نشریه معرفت ادیان
سال دوازدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 49، زمستان 1400)

The theory of "value" is undoubtedly the most important element in any moral system. On the other hand, in today's world, the religion-based moral system is regarded as perfect. As two authoritative sources in Islam and Christianity, the Holy Qur'an and the New Testament have also provided many teachings in this regard. These two main religious sources have taken a teleological and perfectionist approach to the theory of value, in the sense that they both strive for the liberation and salvation of man. The difference is that the New Testament considers liberation from the original sin and the return of man to his first place, but the Holy Qur'an considers liberation from the world and approach to God and the attainment of a higher position. The New Testament also takes into account the worldly gifts and finally the kingdom of the heavens, whereas the Holy Qur'an considers the worldly and otherworldly rewards.

The issue of war and peace is very important in any religion because choosing each of them as the main approach creates different results. Mennonite is a branch of the Protestant Christianity. The followers of this denomination are religious people who believe in Christ and his teachings and have a special belief in the field of peace. In this regard, they refer to certain sources and attribute certain characteristics to peace. Since their approach is not accepted in Shiite principles, it needs to be examined. Using the library-based method, the present paper first explains and then examines the Mennonite view of peace. Based on the research findings, the Mennonites, referring to the teachings of Jesus, believe in absolute peace and non-resistance and do not allow war even in order to defend the rights of the oppressed; whereas the Shiites consider this kind of peace to be an act of oppression. While introducing Islam as a religion of mercy, they consider resistance and defensive war against the aggressors necessary and accept a kind of peace that does suppress or weaken the oppressed of the world.

The attitude of different religions and creeds towards the issue of evil is a topic that can be analyzed and studied in theological discussions. The semantic analysis of the concept of evil and the ontological analysis of evil-doer on the one hand, and the study of the cosmological, theological, anthropological, and moral implications of accepting the existence of evil in the universe on the other, are significant subjects. Using the comparative method, this article first deals with the ontological analysis of evil in Islam and Hinduism and then examines the cosmological implications of accepting the existence of evil in these two religions. In Hinduism, "Evil" is equivalent to suffering, and in Islam it is a type of secondary philosophical intelligible that is abstracted from the observation of the negative relationship of one phenomenon and existence with the perfect existence and another phenomenon. Accordingly, Islam and Hinduism affirm the existence of evil in the universe. In terms of cosmological implications, they both have an optimistic view of evil ultimately.

The unity of existence is one of the complex issues raised in mystical schools. Showing the depth of attention of scholars in the Islamic world, the present paper is a comparative study of the views of the Hindu school and Islamic mysticism. In Hinduism and Islam, three interpretations of the unity of existence have been offered: 1. The universe is a single personal existence and all objects in the universe are considered as its components. Some Islamic theologians have attributed this view to mystics. 2. The universe is a single personal existence, and multiplicities and other objects are nothing more than illusions and mirages. This view is attributed to some Sufis. In both of these interpretations of the unity of existence, some words of the Hindu school are used. 3. The universe is an infinite and endless single personal existence that leaves no room for others, and pluralities are the manifestations of that single personal existence. In this view, the attribution of pluralities to existence is permissible. In the relationship between existence and pluralities, the single personal existence plays the role of a stational conditional mood, and the difference between pluralities, i.e. one plurality is superior to the other, is in analogical gradation. This interpretation is the view held by most Muslim mystics and is also derived from the words of Hindu mysticism.

The book “101 Cleared up Contradictions in the Bible”, written by Shobeyr Ali, examines 101 contradictions in the Testament. Four Christian missionaries have responded to this book. Seeking to descriptively analyze the introduction to their defensive response, the present article shows that the existence of contradictions in the Bible cannot be denied and one cannot validate the Bible arguing that the Bible is a revealed book which the Qur'an has confirmed. Furthermore, whether the authors' responses are correct or not, Muslims' views of the Bible will not change; that is, whether there is a contradiction in the Bible or not, Muslims do not give absolute credibility to the Bible because the Qur'an has just confirmed the Bible on the whole.

As the most important theological source in Christianity, the Bible needs to be interpreted. Among Christians, the interpretation of the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) was done in two literal and allegorical forms from the very beginning of its compilation. The adoption of these two interpretive methods among the early Christians was not unrelated to the interpretive methods used by the Jews. As a solution to many theological issues in the Christian community, the allegorical method received more attention. On the other hand, literal interpretation created challenges and deviations that were regarded as heresy by the church councils. The foundation of these biblical interpretations was laid in the early centuries, the age of Church Fathers. The two main schools of Antioch and Alexandria developed at the same time, the former representing the literal method and the latter representing the allegorical method. This study tries to examine the allegorical method while expressing the effect of Jewish interpretive methods on the Christian community, especially some church Fathers in the patristic a period. The findings show that the allegorical method has had its ups and downs and marked a change in the history of Christianity. Due to going to extremes in the allegorical method of interpretation, the only solution was to let the church monopolize the interpretation, a decision which had its own consequences and led to widespread criticism of the interpretation of the Bible.

Because of the importance of death and the afterlife, different nations accepting new religions resist the change in the rituals of death and to continue to preserve their ancestral traditions. Thus, death rituals are more integrated than other religious rites, and one can easily see the differences in the rites of different ethnic groups following a religion. The Tatars, one of the peoples under the Russian Empire for centuries, are a unique example of preserving the traditions of primitive religions and beliefs and integrating them with the new religion. This issue can be pursued in both the Muslim and Christian branches of this nation. This comparative study of these traditions show us that they are more concentrated among Christian Tatars than Muslim Tatars. The root of this problem can be found in the shortage of relevant rites in Christianity, and the richness of rituals on death and post-mortem rituals in Islam. The present article studies these rituals through an analytical-comparative method.

Researchers in the field of comparative religions aim to understand religions based on correct descriptions, not based on advice and belief. The ontological, epistemological, and methodological aspects as well as the method dimension are four interrelated areas of the basic concepts of research. Different situations of ontology (justification of reality and researcher's view of the world), epistemology (justification of knowledge), methodology (justification of method) and method (practice of research) produce different discourses that create a new understanding in the world of religions. Research theories are rooted in the epistemological assumptions of researchers, and the more they are studied in terms of their epistemological positions, the more it will be possible to understand and compare theories and other basic elements of research. The two later discourses that have played a greater role in systematizing the academic discipline of the history of religions and dominate the contemporary theological realm are Mircea Eliade’s phenomenological and hermeneutic discourse of the creator with the undisputed authority and Jonathan Z. Smith’s method of historical comparison, "Going beyond Eliade" (1938-2017). Although there are many works on Eliade, studying Eliade’s and Smith’s theories from an epistemological point of view is a new area of research. In Iran, unfortunately, not much research has been done on Jonathan Z. Smith, and despite his great importance, he is still unknown and absent in religious circles.