Religions

This article compares Ammonius’ and Aquinas’ answers to the conflict between divine determinate knowledge of the world and the contingency of future events. The first section analyzes the Proclean distinction of the three degrees of knowledge that Ammonius attributes to Iamblichus and accompanies this with a commentary on Aristotle’s De interpretatione 9. First, Ammonius stresses divine transcendence, according to which not even our ‘now’ is similar to the divine. Second, Ammonius applies the “Iamblichus’ principle” to the knowledge of future contingents. This is in order to reconcile both divine foreknowledge and natural contingency. From this, it is possible to conclude that the gods have a certain knowledge that is ontologically superior to the object known. In a second section, Aquinas’ solution will be presented. In Aquinas’ commentary, although not referring to the same distinction, he identifies a similar phenomenon in which the same principle applies: certain knowledge of a contingent present event does not alter its contingent nature. Aquinas applies this principle to God, who knows not only the present but also the past and future contingents, with one unique, transcendent vision. His emphasis on the transcendence of divine knowledge and will also connects him to Ammonius.

The Catholic Church is committed to promoting peace and social justice. Beyond its theological and religious nature, the Church operates as a hierarchically organized institution. Its entities function within defined legal frameworks. Throughout history, the theoretical substantiation of peace—and war—has played a pivotal role in Catholic thought. This tradition has been primarily upheld by Catholic and ecclesiastical universities. The Second Vatican Council transformed the Church and positioned these universities to actively promote social justice. However, detailed regulatory frameworks for this mission were developed later, outside the immediate scope of conciliar documents. This study examines the legal and historical evolution of Catholic academic research on peace and war. The analysis focuses on methodological issues, identifying historical and current deficiencies in the investigation of security questions. It argues that Catholic and ecclesiastical universities have yet to fully develop transdisciplinary methods, despite such an approach being most effective for supporting the Church’s mission of universal peace.

This article proposes a literary and semantic analysis of Surah 12, Yūsuf, centred on the concept of iḥsān (virtue, goodness, or beauty), which reveals the intimate connection between the Qur’ān’s aesthetic value and the veracity of its contents. A close reading of the surah reveals that iḥsān encompasses dream interpretation, wisdom, forbearance, moral excellence, and other prophetic qualities bestowed by God and displayed by Yūsuf throughout the story. Likewise, iḥsān is presented as structurally antithetical to the intrigues (kuyūd, sing. kayd) plotted by the characters of the story, such as Yūsuf’s brothers, or the mistress of the house. These intrigues are explicitly associated with falsehood and deceit, which explains their ultimate failure against Yūsuf, the bearer of iḥsān and the knowledge of truth, and the Divine Decree. This story presents an ethical model which transcends the boundaries of the narrative and is constantly appropriated by the Qur’ān at the metalevel to demonstrate its veracity and its divine origin. Qur’ānic claims such as being the most beautiful of the stories (aḥsan al-qaṣaṣ) are not simply declarations of its unparalleled eloquence, but rhetorical devices that confirm the text’s contents and its authority by constructing a nexus between iḥsān and truth.

In the original publication (Sant 2026), (Sant 2025) was not cited [...]