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Exodus as the Root Experience of Jewish Universalism
Senft, Lukáš ; Lyčka, Milan (advisor) ; Žonca, Milan (referee)
This paper focuses on the philosophy of Ahad Ha-Am. Ha-Am is usually considered as a political thinker, however he dealt with judaism in many of his essays. I attempt to systematize his thesis on religion - my intention is to formulate a coherent summary of Ahad Ha-Am's philosophy of judaism. I analyze his conception of Moses as a key figure to the understanding of a jewish identity. The cultural memory seems as a very important part of Ha-Am's philosophical approach - it helps to hold the memory of Exodus and memory of prophetic ideal of universal justice, these memories have been shaping and preserving a jewish identity across history. Ha-Am's conception of religion is not easy to define which makes it deeply challenging for religious studies: it connects a political agenda with religious tradition, mythology with positivism, and it tries to sublime a particular nationalism into universal humanism. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Bible and Its Exegesis in the Letter of Aristeas
Pelíšková, Lenka ; Žonca, Milan (advisor) ; Lyčka, Milan (referee)
The thesis focuses on analysing the reflection of Jewish exegetical techniques and methods in The Letter of Aristeas. The thesis tries to answer the question, whether and how the author of The Letter of Aristeas knew and used Jewish exegetical methods and individual stories and teachings derived from the Bible by means of interpretation. The possible influences of Greek thought and culture on the author and his exegetical methods are also discussed. The first chapter deals with the book's content and its most important features. The second chapter focuses on the Greek influence on the book. The third chapter is concerned with the relationship between the Bible and The Letter of Aristeas. It deals with the author's concepts and thoughts about the origin and inspiration of the Bible. The literary incorporation of biblical motives and themes into the book's narrative is also mentioned in this chapter. The fourth chapter analyses the individual Jewish exegetical methods utilized by the author and comments on the sharing of interpretations between Palestine and the diaspora. The thesis suggests that the author of The Letter of Aristeas mastered a range of basic Greek ideas and notions taken from popular Hellenistic philosophy, as well as deep knowledge of the Bible and he was able to use some Jewish...
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Saadia Gaon and Maimonides on evil and suffering
Linka, Vojtěch ; Válová, Dita (advisor) ; Lyčka, Milan (referee)
in English: In my bachelor thesis, I am dealing with the problem of evil and suffering in the two major figures of medieval Jewish philosophy, Saadyah Gaon and Maimonides. First, I am showing the place of evil and suffering in the context of western philosophical tradition. Then, I am depicting the specifically Jewish understanding of the problem based on the Biblical book of Job. In the central part of my thesis, I am exploring the passages of writings of Saadyah and Maimonides devoted to evil and suffering. Furthermore, I am comparing both conceptions of the problem and I am showing the Maimonides' conception as being in some way a criticism of Saadyah, especially his understanding of suffering as a trial. In the conclusion, I am dealing with some common aspects of Saadyahs and Maimonides' understanding of evil and suffering. I am proving that their understanding of evil has some specific Jewish aspects based on the Biblical book of Job, and particular for Medieval thinking in general. These aspects show clearly that the conception of evil and suffering of Saadyah and Maimonides broadly differs from the contemporary conceptions of the problem.
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Maimonides: Evil and Divine Providence
Fischerová, Ester ; Lyčka, Milan (advisor) ; Válová, Dita (referee)
This thesis is concerned with a problem of evil and Divine providence in Maimonides' work Guide for the Perplexed. At first the author list through important philosophical sources of this work and consequently comes up with possible paths of interpreting it as a whole according to Leo Strauss and Marvin Fox. Then author's focus shifts towards specific text passages in which Maimonides specifically elaborates evil and Divine providence. After that, this thesis lists various types of providence, types of evil and diferentiates between two theories of providence in Maimonides' thought. Finally author analyses different ways to interpret these text passages and in the end she makes an effort to unify those two theories od Divine providence using Fox's method of interpretation. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Christology of Hans Küng
Hájek, Vít ; Halík, Tomáš (advisor) ; Lyčka, Milan (referee)
Hans Küng (b. 1928) is a Swiss theologian and a Roman Catholic priest who in the second half of the twentieth century introduced a characteristic and very critical interpretation of Roman Catholic theology. The aim of this work is to concentrate on one part of Küng's theological thinking only, that is his christology. Specifically, the focus is on the reflection and criticism from the perspective of the historical-critical method and Jewish theology.
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Water Symbolism in Christianity and Islam according to Mircea Eliade
Bajerová, Adéla ; Lyčka, Milan (advisor) ; Kozák, Jan (referee)
In his book, Patterns in Comparative Religion (1996), the Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade deals with comparative religion in terms of their repeating structures of phenomena. These "symbolisms" are systems of hierophanies, or manifestations of the sacred, that are binded together by one element. The contents of symbolism is determined by the meanings of individual hierophanies as well as the structure between them. According to Eliade this structure is mutually transferable among religions. The aim of this thesis is to verify whether or not is this theory valid by means of analysis and comparison of hierophanies in two religions. Since in Patterns in Comparative Religion Eliade pays greater attention to archaic religions, this thesis tries to apply his theory on two living religions. We will verify the validity of water symbolism in Christianity, whose symbolism is partially addressed in Eliade's book, and Islam, which isn't mentioned in the chapter on water symbolism at all.
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Legend of the Wandering Jew and its Theological Background
Šebestová, Markéta ; Lyčka, Milan (advisor) ; Žonca, Milan (referee)
This thesis is concerned with the legend of so-called Wandering Jew. The story originated in the Middle Ages and forms an apocryphe to the New Testament, as it relates about a man, who having acted harshly toward Jesus Christ, was condemned to endless life, or wandering. Main question which this thesis deals with is whether and how the story was influenced by Christian theological conceptions of Jewry. The examples of such influence are sought for in a certain German version of the legend, situated to a protestant milieu. This version was published as a so-called "Volksbuch" probably in 1602. I set this version into a context of various older variants from the Middle Ages and while analyzing it, I consider also other possible influences than theological. As possible sources of influence I take into account catholic conceptions as well as protestant. Because the protestant conception is interrelated with social development of the period, I have added illustrative historical excourse about Jewish history in Hamburg to the thesis, for this city is connected also with the Volksbuch. In the concluding part of the thesis I propose many interesting hypotheses about the theological influence, yet none of these I succeed to prove.
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Narratives and Religion: Particularities and Functions of Narration in Religious Context
Širl, Radim ; Chlup, Radek (advisor) ; Lyčka, Milan (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to analyse certain aspects connecting religion and narration (which is understood here as a common human faculty to think and express oneself in the form of narratives). The first part of the thesis is concerned with methodology; first of all, the issues of defining narrative are introduced and a more elaborate definition is presented. A complete methodology is then formulated with a help of several authors (mainly James W. Pennebaker and Mary Douglas) in order to distinguish particularities and functions of creating narratives in religious contexts. Two main points are stressed here: that the content of the narratives is often concerned with problematic aspects of experience and that the expression of these narratives is beneficial for their creators. The second part focuses on several religious institutions concerned with creation of narratives which are interpreted with the outlined methodology. In this manner, the act of confession in Catholicism, prayer in Christianity and certain healing rituals are described and interpreted. Conclusions of this thesis should help the reader get a basic idea of the way created narratives in religious contexts affect their authors.
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Visual Culture and Religion
Ficková, Barbora ; Chlup, Radek (advisor) ; Lyčka, Milan (referee)
(in English): This thesis wants to introduce the visual culture as an interesting method for religious studies to research religious aspects of images, their relation to the society and the ways of using them. The text summarizes previous discussion about visual culture and the relation between visual culture and art history. It also briefly introduces the relation between art and religion and describes the relation between art history and religious images. Then it presents chosen topics from visual culture, which are interesting for religious studies, in particular the theory of the gaze, importance of the context of images and the ways in which images can invoke a spontaneous response in the viewer.
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