جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Practical Theology » در نشریات گروه « فلسفه و کلام »

Suffering is one of the significant topics in practical theology. Throughout history, Muslim thinkers have dealt with this issue in different ways. In this article, using a descriptive-analytical method, we intend to analyze the view of Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār - a Muʿtazilite theologian - about reducing the suffering of believers. He proposes three ways to alleviate the suffering of the believers: (1) revising the believers’ attitude to suffering; (2) avoiding making a judgment about suffering, which means not considering the suffering as a punishment from God; and (3) acknowledging the suffering as compensation, that means God will make up for suffering in the hereafter. First of all, ʿAbd al-Jabbār tries to correct the attitude of believers towards suffering by suggesting that not every suffering is bad and not every suffering is a kind of oppression. He believes these two presuppositions are the main causes of people’s wrong view of suffering. Secondly, by referring to several rational and narrative reasons and by rejecting reincarnation, he shows that the sufferings of this world cannot be considered as the punishment of human actions, either in the assumed previous life (according to the belief of reincarnationists) or in the present life. As a result, believers should not be involved with new suffering (i.e. they have been angered by God). Finally, by proposing the notion of afterlife compensation, he completes his project on reducing the believers’ suffering.

According to psychologists and researchers, many people go through five psychological stages when they experience new feelings and conditions after losing a loved one. Among those five stages is "anger." At this stage, the mourner angrily tries to find the answers to questions that have arisen for him after losing his loved one. Since he doesn't view himself as deserving of such suffering, he asks himself and others why God took his beloved from him? Why did He make life bitter for him? And so on. In the stage of anger, a person's mental state and the questions that are raised from it challenge his relationship with God. Philosophers of religion have also addressed this problem. According to a classical division, philosophers of religion study the problem of evil in two areas: theoretical and existential. Mourners' questions and their suffering -which appeared as an exaggerated evil- are related to the existential problem of evil. In this area, individuals are faced with situations that reinforce their doubt or disbelief in the existence of God. Philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga argue that philosophical debates about the existential realm of evil are not fruitful, but that spiritual care should be practiced instead. It is in this context that pastoral theology in Christianity is a widely debated topic. It seems that remembrance of the sufferings and calamities that happened in the lives of divine saints can guide the mourner's attitude. In other words, by reflecting on these recollections, he can find meaning for their mourning and get over their grief more easily. The sufferings of Hussein ibn Ali (as) in the story of Ashura can be recalled for this purpose. In Shia practice, there seems to be evidence for this view of Ashura.

Islamic education courses in universities are taught with the objective of transforming students into religious people by imparting a coherent and efficient system of knowledge that enhances their individual and social behaviors. To accomplish such a goal, classroom content must be matched with the needs of students. On the other hand, practical theology attempts to explain the role of religion in everyday life and to show how it can be used to overcome individual and social problems. A research is therefore needed to answer the key question: Can the topics of Islamic education courses be revised with a practical theology approach in order to improve their effectiveness? To improve the effectiveness of Islamic education courses, it is necessary to first examine the needs and priorities of students. As a matter of fact, by aligning these needs with the practical theology approach, we can both motivate and improve the effectiveness of these courses. To this end, a study was conducted at Sharif University of Technology to determine the priorities of undergraduate students on various topics that could be discussed in Islamic education classes. According to the results, students gave priority to the social issues (women's rights, the need for hijab in Islamic societies, boy-girl relationships, freedom, and the issue of peace and violence in Islam) from the five topics discussed in the questionnaire (doctrinal, moral, interpretive, social, and family issues). There was no significant difference between the other four topics. Therefore, revising the topics of Islamic education courses with a practical theology approach can improve the effectiveness of these courses and convince the students better.

Philosophers have placed theology among the theoretical wisdom alongside physics and mathematics, and have been waiting for its emergence in the field of practical wisdom. Experience shows that the theoretical field does not necessarily lead to action. The purpose of this paper is to address the issue that what is in the field of theology, both theoretical and practical, will be implemented only when it has already implemented some requirements properly. In this paper, which has been done with an intra-religious approach and with a descriptive-analytical method, using phrases from the words of infallibles, the world is presented as a field of action, the Qur'an as a beacon and the infallible guardian as the criterion and standard for actions in life. Despite the similarity of these components, the relation of human beings to each of them is proportional to their existential order in terms of epistemology. As a result, reaching the standard morality is dependent on piety and adherence to the infallible guardian. Being immersed in worldly concerns, following whims and lusts, being pleased with the world and having confidence in it, will prevent them from reaching that position. Getting out of this dilemma, turning away from the world and trying to promote the existence, approaching the position of the companions of the Right Hand and those close to the Divine Gate can be attained by following the instructions proposed by The lord of the pious.

Nation-state-building and, moreover, welfare state-building in Scandinavia have indeed been nation-state-building and state-building with the configuration of the church-state relations as one of the manifestations of the state, alongside the peasant-state and the workers-state. Thus a special form of solidarity between political and social forces was formed in Scandinavian society, and the reflection of all these forces in the Nordic government became a special model of solidarity and governance in this society. Scandinavian nationalism, therefore, offers a special model of nationalism. The question that arises is what effect Scandinavian practical theology had on the formation of the welfare state-building in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Lutheran practical theology due to its influence on the definition of the nation as a source of national identity on the one hand, and providing readings such as the mission of labor, the mission of productivity, and the mission of production, on the other hand, was a source of welfare state-building in the Scandinavian region.

Practical theology can be considered as a kind of practical and functional expansion of theological teachings or something derived from theology in human life. The present article, considering the general meaning of theology, addresses some of the challenges facing practical theology. The first challenge: human expectation of religion. It is according to the widespread expectation of religion that theology can enter the realm of society and social institutions. By a minimum expectation from religion, the role of theology will not be so prominent. The second challenge: tradition and modernity. In the traditional era and with a traditional attitude, some social institutions have been closely related to religion and theology, but in the modern attitude and era, the social or organizational role of theology is often relegated to new institutions from the new sciences and the modern world. Hence, in the modern age and with a modern attitude, practical theology is accused of a nostalgic and passive attitude. The third challenge: confiscation of practical theology by the official clergy. The history of religion and theology shows that the official and governmental clergy, with an exclusive and totalitarian approach, has been able to confiscate religion and theology in their favor and in order to increase power, wealth, and social influence. Although this confiscation has occasionally led to the public and social interest, it seems that the corruption caused by this confiscation is more than its interest. The fourth challenge: globalization. Due to the process of globalization, the importance and necessity of global theology have increased. Hence, practical theology, without overcoming religious fundamentalism and exclusivism, cannot solve global problems. The success and development of practical theology depend on the theoretical and practical response to the aforementioned challenges; Challenges that have endangered not only theology but also religion itself.

Scholastics were a group of Christian theologians who were mainly active in Europe during the 12th to 17th centuries. One of the notable teachings in scholastic literature is the theory of just price, which can be considered one of the most frequent theories in the history of economic ideas. This study tries to reassess the theory of just price in the economic thought of scholastic thinkers by referring to classical scholastic texts, through which it examines the general experiences of scholastic theology in confrontation with economic phenomena. For this purpose, the theory of just price is examined from the roots of its formation in scholastic practical wisdom to its most superficial form as an economic institution. Through this investigation, the question that how theology can play a role in its practical field, up to the most superficial economic institutions can be answered. The results of this study show that scholastic thinkers in the theoretical field of practical theology had significant achievements in promoting theology through their writings and teachings in schools. And in its practical field, they tried to implement theology in the human foundations of society by building various divine institutions such as a just price. In this regard, the theory of dual human happiness in scholastic theology has had a significant impact on the formation of economic issues as part of scholastic practical wisdom. Despite these achievements, their thought is wanting from two aspects: (1) systematic lack of understanding of modern phenomena such as capitalism and (2) no effort to implement their teachings in the social and economic construction of society.

The important questions facing "motherhood theology" are: The first question: what is the relationship between "motherhood" and "femininity"? "Is motherhood an essential component or an inherent aspect of femininity" in such a way that if a woman frees herself from being a mother, it means that she is separated from being a woman. If so, are not the women who cannot or do not want to have children considered perfect women or women at all? The second question: What is the relationship between "motherhood concern" and "female occupation"? How can a mother strike the right balance between her "professional life" and her "motherly life"? Does female participation in society violate the divine natural system? Do a woman's education and employment violate the divine design of the female body? The third question: is "motherhood identity" "mediating identity" or "independent identity"? Does the mother have no independent identity because she is the divine mediator of creation? Perhaps this is one of the assumptions of a patriarchal society or the colonization of masculinity. In response to these questions, the "motherhood theology in Christianity" was formed and expanded to include the extensive literature entitled "Motherhood Theology". In Islam, we do not have a distinct and well-known model of motherhood theology but based on this extracted model of motherhood theology from Christianity, I studied the Holy Quran and the lives of religious leaders to draw an outline of motherhood theology. May this new plan be made and paid more later.

Reza Babaei is one of the contemporary Iranian theologians who pays a lot of attention to practical theology so that his theological approach may be considered practical theology. Human suffering is his concern. He believes that the proper path of theology is to move from man and society to religion and asserts that the survival and decline of religions do not depend on their legitimacy or illegitimacy, but on their ability to meet specific human needs. There are major elements in his works that may be acknowledged as components of practical theology: emphasis on paying attention in theology to human needs, sympathy for the pain and sorrow of human suffering, focus on extra-textual knowledge, the priority of the mystical-moral readings of religion over dogmatic and exclusivist ones. In this article, the evidence for the existence of each of these components in his works has been explored.

Practical theology can be defined as theological analysis and interpretation of social and cultural realities and especially human actions, providing suitable theological solutions to human life problems. Lying, as a moral challenge appears in various forms in daily life and needs deep attention. Peter Kreeft, as a Thomist, believes that sometimes lying not only is not bad but also it is permissible. Nonetheless, the circumstances under which lying is permissible can be known by intuition and conscience. Relying on Aristotelian-Thomistic rationalism, he criticizes the doctrine of nominalism, the philosophy of Descartes, and the philosophy of Kant. He claims that they have denied the intuitions of reason (as accepted in the philosophy of Aristotle and Aquinas), and have narrowed the realm of the reason so as a computer program. Nevertheless, the circumstances and intention have considerable importance in Aristotelian-Thomistic rationalism. In defending the permissibility of lying, Kreeft argues that circumstances, good intentions, and moral intuition are factors that can sometimes indicate the permissibility of lying. On the other hand, some objections have been raised to this view, one of which is that it contradicts the teachings of the Church and Catholic theology, and seems replaced the absolute truth in the teachings of Jesus Christ with moral intuition.

The concept of practical theology depends on our idea about action and its relation to theology. The metaphysics of action is a study of the ontological role of action, its position among other things, and its relation to other objects. We can deduce a metaphysics of action from a systematic consideration of the works of Allamah Tabatabaei. According to Tabatabaei, action is a kind of movement, a movement that has its origins in the soul. A free agent acts through the mediation of constructed thoughts (conventional objects). Agent's movement does not add anything to the external world, but merely changes the way in which a human being relates to the outside. Every change in the world leads to other changes and consequently to a change in the state of affairs. So, the agent changes the world through constructed thoughts. Any thought that enters the realm of human action, must pass through the filter of conventional objects. It is clear that theology is primarily a theoretical field related to the realm of beliefs. The question is how theology enters this filter and how it becomes the basis and source of action, and in other words how it becomes the source of world change, and what is the advantage of theology over other theoretical principles for action? According to Tabatabaei, religion reminds man of the preferences associated with being and creation. On this basis, the notion of practical theology can be defined as the knowledge of explaining and justifying how the theological origin of action is preferred in the formation of individual and social actions of man.

Since the description and explanation of the pious people's social behaviors are known as the duties of the theologians of practical theology, a question is raised from the perspective of practical theology, how we can describe and explain the behaviors of the characters of the Quranic stories. Undoubtedly, it can help us in explanation of some principles, basics, and objectives of practical theology in the Islamic world. In doing so, in this paper, some behaviors of two significant Quranic characters, namely Joseph and Moses have been described and explained on the basis of the Quranic verses, Imamites traditions, and the commentators' views. The findings indicate that although the main intention of prophets was Allah's satisfaction, they used different methods according to their specific goals. For example, by interpreting the dreams of two prisoners, Joseph attempted to explain the principles of religion; through accepting the responsibility of keeping the treasury, he played a key role in rescuing people from famine and hunger; or by neglecting his brothers' faults, he revealed the magnificence of forgiveness. Moses also through helping a weak person and Jethro's daughters, showed the importance of helping others; through releasing the Israelites from Pharaoh, paved the way for Allah's servitude; and by burning the golden calf in fire, he proved the weakness of the false gods to rescue his people from aberration.

"Faith", as one of the most important companions in human history, is a factor in creating homogeneous religious communities, but at the same time, with the emergence of interpretive disagreements, it becomes a cause of conflict among individuals. Even some of the greatest battles in history are the result of people rejecting their counterpart religious interpretations. By introducing an understanding of faith that considers it to be interpretable and states that different social, cultural, and even natural and historical circumstances and situations influence individual perceptions of faith, we can help increase tolerance and flexibility in society. The religious teachings of Islam, despite differences in individuals' capacities for accepting and expressing faith, have always encouraged brotherhood and forbade individuals from imposing heavier burdens on those with less capacity. By using Scriptural evidence, this article attempts to prove that faith is interpretable. Consequently, the article clarifies that, on the one hand, due to the "gradation of faith", there are multiple interpretations of it in society and, on the other hand, achieving the important principle of brotherhood will depend on understanding this aspect of faith and promoting individuals' flexibility and tolerance. It will allow individuals to live peacefully and empathically, free from violence.

Religion is addressed to man, and therefore changes in man cause changes in religion and religiosity, and raise at least the question that which area of religion deserves the most attention. During the modern era and the Enlightenment, the human definition has changed dramatically. In the new definition, man, as a compensatory and social being, is at the center of attention with a naturalistic view. In the Enlightenment and following Kant's Copernican revolution, the man was introduced as the subject; a subject that constructs perception and the phenomenal world, and is, of course, incapable of perceiving anything beyond time and space. The result of the expansion of this Copernican revolution into the realm of will, action, feelings, and emotions led to the birth of man as an agent (and not rational in the metaphysical sense). In such a situation, categories such as freedom, commitment, responsibility, and emotions such as altruism, compassion, and modesty, which are manifested in practical life, take precedence in the study of the human being, and the sciences that deal with human action evolve. Christian theology, by developing practical theology, has recognized and interacted with this change in the concept and nature of man. As well, Islamic theology cannot ignore this problem. Islamic theologians must use the possibilities of religious sciences including Kalam, philosophy, ethics, Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Tafsir, and hadith sciences, along with the use of other conventional sciences, to develop practical Islamic theology as an Interdisciplinary religious science.

Religious anthropology, while capable of contending with the overarching approach of humanism, can provide a model of divine humanism with the epistemic identity of  being divine. This research has focused on the role of anthropology in the development of applied theology and has viewed it as one of the fundamental tenets of religion by descriptive-analytical method and field observation. The idea came true in the process of need-oriented, observing the uncertainties prevalent in Islamic society alongside facts such as localization, being up-to-date and efficient. Analysis of different types of anthropological research is one of the main topics of the study that their advantages and disadvantages and backgrounds of research have been surveyed and a fifth approach called integrated anthropology has been added by the study to prepare the ground for a comprehensive and applied research in achieving a suitable methodology in explaining the nature, dimensions and foundations of human epistemic identity.