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From Beauty to Holiness and Panata: An Interreligious Reading of Iḥsān (إحسان) and Kalos (καλός)

Submitted: January 14, 2026 | Published: June 30, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v3i1.226

Authors

Keywords:

Beauty, Filipino Ethics, Holiness, Iḥsān, Interreligious Theology, Kalos, Panata

Abstract

In postcolonial contexts such as the Philippines, contemporary understandings of beauty are frequently shaped by commercial, visual, and consumerist norms, detaching beauty from its moral and spiritual foundations. This study reexamines beauty as an ethical and theological reality through an interreligious reading of Iḥsān (إحسان) in Islam and kalos (καλός) in Christianity, interpreted within the Filipino cultural practice of panata. Drawing on qualitative interreligious hermeneutics and comparative textual analysis, the study examines selected passages from the Qur’an, ḥadīth literature, the Hebrew Bible, and the Greek New Testament to show how beauty in these traditions is inseparable from moral integrity, spiritual awareness, and responsibility toward others. In Islam, Iḥsān frames beauty as excellence in action grounded in consciousness of God’s presence, while in Christianity, kalos denotes moral goodness expressed through fidelity, sacrifice, and justice. These perspectives are brought into dialogue with panata, understood as a Filipino vow that translates inner devotion into communal and civic responsibility. The study argues that panata functions as a culturally grounded embodiment of ethical beauty, linking faith, moral action, and social commitment. By integrating Islamic, Christian, and Filipino cultural perspectives, this research contributes to interreligious theology and Filipino cultural ethics by proposing beauty as a lived moral practice oriented toward justice, dignity, and the common good.

About the Author/s

Paul Mark Andres

Paul Mark “Mohammed Amir” Andres, LPT, is a graduate student of Philippine Studies at the University of the Philippines Diliman and a master’s degree holder in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Islamic Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman. He has completed 45 units toward a PhD in Applied Theology with specialization in Religious Education, and also holds a Master in Applied Theology and a Certificate in Teaching Religious Education from De La Salle University Manila.
He pursued foundational Arabic language studies at Saheeh Al-Jaami Institute and completed Advanced Christian Spirituality at Fordham University, New York. For his undergraduate studies, he earned a Bachelor of Secondary Education in General Science with specialization in Women’s Studies from the Philippine Normal University, Manila. He also completed the Curso de Proficiente de la Lengua Española para los Profesores and undertook one year of Arabic Language and Values Education (ALIVE).
He was a scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary in the United States and has also completed the SYOB Business Master Class at the Institute of Small Scale Industries, University of the Philippines Diliman.

References

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Published

06/30/2026

How to Cite

Andres, P. M. (2026). From Beauty to Holiness and Panata: An Interreligious Reading of Iḥsān (إحسان) and Kalos (καλός). Hitik: International Journal of Catechists and Religious Educators, 3(1), 64-77. https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v3i1.226