فصلنامه فلسفه دین
سال هجدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 51، تابستان 1400)

As a prominent commentator of divine wisdom, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli has confirmed – in the course of the semantics of theological propositions – the theory of content commonality in theological propositions and propositions derived from reality. His consideration of other theories associated with the semantics of propositions and the challenges to the theory of content commonality have marked his interpretations as innovatory. The emphasis on the theory of coining words for the spirit of meanings, the contribution of the intellect to the conceptual recognition the Essence and Essential Attributes of the Necessary Being, the consideration of the theory of content commonality with the theory of Particular Unity  as compatible, and the wide application of this theory to the qura’nic verses and Islamic narrations can be suggested as innovative aspects of his work. Nevertheless, some aspects of his interpretations may challenge the essence of the theory of content commonality. These aspects include the inadequacy of the arguments used to prove this theory, the incompatibility of the theory of content commonality in theological propositions with the rules of Arabic language, the impossibility of reaching the root Essence of the Necessary Being, and the negation of this theory by the Particular Unity of Being.

The world has always been subject to a destructive evil, and every human being has experienced suffering in some way in his/her life. Therefore, if we do not look at evil with the connivance, we can find that the study of human suffering can constitute a part of the human's answers about evil. By propounding affliction, Simon Weil not only tries to answer some questions about evil, but also introduces the human to his other dimensions through affliction, as she introduces it as a step towards self-knowledge. For the self-alienated human of the modern world, the answer to causes of affliction is a liberating gift due to his return to his true self, because what truly liberates the human is the understanding of truth, and affliction helps him to achieve it. Therefore, in this article, the issue of affliction in the thought of this French scholar is examined in a descriptive-analytical manner by referring to Simone Weil's main works and those of her commentators.

The relationship between faith and action has not only been the concern of theologians, but also the philosophers have been discussing it. Wittgenstein is one of those philosophers who in both theory and practice have been concerned with the relationship between faith and action - albeit in his own way. Even in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which may seem to be merely a pure logical and philosophical work, he has tried to address the issue of faith and action. It is due to this intention that the "sayable" and "showable" discussions are included in the treatise. From his point of view, faith is one of the facts that the believer shows in his action; therefore, there is a concomitance between the intention and action in his view. In this article, we show this claim with many evidences in Wittgenstein's works and the works of his commentators.

There is a customary notion about God’s answer to prayer that suggests that God is influenced by the prayers, makes new changes in the world of existence by changing his will, and answers the prayer. Does our prayer really change and affect the divine will? Explaining the four possible answers to this question in Islamic-Shī‘a thought, this article tries to seek a more just explanation for this question within the framework of virtue ethics. The first answer belongs to Avicenna who considers prayer as a divine decree. The second one is expressed by Mulla Sadra, who attributes the affectedness to the mediators of the Divine Grace. The third answer can be expressed through separating the attributes of essence from the attributes of the action. The fourth answer is proposed by those who consider prayer a mystery of predestination. However, the answer that agrees with the religion explanation of virtue-oriented ethics is that in the process of answering to the prayer, the change does not happen in the Asked One; rather, it occurs in the person who prays. The Essence and Will of the Asked One is fixed, and the essential effusion of God’s Grace always exists. Therefore, the more purified the prayer person becomes, the more congruent he will be with the Asked One, his will gets in line with that of God, his power to make changes in the world of creation will be more, and his demand will come closer to fulfillment. The more a person has true knowledge and wisdom as well as a purified soul, the more his speech will be heard in the Heavenly Kingdom and His prayer – which is based on genuine will and want – will be answered.

Divine knowledge – defined as God’ knowledge of the affairs of the world of existence – has always been the subject of philosophical-theological theology discussions, and to date various theories have emerged about it. The contemporary religious philosophers, too, have paid attention it and have rationalized its controversial issues. The first and foremost question about the divine knowledge is the quiddity of its truth, since the other related questions are affected by the response to this question. Investigating different theories, especially contemporary ones, can be helpful in solving the new challenges that have arisen about the belief in the divine omniscience. As a contemporary philosopher of religion, Wierenga has tried to rationally defend the infinite scope of the divine omniscience and respond to the challenges posed by opposing views through conventional methods in the philosophy of religion. However, there are some drawbacks to his account of the concept of omniscience and its properties. In Wierenga's view, omniscience means knowing all true propositions, which is occurrent, non-inferential, and incorrigible. The most important objection to his view is that such a definition cannot represent the truth of the Omniscience but can only be a nominal description arising from the expression of the scope of its adjuncts. There are other drawbacks to his account of the properties of omniscience, the most important of which is using a redundant prefix and a false presupposition.

It seems necessary to establish “social theology” as a new subfield  of “Islamic theology” to “present the social dimensions of doctrinal teachings,” “analyze new social issues related to doctrinal principles,” and “respond the numerous social doubts cast against religious teachings.” The ideas of contemporary Islamic theologians, especially Master Morteza Motahhari, who emphasize the coherence and integrity of religious teachings along with paying special attention to the social dimensions of Islam according to the needs of today's world, have provided us with valuable scientific materials to achieve this goal. This article explains the necessity and capacity of the establishment of such a tendency by extracting the social theology of Master Motahhari.