Divine philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since October 2006. (help, talk) |
Divine philosophy is a term used most recently in the Kitab-i-Aqdas and associated with the maturity of the human race which can trace the progress back through the world's religions in history with incremental stages of progressive revelation. The compound word is more that the two words that make it up. The word divine and the word philosophy have their own meaning but the understanding of divine philosophy is best understood by looking at the progress of religion from the dawn of recorded history. Divinity and divine (sometimes 'the Divinity' or 'the Divine'), are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world. The root of the words is literally 'Godlike' (from the Latin 'Deus,' closely related to Greek 'Zeus'), but the use varies significantly depending on the underlying conception of God that is being invoked. This article outlines the major distinctions in the conventional use of the terms. Philosophy is a field of study in which people question and create theories about the nature of reality. It includes diverse subfields such as aesthetics, epistemology, ontology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, and law. Philosophers concern themselves with such fundamental and mysterious topics as whether or not God(s) exist, what is the nature of being and the universe, what is truth, what is consciousness, and what makes actions right or wrong. The fundamental method of western philosophy is the use of reasoning to evaluate arguments. However, the methodology of philosophy is itself debated, and varies according to the philosophical and cultural traditions of people all over the world.
Contents |
[edit] The Divine Philosophy wording in English
[edit] Adamic Understanding
The Adamic period of time dates back from the receeding of the last ice age 12,000 years ago up until the law that Moses gave which creates the foundation of the Jewish faith. The distinguishing feature of this period in religious history was to become the foundation of all religious history and that was founded on the 'oneness of God'. In the Adamic period of time divine philosophy was confined to the understanding of the concept of one God with the social transformation that flowed from that understanding. Through out religious history the re-establishment of the oneness of God principle in humanity has been part of the task of Manifestations of God that unite people. In Islam the restatement of Allah's position in an idol worshiping context of humanity by Muhammad again drew on the Adamic founding principle of the oneness of God. The Koran was again the restatement of the divine philosophy of Adamic understanding of the oneness of God and the breaking with idol superstition that gets passed down from generation when deviation from the notion of the oneness of God occurs. The Adamic understanding of divine philosophy is the Oneness of God.
[edit] Judaic Understanding
[edit] Zoroastrian Understanding
[edit] Hindu Understanding
[edit] Buddhist Understanding
[edit] Christian Understanding
A qoute from The Millennial Harbinger 28 (September 1857) Faith v's Philosophy by Robert Richardson in an internet reference states " The reader will remember that I have distinctly asserted that religion itself has its own philosophy, and that my objection has been to the substitution of human philosophy for that divine philosophy, which pervades the gospel. I remarked in the May number that, "since the philosophy of anything is its reason, there is a philosophy [493] in religion, else there would be no reason in it. But it is a divine and not a human philosophy. It is Christ crucified that is God's philosophy. It is the gospel that is God's power and wisdom. Hence it would be correct to say that Christianity contains the most glorious and sublime philosophy in the universe, since it is the divine plan or system of salvation, perfectly adapted to man through an infallible knowledge of his nature, character and condition. It is because it is thus absolutely perfect in its own philosophy that any addition of human philosophy spoils it. Christ must be our 'wisdom' as he is "our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption." and goes on to say "Of course there never can be any just antagonism between the [494] Christian faith and that divine philosophy of which it is itself the exponent, and I trust that no reader will so far misconceive me as to imagine that I have anywhere asserted the existence of such an antagonism."
[edit] Catholic encyclopedic reference
The Catholic Encyclopedia has three listings of the words divine philosopy. The first is under Dante Alighierian Italian poet, born at Florence, 1265; died at Ravenna, Italy, 14 September, 1321. Dante wrote a book, "Divina Commedia" and a character in the book, Beatrice, is defined in the catholic encyclopedia as follows "Beatrice, representing Divine philosophyilluminated by revelation, leads him thence, up through the nine moving heavens of intellectual preparation, into the true paradise, the spaceless and timeless empyrean, in which the blessedness of eternal life is found in the fruition of the sight of God."
The second reference relates to an entry 'The Second Apology. Addressed to the Roman Senate' CHAPTER XII -- CHRISTIANS PROVED INNOCENT BY THEIR CONTENIPT OF DEATH."For why did we not even publicly profess that these were the things which we esteemed good, and prove that these are the divine philosophy, saying that the mysteries of Saturn are performed when we slay a man, and' that when we drink our fill of blood, as it is said we do, we are doing what you do before that idol you honour, and on which you sprinkle the blood not only of irrational animals, but also of men, making a libation of the blood of the slain by the hand of the most illustrious and noble man among you?"
The Third referenc ralates to the entry 'Bishop of Mopsuestia. Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia and ecclesiastical writer; b. at Antioch about 350 (thus also known as Theodore of Antioch), of wealthy and prominent parents; d. 428. "Theodore renounced a secular career when about eighteen years old, and devoted himself to the ascetic life in the school of Diodorus (later Bishop of Tarsus) and Carterius, situated near Antiochia. His youthful and too tempestuous zeal soon grew cold, and, owing chiefly to the memory of Hermione whom he intended to take as wife, he resolved to return to the world (Sozomen, "Hist. eccl.", VIII, 2; Hesychius Hieros., "Hist. eccl." in Mansi, "Concil.", IX, 248). Chrysostom's grief at this step of his friend was so great that he addressed him two letters or treatises ("Ad Theodorum lapsum" in P.G., XLVII, 277 sqq.) to recall him to his early resolution. A little later Theodore did indeed return to the "divine philosophy" of the ascetic monastic life. He quickly acquired a great acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. Impetuous and restless of character, he had already, when scarcely twenty years old (at eighteen according to Leontius, "Adv. Incorrupticolas", viii, in P.G., LXXXVI, 1364), applied himself to theological compositions. His first work was the commentary on the Psalms, in which his extreme exegetical tendencies in the sense of an almost exclusively grammatico-historical and realistic explanation of the text is already manifest (see below Theodore's Hermeneutics). "
[edit] Islamic Understanding
[edit] Bábí Understanding
[edit] Bahá'í understanding
Divine Philosophy is a concept further defined by Bahá'u'lláh, the Bahá'í Faith's founder. He wrote that there was a difference between the material interpretation of life and the spiritual interpretation. He refers to the qualities of the Prophets of God speaking distinguishably differently on the subject of spirituality that the philosophers who comment on physical philosophical treatments.
The term divine philosophy can be linked to the the Bahá'í book Kitáb-i-Aqdas. It is mentioned in conjunction with the coming of age of humanity. One of the signs stated in the coming of age of humanity is the development of an International Auxiliary Language.
Divine philosophy is elaborated on by `Abdu'l-Bahá in a talk in Paris in 1912. A quote from this talk sums up this page "Today the enmity and rivalry existing between the religions are over mere words. It is an established fact that the followers of all the religions believe in a reality, the benefits of which are universal; which reality is a medium between God and man. The Jews call that reality Moses, the Christians Christ, the Mussulmans Mohammed, the Buddhists Buddha and the Zoroastrians Zoroaster. Now mark well that none of these religionists have ever seen the founders; they have only heard his name. Could they overlook these names they would at once realize that all believe in a perfect reality which is an intermediary between the Almighty and the creatures. Should you speak to a Jew about the medium or channel between God and man, without referring to any particular name or person, he would say, "Yes, this is right, but I say the name of this mediator is Moses." If you give the exposition of this divine philosophy to the followers of each religion they will agree with you in the abstract, but they will stick to the names of their own prophets and arise in contention and strife over these names. The Jew believes in Christ, though he knows it not, and is quibbling over the mere name. There have been wars and rumors of war amongst the people of the world for many thousand years; much innocent blood has been shed, many kingdoms and empires have been laid waste. Is it not enough? Religion should be the means of good fellowship and love. It must upraise the standard of harmony and solidarity. If religion is conducive to hatred and enmity, its existence is harmful to the welfare of the community."
Shoghi Effendi has made reference to divine philosophy.
The Universal House of Justice in the publication of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1992 into english gave a focus to the concept of divine philosophy and what it meant by the term.
[edit] References
- Bahá'u'lláh (1873). The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0853989990.
