The Nature of Religion

Question 1

Dualism

Answer 1

dualism is the positing of two ultimate principles in opposition to each other (often good god vs. evil devil) (Zoroastrianism)

Question 2

Pluralism

Answer 2

the granting of equal support, acceptance, or influence in decision-making to more than one religious group

Question 3

Religion

Answer 3

Often defined in reference to Christianity as piety.

• “The need for formal affirmations of belief (not in Shintoism)
• A distinction between the sacred and the secular (Not applicable to Confucianism)
• The idea of adhering to a single religion (Not applicable in southeast Asia)

Question 4

“Great” “World” Religions

Answer 4

Must have:
- Historically influential
- Still living
- Have an established literature or body of doctrine
(Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism)

Question 5

Non “World Religions Categories

Answer 5

• Indigenous peoples (Tend to be orally based)
• Extinct (Religions of Greece)
• Much more recent (Baha’l)

Question 6

Defining Religion by Exclusion

Answer 6

Exclusion

• Ultimate concern for a supposed religion to relate to meaning of universe and life
• Philosophy is more concerned with rational and intellectual. Instead of emotional and ritual expression

Question 7

Defining Religion by Provisional

Answer 7

‘[A] sense of power beyond the human that is
apprehended rationally as well as emotionally,
appreciated corporately as well as individually,
celebrated ritually and symbolically as well as discursively, and
transmitted in conventionalized forms as a tradition that offers people
an interpretation of experience,
a view of life and death,
a guide to conduct, and
an orientation to meaning and purpose in the world.’

Question 8

Anima in Latin

Answer 8

“Breath” or “soul” - refers to belief in spiritual being

Question 9

Evangelizing Animists

Answer 9

Capacity for Gospel

• Supernatural
• right and wrong
• salvation
• reconciliation between human beings on a basis of religious experience