Study of religious discourse in the context of forming of the competencies of orthodox missionaries

Annotation

In the article the problems of religious discourse are described in the context of forming of the competencies of modern Orthodox missionaries who prepares for a mission among representatives of non-Christian religions. The aim is consideration of existing approaches to understanding of religious discourse. The starting point is linguistic definition of discourse, offered by Van Dijk. As the method a comparative review of linguistic, philosophical and theological approaches to the description of religious discourse is used. For example, the institutional approach allows us to distinguish in religious discourse the discourse of doctrine, the discourse of cult and the discourse of the religious community. Thanks to the functional approach it is possible to distinguish representative, institutional, appellative, expressive and other functions in discourse. The sociological approach leads to the conclusion that religious discourse is characterized by duality, which is seen in the fact that it is carried out in a dialogue between the authorities and the people and in a monologue of the authorities directed towards the people. The theological approach, which takes into account the rational and irrational in religion, allows us to see the duality of religious discourse in the asymmetric dialogue of a man with God and in the institutional-personal dialogue of a man with a man. In a narrow sense, a sacred text can be called as religious discourse, at that a sacred text is also the source of religious discourse. The perception of a word in religious discourse is similar to the aesthetic perception of a speech. Religious communication occurs in extraordinary situations and is characterized by particular tension and dramatic character due to the fact that a person in religious discourse turns to a higher power, the understanding of which in religion determines the content and purpose of religious discourse. Texts of religious discourse are characterized by formal semantic organization, order, and a high degree of using of cliché. The review conducted in the article gives the opportunity to see that using of different approaches to religious discourse makes it possible to interpret its features in all its variety and entirety. A modern missionary should take into consideration the achievements of interdisciplinary research in the field of linguistics, philosophy of religion and theology during preparing for a mission, and he must be able to identify strategies, discursive functions, features and directions of religious discourse in communication with the representatives of non-Christian religions.

Keywords

discourse, religious, aesthetic, communication, communicative, institutional, sacred text, миссионерский, компетенция.

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