Chapter 1 Terms

Question 0

Empathy

Answer 0

The capacity for seeing things from another’s perspective, and an important methodological approach for studying religions

Question 1

Cosmology

Answer 1

The understanding of the nature of the universe.

Question 2

Ethics

Answer 2

A dimension of religion that deals with how we are to act while living in the world

Question 3

Faith

Answer 3

Experience of the divine or holy presence, sometimes involving intellectual belief and sometimes emphasizing personal trust

Question 4

Monotheism

Answer 4

The belief in only one God

Question 5

Mysticism

Answer 5

A category of religious experiences characterized by communing or uniting with the divine through inward contemplation

Question 6

Myth

Answer 6

A story (often recorded in scripture) that tends to answer questions of origins and serves as a source of sacred truth

Question 7

Pantheism

Answer 7

The belief that the divine reality exists in everything

Question 8

Polytheism

Answer 8

The belief in many gods

Question 9

Revelation

Answer 9

The transmission of the divine will or knowledge to human beings, typically through myths or some form of religious experience

Question 10

Ritual

Answer 10

Formal worship practice, often based on the reenactment of a myth

Question 11

Transcendence

Answer 11

The overcoming of the normal limitations imposed by the human condition, whether temporarily or abidingly.

Question 12

Name the seven dimensions of religion

Answer 12

Experiential, mythic, doctrinal, ethical, ritual, social, and material

Question 13

Spiritual perfection

Answer 13

Faiths usually describe how to be spiritually perfect and sometimes what the outcome is

Question 14

What is the human condition?

Answer 14

Are we more than just a physical body, Do we have a soul? Why do we have conscience.