Religions

Turkish and Georgian relations are based on centuries-old neighborly relations, intertwined cultures, and multifaceted interaction. This interaction has not been limited to official spheres; it has also influenced cultural and religious areas and extended to shared folklore. Throughout human history, “the sky and celestial beings” have been prominent elements in the collective memory. The sky and celestial spirits hold a significant place in both Turkish and Georgian folk beliefs. In this context, both Georgians and Turks have linked each person’s fate to a star, that is, they have believed in “fate stars.” Turks have also associated fate with “felek,” the “wheel of the sky,” and its rotation. In both cultures, there is a strong connection between God, spirits, and the sky. Before Christianity, Georgians had a pantheon of celestial spirits (the sun, the moon, and five stars). This is similar to the pantheon formed by Turks before Islam, in accordance with their belief in the Sky God. In Turkish culture, there is the concept of “Tengri,” representing both the sky and Allah. Both traditions have preserved and maintained this belief to a certain extent even after adopting new religions (Christianity for Georgians, Islam for Turks). In Georgian mythology, celestial bodies are reflected through family relationships (mother–child, husband–wife, sister–brother); while in Turkish mythology, the relationship of the sky to the earth and its role in cosmology are more prominent. These similarities and differences demonstrate how two neighboring cultures, while sharing a common fundamental belief about the connection between the sky, fate, and divine power, developed their own unique interpretations of celestial events. This study examines the folkloric beliefs and rituals of the two countries from a comparative perspective.

The Theological Turn in Phenomenology, as represented in works by Chrétien, Levinas, Ricoeur, Marion, Henry, Falque, Lacoste, and others, is not a formal philosophical movement, but a collective set of insights into how revelation and phenomena interrelate. It has made a significant contribution to phenomenological reflection and has accomplished not only a further opening into how Scriptural and spiritual examinations by Catholic philosophy and practice further basic phenomenological structures and insights, but also how they attune us to deeper insights, both metaphysical and ontological. The challenge for these thinkers, drawing from prior insights of Hegel, Kierkegaard, Merleau-Ponty, Husserl, Heidegger, and others, is not only to expand the borders of theological and philosophical interaction, but to show forth a kind of return to a surprising complementarity of the two approaches. Each of them forges what can be considered a phenomenological anthropology, which was lacking in, for example, Heidegger’s existential phenomenology, particularly in their approaches to embodiment. The paper will critically examine how three Catholic Philosophers address this issue: Marion discloses an erotic phenomenology as primary locus of embodiment, Henry affirms a second birth that follows from our forgetting of Truth, and Falque uncovers the continual presence of an incorporation with God guided by an organic corporeality.

Rapid developments in artificial intelligence, brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), and other neurotechnologies challenge established understandings of embodiment, personal identity, and human agency. Cyborg enhancement and mind uploading raise fundamental questions about what constitutes a human person and whether personal identity can survive technological transformation. This article approaches these questions from the perspective of Christian theological anthropology, focusing on the patristic understanding of the human person as a unity of body and soul. Drawing on the concept of hypostasis developed by Maximus the Confessor and further articulated by John of Damascus, it examines the anthropological assumptions underlying contemporary visions of posthuman transformation. It argues that the reproduction of cognitive and psychological characteristics through mind uploading does not by itself establish continuity of the original person, since personal identity cannot be reduced to informational or functional continuity. Cyborg technologies present a different theological challenge: technological augmentation need not undermine personhood when it occurs within the continuing embodied life of a particular subject, although functional integration alone is not sufficient to establish numerical personal identity. The article also employs the “golden ratio” as a modern interpretive model for illuminating Maximian patterns of unity-in-difference. It concludes that patristic anthropology can critically engage technological transformation without rejecting innovation or reducing the human person to an informational or computational entity.