Ch.1 Intro to World Religions Flashcards
atheism
perspective that denies the existence of God/gods.
in ancient times, a person could be labeled an atheist for denying the significance of deities, even while believing that they exist.
cosmology
understanding of the nature of the world that typically explains its origin and how it is ordered.
a particular religion’s cosmology strongly influences the degree to which its adherents are involved in caring for the world.
empathy
the capacity for seeing things from another’s perspective, and an important methodological approach for studying religions.
works in tandem with the usual tools of scholarship to yield an effective academic approach to the study of religions
globalization
the linking and intermixing of cultures.
accelerated quickly during the centuries of exploration and colonization; has been nurtured considerably by the advanced technologies brought about by modernization
ex. World Wide Web
henotheism
the belief that acknowledges a plurality of gods but elevates one of them to special status.
modernization
the general process through which societies transform economically, socially, and culturally to become more in keeping with the standards set by industrialized Europe.
included increased literacy, improved education, enhanced technologies, self-sustaining economies, gender equality, and greater involvement of the general populace in government.
a general feature: tendency to deny the authority of tradition and the past.
monism
the belief that all reality is ultimately one.
described as non dualistic because there is no distinction between the divine reality on one hand and the rest of reality, including humans, on the other.
monotheism
belief in only one god.
ex. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
multiculturalism
the coexistence of different peoples and their cultural ways in one time and place.
many people today live in religiously pluralistic societies, no longer sheltered from the presence of religions other than their own; increases the degree of influence exerted by one religion on another
mysterium tremendum and fascinans
the contrasting feelings of awe-inspiring mystery and of overwhelming attraction that are said by Rudolf Otto to characterize the numinous experience.
“awe-inspiring mystery” and “fascinating”
encounter with the Holy is thus alluring even as it is frightening on account of the awe-inspiring mystery.
mystical experience
a general category of religious experience characterized in various ways, for example, as the uniting with the divine through inward contemplation or as dissolution of the sense of individual selfhood.
includes Buddhist nirvana
myth
a story or narrative, originally conveyed orally, that sets forth basic truths of a religious tradition; myths often involve events of primordial time that describe the origins of things.
a powerful source of sacred truth; do not depend on empirical verifiability or rational coherence for their power.
nontheistic
term denoting a religion that does not maintain belief in God/gods.
some forms of Buddhism, such as Zen, and atheism.
Also include those that conceive of the divine as an impersonal force or substratum of existence ( some various forms of Buddhism and Hinduism)
numinous experience
Otto’s term, described in his classic work The Idea of the Holy, for describing an encounter with “the Holy”; it is characterized by two powerful and contending forces: mysterium tremendum and fascinans.
pantheism
the belief that the divine reality is identical to nature or the material world.
Ex. Stoicism
