نشریه معرفت کلامی
سال دهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 22، بهار و تابستان 1398)

In some theological books, to prove the necessity of revelation, it is argued that on the one hand, there are the sciences and devices that are essential to humankind, and on the other hand, ordinary human reason and experience are not sufficient to obtain them. Thus, revelation must provide such knowledge for man. This argument can be both a priori and a posteriori, meaning that it can be a priori argued that because such sciences and devices are essential to humankind, then God must provide them through revelation, and it can also be said a posteriori: since human has already access to such sciences and devices practically, so there has been a revelation. In this article, it is argued that although it is true that some sciences and devices are not acquired through common sense and experience, merely this fact cannot prove the a priori or a posteriori necessity of revelation, and these sciences and devices may be revealed to humans in ways other than revelation.

Due to the special status of the topic of "monotheism", the Imamiyyah theologians have always paid special attention to this issue. The breadth of monotheism, and the ongoing challenge of Imamiyyah with the rival’s religious and sectarian thoughts, has made the situation of this debate and its method of structuring very important. The purpose of the knowledge of discourse is summarized in two areas: "education" and "defense of beliefs". In these two areas, materiality has a special place in terms of comprehensiveness, impediment and observance of the logical division criteria. Therefore, in this paper, by means of "library" and "analytical" methods, the structure of a considerable number of theological works of Imamiyyah has been examined in two parts: "privative or intrinsic monotheism" and "degrees of monotheism". As a result of this research, it becomes clear that the term "monotheism" has several different meanings; the structure of monotheistic debates has always been evolving and various structures have been proposed. In these structures, some levels of monotheism are sometimes neglected and sometimes the rational requirements of division are not met. In the proposed structure, it has been tried to pay attention to the monotheistic and rational organization.

Some theologians have resorted to the proof obtained from the verses concerning the witnesses of the nations to prove the prophets' all-pervading infallibility; i.e., all the prophets are righteous witnesses in the resurrection, and therefore must be free from error and inadmissibility for true testimony. The question that arises is whether the implication of this argument is true or not. The observation that is there is that the relevant verses only indicate that there is a witness in every nation; so there may be several prophets at one time, and only one of them will witness the actions of the nation. The author believes that this witness is the Imam of the nation. Thus, he is immune from error and inadvertence in observing the deeds of his servants. This article seeks to reject the public view of Shiite and Sunni commentators that martyrs are the same prophets, using the “descriptive-analytical" method, and to prove that every community is witnessed by its Imam.

The “Process theology” considers the merely encouraging power of God as a barrier to getting caught in the trap of the problem of evil, and thereby, proclaims its ontological superiority over the theology of open God. But the Open theism knows the process God responsible for the evil of the world equally, and even offers solutions to the problem of evil by resorting to God's algebraic power. In this article, while explaining the power of the process God, we come to the conflict of two schools over the problem of evil. Then, by presenting an analysis of the positions of the two sides, we first address some of the shortcomings of the "Open theism" in criticizing the "theology of process" and answering the question of "evil". Secondly, we show that the theology of process can provide a sufficient answer to this problem that avoids the ambiguities and deficiencies embodied in the concept of the power of the process God. Although the theology of process offers a more appropriate answer to the problem of "evil", it has some ambiguities about the power of the process God that greatly undermine the value of this answer.

The system of the material world is part of the excellent system and its creation is supreme and the best possible. The existence of the least evil is necessary in this world. Man as part of this system, the structure of his creation is excellent and uppermost. For good to overcome evil in the material world, is it necessary to conquer evil in human beings too? i.e., just as in the material world in which the utmost good prevails over the least evil, is it necessary to have good as the majority and evil as a minority either? Some Islamic scholars, such as Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra, hold that: In addition to the dominance of good over evil in the material world, in the human world, we have good as the majority and evil as a minority either. This study first explores the mentioned view, and then this claim has been disputed. According to the preferred view, in the human world, unlike the creatures of the natural world, the realization of the utmost evil is possible (universal possibility). The necessity of the existence of the utmost good and the least evil is related to the world of nature and also the structure of human creation. But in the human world, due to the man's will and desire, the abundance of good and the smallness of evil are unnecessary. Humans can, at their own discretion, perform actions and acts in which evil is the utmost and good is the least.

The divine or human nature of the text of the Holy Quran has attracted the attention of religious scholars. Each of them documents their view on a part of the verses of the Holy Quran. The present study seeks to discover the view of the Holy Quran itself and in this way, by using the analysis of the “meaning-making process" in a successful relationship, based on linguistic knowledge and considering the gradual decline of the Holy Quranic verses and its synchronization with the reaction of the audience from the creator of the text, it was found that the text of the Holy Quran is divine. The necessity of using the above method is that the proponents of either of these two views, whether divine or human being, have interpreted and somehow rejected the verses of the Holy Quran, which the opposing group has cited as their evidence, however, it seems that due to the interaction of the Holy Quran with the audience and “the meaning transition process analysis” method in linguistics in this study, the mentioned result can be attributed to the Holy Quran itself and not to the views of the scholars.

The Quran interpreters have a variety of specialized, religious and other interests. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of these interests on the interpretation of the Quran using a descriptive-analytical method, and to show the narrative aspects of their effects. The criteria for evaluating these aspects are the common method of interpretation among Muslim commentators, the intention of the interpreter—which is the attainment of God's purposes—and prohibition of any imposition on the Quran. The interpreters’ interests are influential on the principle of choosing ijtihadic or non-ijtihadic method (pure narrative), as well as various interpretative tendencies, such as jurisprudential, literary, social, and theological. The punctuality of the interpreters' use of content that is consistent with their own interests is also one of the aspects of the influence of the interpreters' interests on interpretation. Also, the interpreter's interest is one of the factors involved in the selection of subjects under study in the Quran. The interpreter may, in accordance with his or her interests, present probabilities in the interpretation of the verses that do not conform to the appearance of the verses and there is no evidence to support them.

The Immaculate concealed some of the facts from the audience due to their wisdom and the level of understanding of the audience. "Hiding the reality" damages the speech of the Immaculate in two ways: 1- If "Hiding the reality" is wise, one can cl aim The reality is completely different from what has been said and not presented because of a lack of understanding. Some of the variants of this assumption require total falsehood of the Quran and rational propositions, so this possibility is rejected. 2- By putting together the "sayings" and the "untold", our current perception of reality may change completely and the words of the Immaculate will no longer be true. Some, however, have resorted to the principles of transcendent wisdom and lack of godliness by assuming that the "untold" is along with the "sayings"; but first, this is not the perfect answer. Second, the latter only distorts the truthfulness of the intertwined statements of the Immaculate, not all. Third, even in the intertwined doctrines, by “unconditionalizing" the statements, the minimal realism will still be preserved. Fourth, the instances of hiding the reality are mostly about the Imam’s dignity, formative guardianship, and subjects like that, whose limitations are clearly specified.

For Paul Tillich, "symbolic language" is the only appropriate means of expressing, analyzing, and examining religious subjects that transcends the ability and limitation of conventional worldly terms, as well as the conceptual language of philosophy. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the feasibility of analyzing issues such as "divine grace", "inductive virtues" and "delightful vision" in the philosophical theology of Thomas Aquinas with a symbolic language approach. The theory of "symbolic language", because of its contradictory and polar features, provides an understanding of the divine bliss, divine grace and inductive virtues in its context. It also views these issues as symbols that are appropriate answers to the fundamental and existential issues of human. On this basis, it can be said that God's grace is a response to the issue of "inherent sin" and the defects of human nature. Induced virtues are a response to insufficient acquired virtues to achieve supernatural happiness. The delightful vision is a response to one's desire to know the beginning and the origin of the existence. And true happiness in heaven is a response to man's natural desire for eternity with peace and goodness.

One of the most important issues in the relationship between science and religion is the type of interaction that the two areas of religion and experimental science have with each other. In order to better understand this interaction, it is necessary to evaluate the role of the concepts and teachings of religion in the process of science developments. This article seeks to talk about the teachings of religion that have had a positive role in the growth and movement of empirical science and inducing such themes in society encourages them to empirical science. Studying these religious doctrines and themes can also guide us to the science that is desirable to religion. These doctrines will be evaluated in both theoretical and practical areas. Theoretical teachings have been largely influenced by the metaphysical foundations of experimental science during the course of science, and practical teachings have largely contributed to the development of science in the form of motivational matters.

Faith is a process that begins with backgrounds and underlying contexts, and at some point it leads to the determination of faith and after that, it intensifies. Since the explanation of the process of faith in the Quran is one of the essentials of the Quranic scholars and theologians, this article has attempted to study the faith builders’ contexts and their role. For this purpose, the verses of the Quran were carefully studied and everything that was mentioned in the Qur'an as a preparation to the faith was gathered. These preparations fall into the four domains of ethical, epistemic, religious, and behavioral. According to the findings of the study, faith in addition to knowledge requires ethical and behavioral contexts and not every character has the ground for accepting faith. Each stage of faith also plays a key role in furthering the next level of faith and is essential to attaining the desired faith.

The so-called "disconnection" approach to the question of the truth of reason and the scope of its validity and functions contradicts the famous Shiite approach. Based on this approach, human reason is inherently at odds with his spirit. The reason is evolvable, but the human spirit is always dark. This approach considers the function of reason in religious use limited to understanding practical matters, and the function of science limited to understanding theoretical matters. Mirza Mehdi Esfahani considers the certainty derived from sense, book, and tradition to be true, but does not validate the certainty which is derived from any argument. Followers of the “disconnection" approach generalize the forbidden analogy embedded in religion to philosophical arguments, and they oppose any deep rationalization. Mirza Mehdi Esfahani considers the theoretical reference to the method of "religious education" as merely a hint of the nature, not an argument. With the method of "inter-religious" research we criticize these beliefs: according to the verses and narrations, human reason is a level of his soul and can come to a correct understanding of theoretical and practical matters by reasoning with clear premises. In the Quran and traditions, rational reasoning has been widely used to prove theoretical and practical facts.