REL STUD Flashcards
expressed that man has the sense of transcendence which is coined as “supernatural existential”
Karl Rahner
man has the natural inclination to seek for God
Supernatural Existential
referred to as traditional religions, These are belief systems practiced by indigenous peoples.
Primal Religions
these religions are usually characterized by a close relationship with nature, oral traditions, and a focus on community rituals and practices
Primal Religions
often do not have a single founder or sacred text
Primal Religions
Benefits of Religion
1 Provides Mental Peace
2 Religion explains individual suffering
3 It inculcates social virtues
4 It promotes social solidarity
God/Divine is just a human projection. It means that God is simply an idea or concept that man created in his mind. Therefore, God exists only in the human mind.
Theory of Projection- LUDWIG FEUERBACH
God is ‘the greatest thing we can think of. There are things that can exist only in our imaginations, and there are also things that exist in reality. But the things that exist in reality are always better than things that exist only in our imaginations. Hence, if God existed only in our imaginations, He wouldn’t be the greatest thing that we can think of, because God is reality would be better. Therefore God must exist not only in the mind or imagination, but also in reality inasmuch as He is ‘the greatest’.
Deductive Ontological Argument- ST. ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
The 5 proofs of God’s existence.
Argument from Motion (God as the Unmoved Mover)
Argument from Causation (God is the Uncaused Causer)
Argument from Contingency (God is the Necessary Being)
Argument from Degrees (God is the Peak of Perfection)
Cosmological Arguments- ST THOMAS AQUINAS
Argument from the Intelligent Design (God is the Designer/Maker)
Teleological Arguments- ST THOMAS AQUINAS
___________ is very significant to humanity since
it helps bring into fulfillment the natural inner desire of every person
-to live life with ___________________
Religion, meaning and with purpose.
Reminds us that “We belong to one Human Family. Therefore, we must work together against withdrawal and isolation, and rather restore hope and bring about renewal.
Fratelli Tutti #30- “all brothers”- POPE FRANCIS
Reminds us that the Messiah’s reign is for all, and is a kingship that fits every hole perfectly. It fills every hole and situation with justice and mercy. It is a call to live a Jesus shaped life, that responds to situations in the way Jesus would have done.
Psalm 72
Religion comes from the words ____________ and ______________
Religio- respect for what is sacred
Religare- to bring together
is defined as a system of beliefs and practices by which a group of people interprets and responds to what they feel is sacred and usually supernatural as well.
Religion
4 aspects of a religion as a social entity
- Religion as a collective phenomenon
- Religion is concerned with ordering behavior in relation to the sacred or supernatural
- Religion involves a body of beliefs and moral prescriptions
- Religion expects from its followers to follow a set of practices that relates to the notion of the sacred
An Individual who professes a religion is typically associated with a particular religious organization.
- Religion as a collective phenomenon
the sacred is often associated with entities, events, figures, objects, and sights that are treated with reverence.
- Emile Durkheim (French Sociologist)
- Religion is concerned with ordering behavior in relation to the sacred or supernatural
It is mainly because they are guided by texts rendered sacred by special events or figures and teaching the right behavior.
- RELIGION INVOLVES A BODY OF BELIEFS AND MORAL PRESCRIPTIONS
These practices are typically in the form of individual & collective rituals involving prayer, worship, purification, baptism, and sacrifice.
- RELIGION EXPECTS FROM ITS FOLLOWERS TO FOLLOW A SET OF PRACTICES THAT RELATES TO THE NOTION OF THE SACRED
Elements of a religion
1 Belief in Supernatural Powers
2 Belief in the Holy or Sacred
3 System of Rituals
4 Sacred/ Sinful Acts
5 Method of Salvation
6 Mode of Worship
7 Place of Worship
Every religion believes in the existence of some supernatural powers or forces. They believe that this unseen power influences every aspect of human life.
Belief in Supernatural Powers
In every religion, there are certain things which are regarded as holy and sacred that constitute the heart of religion. This belief is often expressed through symbols; that symbolizes both the UNSEEN & TANGIBLE THINGS.
It is a belief that is based on FAITH rather than EVIDENCE.
Belief in the Holy or Sacred
Rituals are the practical side of religion that refer to the behavior performed by the individual or a group of individuals with reference to supernatural power. It includes varieties of behavior such as wearing of special types of cloth, reciting prayers, hymns, taking a bath in holy rivers, singing, dancing, crawling, fasting, etc.
All these rituals are intended to strengthen an individual’s faith in the supernatural
System of Rituals
Every religion defines certain acts as sacred and righteous and other acts as profane and sinful. Acting in accordance with the religious principles is believed to reap good results/blessing while sinful acts result in suffering or disaster. This is the reason why there are concepts of Heaven and Hell in most religions.
Sacred/ Sinful Acts
-Almost all religions consider salvation as the ultimate goal of life.
Method of Salvation
Each religion has a specific procedure of worshipping. The followers of different religions either worship the supernatural power in the form of STATUE/a FORMLESS MANNER.
Mode of Worship
Each religion has a definite place of worship which they consider as sacred.
Place of Worship
belief in the existence of personal gods
THEISM
belief in the existence of one, all powerful God, to the exclusion of other gods
MONOTHEISM
belief in the existence of many personal gods.
POLYTHEISM
unbelief/rejection of the existence of personal gods.
ATHEISM
many gods exist but one is dominant.
HENOTHEISM
God is greater that but includes all reality.
PANTHEISM
Two important elements in understanding the word SPIRIT
- The Reality of the “Spirit of God/ Divine/ Transcendent Reality”
- The Spirit in us human beings & also all those creation with life
refers to the relatedness of the human spirit or soul to the Spirit of God/ Divine/ Transcendent
SPIRITUALITY
Theologian who created the Spiritual Theory
Jordan Aumann
refers to any religious or ethical value that is concretized as an attitude or spirit from which one’s actions flow.
Spirituality
is a way of life that is based from the experience of the Divine/Transcendent/God by which this experience would bring one to have a moral and virtuous life.
Spirituality
Elements of Spirituality
- Holistic
- Quest for Meaning
- Quest for Sacred
- Suggests a self reflective existence
It means that spirituality is claimed to be a fully integrated view of life. It encompasses all aspects of being human and is a means of experiencing life.
HOLISTIC
The quest to determine the meaning and purpose of life arises as the central theme in spirituality, with the relationship to the self, others, and God contributing to its discovery.
QUEST FOR MEANING
-It means that spirituality promotes having faith, which can be an important part of a person’s beliefs and decisions in life.
QUEST FOR SACRED
-It emphasizes that in the person’s quest for meaning in life, self-reflection is of great importance.
SUGGESTS A SELF-REFLECTIVE EXISTENCE
- refers to the individuals who associate faith with the private realm of personal experience rather than with the public realm of religious institutions, creeds, and rituals.
Spiritual persons
They are those who have no or low levels of interest in church attendance and commitments to church beliefs
Spiritual Persons
refers to the persons who associate faith with the public realm of religious institutions, creeds, and rituals.
Religious Persons
They are the individuals who adhere to the tenets and practices of a particular religion, yet their hypocrisy, empty ritualism and immorality preclude the development of their spirituality.
Religious Persons
Being “____________________” means you do not need a church or a community, belief that they don’t need organized religion to live a life of faith.
spiritual but not religious
Being _________________ can lead to complacency & self-centeredness.
-Martin, Jesuit Priest
spiritual but not religious
can be characterized generally as experiences that seem to the person having them to be of some objective reality and to have some religious import. That reality can be an individual, a state of affairs, a fact, or even an absence, depending on the religious tradition the experience is a part of.
Religious experiences
Theologically speaking, the word experience is derived from the two German terms: “____________ & __________________”
ERLEBNIS & ERFAHRUNG
It means an interior experience of an intensely felt motion. It refers to an individual event, even a momentary one, realized intensely in the area of the FEELINGS & EMOTIONS.
ERLEBNIS
this type of experience is commonly known as an ordinary experience that affects the person in the level of emotion in a short period of time.
ERLEBNIS
It speaks of real experiences that are based on INDIVIDUAL HAPPENINGS that touched the feelings, picked up by the intellect, and given a connection among themselves and moreover inserted and integrated into the totality of life.
ERFAHRUNG
This kind of experience becomes a religious experience when the human reason, in the process of integrating, interpreting, evaluating and judging, is guided by FAITH.
ERFAHRUNG
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE= _____________+ ______________ + ___________________
FEELING, REFLECTION GUIDED BY FAITH, CONCRETE ACTION IN LIFE
is a subjective experience in which an individual came in contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine
Religious Experience
sometimes known as spiritual experience, sacred experience or mystical experience which is interpreted within a religious framework.
Religious Experience
They are considered real encounter with God or gods or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware.
Religious Experience
