نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 17، زمستان 1392)

Different interpretations are given by Judaism about the Resurrection. Some of these interpretations originate from the idea of incarnationism and superiority of the Jewish, which is based on the notion that reward is given to the superior people, and punishment to the oppressive. Some other consider reward and punishment, to be related to the individual and ignore the national aspect. It is certain that the different beliefs about the Resurrection have made Judaism face some questions like: how can a Jewish person, along with the proposition of being chosen and superior nationality, be punished for his/her offences and wrong doings? If the nations that do injustice to the Jewish to be punished, then the executive sanction of divine law and religious injunctions which the Old Testament uphold will be questioned. This research sheds light on the different Jewish viewpoints about the Resurrection and expounds this point in the light of Qur’anic doctrines. The conclusion is that the Jews, nationalistic attitude towards the resurrection and their uncertainty in acting according to religious teachings, including continence and piety, leads to the ambiguity of the idea of the fundamental structure of social rules in this religion including the law of retaliation; for, as according to the Jews, only Judaism is capable of achieving salvation for people; but according to Qur’anic teachings:»Every soul is a pledge for its own deeds. «

The doctrines of Jesus Christ's divinity and the Trinity in Christianity are very important issues. They are subject to rational and historical criticism which can be directed to them by, the New Testament and the Holy Qur’an, as well and in many different aspects. The point which is worth considering here is that the famous type of Trinity among the Christians concern the union of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Qur’an, however, there are many verses which deny the claim of the divinity of Jesus Christ and his mother her holiness Mary. This has led some Christians to assume that the Qur’an has misunderstood the Christian's conception of the Trinity and considered it as consisting of the Father, the Son and the Mother (her holiness Mary). This paper seeks to clear up this misconception which of some Christians have. Although some Muslim writers have already attempted to correct this misconception, their works do not seem to be thorough and comprehensive. The Qur’an rejects both the Mary Trinity and the Holy Spirit Trinity; it acts wisely and knowingly, and is completely aware of the history of Christianity and the Christian's beliefs.

Karh Rahner, a Catholic philosopher and theologian, addressing the idea of the spirit in this world, which has roots in the transcendental anthropology of spirit, discusses the question of eternity of spirit in afterlife term. Criticizing Plato's view, he believes that spirits in this world do not perish after death and thinks that this world is like a body for spirits. He believes that the intermediary world of spirits and the catharsis occurs in this world. Jürgen Moltmann, a protestant philosopher and theologian, has developed Plato's theory of eternity of spirits making use of aspiration theology. He believes that there is hope in this world for the salvation of all human beings. Although he does not reject the logical notion of the existence of hell, he considers God's will for chastising His servants is against God's love for His servants. Expounding the views of these two philosophers on the basis of two different approaches and one theology, this paper seeks to find out the roots of church allegations about the symbolic nature of heaven and hell through a study of the critics mentioned by their co-religionists.

After saint Paul, Saint Agustin investigated the question of original sin for the first time. In his view, due to the fact that the original sin was committed by Adam and Eve, man is considered sinful and it is only through kindness God's and divine favor that he is guided towards good. This paper, seeks to address this question theoretically and carefully by referring to the Gospel and Torah, taking in to consideration the standpoints of some theologians and philosophers. This paper concluded that although, there is no trace of original sin in the Old and New Testament, many Christian sects agree upon the universality of Adam's sin today. According to them and to Poles and the others, not only all divine prophets share the original sin, but also every child is born sinner. Allamah Tabatabai and others criticize this theory.

During its history, Christianity, including Protestants, has encountered different challenges. One of these challenges is the emergence of liberal theology. What reaction did the religious reformation movement, which came to existence in the sixteenth century with the aim of reviewing Christian beliefs, have against the mentioned challenge? That a movement wants to reconsider religious believes with new perspectives implies that it will ignore or reject some principles; while, the Protestant church shows, through its adherence to the primary beliefs of the church such as the Trinity, Incarnation and Sacrifice, that it has resisted the above-mentioned challenges, and therefore has not undergone many changes.

Any religious teaching passes different stages before it develops. It sometimes begins as a simple concept and then develop into complex philosophical teachings. The same is true of Hindu tradition; for example the teaching of "avatar" first came from its most ancient sources, i.e. Vedas and then developed to reach its final form as great Puranas and became a theory about how God manifests Himself which serves the system of Hindu theology and directs the existing polytheism in this religion. Considering the initial concept of this teaching and reviewing its origin, the present paper studies its final form in Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana. A review of some of the instances of these Puranas shows that the teaching in these texts not only refers to several incarnations of Vishnu but is also interpreted, in its final form, as a manifestation of the emergence of Brahman in the countenance of the multiple main and secondary gods and emanation of divine energy to all the creatures in the universe.

Approximation of religions is one the issues which some scholars of religion have tried to actualize over the history. There are different epistemic foundations behind these approximating activities, which taken into consideration, will result in different manifestations in practice. Transparency and emphasis on correct foundations of approximation can provide the ground for the promotion and development of approximating atmosphere among the followers of divine religions. Imam Musa Sadr is one of pioneers in this field. Reanalyzing his words and works, the present paper tries to recognize his epistemic foundations in the three domains of ontology, theology and anthropology, among which are convergence of all existence, transcendent look at the reality of religion and attention to man's dignity.