Quiz 2 Chapter 4-5-6

Question 1

Define Adi Granth

Answer 1

The Primary holy text of Sikhism, being the poetry of the founder Guru Nanak and successive leaders. It is ultimately itself considered the holy guru.

Question 2

Define Analects

Answer 2

The sayings of Confucious, collected to become one of the “Four Books” taken as scripture in Confucianism

Question 3

Canon

Answer 3

A group of writings, especially scriptures, that form a limited and defined group, thus amounting to a list of a religions authoritative texts

Question 4

Close Canon

Answer 4

The sense within a religion that the list of authoritative texts, the scriptures, cannot be added to, in contrast to an “open canon, where some possibility of adding new scriptures exists

Question 5

Daodejing

Answer 5

The foundational scripture of Daoism attributed to the sage Laozi

Question 6

Epistle

Answer 6

Literally, letter. Particularly in Christianity, one of the letters of the New Testament scriptures written by those sent by Jesus to spread his teachings

Question 7

Hadith

Answer 7

A collection of written traditions that functions as a secondary scripture in Islam. It contains the words and actions of Muhammad, providing for Islam example and context for understanding proper submisssion to god.

Question 8

Mishnah

Answer 8

The collection of laws from the Torah as understood and explained by Jewish Rabbis of the first centuries of the Common Era

Question 9

Quaran

Answer 9

The scriptures of Islam, literally the recitation of Gods words to Muhammad

Question 10

Scripture

Answer 10

Holy text, the writings within a religion that carry a special status of authoirty, based, often, on the direct relation between the recorded words and the founder, thus finally to Ultimate Being

Question 11

Ramayana

Answer 11

Scripture of popular Hinduism featuring the epic tale of the god Rama

Question 12

Sutra

Answer 12

a sermon or teaching, especially by the Buddha, remembered and collected by generations of monks who compiled the realist Buddhist scriptures

Question 13

Talmud

Answer 13

In judaism, the multiple volume collection of Mishnah and commentary, amounting to a secondary authority for studying divine law as revealed in the Torah. Also called the Oral Torah

Question 14

Torah

Answer 14

The Holy scriptures of Judaisim attributed to Moses, collected as the first five books of the Bible

Question 15

Veda

Answer 15

The oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism, evolving from approximately 1200 BCE through forms of hymns to ancients gods, ritual formulae, and magical mantras.

Question 16

Exegesis

Answer 16

literally to draw out, referring to the process of deriving doctrine and truth claims from a religions authoritative writings

Question 17

hermeneutics

Answer 17

the art of interpretation, often involving explicit theories and methods for deriving meaning from a text

Question 18

myth

Answer 18

a story culturally or religiously used to define the nature of life or a particular group of people; the story may be literally cosmic proportions, telling us something about the origins or meaning of humanity or the world or some specific cultural phenomenon

Question 19

parable

Answer 19

a story invented to illustrate a moral or ideological point, thus stories not intended to be understood historically

Question 20

proof texts

Answer 20

selected pieces of scriptures used to defend a particular doctrinal point

Question 21

wisdom litearture

Answer 21

short statements and aphorisms collected like with old sayings to give advice or teaching, such as Proverbs of the Bible or the sayings from Confucius Analects.

Question 22

Anatman

Answer 22

In Buddhist teaching, the claim that there is no self, denying the Hindu concept of Atman and insisting instead that the self is nothing more than a temporary collection of parts

Question 23

Atman

Answer 23

In Hinduism, the self, eternal and unchanging essence of the individual, yet different from the finite and limited empirical self. Ultimately, Atman is the same essence as Brahman, the eternal and impersonal Ultimate Being

Question 24

Empirical self

Answer 24

The I that one hears in ones thoughts, the person that one recognizes on self to be through reflection on one’s character and beliefs

Question 25

Fallenness

Answer 25

From the Christian interpretation of the myth of Adam and Eve, the claim that the perfectly created state of humanity in the Garden of Eden was lost due to human disobedience, and that this sinfulness still corrupts the human will

Question 26

Four Noble Truths

Answer 26

Fundamental Buddhist teaching about the inevitability of suffering and its ultimate causes in our own desires for the temporary unsatisfying things of the world

Question 27

Ignorance

Answer 27

Specifically in Indian Hindu and Buddhists philosophies, the understanding that an innate purity of self or mind is nonetheless clouded by humanities tendency to identity with the ego and thus our inability to see and live out hte ideal of the deeper self

Question 28

Imago Dei

Answer 28

Literally the image of God, the idea from Judaic creation myth that the human soul, with reason and responsibility, somehow reflects the individual and conscious nature of God himself.

Question 29

Karma

Answer 29

Literally, action, the concept that actions done previously in life and especially, in prior lifetimes have consequences in later lifetimes, thus explaining suffering and good fortune as the effects of prior acts

Question 30

Theodicy

Answer 30

Specifically trying to explain suffering in terms of divine justice, more generally, any effort to explain how the apparent injustices of human suffering occur, and why the world is not as perfect as it should be

Question 31

Trickster

Answer 31

In some native traditions, a mythic person or animal that, though foolishness or ignorance brings about problems for humanity

Question 32

Parable

Answer 32

a story that serves the purpose of illustrating a
point (of moral nature or similar) and is not intended
to be understood historically

Question 33

history

Answer 33

an attempt at a reasonable description of something that actually happened (consideration of
possible mistakes, biases, incompleteness)