Quiz 2 Chapter 4-5-6 Flashcards
Define Adi Granth
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.
Define Analects
The sayings of Confucious, collected to become one of the “Four Books” taken as scripture in Confucianism
Canon
A group of writings, especially scriptures, that form a limited and defined group, thus amounting to a list of a religions authoritative texts
Close Canon
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
Daodejing
The foundational scripture of Daoism attributed to the sage Laozi
Epistle
Literally, letter. Particularly in Christianity, one of the letters of the New Testament scriptures written by those sent by Jesus to spread his teachings
Hadith
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.
Mishnah
The collection of laws from the Torah as understood and explained by Jewish Rabbis of the first centuries of the Common Era
Quaran
The scriptures of Islam, literally the recitation of Gods words to Muhammad
Scripture
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
Ramayana
Scripture of popular Hinduism featuring the epic tale of the god Rama
Sutra
a sermon or teaching, especially by the Buddha, remembered and collected by generations of monks who compiled the realist Buddhist scriptures
Talmud
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
Torah
The Holy scriptures of Judaisim attributed to Moses, collected as the first five books of the Bible
Veda
The oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism, evolving from approximately 1200 BCE through forms of hymns to ancients gods, ritual formulae, and magical mantras.
Exegesis
literally to draw out, referring to the process of deriving doctrine and truth claims from a religions authoritative writings
hermeneutics
the art of interpretation, often involving explicit theories and methods for deriving meaning from a text
myth
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
parable
a story invented to illustrate a moral or ideological point, thus stories not intended to be understood historically
proof texts
selected pieces of scriptures used to defend a particular doctrinal point
wisdom litearture
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.
Anatman
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
Atman
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
Empirical self
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
Fallenness
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
Four Noble Truths
Fundamental Buddhist teaching about the inevitability of suffering and its ultimate causes in our own desires for the temporary unsatisfying things of the world
Ignorance
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
Imago Dei
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.
Karma
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
Theodicy
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
Trickster
In some native traditions, a mythic person or animal that, though foolishness or ignorance brings about problems for humanity
Parable
a story that serves the purpose of illustrating a
point (of moral nature or similar) and is not intended
to be understood historically
history
an attempt at a reasonable description of something that actually happened (consideration of
possible mistakes, biases, incompleteness)
