The Explaining Look and Critique of Eckankar's Cosmology According To
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 2017, VOL. 12, NO. 5, 1371-1389 OPEN ACCESS The Explaining look and critique of Eckankar’s Cosmology According to the Islamic Teaching Abdolreza Mahmoudi 1*, Maryam Shamsaei 2 *1- Corresponding author, Assistant professor of Islamic Education Department, Faculty of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. 2-Assistant professor of Islamic Education Department, Faculty of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran ABSTRACT In Eckankar cosmology, the immediate creation of the universe is rejected, instead, the creation has relied on some factors called “ECK” or the other names. In creation process (gradually or suddenly), the Eckankar school believes in gradual creation, and sometimes express some terms which indicate the eternal essence of the creatures, unlike the opinions of the Islamic philosophers who believe in temporal occurrence or essential occurrence of the creatures. In goals of creation, it believes in some goals such as growth and perfection of the soul and evaluation and examine of the human, which are relatively in accordance with Islamic teaching. In finitude or infiniteness of the universe, the Eckankar believes in infiniteness of the universe contrary to the Islamic viewpoint. In order of the world and creation of the universe, the concepts of this school resemble the creation's myth. For instance, the Hesiod’s myth looks like the PaulTwitchell's words, which are criticized in this study. In administration and management of the world, this school believes in full utilization of God from some intermediates and takes advantage of Hindu trinity. Accordingly, in this study authors tries to review the Eckankar’s view point about cosmology, then it criticized according to Islamic philosophers and theologians.
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