Chapter 10 Flashcards

1
Q

What is religion?

A

religion is beliefs, behaviours, and actions related to supernatural beings and forces and their relationship to everyday life

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2
Q

What is religion according to Sir Edward Tylor?

A

Belief in spirits

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3
Q

What two components is religion associated with?

A

Belief and behaviour. Belief systems shape patterns of behaviour.

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4
Q

What is Animism?

A

A belief system in which supernatural is conceived of as an impersonal power, belief in souls

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5
Q

What is animatism?

A

Belief that all things including men and women, are endowed with pervasive spiritual power

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6
Q

What is an example of a supernatural force belief?

A

Polynesians believe in Mana, which is a force that endows natural beings and phenomena with a special power that is both sacred and dangerous. Is an outside nature that works automatically.

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7
Q

What is totem?

A

An object that has special significance and meaning for a groups of believers.

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8
Q

What is zoomorphic?

A

Images of supernatural/ deities are like animal or partially animal

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9
Q

What is anthropomorphic?

A

Images of supernatural/ deities are like human.

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10
Q

Is belief in sacred space common?

A

Yes in all religions.

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11
Q

What are some examples of sacred spaces.

A

Saami people of Norway have rock formations that resemble humans or animals.
Pakistani female muslim immigrants have Khatam Quran which is a transformation of sacred space.

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12
Q

What is contested space?

A

Spaces that have sacred meanings to different groups. Ex. Kotel in Jerusalem is sacred place of pilgrimage but is on Palestinian land.

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13
Q

What is a myth?

A

A narrative with a plot that involves the supernatural forces, expresses core beliefs, teaches morality, helps people deal with their lives.

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14
Q

What is a myth to Malinowski?

A

A charter for society.

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15
Q

What is a doctrine?

A

Direct and formalized statements about religious beliefs, people’s roles and relationships with supernatural power and other humans, associated with institutionalized religions.

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16
Q

What was the evolutionary school?

A

Tried to explain the physical world and events by magic, religion and science. Theorized that magic evolved into religion and then science. From primitive to rational.

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17
Q

What is magic?

A

The attempt to compel supernatural forces and beings to act in certain ways.

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18
Q

What were Sir James Frazer’s two principles of magic?

A

Law of similarity and law of contagion.

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19
Q

What is world view?

A

Conception of the world and how people should behave.

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20
Q

What is world view? Example?

A

An encompassing picture of reality created by members of a society. Ex: Redfield’s peasant world view, including notions of limited goods and the lord as shepherd.

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21
Q

According to Functionalists (Durkheim), all religions originate in ___? Separating the world into ___?

A

Society. Separating the world into the profane and sacred.

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22
Q

What is the profane?

A

The secular aspects of life (objects, practices, behaviors).

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23
Q

What is the sacred?

A

The things that we set apart, ritualize and form emotional connections to.

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24
Q

What is the function of religions according to functionalism?

A

Religion functions to join members of the group according to shared meanings and world views.

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25
Q

What is Malinowski’s functionalist opinion on religious rituals?

A

Religious rituals help reduce anxiety and uncertainty.

26
Q

What is Tylor’s functionalist opinion on religion?

A

Religion supports people to cope with the universal problems such as life and death, illness and misfortune.

27
Q

What are some examples of functionality of religion in different societies?

A

Bring order, develop social cohesion, immigrant religious practices, production and distribution processes (i.e. christmas shopping).

28
Q

What does structural functionalism say about religion?

A

Religious rituals maintain and restate dominant norms of society, like how men generally lead rituals.

29
Q

What was Tylor’s model of evolution of belief systems?

A

Over time religions evolve from simple to complex. Animism -> Polytheism -> monotheism.

30
Q

What is polytheism?

A

Belief in many dieties.

31
Q

What is monotheism?

A

Belief in supreme power.

32
Q

What does Freud (psychological anthropology) say about religion?

A

Religion is a “projective system” that expresses people’s unconscious thoughts, wishes and worries.

33
Q

How does cultural materialism explain explain aztec cannibalism?

A

Human sacrifice by it was a way of showing political strength and feeding the poor, as well as pleasing the gods.

34
Q

What is Geertz’ symbolic theory of religion?

A

Religion is a cultural and symbolic system that provide a model or life and worldview for people.

35
Q

What is Marx’s critical theory of religion?

A

Religion is like a drug and provides superficial comfort or false consciousness to the poor.

36
Q

What is the feminist theory of religion?

A

Women are not equally represented in major patriarchal religions and they do not have equal rights to practice religious rituals. We need to rewrite major religious texts.

37
Q

What is religious pluralism?

A

When one and more religions co-exist as either complementary to each other as competitive systems.

38
Q

What is syncretism? Examples?

A

Elements of 2 or more religions blend together. Local christianity, Burmese buddhism, kochi Jewish lifestyle.

39
Q

What is secularism?

A

It is not simply absence of religious practice, but more than that. The idea is connected to the history of european enlightenment, separation between state and church.

40
Q

What is a world religion?

A

19th century idea of a text based religion, institutionalized religion that is transnational and concerned with ideas of conversion and salvation.

41
Q

What are the key components of hinduism?

A
  • periodic and non periodic rituals
  • fasting, taking bath, or not eating particular foods
  • relationship between spirit and supernatural spirit
  • Karma
  • rebirth
42
Q

What are the deities of Hindusim?

A

Range from stone to carvings of gods (Rich Polytheism)

43
Q

Who is the founding figure of Buddhism?

A

Siddhartha Gautama

44
Q

What is the buddhist religious text?

A

No single accepted text but honor Gautama’s teachings.

45
Q

What is the goal of Buddhism?

A

To reach nirvana.

46
Q

What are some key components of Judaism?

A

High regard for human life, emphasis on truth, words (spoken and written) of importance, appropriate religion, belief in one god, sacred land to return to.

47
Q

What are some key components of Islam?

A

Submission to the will of one god, presence of culturally constructed differences, based on teachings of Prophet Muhhamad.

48
Q

What are the two schools of Islam?

A

Sunni and Shi’a (Sufism is another but more secular and humanistic).

49
Q

What are the five pillars of islam?

A

Faith in Allah, daily prayer, fasting, giving to the poor, Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

50
Q

What are common features of many Indig. religions?

A
  • Stories of complex relationships between spirits and humans
  • A plethora of supernatural spirits
  • Elaborate initiation rituals and sacrifices
  • Close links between healing and divination
51
Q

What are revitalization movements? Examples?

A

Socio-religious movement in response to social crisis. Ghost dance amongst Native Americans, Cargo cult in Melanesia in response to Western and Japanese influences.

52
Q

What is the connection between colonialism and religion?

A

Key mechanism to control and assimilate colonized societies. Proposed to bring civilization, modernity, individualism, rationality, cultural hegemony, absorption of western ideals.

53
Q

What is James Frazer’s idea of religion?

A

Magic is peoples’ attempt to compel supernatural beings and forces to act a certain.

54
Q

What is a myth to Claude-Levi Strauss?

A

Helps to deal with deep conceptual contradictions.

55
Q

What are some examples of myths?

A
  • Pueblo Indians: myths juxtapose grass-eating animals and predators
  • Klamath and Modoc Indians: theme of food uncertainty
56
Q

What are the world religions?

A

christianity, islam, buddhism, judaism, hinduism, taoism, confucianism, shintoism

57
Q

Who are the Hui muslims of China?

A

One of china’s largest designated minorities that the state classifies as backward and feudal.

58
Q

What are some features of african religions?

A
  • myths about a rupture
  • pantheon
  • elaborate initiation rituals
  • animal sacrifice rituals
  • altars with shrines as focal places
  • close links with healing
  • some combine aspects of christianity and African traditions
59
Q

What is Rastafari?

A

Afro-caribbean protest religion about Pan-African unity.

60
Q
A