Islamic Studies Commons^™

What Is The Rosary? Why A Set Of Beads And Prayers Are Central To Catholic Faith, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Publications

It’s one of the most famous moments in modern Catholicism: the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. The Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to three Portuguese children in 1917, when much of the world was engulfed in World War I. Over a series of six appearances, Mary emphasized to these young shepherds that to bring peace, they should pray the rosary every day.

Devotion to the rosary already had a centuries-old history, and the Marian apparition at Fatima only deepened it. So what is a rosary, and why is it so important to many Catholics?

The Right To Religious Freedom And Its Political Significance: Catholic And Islamic Approaches, Matthew Bagot

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

It is generally agreed that the Catholic Church formally committed itself to modern human rights in 1963 as a result of Pope John XXIII’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris.But it was the more specific historical development regarding the right to religious freedom that took place two years later at the Second Vatican Council, which really prompted global change. As Samuel Huntington wrote, the Church’s commitment to religious liberty on the part of all persons (and to the liberty of non-religious persons) had an extraordinary impact on democracy movements around the world. Indeed, Huntington referred to these movements as a “Catholic …

The Dignity Of The Human Person: Catholic And Islamic Approaches To Human Rights, Matthew Bagot

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

At the beginning of The Global Face of Public Faith, David Hollenbach, S.J., challenges the world’s religious communities to relate their distinctive visions of the good human life with the growing awareness that all persons are linked in a web of global interdependence. Hollenbach’s work is founded on an understanding of the common good that he discerns at Vatican II and calls “dialogic universalism.” It is universal because humans are sufficiently alike when it comes to the requirements for their respective goods; it is dialogic because cultural differences necessitate deep intellectual engagement across traditions if they are to be …

Review: 'Mullā Ṣadrā And Eschatology: Evolution Of Being', Sayeh Meisami

Philosophy Faculty Publications

One of the hallmarks of Mullā Ṣadrā’s (d. 1050/1640) intellectual agenda is his attempt to reconcile rational thought with certain issues of theological sensitivity. Among such issues, the Qurʾanic doctrine of ‘the Return’ (maʿād) of the individual human soul united with the body in the afterlife has always attracted the attention of Muslim intellectuals and become one of the points of conflict between philosophers and theologians. Abū ʿAlī ibn Sīnā’s (d. 428/1037) pronouncement of disappointment with the possibility of rational arguments for bodily resurrection (al-maʿād al-jismānī) and Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) dismissal of the former’s position on this …

Review: 'The Triumph Of Mercy: Philosophy And Scripture In Mullā Ṣadrā', Sayeh Meisami

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Due to the fact that for Muslims the Qur ̓ān provides not only practical guidelines for a righteous life, but the framework of a theoretical worldview, Islamic philosophers have made direct and indirect scriptural allusions that go far beyond rhetorical ornamentation and theological persuasion. For the most part, they have resorted to the Qur ̓ān in order to reinforce their philosophical position. On the other hand, there is a long tradition of Qur ̓ānic exegesis ranging from technical linguistic analysis to rational and esoteric hermeneutics (ta ̓wῑl). With regard to the relationship between the Qur ̓ān and philosophy, the Persian …

'Abdolkarim Soroush, Sayeh Meisami

Philosophy Faculty Publications

‘Abdolkarim Soroush is the penname for Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbᾱgh (1945–). He is one of the most controversial figures in the religious and political polemics of postrevolutionary Iran. This is owing to his early adherence to the Islamic revolutionary values, his polemics against Marxism, later departure from the conservative Islam toward a reformist stand based on the philosophy of science and modern hermeneutics, and his current role as an uncompromising and outspoken opposition voice, as well as a fervent supporter of the Green Movement. Soroush’s ideas should be categorized under religious reformism in general, which goes beyond Iranian politics. Due …