Divination (religious studies)

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In the religious sciences and especially in exegesis and hermeneutics , divination (derived from Latin divinum = the divine) means the foreboding of the sacred in natural phenomena and earthly events.

Ancient and Ethnic Religions

In the Roman religion , divination was synonymous with mantic , the art of religious divination and prophecy . In the ancient religions and in the traditions of many ethnic religions , u. a. the dream occupies a prominent position because of its divinatory uses.

Romantic hermeneutics

FE Schleiermacher (1768–1834) drew attention to a feeling of “absolute dependence” on God , in which unity with the whole and the eternal can be experienced. The path of a psychological interpretation was thus taken, see also the psychological interpretation of animism . According to Schleiermacher, the idea of ​​God thinks of the absolute unity of the ideal and the real, excluding all opposites. On the other hand, the concept of the world expresses the relative unity of the ideal and the real under the form of opposition. Schleiermacher thus placed the understanding of texts under the primacy of the subject. He used the term “artistic thinking” and thus took into account the creative work of genius . The understanding is based on a kind of congeniality with the ingenious production or on a kind of empathy in the individuality of the author, “by transforming oneself into the other”. This congenial human ability seems to contradict a methodically based understanding. Schleiermacher follows Friedrich Ast and the entire hermeneutic tradition by recognizing as an essential basic feature of understanding that the meaning of the individual only ever results from the context and thus ultimately from the whole. This gives a hermeneutical circle . Schleiermacher, however, distances himself from a dogmatic canon as it is supposed to represent the whole in Catholic and, to a certain extent, Reformation theology and thus guide the understanding of Scripture. Rather, he is based on the continued and constantly expanding juxtaposition of the individual and the whole, which he describes as a “divinatory transposition”, “until in the end, as if all of a sudden, everything receives its full light”.

Historical school

Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) and Johann Gustav Droysen (1808–1884) confirmed the hermeneutic principles mentioned in the thought of universal history . This historical school saw itself realized in a quasi theological self-understanding. A progressive historical research was only conceivable if one's own finite and limited knowledge is contrasted with a divine spirit to which the things are known in their perfection. Ranke writes: "The deity ... I think to myself that, since there is no time ahead of it, it overlooks all of historical humanity in its entirety and finds it equally valuable everywhere." The old ideal of infinite understanding was decisive here . The archetype of historical fidelity and justice is here the idea of ​​infinite understanding ( intellectus infinitus ) and simultaneity in contemplation by the understanding person ( omnia simul ), see also the philosophical concept of the epoch . Ranke spoke of "self-extinguishing" in this process of knowledge. Therefore one should not misunderstand his approach as psychological-subjective. For him it is participation in the life of others without conceptual mediation in an almost religious sense.

simultaneity

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) gave the concept of simultaneity (simultaneity - omnia simul ) a special theological character. Simultaneousness thus represents a special task for consciousness. In particular, it is an achievement that is expected of the believer. The point is to convey the historical saving act of Christ so totally into the now that it is experienced and experienced as present for the believer or is taken seriously.

criticism

Manfred Frank criticized the exclusively psychological interpretation of divinatory knowledge . Based on insights from structuralism and poststructuralism , he devoted himself to grammatical interpretation in Schleiermacher. - Martin Heidegger pointed out the dangers of a too narrow pre-understanding that must not get stuck with itself, but must also advance to grasp the historically other.

literature

Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De divinatione .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The Great Brockhaus. Compact edition in 26 volumes . Wiesbaden, Brockhaus, FA 18 1983, ISBN 3-7653-0353-4 ; Volume 5, page 225
  2. ↑ Drewermann, Eugen : Depth Psychology and Exegesis 1 . The truth of forms. Dream, myth, fairy tale, saga and legend. dtv non-fiction book 30376, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-423-30376-X , © Walter-Verlag, Olten 1984, ISBN 3-530-16852-1 ; Page 125
  3. ↑ Schischkoff, Georgi (ed.): Philosophical dictionary. Alfred-Kröner, Stuttgart 14 1982, ISBN 3-520-01321-5 , Lexicon-Lemma "Schleiermacher": Page 613 f.
  4. ↑ a b c d Gadamer, Hans-Georg : Truth and Method. Basic features of a philosophical hermeneutics. Collected works, JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1990, Hermeneutics I, Volume I, ISBN 3-16-145616-5 ; (a) Re. “Schleiermacher”: Page 193 f., (b + c) Re. “Historical School”: Page 214 ff .; Hermeneutics II, Volume II, ISBN 3-16-146043-X ; (d) Re. "Critique": Pages 14 f., 61
  5. ^ Von Ranke, Leopold : Weltgeschichte . IX, 2, pages 5 and 7
  6. ↑ Kierkegaard, Søren : Philosophical Brocken . 4th chap. ö