Anhelova A. Archetypology of old age in religious tradition

This thesis is the first attempt of a comprehensive research in the field of religious gerontology in Ukrainian religious studies. The author examined the problem of the individual's spiritual life at the gerontogenesis stage, analyzed the factors of the progression of religious consciousness in old age and the main features of the restructuring of the older people's religiousness. The dissertation contains also a typological study of religious-historical models of old age, a description of universal and variable characteristics of the religious-ethical ideal of the late age, the analysis of gender aspects influencing the religious reflection on the older age, the study of historical sources and the religious-philosophical substantiation of the incapacity of the elderly. Then, the subject of study were the primeval models of comprehension of the late age, mythological archetypes of old age, philosophical and religious reasons of archaic gerontocide, the content of the "old age" concept in Slavic folk beliefs, the traditions of Ukrainian ethnopedagogy and public care of the elderly. The thesis explores also the diversity of religious models of the last period of human life in ethnic religions (Ancient Egyptian religion, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism and Judaism), the nature of understanding old age in world religions - Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. The modern transformations of traditional models of old age in world and Ukrainian cultures are described. It is substantiated that the religious world view simplifies the problem of choosing a way of life at a later age, because each doctrine contains historical experience of comprehension of old age and death. The author focuses on the main tendencies of modern gerontosophical reflection on theological adaptations of traditional images of old age under present realities, on the role of religious ideology in choosing an individual strategy for aging. In addition, the researcher revealed the role of Ukrainian and worldwide religious organizations as well as of volunteers belonging to religious communities in improving the system of care for the elderly, identified the content of clergy's activities aimed at neutralization of the negative effects of demographic aging in population.