Zarathustra

Er(r)go …,
anglistycznie, czyli zanurzamy się we własne źródło – „Er(r)go” bowiem z anglistyki się wyłoniło – a potem podążamy odnogami, dopływami, odpływami. A więc świadectwa intelektualnych nastrojów z czasów wczesnego naporu cultural studies;  z jednej strony kiedyś owoc zakazany, z drugiej strachy i obawy: a to utrata tożsamości literaturoznawczej  i kulturowej , a to marksizm niebezpieczny, a to zagubienie wartości estetycznych i rozmycie w egalitaryzmie. I problem zbliżony: jaka jest rola anglistów – fachowców od propagowania obcej kultury i obcego języka – wobec tożsamości językowej narodu? Zatapiają ten ojczyźniany statek (to Sienkiewicz) dopompowując językowe skażenia zamiast je wypompowywać, czy też pomagają mu się utrzymać na burzliwych falach przemian? Ambiwalentny zatem mit anglisty.  Anglista w Polsce jako Robinson Crusoe na wyspie zarosłej różnymi kontekstami, polskimi i niepolskimi? I oczywiście problemy przekładu. Tłumacz jako element trzeci – pośrednik między dwoma rzeczywistościami, które zapośredniczeniu się nie poddają; subiektywność w translacji i tłumacza skok wiary.

Desubiektywizacja i przemysł tłumaczeniowy; masowe oszustwo. I co tu czytać, skoro błazny i łotry tworzą listy lektur. Zatem fundamentalna kwestia kanonu: równo czy elitarnie? Kanon jako fundament i emanacja tożsamości. Precz zatem z Martwymi Białymi Europejskimi Mężczyznami! Ale czy Zulusi dadzą nam Tołstoja? Jest przynajmniej pornologia Markiza de Sade’a, a poza tym „nicość, puste miejsce niemożliwości identyfikacji”. Ratunkiem edukacja humanistyczna? Ale jaka? Prawicowa, czyli poszukiwanie jednej prawdy, czy lewicowa, czyli kształcenie niezależności intelektualnej. I tu anglista odwołuje się do Rorty’ego i idzie ze sobą na kompromis, choć nie bez wahań, tarć i polemik. Angielski łaciną dnia dzisiejszego?

Numer ten został przygotowany pod opieką Leszka Dronga.

Wojciech Kalaga


Er(r)go …,
on English studies. And so we submerge into our own spring—since Er(r)go emerged from English studies—and then we follow the arms, the tributaries, the tides. Thus the substantiation of the intellectual mood of the times of the early onset of cultural studies; on the one hand, once a forbidden fruit, on the other, anxieties and fears: it could mean the loss of cultural identity and identity of literary studies; could mean dangerous Marxism, could mean losing aesthetic values and diffusion in egalitarianism. And  a related problem: what is the role of English philologists—professionals in promoting foreign culture and foreign language—towards linguistic identity of their nation? Are they sinking the national ship (that’s Sienkiewicz) pumping in linguistic contamination instead of pumping it out, or are they helping the ship to stay afloat on the stormy seas of change? Thus, the ambivalent myth of the English philologist. The English philologist as Robinson Crusoe on an island overgrown with different contexts, Polish and not Polish. And, of course, the problems of translation. The translator as the third element—the mediator between two realities, which do not yield to mediation; subjectivity in translation and the translator’s leap of faith.

Desubjectification and the translation industry; a mass fraud. What is there to read, if fools and rogues create reading lists? Thus the fundamental question of canon: equality or elitism? The canon as the foundation and the emanation of identify. Thus away with Dead White European Males! But will the Zulu give us Tolstoy? At least there remains Marquise de Sade’s pornology, but apart from that “nothing, an empty space of the impossibility of identification.” Humanist education as possible salvation? But of what kind? Right-winged, or the search for the only truth, or left-winged, the shaping of intellectual independence? And here the English philologist calls upon Rorty and chooses a compromise, albeit not without hesitations, tensions and polemics. English as Latin of today?

The present issue was prepared under the supervision of Leszek Drong

Wojciech Kalaga

El artículo de Heidegger que lleva por título Wer ist Nietzsches Zarathustra?[2] (¿Quién es el Zaratustra de Nietzsche?) (1953) presenta al lector un triple juego. La pregunta que Heidegger instaura invita a que el lector se pregunte: quién es Zaratustra, quién es Nietzsche y quiénes son estos para Heidegger. Es decir, desde dónde se pregunta Heidegger por el Zaratustra de Nietzsche y hacia dónde conduce su preguntar. Debido a que sería inadmisible considerar al preguntar de Heidegger como un preguntar ingenuo, es posible tomar la pregunta como un camino hacia la comprensión del ser en Nietzsche a partir de la figura profética de Zaratustra.

Das Γνῶθι σεαυτόν steht am Beginn des abendländischen Fragens und auch heute noch gilt es, sich dieser rätselhaften Aufgabe anzunehmen. Rätselhaft ist sie wenigstens aus zwei Gründen: Zuerst deshalb, da das Selbst nie ein Selbstverständliches war und auch heute noch nicht ist, und zweitens deshalb, da der Sinn der Aufgabe nicht unmittelbar einsichtig ist. Warum ist Selbsterkenntnis nötig? Im folgenden Essay werden wir versuchen, Antworten und weitere Fragen darauf anhand einer einzigen Rede aus Friedrich Nietzsches Also sprach Zarathustra zu gewinnen. Vorab sei das Resultat der hermetischen Lektüre benannt: Das Erkennen des Selbst geschieht durch einen Einbruch. Dieser Bruch stellt die Differenz zwischen Ich und Selbst, bzw. Geist und Leib dar, welche nur in einer Krise erfahrbar werden kann. Diese Krise ist eine Krise des Selbst-Vertrauens, welche somit dem Selbsterkennen vorangeht und dieses wesentlich motiviert. Wie im Folgenden gezeigt
werden wird, kann sich dieses Krisengeschehen aus einem bestimmten
strukturellen Verständnis von Höhenstrebsamkeit ergeben, wenn der Aufstieg und das Aufsteigen selbst das Problem sind. Da nun ebenfalls seit dem Beginn des abendländischen Fragens der Aufstieg als Symbol für Transzendenz galt, liefert dieser Essay anhand der Zarathustra-Rede auch einen Beitrag zum Zusammenhang zwischen Selbstvertrauen/Selbsterkenntnis und dem Bedürfnis nach  Transzendenz.

Die Studie zeichnet den Weg nach, den Nietzsches späte Philosophie mit dem Projekt der „Umwertung aller Werte“ einzuschlagen versuchte. Grundlage des Umwertungsgedankens ist die Aufwertung des diesseitigen Lebens. Mit ihr endet die in der Metaphysik und im Christentum betriebene Abwertung des Leibes. Nachdem Gott und mit ihm das Heilige, das Jenseits und mit ihm die „wirkliche Welt“, die Säkularisierung des Jenseits im Diesseits und mit ihr die „scheinbare Welt“ verschwunden sind, kann das Leben selbst und mit ihm das Selbst des Lebenden geheiligt werden. Mit der Aufwertung des diesseitigen Lebens wird auch die Versöhnung mit dem Tod (als notwendigem Teil des Lebens) und damit mit dem unzerstörbaren Leben, aus dem immer neue Anfänge geboren werden, möglich.
Nietzsches tragische Philosophie (oder Anti-Philosophie) denkt gegen die sozialdarwinistische Vorstellung von der Unterordnung des Individuums unter die Spezies die Möglichkeit (und Notwendigkeit) eines neuen Naturverhältnisses des gesellschaftlichen Menschen. Sie ist anti-rassistisch, anti-antisemitisch, anti-nationalistisch.
Die widersprüchliche Einheit von endlichem und unzerstörbarem Leben, für die Nietzsche das Bild von Dionysos und Ariadne gefunden hat, und der Zusammenhang zwischen der Gerechtigkeit, der Gesetzgebung und dem gesellschaftlichen Streit im Sinn der guten, der bejahenden Eris, sind Ausgangspunkte, von denen aus weitergedacht werden kann. Die Umwertung aller Werte: diese Aufgabe hat Nietzsche nicht nur sich selbst, sondern auch uns gestellt.

The article highlights the attention to the care and beauty of human bodies that characterizes Zoroastrianism, or Mazdaism, as it was encoded in the Avesta. The ancient Iranian religion, which finds its greatest prophet in Zarathustra, while sharing many doctrinal aspects with Christianity, is distinguished from the latter by the privileged role it assigns to beauty in theological, ethical and soteriological questions. To show the deep roots of this peculiar aspect of Zoroastrianism, we will proceed from the general to the particular, presenting first the main discoveries made by linguists, historians and archaeologists about the ideology of Indo-Europeans, and then analyzing the religion of the Aryans. It is a long but necessary premise to fully understand the anthropological and sociological significance of some passages of the Avesta. It is necessary to keep in mind that the perspective of our study is not that of Iranian studies, but that of the history of ideas, understood here as a vital source of historical sociology.

Disgusted with ISIS, some Kurds turned away from Islam following the fall of Mosul in 2014. Many became atheists, while others sought comfort in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism, according to converts, was the “original” religion of the Kurds before they embraced Islam. In 2015, two Zoroastrian centers opened in Sulaimani, both of which are recognized by the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. Notably, neither has tried to recreate Zoroastrianism the way it is currently and has been historically practiced in Iran and South Asia. Instead, they have created their own versions of Zoroastrianism, which is nationalist, postmodern, and liberal. Kurdish Zoroastrians argue that the reason Kurds are “backward” is Islam. They seek to rectify the present situation through a Kurdish “authenticated” and “original” form of Zoroastrianism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at these two centers, the present article examines this new religious movement in Sulaimani, an important city in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. It analyses the rise and distinctiveness of Kurdish Zoroastrianism looking at how Zoroastrian Kurds articulate their views on Islam, women’s rights, human rights, and Kurdish independence.

Metaphern aus dem Feld der Bildhauerein kommen überraschend oft bei Nietzsche vor: von der Statue als einem Ideal von Unweglichkeit ebenso wie von der Skulptur als einer Metapher der Selbst-Darstellung, bis hin zu Nietzsches ikonoklastischer Klärung: wie mit dem Hammer zu philosophieren sei.
In Bezug auf die griechische Platik sowie Nietzsche’s Texte argumentiert die Autorin mit Nietzsche gegen eine damals und noch heute weit verbreitete Auffassung, wonach wir solche Statuen fast unvermeidlich aus einem jüdisch-christlichen Gesichtspunkt betrachten. Außerdem geht sie besonders ein auf Nietzsches Beschwörung der Skulptur in dem Zarathustra-Abschnitt Von den Erhabenen.

O presente texto objetiva abordar a ideia e construção do Übermensch nietzschianoque é exposto no prólogo da obra Assim falava Zaratustra, com a finalidade de introduzir oscaminhos para a apresentação da superação do homem pelo profeta nietzschiano. Partindo deuma revisão bibliográfica, inicialmente se constrói uma breve explanação sobre o livro Assimfalava Zaratustra. Em seguida aborda-se a construção do  Übermensch  a partir a própriafilosofia nietzschiana para, por fim, fazer a abordagem da apresentação do Übermensch peloprofeta Zaratustra já no prólogo da obra de Nietzsche, com foco na conceituação básicadesenvolvida ao longo da obra nietzschiana.

BAHA’U’LLAH AS ZOROASTRIAN SAVIOUR (1998)

Christopher Buck, “Baha’u’llah as Zoroastrian Saviour.” Baha’i Studies Review 8 (1998): 14–33. 

https://www.academia.edu/4332699/_Baha_u_llah_as_Zoroastrian_Saviour_1998_

ABSTRACT

This paper explores theoretical tensions between modern scholarship and modern messiahship. Messiahs, typically, advance truth claims and adduce proof texts. Prophecies foretell; messiahs fulfill. But what if the proof texts are other than what they purport to be? What if a prophecy turns out not to be genuine? How might this affect the truth claim? An ideal case-study is that of Bahā’u’llāh, whose claim to multiple messiahship is unusual in the history of religions, paralleled only by the second-century world-prophet, Mānī (d. 276).

Bahā’u’llāh’s truth-claims were anchored in several apocalyptic traditions, interpreted as convergent. Bahā’u’llāh’s claim to be Shāh Bahrām Varjāvand, the Zoroastrian messiah, is a case in point. A theoretical problem arises once it is shown that Zoroastrian apocalypses that foretell the advent of Shāh Bahrām are primarily medieval texts, lamenting the Byzantine, Arab and Turkish invasions of Iran. These texts are hardly prophecies, but are cast in the form of prophecies, through use of a literary device known as “vaticinium ex eventu” (prophecy after the event). 

These prophecies are a type of inverse history, where recent history (the calamity of conquest) is recounted, followed by a scenario expressed in the future perfect tense (prophecies), which more or less narrates what should have been, in the name of what shall be. It will be shown that Bahā’u’llāh’s appeal to the Shāh Bahrām tradition circumvents this problem by radically reinterpreting the Zoroastrian prophecies themselves, thereby reinventing the figure of Shāh Bahrām.

This article offers a new translation the Ahuna Vairiia, the holiest Zoroastrian prayer. The stanza belongs with the Gāthās, metric compositions traditionally attributed to Zarathuštra and constituting the oldest layer of the Avesta. Whether it was excerpted from the first Gāthā or composed for the purpose of heading the whole corpus, it is considered by Zoroastrian tradition to be the supreme expression of the religion, a vignette of its fundamental doctrine. The number of translations of the stanza virtually equals the number of Avesta scholars, but the basic syntactic schemes underlying them are quite limited in number. Through a critical discussion of representative translations, the article analyses the syntax of the Ahuna Vairiia in reference to relevant passages from the Gāthās.

Nietzsche's model of eternal return triggers a drama of affirmation, the overcoming of a simple miming of our ancestors in favour of an active participation in the counter-actualisation of hidden potentials in recurrent events. Based on a close study of Zarathustra's struggle to free himself from a suffocating nihilism, the paper focuses on the revelatory caesura that ushers in what Deleuze calls the third synthesis of time, a time of ‘doing’ rather than reflection.

These registers form a set of deconstruction exercises for Heràclñito and, as good deconstruction exercises for the moment, do not need any general comment.

Surely later on these provisional results may or may not be unified, depending on what results, and at this time it depends exclusively on specific approaches.

In this way it is about avoiding all kinds of Kreuzspinnen, in each path or course of this deconstructed Heraclitus.

The records come from the comments to my work Politics, Anti-citizenship and Antipolitics in Heraclitus - An unforeseen problem published in Biblioteca Heraclitea https://www.academia.edu/s/ 2b2d27c75d? source=link (which is part of my website https:// joaquinmeabe.academia.edu/). The writings were uploaded between  9 and May 27, 2022. The texts of the deconstructive debate are included in section a); the text Politics, Anti-citizenship and Antipolitics in Heraclitus - An unforeseen problem is included in section b).

Everyone is invited to participate in this deconstructive work in the language they prefer to use.

Joaquin E. Meabe
Corrientes, May 27, 2022

«¿Qué podemos decir hoy del superhombre a la luz del estudio crítico de los textos de Nietzsche y de sus fuentes de lectura? Si su perfil sigue siendo en gran parte indeterminado, ¿se ha de desechar sin más, en la visión del filósofo alemán, la hipótesis del superhombre como etapa concreta – y por tanto, en un cierto sentido biológica y “evolutiva” – de una humanidad renovada o tal vez “otra” que la actual?»
El primero de los ensayos de este libro intenta responder estas preguntas reconstruyendo el escenario cultural y las ideas en boga en la época en que se gestó uno de los filosofemas más controvertidos y peor comprendidos del autor del Zarathustra.
El segundo ensayo, se centra en la figura de Alfred Fouillée (1883-1912), intérprete polémico de Nietzsche, a quién éste estudió atentamente, llevado por un desacuerdo tan neto con lo central de sus doctrinas, que puede decirse que éstas representan un precipitado ejemplar de todo cuanto rechaza en materia de moral y de evolución.
Ambos trabajos, resultados de una prolongada y fina indagación de la obra del filósofo alemán y sus fuentes, contribuyen a renovar su lectura expurgada de simplificaciones e hipotecas ideológicas.

[Vol. 2 de la Colección Nietzscheana, dirigida por Sergio Sánchez]

Review of Harald Strohm, Die Geburt des Monbotheismus im Alten Iran: Ahura Mazda und sein Prophet Zarathustra (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2014), 400 pp. (Second, corrected edn., 2015) – Strohm offers a historical and psychological portrait of Varuna, the problem child of Vedic religion, and sketches Varuna's rise to monotheistic honours in ancient Iran under the name of Ahiura Mazda. Divine anger, problems of the monotheistic deity with sexuality and women, the exaggerated insistence on rules of behaviour, and divine delight in speaking all reflect a failed infant development between the mid-first and the mid-second year. While at first sight Strohm's claim may seem far-fetched, his analysis is based on the literary portrait of Varuna in the Vedas. While in Vedic polytheism, Varuna could be integrated so that his problems do not damage society at large, in his Ahura Mazda and related monotheistic forms he became a thoroughly problematic deity. Like Eliade before him, Strohm portrays an archaic polytheistic world that was lost when a priestly caste reorganized religion in monotheistic, and actually Varunic, terms.

Text in French

Nietzsche’s "Üebermensch" derives from Lucian of Samosata’s use of hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances in the context of that terminological origination in Lucian’s Kataplous — literally: sailing into port — referring to the journey of the soul into the afterlife, as escorted by Hermes and ferried by Charon along with myriads of others facing the same fate. The Kataplous he tyrannos, a title usually rendered as the Downward Journey (or The Tyrant), is a Menippean satire telling the tale of the “overman” supposed superior to others of “lesser” station in this-worldly life and the very same tyrant after his (ludicrously recalcitrant) transposition to the underworld. Reflecting on the life (and the death) of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, this essay also explores the politics of kingship for Empedocles as reformer as a political model for Zarathustra in terms of Hölderlin’s Death of Empedocles and Nietzsche’s unpublished drafts on the same. In his Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, Nietzsche points to a perspective beyond the here and now, beyond the “values” of our all-too-worldly and all-too-human concerns, whether in terms of perceived political/economic advantage or the pursuit of more everyday enjoyments. In addition to Zarathustra’s literal death (The Adder’s Bite), the essay includes a discussion of Zarathustra’s golden fishing rod (which only makes sense in connection with Lucian’s references in another dialogue, Piscator), food (“with Zarathustra even a king may be a cook”), and Zarathustra’s flight into the volcano together with C.G. Jung’s invocation of Hölderlin’s admirer, the Swabian poet and ghost story teller, Justinius Kerner.

Com Nietzsche, o reformador religioso persa denominado Zaratustra ganhou visibilidade para os estudiosos da sua filosofia. No entanto, trata-se de um dos mais importantes nomes da antiguidade, cujos ensinamentos sao reconhecidos pelos historiadores como extremamente influentes, tanto na cultura grega, como nos monoteismos judaico, cristao e muculmano. Tomando como ponto de partida o impulso dado aos estudos sobre a critica de Nietzsche a religiao, especificamente a tradicao ocidental, chegamos ao interesse pela pergunta central neste estudo. Por que Zaratustra, o persa? No desdobramento dessa pergunta principal, procura-se apresentar como o filosofo alemao acedeu ao seu conhecimento e, em que medida, a partir desse conhecimento, chegou a propor sua superacao a partir da criacao do famoso personagem de Assim falou Zaratustra.

RESUMO
Com Nietzsche, o reformador religioso persa denominado Zaratustra ganhou visibilidade para os estudiosos da sua filosofia. No entanto, trata-se de um dos mais importantes nomes da antiguidade, cujos ensinamentos são reconhecidos pelos historiadores como extremamente influentes, tanto na cultura grega, como nos monoteísmos judaico, cristão e muçulmano. Tomando como ponto de partida o impulso dado aos estudos sobre a crítica de Nietzsche à religião, especificamente à tradição ocidental, chegamos ao interesse pela pergunta central neste estudo. Por que Zaratustra, o persa? No desdobramento dessa pergunta principal, procura-se apresentar como o filósofo alemão acedeu ao seu conhecimento e, em que medida, a partir desse conhecimento, chegou a propor sua superação a partir da criação do famoso personagem de Assim falou Zaratustra.
PALAvRAS-CHAvES: Nietzsche. Zaratustra. Religião zoroástrica.

ABSTRACT
With Nietzsche, the Persian religious reformer named Zarathustra became visible to students of his philosophy. However, this is one of the most important names of antiquity, whose teachings are recognized by historians as extremely influential, both in Greek culture, as in the monotheistic Jewish, Christian and Muslim. Taking as starting point the impetus given to studies on Nietzsche's critique of religion, specifically the Western tradition, we come to the central question of interest in this study. Why Zarathustra, the Persian? In the unfolding of this main question, we seek to present as the German philosopher and agreed to its knowledge, to what extent, from that knowledge, even proposed to overcome with the creation of the famous character in Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Keywords : Nietzsche. Zarathustra. Zoroastrian Religion.

El pensador suizo Andreas Urs Sommer es, sin dudarlo, uno de los actuales especialistas de Nietzsche. En el año 2017 publica un texto titulado Nietzsche und die Folgen, un libro que recobra la figura del pensador alemán a la luz de ideas bastantes novedosas que hasta ahora no habían sido presentadas  por  la  mayoría  de  los  intérpretes  de  Nietzsche.  En ese  sentido,  la  filosofía  experimental  (Experimentalphilosophie)  que presenta  Sommer  es  la  que  ha  llamado  la  atención  de  la  crítica.  Se trataría de esconder bajo el juego experimental la filosofía de Nietzsche, omitiendo de ese modo un cierto tipo de compromiso de sus postulados filosóficos. Esta determinación está cobrando fuerza en la  medida  en  que nos  muestra  las  consecuencias  de  la  filosofía  experimental.  Este trabajo  pretende  desarrollar, por un lado, los postulados centrales de la propuesta de Sommer para luego confrontarlos a la luz de la crítica y en qué medida dicha crítica es medular. Lo anterior da luces a una discusión que, más que inclinarse a la polémica, muestra el nutriente de una fructífera investigación.

Zarathushtra is one of the most influential people in human history. But on the other hand, his worldview and philosophy is unknown to many. In his message he emphasizes individual and human responsibility, as he considers the human being a creature with freedom of choice.
He teaches us, the wise one makes the right choice and unwise, does not. Therefore, Zarathushtra wants people to be transformed to the Wise Ones. According to him, human wisdom has its root in the wisdom of the Wise Creator of the Universe.
In his philosophy, Wisdom is that which gives us the ability to choose constructive choices instead of destructive ones. Considering human beings, this constructiveness/ destructiveness begins with our thoughts, and leads to constructive/ destructive words and actions.
For example, Equal rights for genders, taking care of the environment, constantly developing the earth to make it a happier and more comfortable place to live for all existences, supporting righteous leaders, supporting peace and avoiding war; all of these are important points in the teachings of Zarathushtra.
These days that environment, human rights, management and leadership, are taken more seriously into consideration under the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility; making ourselves familiar with the teachings of Zarathushtra, may open new windows for us. This book aims to go through the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in Zarathushtra’s message, while focusing more on the Environmental, Social, and Organizational aspects.

... important ones to date: "Ahura Mazda n'est pas un dieu cr6ateur," in Etudes irano-aryennes offertes a Gilbert Lazard, ed. Charles-Henri de ... An Essay on Its Origin, Serie Orientale Roma, 62 (Rome: Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1989); review of Humbach, The Gathas ...

Bekroond met de Gouden erepenning van het Teylers Godgeleerd Genootschap 2009

Boeddha is een bekende persoonlijkheid in Nederland. Zijn beeld is te koop in tuincentra en warenhuizen. Voor veel mensen staat Boeddha op één lijn met Mozes, Jezus en Mohammed. Maar hoe maakte Boeddha eigenlijk zijn entree in de Lage Landen bij de Zee? En welke invloed heeft het Boeddhisme door de tijd heen in ons land gehad? Het boek Lotus in de Lage Landen schetst een fascinerend beeld van deze kleurrijke geschiedenis.

Eerst is Boeddha nog een mysterieuze figuur uit een oosterse religie en leest slechts klein groepje geleerden de boeddhistische geschriften, maar begin 20ste eeuw raakt wat oosters is in de mode: Boeddha wordt steeds meer gezien als een oosterse variant van Jezus, geweldloos en vol mededogen. Voor kunstenaars en schrijvers zoals Toorop, Mondriaan en Van Eeden is hij een inspiratiebron, en voor theosofen en antroposofen een bron van religieuze wijsheid. Krishnamurti is ongekend populair bij de upper class in Nederland en vaak te gast op grote bijeenkomsten, waar het publiek in de lotushouding zit. Anarchisten en religieus- socialisten bedienen zich van Boeddha voor hun politieke oriëntatie. Christenen zien hem toch vooral als een heidense leraar, al staan de katholieken onder hen wat minder afkeurend tegenover deze ‘sporen van het goddelijke licht’ uit het Verre Oosten. Uit verzet tegen de populariteit van Boeddha bij een anarchistische dominee richten behoudende protestanten de Gereformeerde Bond op.

In de jaren zestig ontstaat een ‘oosterse renaissance’ en trekken veel jonge mensen richting India op zoek naar spirituele inspiratie en een alternatieve levensstijl. Kunstenaars verbinden abstracte kunst met zenboeddhisme en er ontstaat zelfs een Nederlandse variant: het polderboeddhisme. Vanaf de jaren negentig wordt het boeddhisme ook een life-style met een eigen psychologie en filosofie: een bron van zelfontplooiing. Ook raakt Boeddha verweven met bedrijfsmanagement en succesvol ondernemen. Boeddhisme wordt business.

Met zeldzame illustraties en foto’s brengen theoloog Marcel Poorthuis en historicus Theo Salemink van de Universiteit van Tilburg (FKT) deze fascinerende geschiedenis in beeld. Dit eerste overzichtswerk van een belangrijke periode uit de Nederlandse cultuur- en religiegeschiedenis is bekroond met de Gouden erepenning van het Teylers Godgeleerd Genootschap 2009.

This article traces the history of teaching and research in the field of Iranology at the University of Leuven / Louvain, within the general framework of the development of Iranian philology and linguistics in Europe since the beginning of the 19th century. The careers and major contributions of a lineage of professors and researchers active in Leuven / Louvain are thus recalled: Mgr. Ch. de Harlez, Mgr. L. Casartelli, W. Bang, A. J. Carnoy, A. Ghilain, A. J. Van Windekens, W. Skalmowski and A. Van Tongerloo.

Many Kurds claim that Zoroastrianism was their “original” religion before they converted to Islam.  This claim has gained salience particularly after the rise of ISIS.  Since then two Zoroastrian centers, both of which are recognized by the KRG, have opened in Sulaimani.  Neither is trying to recreate Zoroastrianism the way it has been practiced in Iran and South Asia.  Instead, they are creating their own version of Kurdish Zoroastrianism.  Their Zoroastrianism is one devoid of historical baggage, cumbersome laws, and detailed scripture.  Instead, it is nationalist, postmodern, and liberal.  In short, it constitutes an “invented tradition” in the sense Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger have described the phenomenon.  This invented tradition emphasizes two issues:  ethnic identity which is linked to a re-imagined past and a generic feminism which is juxtaposed with conservative Islamic gender norms.  As such, it constitutes an imagined ideal, a claim to progress and innate liberalism.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at these centers and interviews with the directors and their followers, the proposed paper will examine this new religious movement in contemporary Kurdistan.  Particularly, it aims to answer the following questions:  Why are secular and (at least nominally) Muslim Kurds converting to Zoroastrianism?  What are the roots of their ideology?  What ages and socio-economic classes does the movement attract?  How do they relate to various political parties?  How do the two centers relate to each other?  Finally, this paper explores what this movement means in a context wherein minorities continue to be persecuted.