Religion

(SNHU Definition)

An organized system of spiritual beliefes and practices, usually offering a moral code/world view

Beliefes In Relgion

• Sacred writings or texts
• Worship practices
• Theology
• Code of morality or religious law

Belief System

Comprehensive, systematic explanation of the universe and a person's place in it

Community

Group of indivaiduals who share a common belief system

Myths

Stories that expresss or explain aspects or origins of the belief system

Rituals

Fundamentals elements of the belief system that are ceremoniously enacted, important events that are re-enacted, or symbolic guesters or behaviors

Ethics

Principles establishing right and wrong behavior for individuals 

(social teachings)

Inner Experiences 

Involve the expression or attainment of certain emtional states, such as ecstasy, bliss peace, graditude, humility, pentience, ect.

Symbolic Expression

Involves the use of symbolic resources such as architecture, sculpture, art objects, music, costumes, masks, makeup, incense, flowers, ect. to prepares oneself

Sanctity

That which is sacred or holy (as opposed to that which is ordinary)

Why Are We Here

(Hinduism, Jainism, & Sikhism)

Belief in a cycle of reincarnation determined by Karma

Why Are We Here

(Christianity, Judaism, & Islam)

Point to God's Will

(God Created Man)

Buddhists

Supply a Pathway Towards the Cessation of Pain

Noble Truth of Dukkha

Believes there is a necessary incompletness and unsatisfactoriness inherent in life

Christianity, Judaism, & Islam 

Primary Aim

To obey the will of God while exhibiting complete faith and obedience to him

Jainism Moral Framework

Includes nonviolence (ahimsa), is believed to leade one towards freedom from physical bondage

Buddhism Primary Aim

Live a life free from pain and craving

Daoism Primary Aim

Live a life with minimal stuggle and complexity that resembles the natural order seen in the world

Creation Myths

Stories that tell of the origins of the universe, the earth, the gods, and of mankind

Earth Creation Catergories

• Power of a Supreme Cosmic Being
• Emerged out of nothingness
• Emerged out of chaos
• Part of a cosmic parent
• Hatched from cosmic egg
• Drawn out of primordial waters by earth diver

Prometheus 

(Titan)

(Greek Mankind Story)

Made first man out of clay while Athena breathed spirt into the clay man.

(Gave man kind ability to walk up right and use fire)

Zeus and Pandora

(Gift to Prometheus Brother)

Creates the first Woman (Pandora) who is given a box and told not to open it.

Pandora opens is and releases every form of evil into worl.

Adam and Eve

• God makes Adam out of clay and breathes spirt into his nostrils 
• Creates the graden of eden with the tree of life and tree of good and Evil
• Adam is told to never eat fruit from either
• Eve made from one of Adams ribs
• Eve convinces adam to eat the fruit
• God punishes Adam by making all men suffer hard labor in farming
• Punishes eve by making woemn suffer great pain in childbirth
• Can't achieve immortality

Shatapatha Brahmana

(Hinduism)

• Father of the world splits himself into two halves man and woman
• Woman hid herself by turning into a series of animals
• Man finds women, they have sex and various species come into existence

Brahma, Vishnu, & Shiva

(Hinduism)

• Braham creates them
• Vishnu perserves them
• Shiva destroys them

Jainisn

(No Creation story)

Universe is thought to be an eternally existing entity without beginning or end

Buddha

Told of spirit creatures that lived in the sky and eventually decided to dive down to earth where they began eating substances which created their hard form body and filled them with desires and cravings

Religious Behavior

(Purely Scientific)

Religion is a gentic trait that evolved uniquely in mankind, justifying its being classified as homo religious

Religious Behavior

(Purely Theological)

Religion is thhe natural consequence of mankind being divinely invested with a soul

Basic Function of Religion

To provide a set of beliefs offering a way of looking at the universe (orthidixy) and to provide a set of practices and behaviors that determine our way of acting in the world (orthopraxy)

Theology

Study of the beliefe system of a specific religion and is traditionally undertaken by a member of the religion being studied

Contemporary Religious Studies

Concerned with objectively studying only observable aspects of religion, such as it's history or it's literature

Anthropology

Study of mankind and its culture

Sociology

Study of social institutions

Psychology

Study of mental functions and behavior

Evolutionary Biology

Study of evolution of species 

Anthropology and Religion

Concerned with the social origins of religion and the purpose it serves in the development of human societies, primarily indigenous societies

Sociology and Religion

Concerned with the nature of religion as a social phenomenon

Assesses religion's function in society and its effect on society

Totemism

Belief that a group has a familial connection to a particular spirt-being

Psychology and Religion

Concerned with the effect of religion on the mind, the emotional state and behavior of those raised in a specific religious tradition

Evolutionary Biology

Studies the possible adaptive mechanisms and strategies involved in encouraging religous behavior amoung humans to presist, especially on a physicological and genetic level

Myth

Is a Story

Mythos

Greek meaning story or thought

Myth in Religion

Considered the very conduit of truth

Analogy of Being

(Saint Thomas Aquinas)

States that there exists a correspondence between the devine

Myths Ture Purpose

Describe the indescribable

Myths General Purpose

Reveal a cultural, socal, or religious truth through story

3 Things Mythmaking Accomplishes

1. Describes origin of the universe
2. Describes relationship of humans to the governing forces of the universe
3. describes the behaviors expected of humans and society

Ankh

Ancient Egyptian Sysmbol of life

(still used by coptic orthodoc church)

Star of David

Symbol of martyrdom and heroism

(adopted by jews)

Latin Cross

Reprents the execution of Jesus by crucifiction

(christian symbol)

Hilal

Symbol of the power of Islam

Yin Yang Symbol

(Daoist)

Represents the union of 2 primary and opposite qualities of the universe

Yin(Receptive)

Yang (Active)

Bhavacakra

(Wheel of life)

(Buddhist Symbol)

Represents the perpetual reincarnations of the soul, determined by the laws of dependent origination

5,000 Years Ago

Organized religions began to emerge

Mesopotamians Meaning

Between the rivers

(Tigris and Euphrates)

Henotheism

Worship of a single God, but without the disbelief in others

Ziggurat

(mesopotamians)

An elaborate, stepped pyramid made out of mub-brick, around which the rest of the city was build

Ka

Was a humans life force in ancient egypt

Ba

unique character in acient egypt

Polytheism

Belief in many Gods

Monotheism

Belief in 1 God

Zoroastrianism

Religion practiced by the Persians

Zoroastrianism Professes

That an Eternal conflict rages between good and evil that spans the entire universe where mankind plays an important role

Ahura Mazda

(great creator or god)

Progenitor of all things good aand there are no unrighteous or chaotic elements to him

Angra Mainyu

(destructive force)

progenitor of all things evil

Numinisn

(acient romans)

taught that every aspect of nature had an abstract spirt called numen (pl. numina)

Norse Religion

Relied on an oral based, non-literary tradition

Epic of Gilgamesh

A long poem from acient Mesopotamia recounts legends and myths about the heroking gilgamesh

Code of Hammurabi

• one of the earliest legal codes
• established by 6th babylonian king
• 282 laws
• civil, criminal, and commerical laws
• created law of retribution

Book of the Dead

Described proper conduct needed for a happy afterlife

Hewbrew Torah

1. compries first 5 books of bible (genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, & deuteronomy)
2. most sacred document of jews
3. inspired by gods word
4. revealed to prophet moses
5. primary guide to relationship with god 
6. shaped and informed christianity and islam

Mahabharata

1. major religious epic of ancient India
2. touches upon dharma and karma
3. dharma (righteousness)
4. artha (human endeavour towards material pursuits)
5. kama (desire)
6. moksha (salvation)
7. Major text of hinduism

4 books and 5 classics

• 4 books (great learning, doctrine of mean, analects of confucius, mencius)
• 5 classics (classic of poetry, history, rites, changes, spring and autumn annals)

Shaman

Spiritual leader

Shaman Functions

Doctor, psychiatrist, oracle, medium, & priest

Rite of Passage

Ceremony or ritual marking the transition from one stage of life to the next

Vision Quest

(north american indian tribe)

an adolescent is required to discover his or her spirt guide by performing an extended and rigorous ritual

New Zealand Creation Story

• Rangi (father), Papa (mother) tightly locked in an embrace
• Many children all male gods
• Rangi god of the forest and brids forces parents apart
• Rangi lives in sky Pap lives on earth

Australia Creation Story

• Dreamtime (sacred realm) where spirts of human created the word
• The dreaming is the 1st dream that created world and established the patterns and cycles of life (eternal)

Japan

• Kamui creator of God lived above water
• small sent into waters to create land

Mali

• Amma 1st spirt
• crated nommo
• nommo associated with water and fertility

Canada

• Raver (bird-god)
• created water, mountains, and land by beating wings
• peapods created first man
• women created out of clay

North America

• wankan tanka destoryed ore-existing world by flood
• Kanji (crow) begged for a new world

Belief patterns of Indigenous religions

• desire to influence events
• concept of spirit
• desire to connect to physical and spiritual realms
• sense of sacredness
• respect for and veneration of the spirtits
• rites of passage

Divine Command Theory

Idea that morality is whatever God or gods command

Foundation of Ethics 

God's will

Acceptance of Divine Command Theory Believe

• God has determined moral rightness or wrongness of an action
• believers must adhere to morality established by God
• god's commandments should be obeyed before society's laws or secular moral codes

Euthyphro Dilemma

• challenge to DCT by plato
• questions whether actions are R or W because of God's commands or if God makes certain commands because particular actions are R or W
• Virtuous actions are those approved of by gods

Natural Law

Morality indirectly depends on God because God is the ultimate source for those natural good goals

Golden Rule

• Maxim meant to guide our conduct towards others
• general ethical code
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself

Silver Rule

Do not do unto others as they wouldn't like done unto themselves

Belief Systems

Influence the way a given culture perceives their world in both small and large

Marriage 

(Christian)

Monogamous and prohibited from getting a divorce

Marriage

(islam)

Allow a man up to 4 wives

Oldest Religion

Hinduism

2000 BCE

Magical Thinking

View that certian actions can bring about desired effect w/o direct causality

Animism

Belief that a spirit is embodied in most if not all manifestations of the natural world

Sikhism

Monotheistic religion founded in northern India and combines elements of Hinduism and Islam

Pantheism

Belief that divine is manifested in nature itself

Confucianism

Philosophical system based on theachings of Confucius, stressing moral order and harmony in thought and conduct

Collective unconscious

Jungian concept of a level of unconscious thought and expereince shared collevtively by all humans

BCE

Before Common Era

CE

Common Era

Ren

virtue of humaneness

Secular

Not connected or concerned with religion or religious matters