Siberian Federal University

Issue

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2025 18 (10)

Authors

Proskurin, Sergey G.; Proskurina, Anna V.

Contact information

Proskurin, Sergey G.: Novosibirsk State Technical University Novosibirsk, Russian Federation; ; Proskurina, Anna V. : Novosibirsk State Technical University Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Keywords

concept; ritual; potlatch; gift; faith; miracle

Abstract

The narrative plots in which the concepts of “faith”, “miracle” and “gift” actualized are based on the changing paradigm of objectivity and interiorization. The concepts themselves are subject to the tendency of semiotic weakening, going from objectivity, i.e. when they can be transferred, handed over, lost, to a conventional image expressed by an immaterial spiritual essence. Thus, a deeply personal attitude to the Christian faith differs fundamentally from the pagan concept, when the connection between God and man is considered a guarantee that he disposes of at his own discretion. Semiosis of the sign gives rise to three stages: an act, a gesture instead of an act and conventionality. Sometimes this process is called “weathering” of the sign. As a result of applying the historical- genetic methodology, a nest of the conceptual plan was revealed, where the basic relations of the concept of “gift”, revealed in the potlatch ritual, are transferred to the cultural concepts of “faith” and “miracle”. The concepts of “faith” and “miracle” themselves are built on the tracing of the concept of “gift”, since they also have the property of objectivity, i.e. they can be transferred, acquired and lost. The objectivity of early practices is substantiated by the concepts of “donation” and “gift”, which are conditioned by the factor of transfer as a semantic constant. Thus, a gift goes from the transfer of something material to the act of spiritual giving, creating a cultural algorithm of the concepts of “faith” and “miracle”. As a result, a social circle is reconstructed, which illustrates the relations between the actants: someone gives, i.e. transfers, someone copies the act of transfer in the aspect of faith and miracle. In general, it was possible to present a typified replaceable paradigm of pagan and Christian cultures, when elements are intertwined in a dual-faith theme

Pages

2013–2021

EDN

KHRCJM

Paper at repository of SibFU

https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/157515

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).