NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 47, Issue 3, 1993

The Book of Jubilees makes extensive use of the Old Testament, also in parts in which it differs from Genesis 1 - Exodus 16. However, these texts are never referred to by way of quotation. On the basis of the vocabulary, the syntactical construction of the words, their unicity in the Old Testament, and supportive elements in the context (e.g. common themes and the title of the Psalm) the article shows the influence and development of Psalm 90:10 in Jubilees 23:12-15, and discusses its textual form and function.

Müller has been thoroughly influenced by the romantic movement in his ideas on nature-mythology. With the clues of the etymological method he tried to ‘reveal’ the deeper meaning of myth and to show that a deeper symbolic order was at the basis of its seemingly chaotic surface. In the elaboration of his ideas he stressed the importance of metaphor and introduced the highly controversial concept of religion as a ‘disease of language’, which was also an inevatible by-product in the development of language. In his study of myth and religion he derived his schemes of classification and comparison from the comparative study of language and he postulated a close relationship between language, religion and ethnos. In his Gifford Lectures on Natural Theology Müller elaborated his ideas on the growth of religion in an evolutionistic way. He defined religion as the perception of the Infinite and claimed that this definition was based on concrete religions, in particular on ancient Indian religions, though it should be seen against the philosophical discourse of his day as well.

The article deals with the problem of laying down criteria to evaluate theological constructions. It is argued that the criteria that are generally accepted, like those of coherence and relevance are necessary though not sufficient to assess the validity of theological constructions. They leave open the possibility of exclusive and even oppressive types of theology. In this article a moral criterion, namely that of accountability, is proposed. Some possibilities to apply such a criterion are explored.

In this article, three potential drawbacks of artificial intelligence are analyzed: (1) the use of artificial intelligence may have unforseen and undesirable consequences; (2) it may be unclear who is responsible for computerbased errors, while it is not always possible to avoid those errors; (3) artificial intelligence may incorporate hidden values which influence our world view and self-image. The analysis shows that many (but not all) of the negative consequences of artificial intelligence can be avoided. The author warns, however, against the messianic expectations of some computer-apostles, who provide us with a misleading and potentially dangerous picture of the alleged blessings of artificial intelligence.

A framework for the general history of religions is offered in this study. The reasons why it has been developed are discussed first. They are the need to replace the present defective one in primitive, ancient and world religions by a more adequate one; to turn historical religions into an object of comparative religion; and the need to enhance the explanatory power of the study of religions. The proposed framework hinges on the dependence of the history of religions on the history of human societies. Six types of human societies are then sketched and the six corresponding types of religions. The study concludes with ‘the revenge of the “primitives”’: the re-emergence in the newest religions of the marks of historically earlier types of religions.