tags: #Sociology #Religion #Pedagogy #Islam
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Perceptions of science, religion and spirituality in high school students: an empirical approach
By Lluis Oviedoa, Pontificia Universita Antonianum et al
Many questions arise regarding the compatibility between scientific and religious education. While some voices have pointed to issues that stem from a traditional model in which science becomes a factor or religious crisis and doubt, other views reveal surprising forms of collaboration and complementarity between both dimensions in the educational curriculum. To better understand how those directly involved – the students – perceive that possible conflict, an international team has launched an extensive survey in three Catholic countries – Italy, Poland and Spain – to assess to what extent that relationship is viewed in a more or less problematic way. The results point to an overcoming of the conflictive model by those with more religious formation and practice, and point towards a possible arrangement between both science and religion in regular education.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2023.2279919
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Tags: #Sociology #Religion #Pedagogy #ConflictThesis
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Confluences of the Islamic in Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theological Aesthetics: Toward a Comparative Theo-Poetics with Islam
By Axel M. Oaks Takacs, Molloy University
This essay is an excavation of Islamic theological confluences in Hans Urs von Balthasar's theological aesthetics. It likewise demonstrates how comparative theology facilitates the de-essentialization of religious traditions. This essay uses the Swiss theologian as a case study in exposing how someone apparently closed off from interreligious learning is still inadvertently shaped by non-Christian traditions. Being adjacent to the work of Anne Carpenter, who seeks to save his theological project from Eurocentrism, this essay seeks to save it from theological exclusivism and Orientalism. It will argue that in the case of Christian theology, confluences of the Islamic in the past offer possibilities for future exercises in comparative theology. It looks back to look ahead by suggesting theo-poetics as a new direction for Christian comparative theology with Islam.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.12917
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Tags: #Islam #Christianity #Theology #Orientalism
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Craig's Contradictory Christ
By Dale Tuggy, Independent Scholar
William Lane Craig’s “Neo-Apollinarian” christology aims to give us a model of Incarnation which seems not to imply any contradiction, and which fits well with the Bible and with at least the creed from the fourth ecumenical council. It is argued that the theory fails to achieve any of these goals.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v7i2.68363
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Tags: #WLC #Christianity #Trinity
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Presentism, Timelessness, and Evil
By Ben Page, University of Oxford
There is an objection to divine timelessness which claims that timelessness shouldn’t be adopted since on this view evil is never “destroyed,” “vanquished,” “eradicated” or defeated. By contrast, some divine temporalists think that presentism is the key that allows evil to be destroyed/vanquished/eradicated/defeated. However, since presentism is often considered to be inconsistent with timelessness, it is thought that the presentist solution is not available for defenders of timelessness. In this paper I first show how divine timelessness is consistent with a presentist view of time and then how defenders of Presentist-Timelessness can adopt the presentist solution to the removal of evil. After this, I conclude the paper by showing that it’s far from clear that the presentist solution is successful and that unless one weakens what is meant by the destruction/vanquishing/eradication/defeat of evil, one can only make the presentist solution work by adopting a number of additional assumptions that many will find unattractive.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v7i2.67763
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Tags: #God #PoE #Evil #Metaphysics #Presentism
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From Aesthetic Virtues to God:
Augmenting Theistic Personal Cause Arguments
By Rad Miksa, Independent Scholar
I argue that the aesthetic theoretical virtues of beauty, simplicity, and unification, as well as the evidential virtue of explanatory depth, can transform theistic-friendly personal cause (PC) arguments—like the kalām cosmological argument (KCA) and the fine-tuning argument—into stand-alone arguments for monotheism. The aesthetic virtues allow this by providing us with the grounds to rationally accept a perfect personal cause (i.e., God) as the best PC to believe in given the success of some PC argument. Using the KCA as an example, I argue that, once the KCA is accepted and a PC believed in, then a theory that posits a perfect PC as the cause of the universe is more beautiful, simpler, and has more unification and explanatory depth than the imperfect PC normally posited by the KCA’s standard conceptual analysis. And the same would hold true for any imperfect PC. Thus, once a PC argument has been accepted, the perfect PC theory is preferable to hold over any other PC theory. Finally, I address various objections to this reasoning.
Link: https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v7i2.64083
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Tags: #God #KCA #Metaphysics
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Decolonizing science-engaged theology
By Zara Thokozani Kamwendo, Durham University
This piece is about the value of decolonization for teaching and doing science-engaged theology. I argue that decolonization should be seen as a useful tool that helps students, teachers, and scholars to re-imagine the modern distinction between science and theology/religion.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12653
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Tags: #Science #Religion #Pedagogy
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If Molinism is true, what can you do
By Andrew Law, Leibniz University Hannover
Suppose Molinism is true and God placed Adam in the garden because God knew Adam would freely eat of the fruit. Suppose further that, had it not been true that Adam would freely eat of the fruit, were he placed in the garden, God would have placed someone else there instead. When Adam freely eats of the fruit, is he free to do otherwise? This paper argues that there is a strong case for both a positive and a negative answer. Assuming such cases are possible under Molinism, we are left with a puzzling question: if Molinism is true, what can you do?
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09901-1
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Tags: #God #Molinism #Metaphysics
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Deceptive Debauchery: Secret Marriage and the Challenge of Legalism in Muslim-Minority Communities
By Mariam Sheibani, Brandeis University
“Secret Marriage” is a category accommodating a range of arrangements that seek to conceal a marital union, typically from an existing spouse, the family of the bride or groom, a segment of the community, or the state. These contentious unions have seen an upsurge in recent times in Muslim-majority countries, and, more recently, in minority-Muslim communities in the West. This essay examines the phenomenon in minority communities using three interrelated lenses of analysis: the legal, the moral, and the socio-institutional. Taking this multi-faceted approach, in this essay, I first examine the legal doctrines of the four Sunni schools of law on the requirement of publicity and witness testimony in marriage before situating that legal discussion about contractual validity within a comprehensive analysis of the broader moral and religious legitimacy of entering into a secret union. I argue that while jurists stipulate disparate minimums for contractual validity, nearly all secret marriage arrangements are nonetheless considered invalid (fāsid), meaning they are incorrectly conducted by failing to meet the required conditions for the contract to produce its legal effects (ṣiḥḥa) and are also prohibited (ḥarām) in themselves or for their entailments, meaning contracting such a marriage is sinful and entails punishment. As I show, even as some jurists may make arguments that may seem to imply that some versions of secret marriage meet the basic conditions to make them technically valid, these same jurists nonetheless argue that such marriages are immoral, religiously deficient, unbecoming of a Muslim, and little more than a pretext for illicit sex. Apart from the theoretical question of whether a secret marriage meets the conditions of contractual validity, parties to a secret marriage in Muslim communities today further engage in a number of sins and transgressions and cause harms to spouses, children, parents, extended family, and the community that must also be reckoned with. The essay concludes with recommendations for how religious authorities can take steps towards regulating marriage in minority-Muslim communities, highlighting the need for public education on Muslim marriage practices that is embedded in a deeper religious morality centering the Sunna to counteract the dominant legalism in the Muslim community that underlies numerous contemporary dilemmas.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15010010
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Tags: #Islam #Muslim #Ethics
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The ‘Year According to the Arabs’: The Rise of the ‘Hijra’-Era in the Context of the Administrative Structures in the Early Islamic Empire
By Eugenio Garosi, University of Haifa
This article offers a survey of the spread and function of what is currently known as the hijrī calendar among different socio-linguistic milieus of the early Islamic empire. In particular, it analyses insider and outsider descriptions of the new imperial calendar as a window into the cultural profile of mediators between the Arabic and Graeco-Egyptian milieus in early Islamic Egypt. I argue that the ways the hijrī calendar was referred to in Greek and Coptic documentary texts diverged depending on the level of the issuing authority in the provincial administration: while documents issued by district officials label the era as the ‘year of the Saracens’ or use it without specifications, documents produced by the gubernatorial office use the designation ‘the year according to the Arabs’ (kata Arabas) instead. The main argument is that the kata Arabas label – as well as other formulaic peculiarities of documents produced in the provincial capital – can be linked to the employment of Hellenized Syro-Aramaean experts among the entourage of Arab governors appointed by Damascus. To flesh out the links between the gubernatorial chancery and a Syro-Aramean milieu, Egyptian evidence will be contrasted with Greek and Syriac texts from Syria-Palestine and Northern Mesopotamia.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2023.2282844
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Tags: #Islam #History #Arab
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The symmetry regained
By Tien-Chun Lo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
Collin (2022) attempts to break the symmetry between the modal ontological argument for the existence of God and the reverse modal ontological argument against the existence of God by drawing on some Kripkean lessons about a posteriori necessity. He argues that there is an undercutting defeater for taking God’s non-existence to be possible. In this paper, I reply that taking the Kripkean considerations about a posteriori necessity into account does not help break the symmetry. For we can argue in a similar way that there is an undercutting defeater for taking God’s existence to be possible.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anad068
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Tags: #God #OntologicalArgument #Metaphysics
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God and the Numbers
By Paul Studtmann, Davidson College
According to Augustine, abstract objects are ideas in the mind of God. Because numbers are a type of abstract object, it would follow that numbers are ideas in the mind of God. Call such a view the “Augustinian View of Numbers” (AVN). In this paper, I present a formal theory for AVN. The theory stems from the symmetry conception of God as it appears in Studtmann (2021). I show that the theory in Studtmann’s paper can interpret the axioms of Peano Arithmetic minus the induction schema. This fact allows for the development of arithmetic in a natural way. The development eventuates in a theory that can interpret second-order arithmetic. The conception of God that emerges by the end of the discussion is a conception of an infinite, ineffable, self-cause that contains objects that not only serve as numbers but also encode information about each other.
Link: https://doi.org/10.5840/jphil20231201235
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Tags: #Religion #God #Metaphysics
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“Only a God Can Save Us Now”: Why a Religious Morality Is Best Suited to Overcome Religiously Inspired Violence and Spare Innocents from Harm
By Alan Vincelette, Saint John’s Seminary
It is common to hear the refrain that religion is a major cause of violence today. And this claim is not without merit. Religious differences can fuel animosity and lead to societal conflict. On the other hand, scholars have increasingly recognized the role of religion in overcoming societal divides and helping people to heal and forgive. This paper will examine the latter capacity of religion to minimize the harms that occur during violent conflicts. It will be argued that secular ethical theories often fail to provide any principles or foundations that can help moderate passions, alleviate tensions, or provide frameworks for what is licit in war. In fact, the world views of terrorists and secular ethicists of war are often strikingly similar. Religious ethicists, on the contrary, have often encouraged practices (prayer for one’s enemies, forgiveness) and provided principles (dignity of every human, non-combatant immunity, just war theory) that can help moderate the violent tendencies of war and bring about a more peaceful and equitable resolution. While religion is not entirely off the hook for promoting violent conflict, religion can provide ethical frameworks and principles that help minimize the harms of conflicts and promote world peace.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121495
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Tags: #Religion #Terrorism #Politics
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Entering the Prophetic Realm: ʿAbd Rabbihī ibn Sulaymān al-Qaliyūbī (d. 1968) on the Nature of Mediation (tawassul)
By Florian A. Lützen, University of Tübingen
In his comprehensive work Fayḍ al-wahhāb, ʿAbd Rabbihī ibn Sulaymān al-Qaliyūbī (d. 1968) extensively explores the Prophet Muhammad’s role in theology and argues against interpretations influenced by Wahhābī thought. He emphasizes the prophetic realm, or prophecy and its traces, particularly the means by which believers can establish a connection with it. This article pays special attention to al-Qaliyūbī’s understanding of mediation (tawassul); that is, how the Prophet—by virtue of his elevated status, ordained by God—can serve as a means; similar to how a ritual prayer or any good deed ultimately serves as a means to draw closer to God. For al-Qaliyūbī, following the Prophet means not only regarding him as the founder of the religion, but also incorporating his spirit and character into one’s own life. This article proceeds in four steps: (1) It addresses the systematics of prophecy concerning practical ethics and how this realm can be entered; (2) It introduces the three-layered paradigm of later theology and al-Qaliyūbī’s work; (3) It explores the topic of what constitutes a means (wasīla) and the theological implications of using a means in prayer (tawassul); (4) It zooms in on the aspect of what qualifies a means to be used in an individual prayer.
Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121518
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Tags: #God #Metaphysics #Sufism #Theology
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The Meaning of ibtahala in the Qurʾān: A Reassessment
By Suleyman Dost, University of Toronto
The word nabtahil, which appears only once in the Qur’an in Q 3:61, has become the basis of a fairly well-known practice in pre-modern and modern Islam called mubāhala, “mutual cursing” due to the verse’s alleged connection to a cursing duel between Muhammad and Christians from Najran. Some exegetes, however, took it to mean “to pray humbly/sincerely”. This article argues that among the two explanations offered by Muslim scholars and exegetes for ibtahala, “to pray” and “to curse”, the latter is quite probably incorrect and arose from a misinterpretation of the word’s solitary usage in the qur’anic verse whereas the former explanation fares better in view of the comparative Semitic evidence. Having evaluated the attestations of the word in Muslim sources and in other languages, I offer a third explanation, namely that the word ibtahala means “to debate”, based on a Classical Ethiopic cognate.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1515/jiqsa-2023-0008
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Tags: #Quran #Islam #Exegesis
