نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال پنجم شماره 2 (پیاپی 18، بهار 1393)

The issues of creating civilization and progress in religious governments, has always been among the important and challenging subjects in the area of culture and civilization. Undoubtedly, studying historical examples in this regard greatly contributes to shedding light on this subject and clarifying the related theories. Through a descriptive-analytical approach, this paper investigates the indicators of progress and creating civilization in the government of the prophet Joseph and presents a model in this respect. The features of the prophet Joseph’s government such as being established, honest, preserver and wise highlight the four major strategies in economics which are as follows: sufficient authority in practical aspects, mental security for economic security, the necessity of constant research to maintain economic balance in the society and knowing the challenges to come. The 14- year-plan of the prophet Joseph for economic justice and overcoming famine and economic corruption confirms properly the fact that administering social justice in the society requires a long-term and careful plan. Accordingly, the government established by the prophet Joseph can be considered as an example of a successful divine government. The prophet Joseph himself can be regarded as a good exemplar of a religious government's agent who worked within the framework of economic ethics.

The book of Job is among the books on wisdom in the Old Testament and Hebrew scriptures as one of the world’s literary masterpieces. This book deals with some of the most serious intellectual challenges with the issue of suffering and the meaning of life. It is basically considered as a book on theodicy or divine justice it seems to possess certain components and elements which can make it the object of a Islamic Theological approach. In reviewing this book, one can easily find fhe examples of Islamic theological disputations among different intellectual trends in the Muslim world such as Asharites, Mu’tazilites and the Shi’a. The issue of human pain and suffering does not occupy an important distinct position in Islamic theology; in most disciplines, it is discussed under the rubric of “obligation". The aim of analyzing the content of this book and using methods of historical criticism and those of hermeneutics is solely to review and find some of the most longstanding ancient doctrines of the divine revealed religions. Given the changes in anthropological studies in the present era and the needs resulted from the paradigms shifts, this research can make its contribution to reconstruct and add some new dimensions to the modern theology.

Through a non-religious approach to the Holy Quran and its teachings, many orientalists have highlighted the presupposition of”the non-divine nature of the Qur’an” and carried out a lot of research on finding the origin of the Quran and its stories. They regard the Quran as a human book influenced by the other holy books especially the Torah and the Bible. They also believe that the Quranic stories are adapted from the previous holy books. Among their reasons is the similarity of stories in the Quran and the Testaments, a logical and well-reasoned answer to these doubts proves the divinity of the Holy Qur’an. By virtue of the religious evidence, the content of the historical propositions of the Qur’an and the Testaments and differentiating the artistic effects of the Quranic stories and those of the testaments, and also the valid non-religious reasons, the archeologists’ findings that confirm the Quranic stories and reject some of the statements of the testament. This paper, seeks to reject and repudiate the supposition that the Quranic stories are adapted from the Testaments.

Historical evidence, based on the biblical texts justifying love on the one hand, and the just wars on the other hand, seriously calls into question Augustin's theory of love of the enemy prevailing among the Christians. Discussion of such an idea in ancient religions and cultures among the Jews and the Greeks, such as the dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro in the book: Euthyphro (dialogues) conversation” by Plato, shows its importance for softening the hearts. This paper studies Augustine's theory of love of the enemy, which is based on the principle that God, by ordering to love others, commands us to have a correct inner judgment and a kind heart. Therefore, this teaching has gradually brought about an exaggerated interpretation of the Christ's personality and Christian law. Using an analytical-critical approach, this paper investigates and criticizes the origin and possibility of Augustine's theory of love of the enemy.

In the eighth century A.D. disputes over iconoclasm caused a gap between the Roman Catholic Church and Byzantine Church. In the eleventh century A.D. the Orthodox Church officially declared its separation owning to the dispute over iconography. This paper investigates the relation between theoretical foundations of iconography and the Bible.Based on Orthodox theology, most of Christian doctrines in the Bible have somehow expressed themselves in the icons. Therefore, iconography has been regarded as a kind of visual interpretationˮ of the Bible. On the contrary, the Bible is considered as a written iconˮ of Jesus Christ, and such, equal respect is paid to the icon and the Bible. In addition to theological issues, artistic aspects of icons as signs of religious or sacred art have been taken into consideration. By virtue of the images in the Bible, the narrative and non – narrative images of God, Jesus Christ, man and semiology, the aesthetic aspects of the icons have also been discussed. These icons do not have ornamental applications; they are symbols of written texts and verbal traditions.

This paper provides a brief account of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's religious life and his most important teachings, his movement and its similarities and differences with other Indian denominations and schools, in particular, the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta and the teachings of its mystics and leader's like Say Baba Sharidi. It seems that most of his teachings have their roots in in Indian ancient schools and the doctrines of well-known figures before him. However they are presented by Sai Baba in a more modern fashion. Studying his important teachings and his claim that he is the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi and has supernatural powers, it is concluded that none of his teachings correspond with divine teachings from the view point of theology, cosmology and soteriology. Furthermore, his apparently magical actions have been proved to be nothing more than but legerdemain, and even if they were real, they couldnt prove his claim to divinity.

Knowledge of man, after knowing God, is the most central issue in all religions because man is the objection of divine creation and a focus of so much attention that God has sent His prophet to guide him. On the basis of their view of man, religions depict the states of man's spiritual perfection as depending on the extent to which he can achieve the ultimate happiness and hence, consider self-knowledge as the first step in obtaining it. Accordingly, through an analytical - inferential approach, this paper investigates Zoroaster's attitude towards man and his existential dimensions, Zoroaster's self- knowledge, the educational implications derived from Zoroaster's knowledge of man in the four areas of educational goals, training methods and the characteristics of teachers and learners. Furthermore, based on Zoroaster's knowledge of man and his educational implications, this paper reviews some concepts and teachings which have been developed in the course of religion's development.