http://www.rcbc.edu/blackboard
Ian Hunter Something To Believe In 1996 with lyrics, 5:46
https://youtu.be/YCG4Fto9b6A
Ian Hunter Salvation Live 1997, 5:26
https://youtu.be/aOGnK2P18iM
"Understanding Religions and Indigenous Sacred Ways" Please respond to the following:
- Define indigenous religion, and describe at least one aspect of indigenous religions that exists in a similar form in a traditional mainstream religion.
- Define religion, and discuss why it is useful in society. Explain why it is important for you personally to understand the beliefs of other religious groups.
What is religion?
In your own words, what are the three perspectives of why there are religions?
How does Eliade define religion?
What terms help us to define religion?
How do spontaneous rituals, symbols, and/or myths function as contemporary aspects of religion in a secular culture?
What is the difference between the Absolutist and the liberal responses to modernity?
Why do some people resist "the Other," or reject those of another faith?
What is the relationship between science and religion?
Is the treatment of women different in various religions?
Key Terms
Absolutist
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Immanent
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Redaction
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Agnosticism
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Incarnation
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Religion
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Allegory
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Intelligent design
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Ritual
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Atheism
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Liberal
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Sacred
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Awakening
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Metaphysics
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Scientific materialism
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Charisma
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Monotheism
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Secularism
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Comparative religion
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Mysticism
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Spirituality
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Creationism
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Myth
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Symbol
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Dogma
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Orthodox
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Theism
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Enlightenment
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Phenomenology
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Transcendent
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Exclusivism
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Polytheism
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Universalism
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Fundamentalism
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Profane
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Gnosis
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Realization
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Religion
RELIGIOUS RESPONSES
Overview
The sense that there is something or someone, some truth beyond our everyday experience of reality, seems to be common to all cultures throughout history. How people worship or respond to this universal presence, deity, or ultimate reality, sometimes termed “the sacred,” varies greatly throughout the world.
Pictured as a tapestry, religion illustrates that many diverse forms of expression or threads can be distinguished in the fabric underneath the surface of life. The word “religion,” (which probably comes from the Latin religio meaning “to tie again” or “to tie back”) suggests a connecting or a tying back to ultimate meanings and purposes. Humankind’s yearnings to engage a greater reality have taken, and continue to take, a plurality of expressions. Many religions have some or all of the following dimensions: 1) ritual 2) narrative and mythic 3) experiential and emotional 4) social and institutional 5) ethical and legal 6) doctrinal and philosophical 7) material. Despite common elements, religions are complex systems of belief and culture that often stand outside institutional expression, making “religion” itself difficult to define, nevertheless, all religions seem to share a common aim: connecting people back to something greater which lies behind the surface of life, or invisibly permeates the tangible world of our five senses.
Fisher notes the controversies concerning the term “religion” and its applicability, as well as the limitations of applying names or labels to religions. Fisher points out that not all religious behavior takes place within an institutional context; it would be useful to ask students to think of examples of behavior and experiences which might seem religious (or “spiritual” in current parlance) despite not occurring within the framework of one of the major religions.
This chapter is foundational to the entire book. It may be helpful to students to outline the chapter and think through how each section in the chapter relates to the chapter title and the other sections in the chapter. Students may consider questions such as: Why are there religions? How have various thinkers sought to explain the origin and continuation of religion throughout human history? How do the different examples of explanations of religion help us understand and refine our own approach to the study of religion?
Additionally, students should be prompted to pay attention to key terms and names as they work through each section. Fisher has interwoven significant terminology and identifications of important figures that appear in later chapters in this first fundamental chapter. Thus, Chapter One introduces the reader to emphases that will appear throughout the work.
Students should find several sections particularly interesting. Fisher provides examples of different ways of understanding the relationships between religion and science. Students may wish to discuss their own views in the context of the perspectives presented here; this issue also provides the basis for a discussion of how the academic study of religion is different from the study of science.
Often forgotten feminine approaches to the sacred, which have been buried under centuries of patriarchal interpretations not only in the West but in much of the East as well, are discussed in the section “Women in Religions.” Students may find it useful to discuss the roles of men and women in their own experiences.
Another neglected topic in the study of religion is also explored, the negative side of organized religion. That aspect of the religious response may be difficult to examine but must be addressed in any honest effort at interpreting the impact of religions on cultures. Most students will have some awareness of the lives that have been lost through witch-burnings, inquisitions, crusades, terrorist acts, and international wars conducted in the name of religion. While many of these unfortunate incidents were fought over issues of power and domination, religion has often carried the banner for the cause. Students might here dialogue about the challenging aspects of: religious charisma, guilt, escapism, political applications of faith, and falsehoods.
Subsequent chapters study specific characteristics of particular religions. This chapter lays the foundation for the rest of the text.
Attempts to define religion
This section briefly introduces the difficulty we encounter in naming religions, which may fall outside institutional definition. This section also discusses “spirituality” and the complex, elusive nature of religious belief systems.
pp. 2-3Click here to view this lesson about Attempts To Define Religion.
https://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/27913547/?s=CGUhFG&ref=app'
Attempts to define religion
The labels “Buddhism,” “Hinduism,” “Taoism,” “Zoroastrianism,” and “Confucianism” did not exist until the nineteenth century, though the many patterns to which they refer had existed for thousands of years.
Professor Willard G. Oxtoby (1933–2003), founding director of the Centre for Religious Studies at the University of Toronto, observed that when Western Christian scholars began studying other religions, they applied assumptions based on the Christian model to other paths, looking for specific creedal statements of belief (a rarity in indigenous lifeways), a dichotomy between what is secular and what is sacred (not helpful in looking at the teachings of Confucius and his followers), and the idea that a person belongs to only one religion at a time (which does not apply in Japan, where people freely follow various religious traditions).
Not all religious behavior occurs within institutional confines.
The inner dimensions of religion—such as experiences, beliefs, and values—can be referred to as spirituality.
This is part of what is called religion, but it may occur in personal, noninstitutional ways, without the ritual and social dimensions of organized religions.
Personal spirituality without reference to a particular religious tradition permeates much contemporary artistic creation.
Without theology, without historical references, such direct experiences are difficult to express, whether in words, images, or music.
Contemporary artist Lisa Bradley says of her luminous paintings:
In them you can see movement and stillness at the same time, things coming in and out of focus. The light seems to be from behind. There is a sense something like a permeable membrane, of things coming from one dimension to another. But even that doesn’t describe it well. How do you describe truth in words?1
Religions can be dynamic in their effects, bringing deep changes in individuals and societies, for good or ill. As Professor Christopher Queen, world religions scholar from Harvard University, observes:
Lisa Bradley, Passing Shadow, 2002.
The interpersonal and political realms may be transformed by powerful religious forces. Devotion linking human and divine beings, belief in holy people or sacred space, and ethical teachings that shape behaviors and attitudes may combine to transform individual identities and the social order itself.2
Frederick Streng (1933–1993), an influential scholar of comparative religion, suggested in his book Understanding Religious Life that the central definition of religion is that it is a “means to ultimate transformation.”
A complete definition of religion would include its relational aspect (“tying back”), its transformational potential, and also its political dimensions.
Current attempts to define religions may thus refer more to processes that to fixed independent entites.
Professor of Religious Studies Thomas A. Tweed, for instance, proposes this definition in his book Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion:
Religions are confluences of organic-cultural flows that intensify joy and confront suffering by drawing on human and suprahuman forces to make homes and cross boundaries—terrestrial, corporeal, and cosmic.… This theory is, above all, about movement and relation, and it is an attempt to correct theories [of religion] that have presupposed stasis and minimized interdependence.3
Religion is such a complex and elusive topic that some contemporary scholars of religion are seriously questioning whether “religion” or “religions” can be studied at all.
They have determined that no matter where and at what point they try to define the concept, other parts will get away.
Nonetheless, this difficult-to-grasp subject is central to many people’s lives and has assumed great political significance in today’s world so it is important to try sincerely to understand it.
In this introduction, we will try to develop some understanding of religion in a generic sense—why it exists, its various patterns and modes of interpretation, its encounters with modern science, its inclusion or exclusion of women, and its potentially negative aspects—before trying in the subsequent chapters to understand the major traditions known as “religions” practiced around the world today.
What is Religion? 2:23
With the goal of increasing awareness about five of the major world religions, I filmed nineteen in-depth interviews with leaders and members of congregations representative of Buddhism, Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant), Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, as well as faculty experts from the Religious Studies Department at Missouri State University. After editing together the interviews and footage from religious services, the result was a series of five videos, approximately ten minutes each, providing an overview of each religion.
In addition to the conversations I had with leaders, members, and experts, I attended four weeks of services at each different religion's congregation. This was a very hands-on learning experience, which really forced me to step out of my comfort zone in seeking to understand others' religious beliefs and practices. My purpose with this project is not only to increase my knowledge of these religions, but also to educate others.I hope these videos will promote understanding of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism as they are expressed in Missouri, and in doing so reduce existing stereotypes and misconceptions regarding these religions -Julie Wrocklage
A BIG thank you to the 20 I interviewed for this project, My advisor Lora Hobbs for her constant support and encouragement, my good friend Marrie Ochieng for her artistic ability in designing the cover and table of contents AND transcribing 10 of my interviews, my grandma Nancy Kuncaitis for transcribing 7 more of the interviews, Jessy Unger for her help in filming the interviews, Kong Thao for his audio work, the MSU Honors College, and the Religious Studies Department.
http://youtu.be/lQm_mJKoO50
Summary of section:
What is religion?
Group Activity
We will divide up the class into four groups.
Definition
Discuss the definition of religion; later, we will ask, discuss in a small group, and ask others outside of class:
Why are there religions?
A. What is your definition of religion? Write it down.
On a piece of paper, even scrap paper will do since this will not be collected: define religion.
Thereafter, we will evaluate student definitions to see if they are specific and inclusive enough for use in an objective study of religion.
First, try the exercise alone and then in a small group, before we hear samples to discuss with the class as a whole.
On a piece of paper, even scrap paper will do since this will not be collected: define religion.
Thereafter, we will evaluate student definitions to see if they are specific and inclusive enough for use in an objective study of religion.
First, try the exercise alone and then in a small group, before we hear samples to discuss with the class as a whole.
Activity Outside of Class
B. By next week, you are assigned the task of asking people outside class the question “Why are people religious?” In class, in small groups, and then as a whole group we will compare some of the answers received.C. Not required but an interesting exercise: bring to class some of the music you listen to that reflects various perceptions of the sacred, or ultimacy. I can play a few examples and discuss how they reflect religion. You may also bring a few of your favorite songs that are not so obviously religious, but which raise religious issues.
Ian Hunter, God (Take 1)
5:47
https://youtu.be/yBRMFKfWK_E
D. "Beyond the Sound Bites:"
Also, not required, but an interesting exercise.
A suggestion to be aware of religion is the task of bringing to class at least one article from a recent newspaper, magazine, or Internet story that reflects the roles of religion in modern society. A few students may present their articles to the class. The task will also serve as the basis for a preliminary discussion of the coverage of religion by the popular media.
Let us consider religious and non-religious symbols.
E. Each student may bring to class one example of a symbol that is not religious and one that is. In small groups the students will explain their symbols and the difference between religious and nonreligious symbols.
Muslim Brotherhood
References for this section
Understanding Religious Life (Religious Life of Man) by Frederick J. Streng, Wadsworth Publishing Company (1984)
Comparative Religion: A History by Eric J. Sharpe, Duckworth Publishers (2006)
Seven Theories of Religion by Daniel L. Pals, Oxford University Press, USA (1996)
Six Ways of Being Religious: A Framework for Comparative Studies of Religion by Dale W. Cannon, Wadsworth Publishing (1995)
Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion by William E. Paden, Beacon Press (2003)
Learning Objective
Why are there religions?
Materialist perspective: humans invented religion
Functional perspective: religion is useful
Faith perspective: Ultimate Reality exists
Why are there religions?
This section briefly introduces a range of theories of religion in three broad groupings, which are not mutually exclusive. First, the materialistic perspective asserts that humans invented religion. For scientific materialists, the supernatural is imaginary; only the material world exists. Feuerbach argued that deities are projections of human qualities. Karl Marx saw religion as derived from economics and the longings of the oppressed, and argued that religion could be used as a tool of oppression.
Some approaches to religion seek to assess religion’s benefits to people without necessarily evaluating the truth claims religions make. The functional perspective holds that religion is useful for individuals and society. Durkheim, for example, saw religion as a glue which holds human societies together. John Bowker has argued that religion serves a biological purpose in protecting gene replication and the nurturing of children. Various studies of prayer and other forms of religious practice demonstrate that faith may have positive physiological effects. Similarly, psychologists have argued that religion is beneficial to psychological wellbeing. People who find security in specific answers may find dogma and absolute faith comforting.
Finally, the faith perspective is that some form of ultimate reality exists. Some religious people accept belief in a sacred reality on the basis of holy books; others come to their own conclusions. There are two basic ways of apprehending reality: rational thought or reason and non-rational modes of knowing; religious practitioners may use both methods.
The experience of direct perception of truth, beyond the senses, may be called mysticism. Enlightenment, realization, awakening, and gnosis are some of the terms used for encounters with the supreme, unseen, or ultimate reality; many religions have techniques to bring about such encounters. In ordinary experience, people perceive themselves as separate from the material world, but mystical experience may challenge this typical dualistic form of experience so that the practitioner’s sense of ultimate reality and his or her awareness of it are one. Otto defined this experience of being grasped by reality, or numinous, as the basis of religion; Wach argued that religious experience followed predictable patterns.
Summary of section:
Summary of section:
In your own words, what are the three perspectives of why there are religions?
Of the three options why do you think there are religions?
Understandings of sacred reality
Of the three options why do you think there are religions?
Understandings of sacred reality
Eliade/38 books
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Eliade
That which has been experienced as the sacred has many faces. Eliade helped develop comparative religion which compares religious patterns found throughout the world. Eliade used the terms sacred and profane; however, not all cultures make a clear distinction between the two.
A vocabulary exists in the study of religions to help us understand the different ways, culturally and historically, in which ultimate reality has been approached and defined.
Sacred reality can be envisioned as immanent, which means present in the world. Reality can also be conceived as transcendent, that is, as existing above and outside the material world. Religions that understand the sacred to be a personal reality and which are based on one’s relationship to the personal sacred are called theistic. In these religions, if ultimate reality is worshiped as a single being, the religion is called monotheistic. On the other hand, if a religion maintains that there are multiple attributes and forms of the divine, then it is designated polytheistic. Religions which maintain that behind the plurality of apparent forms there is one underlying substance are termed monistic. Nontheistic views assert a sacred reality that is not in the form of a personal God. Some religions believe that sacred reality can be manifested in human form or events called incarnations.
Exclusivist religious authorities claim that they worship the only true deity and that all others are pagans or nonbelievers. In contrast, universalism is the view that it is possible different religions are talking about the same thing in different languages, or referring to different aspects of the same unknowable whole.
Atheism is the belief that there is no deity. “New Atheism,” promoted by thinkers such as Richard Dawkins, argues that religious faith is not just wrong, but evil, because it can be used to support violence. Agnosticism is the view that it is impossible for humans to know with certainty about the existence of the sacred. It is important to emphasize to students that these categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Religions that conceive of a personal sacred reality may think of that reality as simultaneously immanent and transcendent. It is also possible that at times some of these distinctions may blur. Finally, secularism describes the manner in which people go about their daily lives with reference to any religion. Here the emphasis is exclusively on material life.
Summary of section:
How does Eliade define religion?
What terms help us to define religion?
Mircea Eliade-The Sacred and Profane, 6:41
"Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day-Early in his life, Eliade was a noted journalist and essayist, a disciple of Romanian far-right philosopher and journalist Nae Ionescu, and a member of the literary society Criterion. In the 1940s, he served as cultural attaché to the United Kingdom and Portugal. Several times during the late 1930s, Eliade publicly expressed his support for the Iron Guard, a fascist and antisemitic political organization. His political involvement at the time, as well as his other far right connections, were frequently criticised after World War II.-Eliade argues that religious thought in general rests on a sharp distinction between the Sacred and the profane whether it takes the form of God, gods, or mythical Ancestors, the Sacred contains all "reality", or value, and other things acquire "reality" only to the extent that they participate in the sacred-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_...
https://youtu.be/6v8Kf6vYYeY
Is every object (such as a rock) sacred according to Eliade?
Does religious behavior identify what is sacred?
Is modern religiously diminished man, though less religiously observant than in times past, still prone to religious ideas?
Summary of section:
How does Eliade define religion?
What terms help us to define religion?
Mircea Eliade-The Sacred and Profane, 6:41
"Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day-Early in his life, Eliade was a noted journalist and essayist, a disciple of Romanian far-right philosopher and journalist Nae Ionescu, and a member of the literary society Criterion. In the 1940s, he served as cultural attaché to the United Kingdom and Portugal. Several times during the late 1930s, Eliade publicly expressed his support for the Iron Guard, a fascist and antisemitic political organization. His political involvement at the time, as well as his other far right connections, were frequently criticised after World War II.-Eliade argues that religious thought in general rests on a sharp distinction between the Sacred and the profane whether it takes the form of God, gods, or mythical Ancestors, the Sacred contains all "reality", or value, and other things acquire "reality" only to the extent that they participate in the sacred-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_...
https://youtu.be/6v8Kf6vYYeY
Is every object (such as a rock) sacred according to Eliade?
Does religious behavior identify what is sacred?
Is modern religiously diminished man, though less religiously observant than in times past, still prone to religious ideas?
Ritual, symbol, and myth
34 books
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Ritual
Worship seeks to express reverence and may also be used to request help with problems. Rituals, sacraments, prayers, and spiritual practices are used to create a sacred atmosphere or state of consciousness, to bring some human control to situations normally not under human power, to mark key life stages, and provide spiritual instruction. Predictable and repeated worshipful actions are known as rituals. Students should be encouraged to think about their own impressions of rituals and the functions they serve. High school graduation is a helpful example of a ritual that students most likely will have already experienced themselves, and it may be fruitfully compared to life stage religious rituals.
Symbols are images borrowed from the material world that are similar to ineffable spiritual experiences. There are many similarities among symbols used in different cultures. Jung posited a collective unconscious, which contains a store of archetypal symbols.
Also relevant are allegories, narratives which use concrete symbols to convey abstract ideas.
A set of symbols together may become the basis for myths, symbolic stories that explain the universe and people’s place within it. Myths may explain how things came to be, perhaps incorporating historical truth, but are treated as sacred reality. Joseph Campbell suggested that myths serve mystical, cosmological, sociological, and psychological functions and are thus not simply falsehoods or the work of primitive imaginations.
10c Seven Classic Theories of Religion - Emile Durkheim, totemism, 6:02Part three in a screencast lecture in six parts on seven classic theories of religion. http://tinyurl.com/religionsclass Screencast lectures by Dr. Dale Tuggy, for his INDS 120 World Religions - a college course surveying the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and introducing students to the terms and classic theories of Religious Studies.
https://youtu.be/ZY9dpfo2eB4
How do spontaneous rituals, symbols, and/or myths function as contemporary aspects of religion in a secular culture?
Gibiru.com, search ritual Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, or,
Brooke Mailhiot, Entertainment Technologies and Communication Arts Instructor and Program Coordinator, worked with Service Learning Coordinator Erica Franklin to create a project for ETV102 students.
Students created documentary films for the nonprofit Tri-State K-9 Response Unit. The organization then selected two videos produced by the students, which they will show to current and prospective team members, sponsors and clients. The organization said the films captured the spirit and dedication of the Tri-State K-9 volunteers.
To 1:01 Intro, 1:56 Tragedy, 3:11 End
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7v1uk5rslszjnwk/LendingaHelpingPaw.mov?dl=0
Absolutist and liberal responses to modernity
Traditional religious understandings are under increasing pressure due to the phenomenon of globalization. Each religious community has different ways of interpreting its traditions. Particular labels for these modes of interpretation have arisen. Four of these labels are the subjects of this section: orthodox, absolutist, fundamentalist, and liberal. Orthodox refers to those who stand by a historical form of their religion, strictly following established practices, laws, and creeds. Absolutist refers to those who reject contemporary influences on their religion. The term fundamentalism is often applied to a selective insistence on parts of a religious tradition, but the term frequently carries misleading and negative connotations. Liberal refers to those who take a more flexible approach to their religious tradition.
Non-faith-based research treats scriptures as literary collections from particular cultural and historical contexts rather than as the absolute word of God. Such research has sought to identify the earliest forms of scriptures, the historical aspects of scriptures in comparison to other historical data, the intended audience of scriptures, the language and meaning of the words, the literary form of scriptures, redaction or the editing and organization of scripture, as well as the contemporary relevance of scripture. Such historical-critical studies are often at odds with the views of those who consider their scripture to be the product of divine revelation rather than human composition. Historical-critical studies neither accepts nor rejects the particular truth-claims of any religion and may be seen as offensive and/or false by orthodox believers. Additionally, scriptures serve different purposes in different traditions, and those differences should be understood.
The Secular Benefits of Christianity, 2:02https://youtu.be/p_qL_G7psAg
Click here to view this lesson about Enculturation.
"Those who resist contemporary influences and affirm what they perceive as the historical core of their religion could be called absolutists. . . . They may encourage antipathy or even violence against people of other religious traditions (p. 18, Fisher)."
The encounter between science and religion
75 books
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Science+Religion
Science, like religion, searches for universal principles to explain reality as we experience it. Since ancient times, the two have often gone hand-in-hand. While some of the ancient Greek nature philosophers sought to understand the world through their own perception, Plato argued that the testimony of the senses differs from that which is determined through reason. Plato considered the soul superior to the body, and reason superior to the senses, a judgment which has had profound influence on Western thought.
The eighteenth-century Enlightenment placed greater respect on rational knowledge than religious knowledge. In the nineteenth century, Darwin’s theory of evolution challenged the biblical view of creation. As evolutionary biology has continued to develop since Darwin, more is known about the role of genetics in natural selection. Also, studies are revealing more and more evidence of gradual changes in organisms from fossil records and the genetic records encoded in DNA.
More recently, however, some scientists have sought to understand religious belief without necessarily rejecting it outright, and have also questioned the nature of science itself. Scientists studying the cosmos have encountered virtually insurmountable complexity and have also acknowledged the complicating factor of our own role as observers. Some physicists have proposed models of the universe that have certain affinities with some religious models, to the extent that their work may be seen as approaching metaphysics or philosophy based on theories of subtle realities that transcend the physical world.
More dynamic biological models are emerging, as science moves beyond earlier mechanical models. James Lovelock has proposed the Gaia Theory of the earth as a complex, self-regulating organism instead of the work of a Grand Planner.
The conflict between science and religion is exemplified in the opposing views of creationism — religious concepts of intentional divine creation of all life forms, and Darwin’s scientific concept of a universe evolving mechanistically. The intelligent design movement holds that scientific discoveries may be seen as proving the existence of an Intelligent Designer. Some scientists have also argued that there appears to be some evidence of purpose or intention in the development of the universe, again revealing a potential affinity with religious views of creation. Finally, some scientists find scientific discovery itself an experience that may deepen their own religious faith.
There are four general positions in the current dialogue between science and religion: the conflict model, the view that science and religion deal with separate realms, a position of dialogue in which scientists and religious believers find common ground in interpreting religious propositions as metaphors, and an integrationist position which sees an overlap between religion and science.
Are Science and Religion in conflict? Have you got the notion from pop-culture that science and religion are in constant conflict? Like two rival boxers vying for the title of heavy weight champ. We're reminded about the Catholic Church's opposition to Galileo, the Scopes trial and more recently, the creation evolution debate or discussions around stem cell research.
It's called The conflict thesis, and holds that religion and science has and always will be in conflict throughout history, and it was made popular in the late 1800's, by John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. However, today much of the scholarship that the conflict thesis was first based on, is considered to be inaccurate. An example is the claim that people of the Middle Ages widely believed that the Earth was flat. That idea is still very common in popular culture.
But this claim is mistaken, as historians today know "there was scarcely a Christian scholar of the Middle Ages who did not acknowledge that earth was a sphere and even knew its approximate circumference." Regarding the model in itself, historical research indicates that religion has a much more complex and close relationship with science than the conflict thesis acknowledges.
Today historians know that many scientific developments, such as Kepler's laws were explicitly driven by religious ideas and organizations. But one reason for the current appeal of the conflict thesis is the existence of ongoing debates that seem to follow a pattern of religion versus science, or religion versus what some claim to be social progress, where this supposed progress is linked in some way to science or technology. But hopefully, as time passes so will the misinformation, because to the nonpartisan both science and religion have important parts to play in our world. Science tells us how the world works and religion tells us why.
What do you think is the relationship between science and religion?
https://youtu.be/7Zl8zhNWZGQ
Women in religions
A central but often understudied dimension of religion is the exclusion of women and the feminine; most institutionalized religions are patriarchal, i.e. having male leaders who are like father figures. Women may hold only supporting roles in religious organizations, and in some instances may be considered incapable of spiritual realization and/or a danger to male spiritual progress. While the founders of religions may have challenged dominant cultural patterns that rendered women inferior, institutional forms of religion have typically not actively challenged gender imbalance.
Throughout the world, people are challenging the inferior roles to which women have been relegated in various religious traditions. Scholars are attempting to learn more about women’s roles in religion throughout history, and feminists are challenging the patriarchal structures of their own religions, including rules excluding women from full participation in religious life, gender-exclusive language in religious texts. Many female religious believers are also advocating an active engagement between religion and social problems.
As students work through the book, they should be alert to the roles of women in each religion and each religion’s view of the feminine. Are women of equal status to males in these religions? Are changes taking place in regard to women in religions?
Negative aspects of organized religions
Fisher indicates some key problem areas to which the reader should pay close attention:
- · Religions may split rather than unify humanity.
- · Religions may devote more energy to preserving the outer, institutional form of the religion than its inner spirit (Weber’s “routinization of charisma”).
- · Those in religious power have the ability to dominate and manipulate the faithful; people may put their faith in unethical or misguided spiritual leaders.
- · Religion may lead to an exaggeration of guilt in people with perfectionist or paranoid tendencies; religion may become a form of escapism; religion may be psychologically harmful to some.
- · Religion is a potential center for political power, and may be used as a rallying point for wars against other peoples or nations.
- Max Weber (1864–1920), an influential early twentieth-century scholar of the sociology of religion, referred to this process as the “routinization of charisma.” Charisma is the rare quality of personal magnetism often ascribed to founders of religion. When the founder dies, the center of the movement may shift to those who turn the original inspirations into routine rituals, dogma, and organizational structures.
Lenses for studying religions
Scholars use different lenses for studying religions, including: history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, theology, politics, economics, feminist studies, and phenomenology – a special field devoted specifically to the study of religions. Phenomenology studies religion from the perspective of the believer or practitioner. Others approach the study of religion through hermeneutics – the study of the theory and practice of interpretation. This study involves an awareness of the intersubjective dimension of how people internalize and transform what we learn.
Clifford Geertz (1926–2006)
Phenomenology involves an appreciative investigation of religious phenomena from the perspective of the practitioners and believers—an “insider’s” rather than an “outsider’s” point of view. This includes “thick description,” a term used by the cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926–2006)—not only reporting outward behaviors but also attempting to explain their meaning for members of particular cultural systems.
Ultimately, such exploration may have an impact on our own inner landscape. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), philosopher of hermenuetics, uses the term “intersubjectivity” to refer to this possibility. Hermeneutics is the study of the theory and practice of interpretation. It covers not only exegesis of written texts but also interpretation of all other forms of communication—written, oral, artistic, geopolitical, sociological, and so forth—and it delves into past conditions such as prior understandings and suppositions.
Clifford Geertz (1926–2006)
Phenomenology involves an appreciative investigation of religious phenomena from the perspective of the practitioners and believers—an “insider’s” rather than an “outsider’s” point of view. This includes “thick description,” a term used by the cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926–2006)—not only reporting outward behaviors but also attempting to explain their meaning for members of particular cultural systems.
Ultimately, such exploration may have an impact on our own inner landscape. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), philosopher of hermenuetics, uses the term “intersubjectivity” to refer to this possibility. Hermeneutics is the study of the theory and practice of interpretation. It covers not only exegesis of written texts but also interpretation of all other forms of communication—written, oral, artistic, geopolitical, sociological, and so forth—and it delves into past conditions such as prior understandings and suppositions.
Key Terms
Absolutist
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Immanent
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Redaction
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Agnosticism
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Incarnation
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Religion
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Allegory
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Intelligent design
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Ritual
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Atheism
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Liberal
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Sacred
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Awakening
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Metaphysics
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Scientific materialism
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Charisma
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Monotheism
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Secularism
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Comparative religion
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Mysticism
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Spirituality
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Creationism
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Myth
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Symbol
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Dogma
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Orthodox
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Theism
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Enlightenment
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Phenomenology
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Transcendent
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Exclusivism
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Polytheism
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Universalism
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Fundamentalism
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Profane
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Gnosis
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Realization
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Assignments and Activities
1. What is your definition of religion? Thereafter, we will evaluate student definitions to see if they are specific and inclusive enough for use in an objective study of religion. First, try the exercise alone and then in small groups, before we take some samples to discuss with the class as a whole.
2. By next week, you are assigned the task of asking people outside class the question “Why are people religious?” In class, in small groups, and then as a whole group we will compare some of the answers received.
3. Divide the class in half, with one side taking the position, and the other opposed: is everyone religious? Is religion functional or dysfunctional for human beings and/or societies? Does our future depend on peoples’ willingness to understand sympathetically other people’s religions?
4. Bring to class some of the music you listen to that reflects various perceptions of the sacred, or ultimacy. I can play a few examples and discuss how they reflect religion. You may also bring a few of your favorite songs that are not so obviously religious, but which raise religious issues.
5. Each of you are assigned the task of bringing to class at least one article from a recent newspaper, magazine, or Internet story that reflects the roles of religion in modern society. A few students may present their articles to the class. The task will also serve as the basis for a preliminary discussion of the coverage of religion by the popular media.
6. The class will be divided into groups and each group will defend one of the ways religion and science are related to one another, using the questions of the origins of the universe and the development of life on earth as a case study.
7. For next week, each student will bring to class one example of a symbol that is not religious and one that is. In small groups the students will explain their symbols and the difference between religious and nonreligious symbols.
9. In small groups and then in the class as a whole brainstorm a list of questions that could be raised about religion during the course.
8. I will divide the class into small groups. Each group will consider the dimensions in the framework for understanding religion suggested in Chapter 1. Each group will brainstorm possible responses for their respective dimension. Each group will share its list with the class as a whole. We will take an anonymous class survey, letting each student choose the response for each dimension that best represents his or her own perspective. We will use the results to create a class “religious profile.” (It would be a good idea to repeat this exercise at the end of the semester and compare the results.)
Religion
945/3,634 books
https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Religion
Key Works in Religion
Eliade, Mircea, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. This work popularized a “history of religions” approach, which argued that religious phenomena should be analyzed and compared within their own distinct historical and phenomenological contexts.
Lincoln, Bruce, Holy Terrors. The West’s understanding of religion as private and apolitical is intensely at odds with other modes of religious understanding that are highly political.
Otto, Rudolf, The Idea of the Holy. This is one of the most famous German theological texts of the 20th century, and it has become a standard work in the method and theory of religious studies.
Plaskow, Judith, Image of God as Dominating Other. Plaskow calls for expanding Torah by bringing to light neglected valorizations of women in Jewish texts, and reconstructing Jewish history and memory along non-patriarchal lines.
Tillich, Paul, Lost Dimension in Religion. Tillich describes the modern individual’s loss of a “dimension of depth” and the threat of one’s becoming “a thing among things”, pointing toward a non-literalistic, existential understanding of religious symbols as a response to this situation.
Your first World View Chart, on Hinduism, is due:
11:59 pm 15 February 2018
submitted through Bb.
By Tuesday, within your small four-person group, prepare a typed, hard-copy paragraph on one of the following sections on Hinduism in Fieser.
Within your small group you will decide which of the sections you will write your paragraph about.
You do not need to be exhaustive and cover all of the sections: only four.
13 Vedas
13 Creation of the Universe
14 Origin of the Gods
15 Indra, the Paradigmatic Warrior
17 Prayer to Agni, the God of Fire
18 Burning Dead Bodies
19 The Beneficial Effects of
Drinking Soma
21 Sex and the Yogi
22 A Cunning Woman
22 The Horse Sacrifice
24 To the Fire Altar
25 What is the Origin of the World?
26 Vedānta: The Upaniṣads and Their
Commentaries
26 Yama’s Instructions to Naciketas
29 Truth and Transcendence
31 Sacrifices cannot Lead to the
Ultimate Goal
32 Instructions on Renouncing the
World
33 Self-Effort and Liberation
34 Māyā
34 That is You
35 Qualified Nondualism: Rāmānuja’s
Interpretation
37 Yoga
37 The Meaning of Yoga
39 Yogic Techniques
41 Yogic Attainments
42 Purāṇas and Epics
42 The Four Ages
48 The Liṅgam of Śiva
50 The Buddha: a False Teacher
51 The Power of the Goddess
52 Rāma, A God Among Humans
54 The Bhagavad-Gītā: Arjuna’s
Refusal to Fight
59 The Life of a Sage
60 Devotional Literature
60 Praise of the Goddess
60 Prayer for Identity With the
Goddess
61 Mīrābāī’s Mystical Marriage to Kṛṣṇa
62 Cheating on her Husband
63 Treatises on Dharma
63 Actions and their Results
71 Manu’s Instructions on Finding
the Right Mate
A Brief History of Religion (same as Geography of Religion below)
How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html
This Land Is Mine by Nina Paley, 3:34
Who's Killing Who? A Viewer's Guide Because you can't tell the players without a pogrom! Early Man This generic "cave man" represents the first human settlers in Israel/Canaan/the Levant.
Whoever they were. Canaanite What did ancient Canaanites look like? I don't know, so this is based on ancient Sumerian art.
Egyptian Canaan was located between two huge empires.
Egypt controlled it sometimes, and... Assyrian ....Assyria controlled it other times.
Israelite The "Children of Israel" conquered the shit out of the region, according to bloody and violent Old Testament accounts.
Babylonian Then the Baylonians destroyed their temple and took the Hebrews into exile.
Macedonian/Greek Here comes Alexander the Great, conquering everything!
Greek/Macedonian No sooner did Alexander conquer everything, than his generals divided it up and fought with each other.
Ptolemaic Greek descendants of Ptolemy, another of Alexander's competing generals, ruled Egypt dressed like Egyptian god-kings. (The famous Cleopatra of western mythology and Hollywood was a Ptolemy.)
Seleucid More Greek-Macedonian legacies of Alexander.
Hebrew Priest This guy didn't fight, he just ran the Second Temple re-established by Hebrews in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile.
Maccabee Led by Judah "The Hammer" Maccabee, who fought the Seleucids, saved the Temple, and invented Channukah.
Until... Roman ....the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and absorbed the region into the Roman Empire... Byzantine ....which split into Eastern and Western Empires.
The eastern part was called the Byzantine Empire. I don't know if "Romans" ever fought "Byzantines" (Eastern Romans) but this is a cartoon.
Arab Caliph Speaking of cartoon, what did an Arab Caliph look like? This was my best guess.
Crusader After Crusaders went a-killin' in the name of Jesus Christ, they established Crusader states, most notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Mamluk of Egypt Wikipedia sez, "Over time, mamluks became a powerful military caste in various Muslim societies...In places such as Egypt from the Ayyubid dynasty to the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be "true lords", with social status above freeborn Muslims.[7]"
And apparently they controlled Palestine for a while.
Ottoman Turk Did I mention this is a cartoon? Probably no one went to battle looking like this. But big turbans, rich clothing and jewelry seemed to be in vogue among Ottoman Turkish elites, according to paintings I found on the Internet.
Arab A gross generalization of a generic 19-century "Arab".
British The British formed alliances with Arabs, then occupied Palestine.
This cartoon is an oversimplification, and uses this British caricature as a stand-in for Europeans in general. Palestinian
The British occupied this guy's land, only to leave it to a vast influx of.... European Jew/Zionist Desperate and traumatized survivors of European pogroms and death camps, Jewish Zionist settlers were ready to fight to the death for a place to call home, but... PLO/Hamas/Hezbollah ....so were the people that lived there.
Various militarized resistance movements arose in response to Israel: The Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Guerrilla/Freedom Fighter/TerroristState of Israel Backed by "the West," especially the US, they got lots of weapons and the only sanctioned nukes in the region.
Guerrilla/Freedom Fighter/Terrorist Sometimes people fight in military uniforms, sometimes they don't.
Creeping up alongside are illicit nukes possibly from Iran or elsewhere in the region.
Who's Next? and finally... The Angel of Death The real hero of the Old Testament, and right now too.
https://youtu.be/4pKMV6e5kEo
A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945, 14:24 Try at 4:42, 1962, to see how things really heat up. 12:16 reviews 1945-1998.
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear). Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
