DOCSLIB.ORG

Kohlhammer, 1965. Pp. Xvi + 393

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kohlhammer, 1965. Pp. Xvi + 393 BOOK REVIEWS DIE RELIGIONEN IRANS. By Geo Widengren. Die Religionen der Mensch­ heit 14. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1965. Pp. xvi + 393. DM 39 — This is an important book, yet at the same time an understandably con­ troversial one for two reasons: the strong personal views of the author and the difficulty of reaching universally acceptable conclusions because of problems of interpretation inherent in the available sources, especially for the earlier period. At the outset, the reviewer would suggest that this book be read side by side with the equally important work of J. Duchesne-Guille- min, La religion de l'Iran ancien (Paris, 1962), which appeared while Widen- gren's book was still in press. The two scholars cite earlier studies of each other and often indicate disagreement of interpretation on many points. This kind of disagreement is really salutary for the reader; for he is thus re­ peatedly warned that there are numerous serious problems in the investiga­ tion of Persian religion and that, for the present at least, no convincing solution is possible. W.'s book is at once systematic and comprehensive, and it reveals throughout a first-hand knowledge of the original sources He deliberately employs the plural Religionen in his title, because he covers not only pre- Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism, and later modifications of what may be regarded as Persian religion proper in the Parthian and Sassanid periods, but he deals also with Mandaeism, Manichaeism, and the cults of the Sagdians, Sacae, and other East Iranian peoples. He closes his exposition with a treat­ ment of Persian religion and its influence after the Islamic conquest. Ac­ cordingly, he includes an account of the Parsees, the last significant group still professing a living form of Persian religion. In his exposition of each phase or form of Persian religion, the author follows roughly the same general scheme: pantheon, cult and places of cult, eschatology, priests, religious art, and, where applicable, the royal office and its central religious role. This procedure runs the danger of oversystematization, but enables the reader to make easy and instinctive comparisons. Throughout, the author emphasizes the importance of the terminology in the original languages, and he gives and interprets the names of divinities and institutions as found in Old Indie, Old and Middle Persian, and in other Eastern tongues. Specific references are given in the footnotes to the original sources and to the perti­ nent modern scholarly literature. At the end of the main text W. has fur­ nished a copious bibliography (pp. 360-74), a chronological table (p. 376), a Namen- und Sachregister (pp. 377-81, really too brief), and two invaluable 357 358 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES indexes for such a work, namely, an Index of Old Indie, Iranian, and Ar­ menian Words and Concepts (pp. 382-88), and an Index of Citations (pp. 384-93). Finally, the book contains a map illustrating the distribution of the Iranian peoples (facing p. 1), and seven plans of Persian temples (pp. 358- 59). W., who is the most distinguished successor of H. S. Nyberg in this field, reflects, if in modified form, the basic views of his master in the history of religion. Furthermore, as in the case of some of his fellow Swedish scholars in the biblical field, he is inclined to overemphasize the role of kingship and its place in religion—even if it be granted that the role of kingship is significant in this respect. While he is familiar with the various studies of G. Dumézil, and especially his Les dieux des Indo-européens (Paris, 1952), he does not give sufficient weight to DuméziFs contributions in his own inter­ pretations of the Indo-Iranian pantheon and mythology. His sociological approach in dealing with religious institutions leads him at times, e.g., in his treatment of religious associations or brotherhoods, to exaggerate their function and influence. His scepticism regarding any precise dating for Zoroaster (p. 61) is a bit extreme, yet it should be observed that his attitude indicates how little we have to work with on this question. No two scholars agree completely on the teachings of Zoroaster himself. W.'s personal evalua­ tion (pp. 74r-88) should be compared with that of Duchesne-Guillemin {op. cit., pp. 135-45). Widengren has long been defending his position regarding the nature and significance of Zervanism (pp. 288-95), but he has not succeeded in gaining the support of other specialists on this matter. He is much more convincing in his treatment of Mandaeism and Manichaeism. He maintains—and the reviewer believes he is right in this—that Mandaeism and Manichaeism are essentially Iranian in their basic concepts. In the interests of missionary propaganda, Mani could present himself as an apostle of Christ and find a place for Jesus in his system, but there is no essential connection between the Christian and Manichaean conceptions of Christ (p. 300). Incidentally, missionary propaganda in the East led Mani to find a place for Buddhistic elements in his system also. The criticisms offered—and others could be added—should not give the reader an unfavorable impression. This book and that of Duchesne-Guille­ min are the two most important contributions to Persian religion at the present time; as suggested above, the two books should be read together. Finally, it is a pleasure to call the reader's attention to the excellent series in which it appears, Die Religionen der Menschheit. It consists of thirty-six volumes, of which some ten have been published since 1960. Catholic University of America MARTIN R. P. MCGUIRE BOOK REVIEWS 359 ISRAELITE RELIGION. By Helmer Ringgren. Translated by David E. Green. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966. Pp. xvi + 391. $7.50. Ever since the beginning of modern critical study of the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, attempts have been made to trace the development of the religion of Israel from the time of its foundation until the age of the can­ onization by the Jewish religious authorities of the books included by them in their Sacred Writ. The task of drawing up such a history was fraught with a number of difficulties. One was the condition in which the text has been transmitted. Many passages have come down in so defective a state that, even if the meaning of every term used in them were known, their total implication would still not be clear. Another problem was posed by the uncertainty con­ cerning the actual dates when the traditions recorded were committed to writing. Language is no more static than any other human phenomenon, and words do not always retain their original connotation. A third complica­ tion was presented by apparent contradictions contained in parallel accounts of what gave every impression of being the same facts or identical events. Until comparatively recent times, when the cuneiform inscriptions dis­ covered in the Tigris and Euphrates valley and the hieroglyphics of Egypt began to be deciphered, there was not even available contemporary litera­ ture with which to compare the assertions of the Bible. Without such checks the student of the Hebrew Scriptures was, except for the help he could secure from such sister languages to which he had access as Arabic and Ara­ maic, completely dependent on the text of these Scriptures and his own ingenuity. Such was the status of what passed as the scientific study of the OT in the Western world about a century ago, when Assyriology and Egyptology were still more or less in their infancy and very little light was thrown by the findings of archeology on Bible times and places. Since the critical student of the biblical texts, who was unhampered by tradition, was left relatively free to speculate, it was not too hard to propound theories that seemingly resolved most of the difficulties. By the time the Graf-Well- hausen school of higher Bible criticism made its appearance, nearly all questions about the composition and make-up of the Hebrew Scriptures and what elements in them were fact and what would have to be set down as fiction were believed to have been answered. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were completely legendary characters, and the stories told about them, particularly such tales as the late birth of Isaac, were pure imagination. There was even doubt about the existence of a man like Moses, and the laws attributed to him, if he did exist, were most certainly not held 360 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES to be of his making. He could not possibly have initiated them. The so-called Five Books of Moses were compiled centuries after the supposed date of his death. They were pieced together out of four basic documents. The two oldest of these, labeled by these Bible critics Elohist and Yahwist respect­ ively, after the designation employed by them of the deity, were not written before the ninth and eighth centuries before the Christian era. The scroll of the law, which was purported to have been found in the Temple of Jeru­ salem in the eighteenth year of the reign of the reformist king Josiah (621 B.C.E.), contained most of Deuteronomy, which had just then been com­ posed. Its pretended antiquity was nothing but a pious fraud, perpetrated by its authors to obtain acceptance. The latest of these documents was the priestly code, with its instructions about sacrifices and other such ritual, the dietary regulations, the rules of purity, and the observance of fasts and feasts. This code, which embraces the whole of the extant book of Leviticus and portions of Exodus and Numbers, did not come into being until after the return of the Judean captives from Babylonian exile and first attained its present form under the scribe Ezra in the fifth pre-Christian century.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • News and Notices SCIENCE-SPIRIRTUALITY
    News and Notices SCIENCE‐SPIRIRTUALITY Templeton Prize The winner of the 2001 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion is The Revd Canon Dr Arthur Peacocke of Oxford University. As a physical biochemist specialising in biological macromolecules, Dr Peacocke pioneered early research into the structure of DNA, showing that the chains in the molecule are not branched but form a double helix. In 1971, the one‐ time agnostic became an Anglican priest. The only Oxford University Theology faculty member to hold both a Doctor of Science and a Doctor of Divinity degree, Dr Peacocke is a strong proponent of "critical realism," holding that both science and theology aim to depict reality and must be subject to scrutiny, while recognising their creative interaction. Created by global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton in 1972, each year the Templeton Prize acknowledges a living person who has shown extraordinary originality in advancing humanity's understanding of God and the role of spirituality in people's lives. Sir John has sought to honour progress in religion just as the Nobel Prizes recognise advances in economics, medicine, and chemistry. Currently valued at £700,000 sterling, the Prize represents the world's largest annual monetary award given to an individual and is always set at a level that exceeds that of the Nobels. Dr Peacocke joins an illustrious group of professional scientists who have won the Templeton Prize: last year's winner, Freeman Dyson, a physicist whose futuristic views have consistently called for the reconciliation of technology and social justice; physicist and theologian Ian Barbour in 1999; astrophysicist Paul Davies in 1995; physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker in 1989; and Benedictine monk and professor of astrophysics Stanley Jaki in 1987.
    [Show full text]
  • Mc2 67 Danese Father-Jaki.Pdf
    n. 67 dicembre 2017 STANLEY JAKI E L’EDUCAZIONE SCIENTIFICA di Beniamino Danese* * Laureato in Fisica, è tra i fondatori del sito www.reinventore.it L’opera del grande storico della scienza Stanley Jaki offre preziose indica- zioni per chi è impegnato oggi nell’educazione scientifica. Una rilettura dei suoi testi principali e di alcuni contributi specifici consente di evidenziare cinque punti cruciali: la prospettiva storica, l’insegnamento per esempi, il valore delle parole, il realismo degli oggetti, le radici cristiane della scienza. Alcuni anni fa, quando gli scrissi di essere un fisico che lavorava nella science education, Padre Jaki mi diede un consiglio rias- sunto in una sola riga: «La scienza non è filosofia e la filosofia non è scienza» [1]. È una riga paradossale, che non ha mancato di causare discus- sioni senza fine ogni volta che l’ho difesa con amici e colleghi. Come minimo, non ha mai mancato di «svegliare la mente», che è lo scopo dei paradossi [2]. Padre Jaki infatti aveva una predilezione per questo tipo di frasi brevi e incisive. Così, per esempio, su scienza e religione: «Non osi unire l’uomo, ciò che Dio ha separato». Ma torniamo a scienza e filosofia. Padre Jaki ne ha discusso a più riprese. Ci interessa in questa breve introduzione approfondi- re questa sua frase che costituisce in una certa misura la sintesi del nostro intervento. «Diversamente dalla verità scientifica, sem- pre nitida perché ristretta, la verità filosofica è sempre ampia perché comprensiva, e non importa quanto particolare, e anche Padre Stanley L. Jaki (1924-2009) quanto banale, ciò possa apparire.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B. Gy#R, Hungary, 17 Aug
    Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B. Gy#r, Hungary, 17 Aug. 1924 - Madrid, Spain, 7 Apr. 2009 Nomination 5 Sept. 1990 Field Philosophy and History of Science Title Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, South Orange, USA, and Priest of the Benedictine Order Commemoration – Professor Stanley Jaki was a Catholic priest of the Benedictine order. He was born in Hungary in 1924 and his country’s history affected him deeply. He confided in me how traumatized he was by the communists coming to power backed by the Soviet Army. Consequently, his monastic order was a victim of the oppression. After finishing his studies in Rome, he wasn’t allowed to return home and emigrated to the USA. That experience strongly influenced his historian work. The passion of his words and work can be divided into three points. Firstly, Fr Stanley Jaki’s work target was to clarify the relations between the sciences of nature and the Catholic Church. He did it on the epistemological level. He promoted Gödel’s theorem on philosophical interpretation concerning the incomplete formal systems in order to thwart the rationalist philosophy which set science as an absolute knowledge. He did it in physics and cosmology. His books, The Relevence of Physics (1967), and God and the Cosmologists (1980) brought him to receive the Lecomte de Nouy Prize (1970) and The Templeton Prize (1987). And in addition, he was invited to serve as a Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. The second significant feature of Professor Stanley Jaki’s works was historical. In his writings he presented his wide perspectives about science since its Greek origins.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanley L. Jaki, Osb
    VOLUME 13 NUMBER 1, SEPTEMBER 2009 $5.50 Stanley L. Jaki, OSB August 17, 1924 – April 7, 2009 But thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight. —Wisdom 11:20 Listen Up! Two Chesterton Classics Now Available As Audiobooks. ORTHODOXY Read by Dale Ahlquist (8 Compact Discs) $34.95 THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN A Dramatic Reading by Kevin O’Brien Introductions and Epilogues by Dale Ahlquist (12 Compact Discs) $44.95 Listen to these great books in the car or when you are otherwise paralyzed. Thrill at the Father Brown mysteries as actor Kevin O’Brien brings them to life. Contemplate the depth and mirth of Orthodoxy again and again. ❏ ORTHODOXY QTY: ____ ❏ THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN QTY: ____ + $3.00 Shipping each set TOTAL: __________ NAME A C ADDRESS S 4117 Pebblebrook Circle, CITY/STATE/ZIP Minneapolis, MN 55437 952-831-3096 PHONE [email protected] www.chesterton.org ❏ VISA ❏ MC ❏ AMEX ❏ DISC # (Or include your check/MO) EXP. DATE SIGNATURE listenup_ad.indd 1 8/18/08 12:03:05 PM : TA B L E OF C O N T EN T S : Volume 13 Number 1, September 2009 4 |:TREMENDOUS TRIFLES: 22 |:CONFERENCE REPORT: 5 |:LUNACY & LETTERS: The English Chesterton Society Conference 7 |:EDITORIAL: BY FR. THOMAS LUTZ Old Friends and Old Misunderstandings 25 |:TALES OF THE SHORT BOW: 8 |:STRawS IN THE WIND: The Explorer The Sentimentalist Of Science BY JOHN PETERSON Ballade of Capital Sweethearting 38 |:FEAR OF FILM: BY G.K. CHESTERTON BY JAMES G. BRUEN JR. L’Argent 10 |:ALARMS & DISCURSIONS: 28 |:MANALIVE: REVIEWED BY ART LIVINGSTON An Interview with Peter J.
    [Show full text]
  • 203 Stanley L. Jaki. Science and Creation: from Eternal Cycles to An
    Philosophy in Review XXXVII (October/December 2017), no. 5/6 Stanley L. Jaki. Science and Creation: From Eternal Cycles to an Oscillating Universe. Real View Books. 375 pp. $29.00 USD (Paperback ISBN 9781892539205). This book is the new edition of the most important work by Stanley Jaki (1924-2009), a leading scholar in the area of the science-faith relationship. The Hungarian Catholic priest and philosopher, Distinguished Professor at Seton Hall University, and Winner of the Templeton Prize for 1987, devoted all his research to highlighting the impossibility of any contrast between science and faith. He rejected all those conceptions supporting the insubstantiality of faith and the absolute priority of scientific discourse. The opinions expressed in his major works can be summed up in the following points: a realistic worldview, the key role played by Christian theology in the origin of exact science, and a divide between the dominions of science and religion. The quantitative dimension of science, based upon measurements, and the salvific aim of religion, unequivocally contrast with the possibility of a real conflict between the two disciplines. Many errors have been committed because of the misunderstanding about their specific goals. Concordism just represents one of those mistakes, as the Bible does not include any scientific content. Another kind of mistake is made by scientists who adopt scientific statements to demonstrate the inconsistency of religion. Creation out of nothing, for instance, cannot form part of natural science, as the ‘nothing’ is not a scientific concept. According to Jaki, a true worldview consists in registering objects, whose reality implies the difference between the external world and human mind.
    [Show full text]
  • Scientism Full Lecture
    Monopolizing Knowledge: Scientism and the Search for an Integrated Reality Dr. Gordon E. Carkner January 25, 2017 Graduate & Faculty Ministries, Outreach Canada UBC Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum Blog: http://ubcgcu.org Contact: [email protected] Introduction Most people welcome the benefits that modern science has brought us: disease control, transportation and communication miracles, space travel, phenomenal wealth production, personal empowerment, conveniences of all sorts. It has also produced a vast array of jobs that once never existed and has empowered mankind’s curiosity immensely. The edifice of scientific journals is voluminous and impressive. Could our earlier ancestors ever have imagined that their arrow would reach the moon? There have been more discoveries and inventions in the twentieth century than in all previous history combined. We are in the age of science. The phenomenal growth of scientific and engineering knowledge and the growth in our technological skill have done much to help us adapt as a species, to make life easier and better. But the veneration of science (which has often morphed into an ideology) is called Scientism. That is what we want to examine closely—a metaphysical claim about the impossibility of metaphysics. It has a major influence within the Western university and cultural ethos. It impacts the social imaginary (how we think about ourselves). We also find it in places such as China, where scientific materialism heavily influences the way people picture their world. It appears to be based more on the psychological impact of science's three hundred year success, than on a logical conclusion from scientific evidence and discovery.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanley L. Jaki Ranks As One of the Foremost Catholic He Would Not fight
    Jaki, Stanley L. Franz remained firm in his beliefs. In 1940 he was JAKI, STANLEY L. inducted into the military. He was twice released from service and allowed to return to his family based on the Benedictine monk (final profession May 13, 1944), efforts of local authorities. At home Franz continued to priest (ordained June 29, 1948), professor, writer; b. be vocal in his condemnation of the Nazis, and clear Györ, Hungary, August 17, 1924; d. Madrid, Spain, that he would never fight in the war. In 1943 he was April 7, 2009. recalled to active service. He appeared in response to the order, but announced that, as a conscientious objector, Stanley L. Jaki ranks as one of the foremost Catholic he would not fight. He was arrested, held for a time in thinkers of the present era, in his profound historical, Linz, and then transferred to Berlin. Having been refused philosophical, and theological studies on the relations the possibility of serving in a noncombatant role, Franz between science and religion and also on CHRISTOLOGY was court-martialed and found guilty of sedition on July and ECCLESIOLOGY. He studied in Rome (1947–1950) 6, 1943; he was condemned to death. On August 9, at the Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo, under C. Vagag- 1943, at Brandenburg, he was executed by beheading. gini, who greatly stressed a proper appreciation of the historical role of St. THOMAS AQUINAS. His doctoral Though some speculate that Franz was motivated dissertation in theology was Les tendances nouvelles de by a self-destructive religious fervor, and that he forfeited l’ecclésiologie (New tendencies in ecclesiology [1956]), his life in a campaign of resistance that had no possibil- which aroused much interest at the beginning of the ity of succeeding, the life of this simple man is a stark Second Vatican Council.
    [Show full text]
  • Editor's Introduction, God and Mr. Hitchens
    Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 Volume 19 Number 2 Article 2 2007 Editor's Introduction, God and Mr. Hitchens Daniel C. Peterson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Peterson, Daniel C. (2007) "Editor's Introduction, God and Mr. Hitchens," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 19 : No. 2 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol19/iss2/2 This Front Matter is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title Editor’s Introduction: God and Mr. Hitchens Author(s) Daniel C. Peterson Reference FARMS Review 19/2 (2007): xi–xlvi. ISSN 1550-3194 (print), 2156-8049 (online) Abstract Peterson refutes the views of atheist Christopher Hitchens, who takes a stance against religion and vari- ous well-known religious icons. Editor’s Introduction God and Mr. Hitchens Daniel C. Peterson hristopher Hitchens is the fourth of what one might call the Cfour horsemen of the New Atheism—the other three being Sam Harris,1 Richard Dawkins,2 and Daniel Dennett.3 Hitchens is the au­ thor of a recent best seller called god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.4 Notice the lowercase god in the title of his book. Subtlety 1. Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (New York: Norton, 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • Concepts and Beliefs Zoroastrianism Shares with Other Religions As a Guide to an Inter- Religious Dialogue
    Concepts and Beliefs Zoroastrianism Shares with other Religions as a Guide to an Inter- religious Dialogue Rationale for an Inter-religious Dialogue By Kersey H. Antia, Ph.D. Religion is God’s precious gift to all humanity. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, prophets come to this earth whenever mankind reaches its low ebb in righteousness. Different religions or prophets may emphasize different virtues in their messages to mankind depending on the needs of the particular time and clime, but there are many a common element among them which are often overlooked by us in our zeal for our own piety. However, never before in the history of mankind have different nations and races been so close to as well as so dependent upon each other and never before in the history of our planet have the fate of mankind depended on amity and harmony among different nations, peoples and religious denominations as right now in our own times. It was therefore never as imperative to have an inter-religious dialogue in the history of humanity as at present. As our faith in science and technological progress is fading fast, we need to restore our faith in the transcendental dimensions in life and history in order to avoid self-destruction. We have established a United Nations Organization to unite warring nations, but we have done little to establish a similar worldwide body for uniting all religious organizations for ensuring and promoting world peace. As André Malraux once said: “If gods are dead, the devils are living more than ever.” History of mankind is a sad testimonial to the naked truth that despite being endowed with so many prophets and religions that inspired man to turn to God and Heaven, man has set at naught all their efforts in turning the world into a haven and himself into a saint.
    [Show full text]
  • A Survey of Recent Mariology Eamon R
    Marian Studies Volume 43 Proceedings of the Forty-Third National Convention of the Mariological Society of America held Article 11 in Houston, Tex. 1992 A Survey of Recent Mariology Eamon R. Carroll Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Carroll, Eamon R. (1992) "A Survey of Recent Mariology," Marian Studies: Vol. 43, Article 11. Available at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/marian_studies/vol43/iss1/11 This Back Matter is brought to you for free and open access by the Marian Library Publications at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Marian Studies by an authorized editor of eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Carroll: A Survey of Recent Mariology A SURVEY OF RECENT MARIOLOGY My customary opening triad (it is said putting things in threes is an Irish custom) consists of Dante, Jelly and the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Consultation report, The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary. Dante's Divine Comedy is the object of a series of lectures by Jaroslav Pelikan: Eternal Feminines. The chapter on our Lady is lyrical, with the ex­ traordinary appreciation of history and Christian tradition we have learned to expect from Pelikan (Eternal Feminines: Three Theological Allegories in Dante's Paradiso [Rutgers Univ., 1990 ]). Friar of the Order of Preachers, Father Frederick Michael Jelly continues his steady pace of writing and lecturing on our Lady. The Catholic Home Study Institute of Leesburg, Virginia, has just published his correspondence course, the book-length Madonna: Mary in the Catholic Tradition, de­ veloped from his Our Sunday Visitor ( 1986) book of that title, which has itself reached three editions.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B. Gy#R, Hungary, 17 Aug
    Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B. Gy#r, Hungary, 17 Aug. 1924 - Madrid, Spain, 7 Apr. 2009 Nomination 5 Sept. 1990 Field Philosophy and History of Science Title Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, South Orange, USA, and Priest of the Benedictine Order Commemoration – Professor Stanley Jaki was a Catholic priest of the Benedictine order. He was born in Hungary in 1924 and his country’s history affected him deeply. He confided in me how traumatized he was by the communists coming to power backed by the Soviet Army. Consequently, his monastic order was a victim of the oppression. After finishing his studies in Rome, he wasn’t allowed to return home and emigrated to the USA. That experience strongly influenced his historian work. The passion of his words and work can be divided into three points. Firstly, Fr Stanley Jaki’s work target was to clarify the relations between the sciences of nature and the Catholic Church. He did it on the epistemological level. He promoted Gödel’s theorem on philosophical interpretation concerning the incomplete formal systems in order to thwart the rationalist philosophy which set science as an absolute knowledge. He did it in physics and cosmology. His books, The Relevence of Physics (1967), and God and the Cosmologists (1980) brought him to receive the Lecomte de Nouy Prize (1970) and The Templeton Prize (1987). And in addition, he was invited to serve as a Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. The second significant feature of Professor Stanley Jaki’s works was historical. In his writings he presented his wide perspectives about science since its Greek origins.
    [Show full text]
  • Historia De La Ciencia Y Teologia Natural Reflexiones En Torno a La Obra De Stanley L
    HISTORIA DE LA CIENCIA Y TEOLOGIA NATURAL REFLEXIONES EN TORNO A LA OBRA DE STANLEY L. JAKI MARIANO ARTIGAS 1. INTRODUCCIÓN La filosofía de la ciencia, así como su coneXlOn con los temas teoló• gicos, es objeto de interés creciente en nuestros días. El interesado en estas cuestiones se encuentra con una bibliografía que ya es muy ex­ tensa.Sin embargo, gran parte de las publicaciones están demasiado con­ dicionadas por el influjo del positivismo y resultan por ello altamente insatisfactorias y parciales: aunque se haya certificado repetidamente la muerte del neopositivismo, los prejuicios cientificistas se encuentran todavía muy difundidos en la epistemología contemporánea, a la que han conducido repetidamente hacia diversos callejones sin salida. Por ello, tiene un especial interés subrayar la obra de Stanley Jaki, en la que se juntan los detallados conocimientos del especialista en física, la vasta erudición del historiador y la profundidad del teólogo. La producción de Jaki en el campo científico-filosófico comprende ya ocho obras mayores y numerosos artículos, y puede decirse que por su rigor, detalle y profundidad tiene una importancia difícilmente igua­ lable en la actualidad l. -- Jaki naclo en Hungría en 1924. Su tesis doctoral en Teología (Roma, 1950) ha sido y sigue siendo una referencia básica para la 1. Además de los títulos citados en las notas 4, 5, 19, 22, 25 Y 26, tienen interés para el tema que nos ocupa los siguientes escritos de Jaki: Planets and Planetarians: a History 01 Tbeories 01 tbe Origin 01 Planetary Sistems, Scottish Academic Press y John Wiley, 1978 (266 págs.), que es un documentado estudio que sugiere la extrema dificultad de que existan sistemas similares a nuestro sistema solar; The Origin 01 Science and Tbe Science 01 its Origin, Scottish Academic Press y Gttteway, 1978 (160 págs.), que recoge las «Fremantle Lectures» tenidas en Oxford en 1977, y estudia las teorías que se han propuesto acerca del naci­ miento de la ciencia moderna en el siglo XVII; Tbe Role 01 Faitb in Pbysics, en «Zygon», 2 (1967), p.
    [Show full text]