Week 1 - History and Theories of Religion Flashcards
Why is religion universal?
every culture has some sort of religion
What is religion
originally refered to as “fear” or reverence for the gods -> later turned into the rites offered to them
2 orgins of the word religion
1) “relegere” -> to gather things together or to pass over things repeatedly
2) “religare” -> to bind things together
What are prehistoric signs of religious thought?
- burials w/ stone tools
- shells
- animal bones
- cave paintings w/ animals and abstract images
- Venus figurine scultures
what are the 4 periods of prehistoic orgins of religious development
- Paliolithic
- Cro-Magnon
- Mesolithic
- Neolithic
The Paleolithic
believed to be the start of religion with early humans
2 examples of religion in Paleolithic
1) taking deliberate and meticoulous care of burying the dead, with ceremony
2) dead buried in fetal position -> “return of the womb”
Why did people not bury their dead during Paleolithic?
- didn’t have the tools to dig big enough holes for bodies to be protected from scavengers and will attract prey
- no settlements yet but there’s early signs
- lived nomadic lifestyle, so didn’t have reason to bury dead bc no reson to come back and visit them
Characteristics of Cro-Magnons period
- idols of female deities representing fertility
- shells shaped as portal in burial sites
- ochreous red powder on body
Mesolithic Period
transitional age where ice sheets canishing and shift from nomadic to village life
Changes during the Neolithic period
- early forms of agriculture
- domestication of animals
- advances in arts of poetry, plaiting, weaving and sewing
- establishment of settled communities w/ growing population
- invention of wheeled cart
- first surgery
Religious transformations during Neolithic period
- Mother/Great Goddess associated w/ creation and regeneration
- female divine power shift: birthing and nature -> watering, tending, and protecting vegetation
Important events during the Early Historic Period
- rise of early trade routes
- invention of writing in Sumer and Egypt
- invention of wheel
- technological advancements
- Pyramid Texts (oldest known religious text)
- Vedas (India) composed
- Greek Translation of Hebrew Tanakh
The Axial Age
broad changes and parallel development in religious and philosophical thought
3 people related to the Greek study of religion
- Herodotus
- Epicurus
- Stoics
Herodotus
- father of religion
- took chronology of the past seriously
Epicurus
- radical critic of religion
- sought to catalog and explain sense of sacred
Stoics
believed there was common denominator of sacred behind all religion
Roman study of religion
- Cicero -> first to use term “religion” in relation to “proper performance of rites in veneration of the gods”
- Seneca, Tacitus and Julius Caesar interested in study
- after Christianity emerged, study of other religions neglected bc church more concerned w/ own mission and survival
2 developments across the world
- technological, intellectual and aesthetic development thriving in China, India, The Arab World, and the Italian City States
- land and sea routes connected cities to foster cultural and economic exchange (ex: Silk Road)
What are the 3 major events leading to Europe’s rise to power?
- China withdrawing from world trade networks
- exploratory voyage of Vasco Da Gama around southern tip of Africa
- Columbus’ exploratory voyage to Western Hemisphere
Gutenberg
invented moveable type printing press which had huge impact on European culture -> books, pamphlets, etc now available
Gutenberg Bible
- earliest major book printed in Europe using mass produced metal
- fostered escalation in literacy and education among common people, which stimulated independent though, social dialouge and debate
What was traded during the “Atlantic World”
- sugar
- slaves
- gold
- silver
What was an integral part of the European expansion?
spreading Christianity
What is The Protestant Reformation?
- a movement in Europe to oppose the corruption of Catholicism
- divided Christianity between Catholicism and a number of Protestant denominations
Martian Luther
started the Protestant Reform
Westphalia Peace Accord
established national boundaries in Europe and ended political dominance of the Holy Roman Empire