Hossein Latifi stated, “Encyclopedia of Shia’s works of theological theology is a specialized source in which all achievements and need-to-know issues have been gathered. The goal behind compiling this work has been offering the fundamental information forming the base of all theological works of Shiaism and also the relation between it and other theological works. The encyclopedia also elaborates the relation between Shia theological theology and theological schools before and after it. The work strives to depict a comprehensive view of what Shia scholars have achieved or get informed of up to now”.
He introduced the current work as a comprehensive one which includes all the theological works of Shia scholars since early centuries up to the 13th century. He also reiterated, “The writing of its entries will be done based on the common format of encyclopedia writing and having an approach of content analysis and theological effects”.
Hossein Latifi also said that the goal for compiling this work was to offer comprehensive information about Shia theological works in order to boost ties of this kind between Shia scholars and those of other Islamic sects and also to introduce salient figures and effective theological works during Islamic civilization.
Researcher of department of Islamic Theology and Thoughts at Astan Quds Razavi Islamic Research foundation added, “The encyclopedia of Shia theology follows various goals the most important of which is to introduce Shia theological works and their role in shaping Islamic Shia culture, giving information about Shia intellectual and cultural ties during history, attending to the changes of Shia theological thought since the early centuries up to the contemporary era, boosting people’s insight and beliefs about Shia scholars’ innovations and their theological thoughts, and providing thorough information on Shia works of theology to consolidate theological relations among Shia scholars and those of other Islamic sects during history, etc.”.
He said, “The encyclopedia’s range of entries depends on its specific contents. It is considered as a specialized source when compared with those encyclopedia which covers Shia works and general when compared with sources focusing on a few topics. In other words, the entries are limited to the Shia theological works, in terms of geographical region. In terms of diversity of the work, however, the encyclopedia is general and includes all Shia theological works since the early centuries up to the 13th one”.
The executive secretary of the encyclopedia of Shia theological works added, “The scope of work’s articles depends on the valid and documented topics appeared under each part; therefore, considering the appropriate length of each article, all the researched topics have been written by taking priority issues into account. Not being bias and avoiding prejudice were also taken into consideration while writing each article”.
He added, “Although with respect to the importance of speed and easiness of the finding, most people prefer the alphabetical order and it is the most common form, some structures of the encyclopedia have been written, for some reasons, based on the time (century to century) of compilation”.
Latifi said, “This encyclopedia is shaped in Farsi language and its entries is compiled in six general areas of bibliography, viewpoints about book, parts of the book ( a review on the content of the book), features of the book, scientific status of the book, and publishing situation”.
Regarding the scientific structure of this work, researcher of Islamic dialect and thought department of Astan Quds Razavi’s Islamic Research Foundation stated, “What was attended to compile the encyclopedia at first was its executive structure in a way that the secretariat of the work was formed at the Islamic Research Foundation’s department of Islamic Theology and Thought. Also, the needed councils and working groups for writing the encyclopedia was anticipated within the secretariat structure”.
Sunday 22 December 2024
