Midterm Flashcards
Metaphysics
meta = beyond, physica = physical / matter. Existence, cause & effect, time & space, potential
Enlightenment Times: scientific hypothesis and theorization
Ontology
Ontos = being (study of)
Teleology
Telos = design, purpose (study of)
Soul
psyche, emotional capacity
Body
soma, physical capacity
Mind
nous, intellectual capacity
Spirit
pneuma, spiritual capacity. Breath as a living capacity
Atman
self (e. metaphysics)
Anatman
no self (e. metaphysics)
Jiva
soul; living being
Chit
consiousness
Prana
breath; vital energy; life force
Manas
mind; thought
Brahman
self, soul… cosmic principle; eternal (monotheistic, one universal connecting force; circle of creation)
Nirguna
without attributes (won’t see anything physical)
Saguna
with attributes (physical manifestation)
Dvaita
dualistic view (ying, yang)
Advaita
‘not two’, nondualistic view (monism — brahman & atman one and the same)
Dao (Tao)
all-prevading essence of creation, cosmic lifeforce.
Epistemology
episteme = knowledge. Study of ‘knowing’, nature of knowing, limits of knowledge
Ethics
ethike - moral. Ethics (moral philosophy) explores conduct & virtue. Nature of good & evil
Aesthetics
aestheta = perceptible. Explores perception of beauty, nature of art / beauty… discriminating art from non-art.
Darshana
philosophical school, ‘to see’, each school is a ‘way to see’
Astika
orthodox, ‘there is’… orthodoxy
Nastika
not orthodox, ‘there is not’…. orthodoxy
Theology
theos = god / the divine, logia = study.
A) Study of nature of god / the gods / the divine
B) Study of beliefs / doctrines within a religious tradition
C) Systematizing normative doctrine within a religious tradition
Enlightenment Times: apologetics, struggling to reconcile spiritual teachings with a world / society now governed by science
Hermeneutics
interpretation of texts…
- Prescriptive v.s. Descriptive
- Cultural v.s. Universal
- Literal v.s. Figurative
Theological Spectrum
Liberal - progressive (push supernaturalism aside)
Conservative - traditional view
Fundamentalist - literal interpretations
Puritanical - strict behaviour
Orthodoxy
correct teaching (what you believe)
Orthopraxy
correct practice (what you do)
Apologetics
defending theological positions
Anthropology
Study of humans (nature, condition), culture
Demonology / Angelology
study of demons / angels / celestial beings
Bibliology
study of sacred text
Ecclesiology
study of community (gathering)
Harmatology
study of sin (karma)
Soteriology
study of salvation (liberation)
Eschatology
study of end times
Yugas
cycle of time in Eastern thought. Western thought = linear time
Contextual Theology
Tends to be reactionary. Liberation, Black, Feminist, Womanist, Queer, Ecotheology, Child, Animal
Post-structuralism
meaning determined by reader, not author (from 1970 forward)
Culture
way of life, learned and shared behaviour, moral guidelines, foundational ethics, customs, way of thinking, arts. Events, festivals, holidays, food.
Ethnography
Ethnic (cultural group) & graph (writing) = description of a culture. Information about a culture acquired by participant observation (observation)
Features of ethnicity (CCSADS)
collective name common myth of descent shared history distinctive shared culture association with a specific territory sense of solidarity
Ethnic identifiers (FCCC LPST)
food / diet clothes community customs language politics territory surname
Religion
seeking to explain, concern with powers / agents existing beyond the 5 senses or instrumental apparatus (logical understanding, science).
Religious education v.s. religious studies
Education - specialist teaching, subjective experience, teaching adherents about religious traditions (insider)
Studies -examine all aspects of religion without bias, neutral outlook (outsiders), objective.
Religion, an institution of people who have…
PCBRI
a place of gathering connection to (the) transcendence belief (faith-based) rituals, festivals, holidays interest / explanation about afterlife
Idolatry
worshipping of an idol (false religion)
Dogmatic
cannot be changed, undeniable truth
R [Religious]
Respectful
E [rEligious]
Equality (methodology must be consistent in all studies)
L [reLigious}
Language (of sacred texts require translation & interpretation)
I [relIgious]
Interdisciplinary (archaeology, history, language, anthropology, sociology, psychology, theology, philosophy)
G [reliGious]
Geographical (each religion must be understood in its unique geographical context. Locations sacralized)
I [religIous]
Independent (researcher / student can’t be predisposed to research results based on dependence of resources or affiliation)
O [religiOus]
Observational (fieldwork, establish trust, watch rituals, how devotion is expressed)
U [religioUs]
Utility (research provides useful information
S [religiouS]
Spiritual (most religious traditions believe in a spiritual being distinct from physical being, survives physical death)
Dichotomy
body & soul belief
Trichotomy
body, soul & spirit belief
S [Studies]
Soteriological (study of salvation. Religions provide answers to questions around the afterlife and have salvific truth claims)
T [sTudies]
Theological (view of the divine, eternal, all-prevading)
U [stUdies]
Understanding (of general religious traditions v.s. sectarian groups, see how insiders view things)
D [stuDies]
Definitions (meanings of words, lost in translation, misinterpretation)
Context of words
who is speaking to whom, from where, time period, faith base, gender…
Profile author & audience, put words in context!
I [studIes]
Insider-Outsider
Advocacy
problematic, not neutral research. Supporting something, structuring an argument – bias!
Academic inquiry
not to harm / hurt, just to learn what is going on, to understand.
E [studiEs]
Exegetical - ‘out from a text’, interpretation / explanation
- out of a scripture, verse
- Reading out from the text v.s. reading into (putting yourself into a book / movie)
S [studieS]
Supernatural - religious traditions tend toward supernaturalism v.s. naturalism.
- view of the world / cosmos
- interventionism, guidance, revelation.
Comparative approach
studies encompass traditions, texts, myths, rituals…
uses comparison to categorize, abstract & distill religious types, recurrent themes & diverse expressions
Unbiased
Historical approach
time context, relationships among religions (in developmental stages), societal norms
History
oral, written
strives for neutrality in presentation of facts
analyze events to illuminate relationships (cause / effect)
Periodization
time span categorized as a whole, generalization
Philosophical approach
analyze religious beliefs & practices intellectually (sans bias), study a foreign religion
Philosophy
philia - love, sophia - wisdom
love / pursuit of wisdom
logical reasoning, rational thought (western)
wisdom deriving from full compass of human abilities (eastern)
Enlightenment Times: associated with pure and natural sciences in the West, clear distinction between philosophy and religions (tension, defensive…)
Western Enlightenment
separation of philosophy from religion
Introduction of scientific method (Creationism and christianity suffer)
Religion = unprovable by science, nonsensical beliefs, supersticions
Darshana
viewpoint, perspective, worldview. How one approaches acquisition of understanding to gain wisdom about oneself and the world
Hesoid “ages of humanity”
golden - iron (degeneration of morals / values, respect for elders…)
Monotheism
one god
Pantheism
many different gods
Henotheism
primary tribal god you worship of your tribe, recognize that other tribe’s gods exist
a theism
does not believe in a god
anti theist
don’t believe in god, think religions are harmful, against all of them
Anaximander - Greek
aperion - single formless essence, all things emerge as dualities, opposites (hot / cold)
interact with each other to generate fullness of creation
monotheistic
Brahman
vast, expansive, singular power of all. Equated with ultimate divinity (India)
Dao
ineffable mystery, all dualities emerge & return to this (yin, yang - China)
Xenophanes - Greek
critical of polytheistic ideas, advocate for single, overarching power. Early speculation on origins of myths and religions
Aristotle - Greek
Metaphysics.
Student of Plato, early relationship between religion & politics (advised leader to be devout to prevent an uprising)
Abrahamic religions
Judaism, christianity, islam (missionary, evangelical).
Jesus of Nazareth…
Prophet Abraham a founding father (ideas from God)
Soteriologies
missionary religion’s teachings on ‘saving’ from eternal damnation / hell.
Eschatologies
teachings on end-times
Philo Judeaus & Christian Bishop Augustine of Hippo
Allegorical method of reading scripture. Unreasonable contents should not be taken literally; language symbolic, tales allegorical.
Interpret with common sense, natural law & evident explanations of the world.
Literalists
don’t use allegorical method to read scripture.
Religious fundamentalism – offended by historical contexts method of interpretation
Scholasticism
ended with rise of modern Western philosophy: attempts to reconcile Aristotelian philosophical traditions with theology (explanations for apologetics in response to scrutiny or contradiction due to intro of scientific method)
Descartes
cogito ero sum (I think; therefore I am)
Thought & thinking as foundation of personal existence and analysis of reality.
Offered (unconvincing) proofs of the existence of God.
Immanuel Kant
reality, our understanding of it, is restricted by our conscienceness.
Human mind processing limits capacity to know Truth.
If one cannot grasp something intellectually, it might as well not exist (no firm knowledge of it)
Occam’s Razor theory
theory with least assumptions, that seems logical / right is usually right.
Ludwig Wittgenstien
argued that “god exists” in a religious context is not the same statement made in a philosophical argument. Different contexts and purposes
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
inability to know what certainty, minute features of things we attempt to observe because we accept ‘the observed’ through the very act of observation
Metaphysical adaptation
holistic worldview, more encompassing than narrow confines of science
Alfred North Whitehead
worldview that there is a fundamental interconnectedness between everything in existence, all are in a condition of change.
‘Process philosophy’
Nagarjuna
logical arguments that nothing exists independently and reality is conditioned / influenced by our thoughts
Shankara
overarching power / reality called Brahman
Rational thought handicapped in capacity to know Absolute Reality… reality interconnected
Philosophy of Religion
Distinction between philosophy and religion
Western, reason - centred philosophical scrutiny of religious notions
Analyze rational arguments put forward to justify the existence of God
Friedrich Nietzsche - author
‘The Antichrist’ book, “God is dead”
Bertrand Russell - author
“Why I am not a Christian”
Kant
refutes “because we can imagine a concept of God, He must exist”
Concepts of God beyond human experience, attempts to use judgements of rational thought are only suited to deal with content of experience
David Hume
cosmic order not from a God, can be explained by laws of nature.
Inconsistencies in God being omnipotent, claims that he is ‘all good’
Evil exists, God is not omnipotent if he doesn’t / can’t intervene, he is malovent if he can and won’t
Theodicy
counterarguments for existence of evil in face of God’s omnipotence & goodness
Theos - God, dike - Justice
Moksha
liberation
Goodness & evil are relative and related, seeming tension between is resolved when one obtains a complete realization about one’s true nature
Soteriology
study of religion referring to a doctrine of salvation
Augustine of Hippo
historical christian theologist
established authoritative creedal statement about core Christian beliefs. Importance of orthodoxy, correct belief in Christianity. Used reason and faith for insights and analysis
Reason not in conflict of faith, used to prove and defend faith
Averroes
muslim philosopher & theologan
Helped reintegrate Aristotle into western theology & philosophy by his extensive writings
Ibn Sina
model for Averroes. Commentaries on Aristotle, influenced muslim theologans and Christian scholastics
Rambam
jewish. Used reason to argue God’s existence and unity, set norms for Jewish practice.
Supporter of Aristotle
Karl Barth
moved away from liberal theology. Biblical revelation is the only way to know God. Too-human images of God don’t appreciate His transcendence
Liberal Theology
incorporated reason, skepticism about dogmatic claims with revelations, miracles
Biblical criticism investigated: age, authorship, variant readings of bible…
Existentialism
philosophical approach, emphasizes individual’s choices and responsibility to create meaningful existence
(atheists)
Sutras
summaries of doctrines (religious)
Tsong Khapa
instituted rigorous standards of virtue, practice, textual study
Influencial Gelupga sect (head is Dalai Lama)… arose out of his reforms & systemization
1st teacher of the first Dalai Lama
Magnum Opus
great work (book)
Herbert Spencer
evolution of societies, social Darwinism (anthropological approaches)
Franz Boas
father of American cultural anthropology
Bronislaw Malinowski
promoting indispensable value of field work, living in a foreign society Participant Observation (anthropology)
Ethnographies
systematic study of people & cultures
Edward Bunett Tylor
animism
Early ideas of spirits of animals… spirits removed from a body to explain or embrace ideas of supernatural things
Philologist
philos = love, logos = word
Sallekhna
dying through starvation, like Mahavira did. Most noble way to die, in Jainism, sacrificing yourself through extreme and rigid aestheticism.
Mahavira
24th Tirthankara (fordmaker) avatar-like (come from celestial realm take human form and teach)
Calls for practice of extreme asceticism (denying yourself something)
He denied himself clothes
Pulled all his hair out (long hair indicated spiritualism)
Eventually dies of fasting
Vow of sannyasin
4th stage of life – you seek enlightenment, go to the forests
People take care of them, feed them, they are world renouncers (not many people take the vow)
Dharma (jainism)
philosophy of rest and movement
Three jewels of Jainism
Right Knowledge (jnana) Right vision (darshana) Right conduct (caritra)
Digambara Jains
Sky-clad (go naked)
no bowls (depend on others to feed)
male liberation
Svetambara Jains
white-clad (wear clothes)
begging bowls
male & female liberation
