Search

The susceptibility of online learning to cheating behavior remains a contentious and unresolved issue. A cross-sectional explanatory research design was utilized to test the hypothesized factors influencing academic cheating in online learning. Our study involved 562 participants, selected through a non-probability sampling technique, who were surveyed using online questionnaires designed to measure the identified factors. We tested the hypotheses by utilizing path analysis through the partial least square regression approach within the SMART-PLS software. The demographics such as gender and age of the students, along with the roles of teachers and school administration significantly influenced the students' instances of self-reported academic cheating. The students' attitude toward academic cheating emerged as an important factor in predicting cheating behaviors. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research explorations into other potential factors that may contribute to academic dishonesty in online learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a fresh interpretation of Job 28 suggesting that it reflects the devout manifestation of the conventional concept of wisdom endorsed by Job’s friends. Articulated by Job, this serves as a rhetorical device in his counterargument to traditional wisdom and his challenge of God himself. The article further demonstrates that the “wisdom poem” is not an independent text but rather serves a distinct function in the rhetorical strategy of Job 27–31, which comprises Job’s final, emphatic rebuttal of his friends’ charges, framed as an oath of innocence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difference in researchers’ attitudes towards human nature is not only the background and foundation of describing and explaining personality traits but also a platform for identifying and introducing new emotional states in humans. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of anthropology from Allameh Tabatabai’s point of view on the emergence of fear of God. The research method is qualitative. The qualitative analysis of the content of religious texts with a focus on description, explanation, and analysis has been used. The findings of the research showed that fear of God is a normal issue. In addition, fear of God has two types, fear in balance with hope and fear of divine position. Moreover, the phenomenon of fear of God is based on four characteristics in humans: 1) purposefulness, 2) the existential characteristics of man, 3) man with the motivation to avoid harm, and 4) the levels of man's knowledge of monotheism. The results showed that the origin of fear of God is not only external natural factors (such as lightning); rather, it is dependent on some characteristics of the disabled nature of the human being, the principle of orientation, and the lack of independence of an individual. Keywords: Fear of God, Purposefulness of Man, Existential Weakness, Motivation to Avoid Harm, Allameh Tabatabai. IntroductionIn psychology, fear is an avoidance reaction combined with the motivation of protection. Some psychologists (e.g. Freud, 1983) and philosophers (e.g. Russell, 1970) believe that external natural factors (such as thunder and lightning) are the main cause of fear in humans. They introduce fear as a factor in turning to God. On the contrary, in Allameh Tabatabai’s view, the origin of fear is within man. Man is the effect of God and God, as a true being, is the cause of the causes of other beings.Since the type of philosophical attitude towards human quiddity is the basis for explaining human personality and psychological states (Parvin and John, 2002), considering the difference in the views of Allameh Tabatabai and some Western psychologists and thinkers regarding the origin of fear (the inner essence of man or external natural factors), as well as the difference in the ontological system of Allameh in the analysis of the phenomenon of fear (the real God versus the God created by the mind), the purpose of this study is to explain the anthropology of fear of God based on Allameh Tabatabai's point of view. The meaning of fear of God is a person's concern about the threat of the goal, which strengthens the motivation of the person to achieve the goal and prevents him from committing and being close to the source of the threat (Khaliliyan Shalmazari et al., 2018). Therefore, this study seeks to answer the following research question:RQ1: In Allameh Tabatabai's view, which human characteristics are the origin of fear of God? Materials and MethodsThe research method is qualitative with the aim of investigating the anthropological features of fear of God from Allameh Tabatabai's viewpoint. For this purpose, the method of qualitative content analysis of religious texts, focusing on description, explanation, and analysis was used. Based on this, first, the divisions of fear of God were presented from Allameh Tabatabai’s viewpoint. In addition, deeper explanations and analyses of the text were made, focusing on the direction of discovering anthropological features. Then, by identifying the materials related to the anthropology of fear of God, more explanations were presented so that the features of his anthropology can be discovered and analyzed through their connection with the phenomenon of fear of God in humans. Research FindingsDivisions of Fear from the Perspective of Allameh TabatabaeiIn Allameh Tabatabai’s perspective, fear is divided into two types: jobn fear [abnormal and morbid fear] and hazm fear [normal and non-morbid fear] (Tabatabaei, 1995, p. 322-323). According to Allameh Tabatabai, absolute fear is not a morbid emotion; rather, it is considered an illness when it leads to the loss of nafs [weakness of will] and has three characteristics: 1) creating a state of confusion in a person, 2) moaning (alfaza), and 3) decreasing the ability to deal with the source of fear (Tabatabai, 1995, p. 321).Anthropological characteristics of fear of GodIn Allama Tabatabaei’s thought, the emergence of fear of God in humans is based on four characteristics: 1) purposefulness, 2) existential characteristics of humans (dependency and connectedness of humans), 3) motivated human beings to repel harm, and 4) levels of human knowledge of monotheism. Discussion of Results and ConclusionsTo Allameh Tabatabai, a human is not only a needy being but also a purposeful being. The analysis of behaviors and emotional traits in the thought of Tabatabai is based on the principle of directionality. Although this finding is in line with the positivist psychology perspective on meaning and purpose; however, the focus on transcendental goals versus individual goals is the distinguishing aspect of Allameh Tabatabai’s view. In the phenomenon of fear of God, attaining divine proximity and the benefits of the afterlife is a goal that directs all behaviors towards itself, which is beyond individual goals and basic needs in psychology.The understanding of poverty and need arises from the weakness of human existence in the face of the Creator and the cause of existence reminds us of the dependence and continuity of humans in connection to God. Based on this, unlike Freud and Russell, the origin of fear of God is not only external natural factors, it is the characteristic of human dependence and connection with God.

The difference in researchers’ attitudes towards human nature is not only the background and foundation of describing and explaining personality traits but also a platform for identifying and introducing new emotional states in humans. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of anthropology from Allameh Tabatabai’s point of view on the emergence of fear of God. The research method is qualitative. The qualitative analysis of the content of religious texts with a focus on description, explanation, and analysis has been used. The findings of the research showed that fear of God is a normal issue. In addition, fear of God has two types, fear in balance with hope and fear of divine position. Moreover, the phenomenon of fear of God is based on four characteristics in humans: 1) purposefulness, 2) the existential characteristics of man, 3) man with the motivation to avoid harm, and 4) the levels of man's knowledge of monotheism. The results showed that the origin of fear of God is not only external natural factors (such as lightning); rather, it is dependent on some characteristics of the disabled nature of the human being, the principle of orientation, and the lack of independence of an individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rudolf Otto remains one of the most influential theologians of the early 20th century. One area where he made a sizable impact was on the "fear of God" discussion. From Otto's influence emerged the theory of Numinous Fear as a means of explaining the "fear of the gods" in the ancient world. However, there are misunderstandings regarding Numinous Fear and Otto's role in its conception. To this end, this article investigates the extent of Otto's influence regarding Numinous Fear and the consequential effects to the "fear of God" discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job expresses several distinct desires in the poetic portions of the book of Job. Many interpreters have analyzed how Job uses legal language to express a desire to contend with God in court, and Job 23 is often cited as exemplary of this wish. However, in ch. 23 and elsewhere, Job rejects this imaginary courtroom scene as an impossibility because he experiences God's presence as debilitating to his constitution as a subject. Job subsequently expresses a different resolve that is rooted in his actual experiences, which he describes in ways that correspond to certain psychoanalytic accounts of anxiety. In ch. 23, Job resolves to speak his way into the divine darkness that envelopes and effaces him, and this reorientation to Job's experience and desire permits a fresh understanding of what makes Job's perspective different from and problematic for traditional wisdom, which the three friends articulate and represent. The friends counsel Job to assume a pious posture of fear , which is unavailable to him because of his experience of anxiety. The desire that Job ultimately expresses in ch. 23 finds an intriguing echo in Job's final words in 42:2–5, and this casts new light on the events narrated in the book's prose introduction and conclusion, which in turn permits a new perspective on the book of Job as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Bible places the fear of God as the main foundation of believers' faith and provides examples of how the heroes of faith in the Bible carry out their daily lives in fear of God. This research explains how pantecostal theological reflection of the fear of God in people's lives is based on Psalm 25: 12-14. This article examines the Bible's view of the fear of God which is landed with real examples in the lives of several servants of God such as Abraham, Joseph, Job, David, Daniel and his three friends. This article also discusses the fear of God based on Psalm 25: 12-15 and Pentecostal theological reflection on the fear of God. Based on the results of the discussion, it was revealed that in the reflection of the Pentecostal theology of fearing God, an attitude that respects God, a choice taken by believers to live in God's blessings, the efforts made by believers to tie themselves to God's promises and finally believers to live in the way of the Lord. Abstrak: Alkitab meletakan takut akan Tuhan sebagai fondasi utama iman orang percaya dan memberikan contoh bagaimana para pahlawan iman di Alkitab menjalankan keseharian hidup mereka dalam takut akan Tuhan. Penelitian ini bermaksud menjelaskan bagaimana refleksi teologi pentakosta terkait sikap takut akan Tuhan dalam kehidupan orang percaya berdasarkan Mazmur 25: 12-14. Artikel ini mengulas tentang pandangan Alkitab tentang takut akan Tuhan yang didaratkan dengan contoh-contoh nyata dalam kehidupan beberapa hamba Tuhan seperti Abraham, Yusuf, Ayub, Daud, Daniel dan ketiga sahabatnya. Artikel ini juga membahas tentang karakteristik takut akan Tuhan berdasarkan Mazmur 25: 12-15 dan refleksi teologi Pentakosta tentang takut akan Tuhan. Berdasarkan hasil pembahasan disimpulkan bahwa dalam refleksi teologi Pentakosta takut akan Tuhan merupakan sikap yang menghormati Tuhan, sebuah pilihan yang diambil oleh orang percaya untuk hidup dalam berkat Tuhan, usaha yang dilakukan oleh orang percaya untuk mengikatkan diri pada janji Tuhan dan akhirnya menempatkan orang percaya untuk hidup dalam jalan-jalan Tuhan.

Yüce Allah Kur'ân-ı Kerîm’de kullarına hitâben çeşitli hakikâtleri beyan buyururken onların idrâklerini de dikkâte almakta, zikrettiği hakikâtlerin kulların zihin dünyalarında somut birer sahneye dönüşmesini sağlamaktadır. Belâgat ilminde mecâz olarak adlandırılan bu üslup Kur'ân-ı Kerîm’in en önemli anlatım özelliklerinden birisidir. Normalde beşerin algısına belki çok kapalı gelecek konular bu sayede daha kolay ve açık bir şekilde anlaşılabilmektedir. Kur’ân’ın mecaz yoluyla ifade etmiş olduğu hakikâtlerden biri de Bakara Suresinin 74. âyetinde dile getirilen, kâfirlerin kalplerinin katılığı hakkındadır. Allah Teâlâ söz konusu âyette onların kalplerinin ne kadar katı ve sert olduğunu, zikretmiş olduğu taş temsiliyle anlatmakta, hatta onların kalplerinin taşlardan bile daha katı olduğunu beyan etmektedir. Taşların katı yapılarına rağmen kendilerinden ırmakların kaynayıp suların fışkırması yahut da Allah korkusuyla bulundukları yerden düşmeleri gibi güzel vasıfları bulunduğuna, ancak katı kalpli o kâfirlerin kalplerinde ise hiçbir olumlu nitelik olmadığına işâret etmektedir. Cansız birer varlık olmalarına rağmen âyette taşların Allah korkusuyla anılmaları dikkati çeken bir husustur. Bu cihetle, çalışmanın ana odağında söz konusu durumun mahiyetini klasik tefsirlerin yanı sıra bilhassa tasavvufî tefsirler ışığında ortaya koymaya çalışmak olacaktır.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exponentially raised the levels of fear in Western societies. This essay attempts to delve into the human experience of fear from a biblical perspective. Since the complexity and richness of the biblical texts on fear are overwhelming for an article of these characteristics, a canonical methodology is adopted; that is, we will study the most significant texts on fear in each block of the biblical canon to try to find the most relevant thematic threads. The investigation will show how the Bible reveals the deepest theological roots of fear and, at the same time, proposes interesting educational possibilities of this universal human experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates the intersection of Augustine's pedagogy and theology through a case study of his threats of divine judgment (eschatological cataplexis) in catechesis. Augustine's use of this rhetorical device resists recent scholarship that has sought to ameliorate Augustine's vision of hell. Augustine's cataplexis in the catechumenate elucidates the practical side of his mature theological reflections on hellfire and eternal damnation: why catechists should utilize fear as an act of love, how fear cannot cause salvation in and of itself, and how in the faithful, general fear is refined to shed servile fear, that avoids the bad, in favor of chaste fear, that seeks the good. Augustine's view of love and teaching prove to be intimately intertwined with his vision of fear and an eternal hell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the functioning of the lexeme fear [strakh] in the text of the Scriptures in the sphere of sacrum--profanum; the authors have described the method of research of emotional vocabulary in the linguistic aspect. The semantics of the mentioned word in a profane expression has been considered and based on the method of dictionary definition, etymological, contextual and conceptual analyses, and a complex approach. The authors have traced the understanding of fear in the sacral manifestation (fear of God), relying on the divine nature of this occurrence, which goes beyond the natural understanding of the studied phenomenon. The fear of God in the Bible should be considered as blahohovinnia [awe], which has three levels of manifestation: initial: it arises as gratitude to God for forgiven sins and leads a person to awe before the Lord and helps to salve his soul. A higher level is the feeling of blahohovinnia which resides in a person when they stand before God and is ready to obey Him in everything. The highest level of awe is the concept of absolute service to God when there is no fear but only love. The source language clearly distinguishes the concept of natural fear and supernatural fear, whose linguistic signs are separate lexemes, whereas in the Ukrainian language (as well as in Ukrainian translations of Scripture) the expression of these meanings occurs with the help of lexemes strakh [fear], bohobiynyi [God-fearing], pobozhnyi [pious], boyatysia [to fear], shanuvaty [to honour] that does not correlate with the primary source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Gdańskie is the property of Gdanskie Seminarium Duchowne, Kuria Metropolitalna Gdanska 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 examines Konstantin N. Leontiev's critique of the religious preaching of Lev N. Tolstoy. We analyze the philosopher's main articles devoted to the great writer, noting that, despite Leontiev's admiration for Tolstoy as the author of brilliant novels, he emphasized that Tolstoy had a much greater gift for writing than for personal religiosity. Tolstoy could not perceive Christianity at a deeper level, limiting himself to a superficial view. We show that Leontiev believed Tolstoy's ideas fully corresponded to the "Zeitgeist," in which the philosopher had seen the first signs of cultural decay and destruction. Leontiev considered a universal, reductionist confusion to be the cause of the beginning of the end and the destruction of the world, and he thought that the ultimate fruits of humanism—democracy and universal equality—bring with them a destructive, ruinously anti-Christian force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is basically, on the concept of the fear of God in the wisdom literature. A cursory look reveals it is a unifying factor a principle of wisdom and steps or curriculum to wisdom. Content analysis of the wisdom literature is done, and it revealed that the fear of God is to hate evil or turn away from evil and lead a blameless life. Some of the benefits are long life, security, confidence and hope during the time of crisis. In literature, the concept is arranged first in Proverbs as the foundation of wisdom, an embodiment of wisdom in Job and conclusion of life in Qoheleth. The pedagogical steps of acquiring wisdom through the fear of God will equip every Ghanaian learner with the mature conscience of knowing what is right and being delighted to do it.

Wisdom is the original, oral, and progressive Divine gift offered to all people. However, in the Antique understanding of history of the Middle East, there was a discontinuity or interruption of fluctuation and advance of wisdom. Through the Great Flood, the overall wisdom has been reduced, i.e., segmented from the wide spectrum of oral to the narrow spectrum of written and, consequently, from the massive to the individual tradition. Hence, the wisdom until the Flood is not the same as the wisdom after the Flood. The Bible does not follow faithfully that Eastern, or, more precisely, Mesopotamian theme. What the Antique Eastern literature ascribes to Ziasudra, Utnapishtim, Atrahasis, and, later on, to Greek Ksisoteros, the Bible does not ascribe to its protagonist of the first covenant, Noah, but to the protagonist of the new covenant, Moses. According to the Biblical teaching, Moses was the one, and not Noah, who directly received secrets of the Divine wisdom, which he recorded and, therefore, segregated in the written Law. The character of the written Law is literacy and, hence, it cannot concern everybody. Literacy was originally tied to Moses and Aaron, then transmitted to the rest of the priestly caste, and later on to kings and other renowned persons among the people. Thus, wisdom as a Divine gift became a characteristic of only the social elite. In order to balance the relation between the Divine wisdom and the human nature, the holy writers introduced the term "fear of God". Only those who cultivated within themselves the fear of God could also possess the Divine wisdom. By making such a move, the Biblical writers excluded many renowned persons from the source of Divine wisdom and allowed all those characterised by the epithet (cdndva) - »humility« - access to the Divine wisdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Qasemi Journal of Islamic Studies is the property of Al-Qasemi Academy 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.)

Copyright of Journal of Islamic Ethics is the property of Brill Academic Publishers 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 follows the semantic analysis of an expression which can be included in a paradigm from the lexical - semantic field of good. The phrase fear of God is equivalent to the notion of respect in the book of Solomon’s proverbs in the Bible from where the illustrative contexts have been extracted. The lexical co-occurrences for the phrase fear of the Lord do not have semantic consequences but we only notice the frequency and insistence on this attitude, on respect [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Ben Sira's poem on wisdom and fear of God (Sir 1:11–21) draws on earlier texts from the Hebrew Bible, it transfers the rewards for wisdom (Prov 1–9) and the blessings for Torah obedience (Deut 30:15–16) onto the fear of the Lord. The poem also exhibits parallels to some Dead Sea Scroll texts, including the Qumran Wisdom Admonition (4Q185) and the Treatise on the Two Spirits from the Community Rule (1QS III, 13–IV, 26). Since Sir 1:14 teaches that wisdom has been given in the womb to the faithful Jews, the "eternal foundation" (1:15) may be a reference to the Jerusalem temple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sirnak University Journal of Divinity Faculty / Sirnak Üniversitesi Ilahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Sirnak University, Journal of Divinity Faculty / Sirnak Universitesi Ilahiyat Fakultesi Dergisi 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 the book of Ecclesiastes, the motif of "fear of God" can be designated as the supreme song and quintessence of biblical piety. This motif that appears seven times in the book (3,14; 5,7; 7,18; 8,12, twice, 13; 12,13), finds in its epilogue its theological synthesis. However, the passage in Ecclesiastes 12,13.14 has been commonly evaluated by book scholars as a later textual addition by a second author or simply the intervention of a wise commentator. In this article the text of Ecclesiastes 12,13-14 will be approached (with special emphasis on verse 13), through an exegetical analysis according to its own textual design within the book, examining its vocabulary both in its two final verses as well as throughout chapter 12. Also will be analyzed the linguistic connections with the rest of the book and how this passage turns out to be an elaborate conclusion of the wise writer. In this study, some intertextual relations with sapiential, poetic, and prophetic literature will be examined, with the purpose of demonstrating how this text offers us a rich theology for the entire Hebrew Bible focused especially on the important relationship between the moral character of the human being, the Decalogue as their fundamental life norm, and the eschatological orientation of the last verses of Ecclesiastes. The Qohelet's epilogue can be considered a veritable master theological work and the present article will seek to investigate in this passage and its truths for our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkish World is the property of bilig: Journal of Social Sciences of the Turkish World 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 paper develops an alternative to Erin Meyer's influential argument that national culture determines how people in a nation behave, thereby creating invisible boundaries that divide nations according to behavioural stereotypes. Whereas Meyer makes the implicit assumption that we could observe national culture and its effect on behaviour as if from a God's Eye point of view, we might do better to begin with an Insider's Eye perspective on whom we could trust to do what. If we take too much for granted, we may miss invisible boundaries that matter; which might have happened when the English executive, Michael Woodford, became president and CEO of Japan's Olympus Corporation, only to find himself fearing for his life after exposing fraud that his Japanese colleagues thought wise to hide. Woodford's startling story is used here to consider three conceptual questions. First, how might power mediated by what people imagine influence the evolution of institutional ecologies, together with invisible boundaries that divide insiders from outsiders? Second, why should management theorists move from an objective God's Eye perspective to Insider's Eye reflections on power mediated by imagined institutions? And third, if we want to avoid falling foul of invisible boundaries, what should we do? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotionally charged pictorial materials are frequently used in phobia research, but no existing standardized picture database is dedicated to the study of different phobias. The present work describes the results of two independent studies through which we sought to develop and validate this type of database-a Set of Fear Inducing Pictures (SFIP). In Study 1, 270 fear-relevant and 130 neutral stimuli were rated for fear, arousal, and valence by four groups of participants; small-animal ( N = 34), blood/injection ( N = 26), social-fearful ( N = 35), and nonfearful participants ( N = 22). The results from Study 1 were employed to develop the final version of the SFIP, which includes fear-relevant images of social exposure ( N = 40), blood/injection ( N = 80), spiders/bugs ( N = 80), and angry faces ( N = 30), as well as 726 neutral photographs. In Study 2, we aimed to validate the SFIP in a sample of spider, blood/injection, social-fearful, and control individuals ( N = 66). The fear-relevant images were rated as being more unpleasant and led to greater fear and arousal in fearful than in nonfearful individuals. The fear images differentiated between the three fear groups in the expected directions. Overall, the present findings provide evidence for the high validity of the SFIP and confirm that the set may be successfully used in phobia research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Western academic study of the Qur'an, very little has been written about emotion. The studies that do acknowledge the power of emotion tend to concentrate on emotion as a response to the text's aesthetics. And yet emotion is a central part of the Qur'an: fostering the correct emotions is a part of pietistic practice, emotion helps to convince believers to act as they should, and emotional words and incidents bring unity to this synoptic text. This article has four parts. It begins by reviewing approaches that have been taken in History and Biblical studies, in order to clarify the nature of emotions. I argue that emotions are universal but that they have socially constructed elements and a social function. Also, control of emotions can be as revealing as emotional expression. Part Two describes the overall message of emotions in the Qur'an. Humans must cultivate God-fearingness, while God bestows mercy/compassion and love, or anger and displeasure. Believers are distinguished by their emotional sensitivity to God's word, and their ability to form an emotional attachment to God, and thus emotional control is a key pietistic practice. In Part Three, I propose a new method for analysing emotion within Qur'anic suras, which is to trace emotional plots. This method involves identifying the emotional journey undertaken or described in a passage of text. Part Four examines the resonance that is created by the use of specific emotion words in different suras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any attempt to come to grips with ‘the fear of the Lord’ as a key concept for the interpretation of Old Testament wisdom, must appreciate that it is rooted in texts that presuppose an encounter with God that can cause a variety of responses: a feeling of horror or terror; as well as reverent awe that forms the basis of the pious veneration of the Lord in the form of obedience and praise. Although statistical analysis reveals a concentration of occurrences in Deuteronomy (and the so-called Deuteronomistic History), the Psalms and Wisdom literature, it does not presuppose a clear linear development. The theological interpretation of Old Testament wisdom literature must be aware of the ongoing creative tension between order (keeping the commandments) and mystery (fearing the Lord) – as summarized in the conclusion of the Book of Ecclesiastes (12:13). doi: 10.7833/111-1-25

This paper aims to show the impact of fear of God, as one of the most important signs of religious spirituality, on improving sexual and gender relationships in family and society as well as other social relationships and thus to offer some procedures for enhancing and expanding this character at familial and societal levels in order to reduce the problems involved in social relations specially male-female relations. With respect to the approach, a three-dimensional method which employs religious texts, sociological insight and social engineering standpoint could be seen in the article. And with regard to the value, it could be said that although fearing God is a familiar doctrine and its desirable societal outcomes specially the prevention of deviances are not deniable, reminding this nearly forgotten virtue and explaining its societal outcomes in detail could be taken as a considerable contribution to the literature of sociology of religion. Meanwhile the application of this discussion to the problems of sociology of family and sociology of gender could be considered as an important contribution to the literature of these two fields.

This paper investigates the significance of the concept of the Fear of God within ethical questions in Ps 111/112. In the past, the approach regarding Old Testament ethics has been rather descriptive and situated within the field of history of religions (e.g. E. Otto). However, if ethics are understood as part of an ongoing discourse into which the reader enters, new perspectives will be gained. Readers and texts become thus partners in a discussion about how humans ought to act. Similarly, older research inquired as to the historical development of the multifaceted notion of the Fear of God from numinous to normative (e.g. J. Becker following R. Otto). Again, one can also consider the openness of the concept as condition for its relevance, as it combines anthropological, theological, ethical and eschatological aspects. Within the book of Psalms the twin psalms 111/112 show these different aspects of the Fear of God: YHWH shows himself as Holy and awesome with his just deeds in history. It is man’s task to act according to this divine justice and order. Therefore, the Fear of God can be considered as a universal ethical principle, albeit one that can only be fulfilled when the wicked have come to an end. Psalms 111/112 will be analyzed in regard to how the concept of the Fear of God is part of the discourse on standards of conduct. It will be argued that the two psalms help the one who prays to reassure himself of the values at stake, especially where no legal sanction is enforceable.