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Fulfilling Christ’s call to be “salt and light of the world” assumes the existence of appropriate ground in a lay person. Its formation is influenced by the mature acceptance of one’s own identity, support in faith, listening, which through kenosis turns into obedience and holiness. To fulfill this role, a lay person must following the example of St. Peter to take his place first of all after Christ. Following Christ enables a lay person to be salt and light wherever he is sent. The precursor of this attitude is Mary – our Mother. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Karl Rahner and Robert Barclay, God's offer of life extends to all and can be accepted apart from the expressed Christian faith. In sketching this phenomenon, Rahner and Barclay present substantially different models, detailing transcendence in the arena of history and the action of the inward Light, respectively. This paper addresses these idiosyncrasies while identifying a crucial area of agreement: the divine foundation of both propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sacred perception of light and color is present in all religious traditions and beliefs without exception. The aim of this study is to trace the origins and peculiarities of such perception as far as possible. The object of this study is the perception of light and color within religious traditions, while the doctrines that describe its place within religious traditions serves as the subject of this research. It is also important to establish the origins of the notions related to the sacredness of light and color within the boundaries of religious worldview. We may single out the following types of subjective experience of hierophantic light: 1) Light so blinding it disintegrates the world around it in a certain way (Paul the Apostle); 2) Light that transforms the surroundings while preserving them – intense and supernatural, it illuminates the matter to its very core without destroying its form; a sort of heavenly light which shows the world as it used to be during initial perfection. This type of light is usually featured in mystics’ experience. 3) Enlightenment (aka kaumanek) of an Inuit shaman that grants the ability to see the true structure of the Universe. 4) There is also light that signals of the personal presence of a deity as well as light that reflects impersonal sacredness. We may also single out the main traits of light as a phenomenon within religious context: 1) Light as personification of a beginning and creation; therefore, existence materializes through the mediation of light. This is exemplified in Tibetan lore in which both space and people appear from the light – what is interesting is that according to this belief humans were preceded by light-bearing beings without desires which managed to reproduce through some mysterious means; however, human corruption came about after instincts have appeared). As such, light may be considered as an antipode to sexuality. For example, in certain Native American languages a virgin girl is defined as “she who hasn’t suffered a sunstroke. 2) Light as the embodiment of hierophany. The mediation of light reveals the immortality of spiritual substance – which indicates physiological nature of such beliefs, for example reports of blinding light while going through clinical death. 3) Luminosity appears as transcendence of any kind which can be achieved through experiencing inner light – presented as a sudden and abrupt comprehension of existence, [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Larq Journal for Philosophy, Linguistics & Social Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the symbolic values of light and darkness in the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins was fascinated by oppositional discourses and as such his poetry is resonant with dichotomous systems of metaphor; his struggles with faith and doubt, and his search for positivity in the midst of depression are both articulated through the oppositional concepts of light and dark. The candle functions uniquely within this metaphoric structure, as it breaches the bounds of darkness while still making it more ever-present. This article explores how Hopkins utilises the candle and its semiological expression to draw attention to the liminality of his beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this essay, I examine Thomas Aquinas's doctrine of the light of glory (lumen gloriae). I begin by describing the function of the lumen gloriae in Aquinas's account of cognition and his broader teaching, thereby indicating what is at stake in the success of this doctrine (section two); then I attempt to solve two difficult problems that arise from Aquinas's teaching on the light of glory (sections three and four). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the beginning, he Bible knew how to collect a shimmering and vivid light: elusive as God himself, as the generous gift of life, clear as Wisdom and as straight as Justice! Image of God radiating tenderness over the world. Flame on the way for people learning to live, to love, simply to see the invisible visible, the spiritual in the carnal, like those heavy glass tiles, which, under the caress of light burst into song and become speech, with the lightness of a poem and the severity of a message from God! The Bible is itself a cathedral of light: it's no coincidence that the Christian faith has lined stone cathedrals of these large windows, light walls woven from biblical passages. The Bible is stained glass: it is designed to capture light and give him play forever, for the greater happiness and greater richness of its readers! [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author practices his itinerant spirituality of Deleuze with an experimental reading of his work into spiritual contexts, attempting to reframe his plane of immanence as a version of the Imaginal plane, a plane of luminance. He looks at Deleuze's construction of the plane of immanence in Cinema 1, integrating Bergson and Einstein's concept of a plane composed of a universe of light, and performs his own thought-experiment. He cites that the plane of luminance he constructed provides a tool for thought into the spiritual meaning of Deleuze's writings.