نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال هفتم شماره 3 (پیاپی 27، تابستان 1395)

Nowadays the escalating conflicts between the followers of different religions have given rise to insecurity in the world. Considering the religious texts and thoughts and their impact on the external interaction, can be effective in recognizing the causes of differences and solving them. In Judaism, ((Foreigners)) are the people other than the Jews and there is a dual view in dealing with the foreigners. As mentioned in some parts of the Hebrew holy text (Tanakh) and Talmud, on the one hand the foreigners differ from the Jews and are inferior to them in terms of race and on the other hand they are considered as respected creatures of God. Due to their belief in the racial purity and excellence of their own people, Jews have an inappropriate attitude towards foreigners. Research into the Jewish scriptures show that one of the most important reasons for the inappropriate attitude of the Jews towards the foreigners is relying on wrong beliefs penetrated into their religious texts. On the contrary, Quran considers all mankind as the same and does not regard any special race superior to the others. Rather, only piety, faith and good deeds are the criteria for superiority.

Shia and Catholic as two pivotal religions in Islam and Christianity especially bear considerable similarities in the area of sacred acts, symbols and religious rites. Pointing this out can prepare the ground for religious talks and convergence. To this end, the present paper uses a descriptive-analytic approach, to compare Shia and Catholic sacred acts, symbols and religious rite; and highlight their similarities and differences. One of the similarities is that each one of them submits to the fact that sacraments are not restricted to definite affairs. Therefore, abiding by the conditions, religious scholars are allowed to generalize religious rites to the indefinite affairs.
Furthermore both Shia and Catholic are confronted with opposite interests that assume any interference of common sense in rituals and sacraments as an instance of heretical practice.
Despite these similarities there are some differences between these two religions, as well. Instantly there are few definite rites in Catholic, hence they cannot be compared toShia.
Above all, this fact indicates the special role of sacraments and religious rituals in Shia and their maximum reliability.

Saint Anthony, the father of eastern Christian monasticism, is the promoter of solo monasticism. However, after him, the school of mass monasticism became popular which was founded by Pachomius. Aside from being popular, the monasticism of Pachomius has other features: developing a common constitution, the formation of monastery and presence in the community and politics. Preventing extremism, establishing a connection between church and monastery, creating a monastic theology and serving the community are of the positive aspects of this school. However in addition to positive aspects, there are some criticisms leveled at this school of thought: not being backed by the Holy book, having a military structure, changing the concepts of desert and asceticism, and the ease of entering to monastery even for unhealthy people. Using an analytical approach and a documentary survey, the present paper examines this monastic school analytically and critically. Setting the bible and tradition in Christian monasticism as the standard, this study deals with the era before Pachomius.

Moral weakness is a psychological phenomenon; the question raised here is that that how man carries out an action despite having knowledge that it is wrong. This paper examines the viewpoint of two Christian theologians and scholastic philosophers; Augustine and Aquinas, about moral weakness. In Augustine`s viewpoint, moral sin is committed when man, in his will power, ignores the eternal and infinite good or even turns away from it. Adam was the first man who committed a sin due to the weakness of his will; a sin that caused the Fall of Adam. The weakness of man`s will runs from generations to generation and leads to moral evils. Tomas believes that there are two powers for self; one is superior and the other is inferior. The first one is desire and the second one is will. Augustine believes that having mere knowledge is not enough for carrying out moral acts. Rather formation of other principles of voluntary action is required for a moral action. He believes that a normal human being, as a sinful moral agent, never commits a sin with a pre-planned pertinacity. Rather he misuses his power of choice when he has the will to choose. On the contrary, a corrupt and wicked man chooses to commit a sin, because those sins are basically in line with the principles and objectives that he has chosen for his life.

As the first and oldest religion of Abrahamic tradition, Judaism has a long history that is full of ups and downs. At the time of Canaan and after that, the followers of this religion have been in journeys and exiles, sometimes holding power and some other times experiencing failure. Despite different religious reactions of the Jews in this period, this religious tradition continues to exist. With a glance at the historical Jewish sources after Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) until the second destruction of temple in the year 70 (AD), this paper attempts to analyze the difference in the religious behavior of the Jews in the two periods of power and life of Canaan and imprisonment or dispersal. The research findings show that the religious life of Judaism boomed at the time of captivity or foreign pressure, but went on weakly and passively during life in Canaan. According to the Quran, the reason why the Israelites were banished and dispersed from the Promised Land was disobeying God, and the reason why Jews have had power and glorification was their monotheism.

Work, agriculture and production took on great importance in Zoroastrianism. Some sections of Ardavirafnameh, one of the religious books of this religion, deal with the reward for the righteous and punishment for the sinful who have been negligent in work, production and agriculture or who have not endeavored in doing so. Men deserve punishment or reward according to their deeds, as it is pointed out in this religious text. Pointing out the otherworldly reward or punishment in the material world, Ardavirafnameh attempts to make known material incumbent on its people such as agriculture and business. This issue was vitally important in politics and it was of great help to the Sasans. Probably the content of Ardavirafnameh, is an indication of the cultural and political Sasan vantage point. Aside from dealing with the importance work and agriculture in Zoroastrianism, this paper answers the question as to how a text like Ardavirafnameh can explicitly talk about production, agriculture and work in imposing the right punishment for man`s deeds.

Zoroastrianism is one of the religions the followers of which regard themselves as following a monotheistic religion. According to Zoroastrian doctrines, man’s soul does not annihilate with death; it continues to live. From a Zoroastrian point of view, death means the separation of soul and body and man’s transfer into the other world. What distinguishes Zoroastrianism from other monotheistic religions is this religion’s idea about the quiddity of death. The followers hold that death is one of the evils in the world the creator of which is devil and Ahura Mazda has no direct interference in it. Death is imposed on the world’s creatures and a Zoroastrian believer is duty- bound to fight against it and the other evils. The present descriptive-analytical paper is written based on the Avesta and Pahlavi texts and documentations of Zoroastrian scholars. In the end, assuming the monotheistic nature of Zoroastrianism, the author reviews the attribution of these beliefs to the true religion of Zoroastrianism.

Religious icons are considered as a way of visual expression and an intrareligious representation of concepts and meanings. The artist represents his perception of incorporeal and infinite affairs in the form of tangible and palpable experiences; meaning that through visual and iconic imagination, art opens a pathway to the depth of religious cognition so that through interpretation it makes it possible to understand the sacred. All through history these visual icons have led to the formation of myths. Using a descriptive-analytic method and by the use of content analysis this paper seeks to analyze the Christian iconography of the 15th century (AD) in Russia form the aspect of its symbolic motifs. These symbols have a history that dates back to ancient mythology. And in a comparative study of the painting of the prophet`s visit from hell in 9th century AD the similarities and differences and their effect on each other have been analyzed. The findings show that based on the permanent relationship between myths and iconic images and ethical epistemological functions, we can assume the hell icons in both Islamic and Christian culture as a kind of mythic image. The theory of iconographic motifs can have a pivotal role in the appearance of the content and form of their infrastructures.