Inauguraldiss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Bonn--Rheinisch Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. III-XXX.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Bonn--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 984-1048. Index.

Th. univ.--Hist. relig.--Genève, 1991. / Textes en français, avestique et traductions en allemand et anglais. Bibliogr. p. 199-207.

Zoroastrianism was founded by the prophet Zarathushtra ca 1400 to 1200 BCE and is generally acknowledged as the world's oldest monotheistic and revealed religion. It dominated three great Iranian empires, and influenced Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Mahayana Buddhism. At one point in time, their numbers surely seemed limitless. Today, however, roughly 150,000 Zoroastrians are scattered all over the globe in very small numbers. The faith is at a crossroads, and its very existence is threatened. This is an examination of the decline and subsequent change of this previously influential and vital religion. Zoroastrians have been able to maintain the major tenets of their practices and beliefs without much interruption for millennia. However, with more and more Zoroastrians moving into the global economy and the Western culture, secularization, modernity, and loss of an extensive, immediate community are causing new beliefs to be adopted and/or advanced by some of the faith. This shift in beliefs and values is causing disunity among members of the faith. Today Zoroastrian communities are on all inhabited continents and many different countries within those continents. This has forced the Zoroastrian communities worldwide into introspection, definition, and clarification. Contemporary Zoroastrians differ over how to keep their beloved faith alive and how to best remain true to its heritage and sustain its "purity." There are currently two substantial efforts to maintain the identity of Zoroastrianism, characteristically reflecting an orthodox and a liberal approach. As criteria for evaluating the Zoroastrianism of modern day, I will utilize Steve Bruce's discussions of secularizations and its effects on religions as reasons for the current changes of the Zoroastrian faith. I will also explore the meaning of ethnicity as related to religion as provided by Ebaugh and Chafetz for a prediction for the future of the faith. Zoroastrians worldwide must acknowledge the cultural differences that exist in their one faith-and the subsequent needs there of-if they are going to organize and map a course of survival.

For centuries, fire has been a sacred symbol from the eastern cultures to western regions. As one of the four states of matter, fire represents the great essence in our daily lives as an energy source with its warmth, light and aura, kindling feelings of truth and spirituality within us. In his poetic verses, fire was venerated by Zoroaster who led mankind to believe that there is one supreme lord that we may follow; a being that can only be known by the quest for truth (Asha). For Zoroaster truth was symbolic with fire as it brought people together in prayer. With the passage of time fire became consecrated in different orders with the higher ones being placed within covered buildings for protection. These buildings became temples of fire or Fire Temples where an eternal flame was kept and looked after by a priest so as to keep alive the salvation of humankind and continue our journey towards righteousness with the blessings of the supreme. With this, faith stayed alive as long as the Fire burned. Herein lies my celebration of fire where I announce it to the follower on the path to truth as an eternal flame burning, yet resting in a place worthy of all its glory; an ambiance created to venerate the flame and reassure the traveler that its light has more to offer than meets the eye. / Master of Architecture

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:12:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EdrisiAF.pdf: 1541764 bytes, checksum: 57d0acc86cc8327693016d73a3335f0b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-09-29 / Through a careful examination of the relationship between Zoroastrianism and the Western tradition, and a detailed and critical reading of the writings of Nietzsche, this work aims at showing to what extent the character Zarathustra , his discourses and poetical-philosophical thoughts, and related passages from many distinct Nietzschean works, directly or undirectly reflect a philosophy that harvests contributions from the Zoroastrian tradition or its headways (in the Judeo-Greco-Christian tradition, and furthermore in the whole Western philosophical tradition). Supplied with this provisions, and with the interpretation cast upon them, Nietzschean philosophy questions the entire Western tradition of thought, and proposes its replacement by a new attitude towards life. This work also intends to show the way the Nietzschean Zarathustra was built up, in the writings of the German philosopher, together with the idea of making, out of the namesake character of the ancient Iranian prophet (Zarathushtra or Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism), the herald of that important text that intended to bring the German language to its highest perfection , clumping together, and leading to a prophetic-poetic climax consonant with the meaning of the Earth , Nietzsche s key ideas about the rectification of the most fatal of errors and about the death of God . An elaborate investigation has been pursued after the reasons and manners of the building up of Nietzsche s Zarathustra mirroring its Iranian namesake (sections 1.1 to 1.6), and a survey of the works of Nietzsche has suggested unquestionable relations with the Zoroastrian tradition, mostly through the Jewish, Greek or Christian repercussions of this tradition. These relations have been put in context, in many framings (sections 2.1 to 2.3.2), in the ambit of the most fatal of errors - the - creation of morals in the very occasion of its transposition to metaphysics (Ecce Homo, Why I am a destiny , 3). Through an evaluation of the possible circumstances and repercussions of the death of God , the relations between Nietzsche s writings and Zoroastrian tradition have been investigated (sections 3.1 to 3.7), allowing the understanding of this event as an essential component, and tragic outcome, of the rectification of the most fatal of errors / A partir de um atento exame das rela??es do Zoroastrismo com a tradi??o ocidental, bem como a partir de uma detalhada e cr?tica leitura da obra nietzscheana, este trabalho pretende mostrar o que o personagem Zaratustra , seus discursos e pensamentos po?tico-filos?ficos e passagens correlatas de diversas obras de Nietzsche, espelham enquanto representa??es de uma filosofia que colhe, direta ou indiretamente, contribui??es da tradi??o zoroastriana ou das suas deriva??es (na tradi??o judaico-greco-crist?, e ademais em toda a tradi??o filos?fica ocidental). Municiada com essas contribui??es, e com a interpreta??o que delas se faz, a filosofia nietzscheana questiona toda a tradi??o de pensamento do Ocidente, propondo a sua substitui??o por uma nova atitude diante da vida. Esse trabalho pretende mostrar tamb?m de que maneira a constitui??o do Zaratustra nietzscheano ganhou corpo, nos escritos do fil?sofo alem?o, junto com a id?ia de fazer, de um personagem hom?nimo do antigo profeta iraniano (Zaratustra ou Zoroastro, o fundador do Zoroastrismo), o arauto daquele importante texto que pretendeu levar a l?ngua alem? ? [sua] m?xima perfei??o , enfeixando e levando a um cl?max prof?tico-po?tico condizente com o sentido da Terra as id?ias-chave de Nietzsche sobre a corre??o do mais fatal dos erros e sobre a morte de Deus . Procedeu-se a uma minuciosa investiga??o de raz?es e modos de a constitui??o do Zaratustra nietzscheano ter se espelhado no seu hom?nimo iraniano (se??es 1.1 a 1.6), e um levantamento da obra nietzscheana sugeriu inquestion?veis rela??es com a tradi??o zoroastriana, no mais das vezes atrav?s das repercuss?es desta. Essas rela??es foram contextualizadas, em diversas inst?ncias (se??es 2.1 a 2.3.2), no ?mbito do mais fatal dos erros , a cria??o da moral na ocasi?o mesma de sua transposi??o para o plano metaf?sico (Ecce Homo, Por que sou um destino , 3). Mediante uma avalia??o das poss?veis circunst?ncias e repercuss?es da morte de Deus , as rela??es da obra nietzscheana com a tradi??o zoroastriana foram investigadas (se??es 3.1 a 3.7), permitindo a compreens?o desse acontecimento como componente essencial e tr?gico desenlace da corre??o do mais fatal dos erros