Academic literature on the topic 'Theocratic mission'

Abstract In the face of political rhetoric about Russia being outside of Europe both in the West and in Russia itself, it is all the more necessary to remember that European and Russian culture grew out of the same source: Christianity. Therefore, inter-confessional dialogue between Russian Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church is particularly relevant today. In this context, scholars have focused attention on the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, who has been described as a forerunner of the ecumenical movement. This article enriches accounts of his thought by shining a spotlight on the context of spiritual and moral thought in Russia in his day. The article also shows how Russian emperors of the nineteenth century (in particular Alexander III) promoted the idea of a rapprochement with the Holy See. The author argues that these mutual initiatives of the Holy See and the Russian government were the political foundation for Solovyov’s theocratic project. The mid-nineteenth century was remarkable both for the flowering of Russian culture and the strengthening of Russian statehood, which together promoted the formation and articulation of key ideas in Russian intellectual history. The author shows that Russia’s mission to restore Christian unity was central to nineteenth-century Russian thought.

This article is dedicated to the terms for personal prayer (duʻāʼ and other derivative forms) in the Qurʼān. Occurrence of these terms in the text is analyzed quantitatively with regard to the chronology of the Qurʼānic text. They appear mainly in the sūras of the II and III Meccan periods, and more rarely in the Medinan period, contrary to the term for communal prayer ṣalāt which is frequent in the Medinan sūras. The study shows that they are used in a close number of interrelated contexts. These contexts could be described as follows: people’s ingratitude towards the Almighty God and their inclination towards pagan deities; their appeal to God in the time of danger; Allāh’s mercy to the righteous calling Him, including His response to them and helping a righteous man, like Zakarīyā and Ibrāhīm, to have a child. Emotional aspect of these fragments was analyzed as well. The Qurʼānic fragments, containing terms for the personal prayer, are emotionally intense and their modality varies from positive to negative, often containing both of these contrast evaluations. These traits and the variety of related topics and their emotional modality could be explained by diverse circumstances of Muḥammad’s prophetic mission, as his social role evolved from an outcast preacher to a head of the theocratic state. The variety of topics and their emotional modality could be a consequence of the different character of audiences during the different stages of monotheistic preach delivered by Prophet Muhammad.

In Vladimir Sharov’s novels, the text structure of the narrative is of crucial importance. The text structures of Sharov’s novels are diverse: letters, diaries, archives, notes, treatises, dissertations, etc. Sharov consciously chooses the diary as a form of narration, as a stylisation of the document of one’s personal presence in history. The diary allows Sharov to reveal the characters’ psychology, to identify their attitude to reality, its perception, and image. The article analyses the form of the diary in the novels The Rehearsals (1992), The Old Girl (1998), Raising Lazarus (2003). In The Rehearsals, the diary of Jacques de Sertan, a French director and actor brought to Russia by the will of fate, becomes the key form of the narration. For several years (1660s), Sertan describes the plot of the rehearsals of a religious mystery about the life of Christ staged under the patronage of Patriarch Nikon. The meaning of the diary at the level of the author’s consciousness is to establish the laws of historical mystery. The author comes to the idea that the idea (political, theocratic, utopian) influences the historical process. Service to the idea and fascination with it entail a desire to change, remake reality. This is how, according to Sharov, the endless revolutions of Russian history arise leading to national divisions, opposition of one part of the people against another. The algorithm of Russian history is extremely clear: repeated splits lead to absurd dead ends. The narration in The Old Girl is connected with the comprehension of the most important event in Russian history for Sharov’s authorial historiosophy: the Revolution of 1917 and the political repressions of the 1930s. The basis of the narration is texts of different statuses that the author imitated: first of all, the diary of the main character Vera Radostina. The diary here is a personal document of one’s own life and a document of the historical era of the 1920s and 1930s. This is the narrative function of Vera Radostina’s diary, stories about the revolution, its role, its meaning for a person and for contemporaries. The author’s modeling of the diary of a character such as Vera is associated with the perception of the role of a person in the historical process of the 1920s and 1930s. Vera turns out to be identical with the epoch. She is fascinated by the grandeur and phenomenality of what is happening. She understands that the revolution should be involved in the general historical flow, that it is necessary to “enter the revolution into the history of Russia”. From the point of view of the author’s consciousness, with a common historical pattern, the revolution turns out to be a catastrophe in the national historical process. In Raising Lazarus, the diary performs three functions. At the plot level, it logically ends the search for the missing manuscripts. At the level of the consciousness of Nikolai Kulbarsov, the author of the diary, it “documents his identity”, confirming the continuity of his self. At the level of the author’s consciousness, the diary becomes a fact of the resurrection of the individual in the abyss of history.

The article is devoted to the foreign and Russian reception of theocratic utopia of V.S. Soloviev, presented in his French works “The Russian Idea”, “Saint Vladimir and Christian Politics”, “Russia and the Universal Church”. Soloviev’s theocratic project, which assumed the subordination of the Russian emperor to the pope and the reunion of the Orthodox and Catholic churches, aroused great interest abroad. His report “The Russian Idea”, dedicated to Russia’s mission to conciliate the two branches of Christianity, was enthusiastically received by the Catholic press and received many praise. The Russian philosopher was seen by Western critics as a new apostle, called to return the Orthodox to Catholic unity. However, the treatise “Russia and the Universal Church” turned out to be unacceptable for Catholics for its mysticism, Soloviev’s teachings about Sophia and creation seemed like a gnostic heresy. Abroad Soloviev’s ecclesiology, philosophy of history, his theocratic project, which in Russia were perceived as treason to Orthodoxy and as an anti-national utopia, were in demand. Despite the fact that the philosophical and religious foundations of his views were shared by many Soloviev’s French writings evoked an unfavorable impression in the government and the Holy Synod (K.P. Pobedonostsev), indignation and irritation of the Slavophils (I.S. Aksakov, S.F. Sharapov), the Pochvenniks (N.N. Strakhov) and conservative circles (L.A. Tikhomirov); Orthodox clergy (Nikolai (Kasatkin), Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Vladimir (Guettée)) spoke extremely negatively about them. The most favorable were the assessments of K.N. Leontiev and T.I. Filippov. The philosopher’s Russian followers embraced Soloviev’s metaphysics, sophiology, his doctrine of total unity, while in his theocratic aspirations the philosopher remained alone.

Quaid-i-Azam Muhamamd Ali Jinnah's vision envisaged a democratic country based on the tenets of Islam. His invocation of Islam was not to arouse clerics to mistake it for theocracy. Jinnah earnestly thought that Islam and its idealism had taught Indian Muslims the virtues of democracy as it envisioned equality, justice and fair play to everybody. In his broadcast to the USA in Feb 1948 he had hoped that the Pakistan constitution would be of "a democratic type; embodying the essential principles of Islam". He reaffirmed emphatically that Pakistan was not going to be a theocratic state- to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. Even the Objectives Resolution (1949), moved by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, recognized not the followers of a particular faith, but the people- all the people irrespective of whatever faith they may follow. It is a pity that the Objectives Resolution has been interpreted quite differently to suit vested interest.

This study focused on lessons learned from the Physical Education Curriculum under the reign of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We conducted an unprecedented analysis of ISIS primary school physical education curriculum. The research objective focused on describing and analyzing the context and intentions of the document as well as its content (didactic, pedagogy, learning assessment, among others). We also analyzed the general scientific quality of the curriculum of physical education targeting fitness preparation by the instructor in charge of the education of the youth. In addition, our analysis focused on the philosophical and contextual issues of the manual. Findings revealed an incomplete and a rapidly developed textbook where several essential elements related to pedagogy, didactics, learning, and assessment were missing or inconsistent. The logic of military preparation under the guise of preparing the student’s physical condition was an important finding without being explicitly mentioned. Integration of religious content was present without being affirmed in the content of the lessons. We argue that the ISIS physical education curriculum appears to be committed to an absolutist/theocratic ideological or propaganda program that, among other things, promotes the preparation of the future soldiers of the ISIS army. Recommendations about secularization and the reconstruction of post-ISIS education systems are formulated.

The author is challenging the Romanian outdated methodology of research of the well-known Dacian citadels from the late Iron Age excavated during the last 70 years. He is stressing the danger for the health of the Romanian society of the so-called “dacomania”, a trend originated from the communiste period which developed and became stronger and stronger. The duty of the academic community is to fight using the correct research methodology, otherwise it will be vulnerable in front of the irrationale propaganda.The first part of the study deals with the architecture of the Dacian citadels from the Șureanu (Sebeșului) Mountains from south-western Transylvania. The focus of the author’s considerations is concentrated on the building technique of the defense stone-walls. As stone walls are rare during the Iron Age on the territory of Romania, the massive fortifications found in the mountains mentioned above are spectacular. This evolution was explained as a consequence of the development of the Dacian political structures till to a state stage during the 1st century BC. Then Burebista, the first king established his residence at Sarmizegetusa and after conquered the Greek cities from the Black Sea shore, used Greek builders for his citadels. The influence of the Hellenistique building technology is obvious. But the structures were named by Romanian researchers in the field “murus Dacicus” a local original type of fortification wall. The main local feature was consider the using of the wood to link the stone blocks of the wall. The wooden beams were fixed in the blocks faces in some special cuts in the shape of dovetail. The author is offering examples from France, where at Mont Saint Odile and at Frankenbourg in Alsace, there are massive fortifications using the same technique of sticking together the stone blocks. Even their chronology is not well established, it is very probable that the technique arrived in northern Gaul from the Southern Greek cities, maybe by Etruscan intermediary. So he rejects the concept of “murus Dacicus”, the original local Dacian contribution being unrecognizable.The second analysis, more extended is dedicated to the so-called Dacian temples from Sarmizegetusa Regia (Grădiștea Muncelului). The author doubts concerning the identification as sanctuaries of the rows of round stone bases uncovered by the archaeologists. His first objection is based on the archaeological inventory recovered. There are only iron nails and iron elements used in assembling the beams of roofs. In prehistory the possibility of identification of a building as a sacred one is based on cult objects, or cultic structures (as ritual altars, hearths etc.), giving as examples the Neolithic sanctuary at Parța, or buildings from the Iron Age at Popești, or Cârlomănești in Southern Romania. In the reconstructions proposed by several architects and archaeologists as Dinu Antonescu, I. H. Crișan, I. Glodariu is starting from the idea of the using of columns on the stone round bases, resulting a roofed “forest of columns”. It is missing the essential element of a temple: cella, the sacred room. There are also missing any traces of rituals, no animal bones, or votive objects deposits being identified.The author is comparing the plan of the structures from Sarmizegetusa Regia with the plan of the earlier wooden structures identified by geophysical surveys at Mont Lassois (France). The conclusion is that the rows of stone bases are nothing but the bases of granaries elevated from the soil on short stone feet to protect the cereals from moisture and mice (so-called “staddle stones” in England). The European prehistoric sites the system was used. The Romans developed it in big buildings in stone, the horrea. In Northern Spain they are still called horreos and are still functioning, being the best analogies for the buildings vanished at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Some Roman, or Greek technical adviser offered this solution for stockpiling supplies at Sarmizegetusa. It seems normal to the author to exist huge public granaries in an Iron Age settlement which became almost a town, because of the geographical position in the mountains at high altitude with no possibility of local agriculture. The subsistence during the winter of the inhabitants was based on the cereals from the Mureș valley, at approximately 50 km away. The central power had the duty of organizing this supplying system for the community. Starting with the first Austrian researches from the 19th century in the area were reported finds of big quantities of burnt cereals.The Dacians used to have buildings on elevated bases, as are illustrated on Trajan’s Column.It cannot be identified at Sarmizegetusa Regia any temple, nor a “sacred area”, as buildings of the same type were identified at other citadels in the area, as at Costești, for example, where their topographical position is diverse (inside the fortification and outside). The interpretation of a Dacian state with a strong theocratic profile and the fanatical religious feelings of the Dacian warriors is rejected as with no documentary support. At the same time the author is rejecting the interpretation of the systematical destruction of the Dacian buildings by the Romans on religious grounds, giving as example the Latin authors’ different statements and attitude towards the Jews and the Dacians: hate for the Jews, sympathy for the Dacians.

This work introduces an alternative paradigm that claims that the primary industry of imperial Ethiopia has been (and still is) one that has evolved around the Abyssinian national mission vis-a-vis the populations it rules from a point of conquest. Abyssinia, like Catholic Spain in the Americas, carried out a series of 'civilising' missions (Christianising), that has spanned centuries to modern times. Around a theocratic mission evolved a service type industry, the author calls theo-industry. On that basis, the work demonstrates how well-known categories of 'land-tenure', namely, the gult/goolt, the gultenya/gooltenya, the rist, the ristenya, the gabbar and related others are categories of a fiscal system of theo-industry, not of an agrarian system or agrarian industry. It is argued how these rather complex categories belong in the realm of wages and pensions of a service-type industry, not in those of agriculture. By failing to establish the functional link between agriculture and the national mission of the rulers, the scholars of Ethiopian studies have so far been unable to identify this 'elusive' but all-pervasive primary industry of Ethiopia. That in turn, the author argues, has had a rub-off effect in hindering a clear and comprehensive understanding of issues such as poverty and famine. The central topic of this work is the 'identification' of this 'elusive' industry. The study of its evolution, set in historical grounds, of its dynamics and the intricate maze of multi-natured relations is attempted. On this basis, the option of creating an independent (from theo-industry), and more importantly, renewable agricultural industry is proposed as the key to tackling chronic levels of poverty and famine in Ethiopia
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This work introduces an alternative paradigm that claims that the primary industry of imperial Ethiopia has been (and still is) one that has evolved around the Abyssinian national mission vis-a-vis the populations it rules from a point of conquest. Abyssinia, like Catholic Spain in the Americas, carried out a series of 'civilising' missions (Christianising), that has spanned centuries to modern times. Around a theocratic mission evolved a service type industry, the author calls theo-industry. On that basis, the work demonstrates how well-known categories of 'land-tenure', namely, the gult/goolt, the gultenya/gooltenya, the rist, the ristenya, the gabbar and related others are categories of a fiscal system of theo-industry, not of an agrarian system or agrarian industry. It is argued how these rather complex categories belong in the realm of wages and pensions of a service-type industry, not in those of agriculture. By failing to establish the functional link between agriculture and the national mission of the rulers, the scholars of Ethiopian studies have so far been unable to identify this 'elusive' but all-pervasive primary industry of Ethiopia. That in turn, the author argues, has had a rub-off effect in hindering a clear and comprehensive understanding of issues such as poverty and famine. The central topic of this work is the 'identification' of this 'elusive' industry. The study of its evolution, set in historical grounds, of its dynamics and the intricate maze of multi-natured relations is attempted. On this basis, the option of creating an independent (from theo-industry), and more importantly, renewable agricultural industry is proposed as the key to tackling chronic levels of poverty and famine in Ethiopia

This chapter studies theocratic ideology on the ground of political psychology. The mission is shedding the light on the patterns of communication and techniques of persuasion which the Iranian supreme leader, Khomeini, applied in his books to Iranian people in order to establish and preserve a theocratic state. Texts are chosen from the periods before 1979 revolution and the time of his demise in 1989. Research approach is qualitative and content analysis as the main methodology to study his texts. There are three important concepts which shape the core of text analysis: legislation and freedom, social interaction and self conception. The findings show, the same recognizable communication pattern in Khomeini's texts: psychological preparation, macro divination, micro salvation, theo-value credential. Persuasion technique in Khomeini's texts is rooted in defining a religious duty.