Western Religion Exam 1 Flashcards
How does religion arise from the human condition? x4
- Fear of death
- hope for afterlife
- control over nature
- uncertainty
spirituality vs organized religion
- Your own spiritual journey
- A group’s belief of the same spritiual journey
How Western religion has been shaped by historical circumstances
Jews being exiled from Spain. Changed their views led to mysticism the Kaballah and Hasidism. The holocaust.
Zoroastrians central to Western religion
- Belief that there is one universial supreme power.
- Active participation through good deeds.
Why we can’t label jews as a race? x2
- don’t share one common ancestor
- jews have been dispersed throught the world for 2 thousand yrs.
Inconsistencies in Genesis
- who created heaven and earth. God?
- or God and Jesus?
Documentary hypothesis purpose?
- Wellhausen,
- to reconcile inconsitencies.
What were Wellhausens 4 narratives
- **J= ** Yahweh, 950 BCE S. Kingdom of Judah
- **E= ** Elohim, 850 BCE Israel
- D= Deuteronomy, 600 BCE Jerusalem
- P= Priestly 500 BCE Exile into Babylon
2 Exiles the Jews persued
- Babylon
- King Solomon’s Temple was destroyed
- Israel split into north and south
- North was Judah,
- South was Bethlehem
What and When Was Macabean revolt? What Holiday?
- Revolt against the Greeks- traditionalist vs assimilation
- 167-160 BCE
- Hanukah
Pharisees
- hypocrits. Interested in outward form of ritual than inner substance.
- middle class, landowners, skilled workers.
Zeolots
- Bandits
- rebels against the Romans
- Comitted suicide at Masada
Samaritans
- Guardian
- rejected the prophets and writings of the hebrew bible
- “True religion” of the Israelites
70 CE What happened?
- The Great Revolt against Rome.
- Destruction of second temple
- Good deed is replaced by sacrifice
- Harmony with Greek philosophy
- Jews lost political power until 1948
What happened at Masada, What Jewish group?
- Jew’s committed suicide when realized they had been defeated by Roman Empire. The good deed was sacrificing their life
- Zealots
Judaism Purity Laws
- eat animals that are considered clean
- Husbands were prohibited to have intercourse with a menstruating woman
Moses Maimonide 1134-1204 CE
- no literal bible
- no confict between faith and reason
- Aristotelian tradition.
1492 CE- Spark of mystical movements
- Jews kicked out of Spain
- Moved to Turkey and Balkan countries where they were treated better
- Led to
Baal Shem Tov
- founder of tzaddik
Tzaddik
righteous person
Baal Shem Tov’s spiritual Message
- best way through communing with god was through humility, good deed, prayer, and joy
When Hasidism spread to Latvia and Lithuania, how did it change
- fusion of Talmud Judaism and Hassidic Pietism
- Known as Chabad- Wisdom/ insight / knowledge
Shema Instructions
- Love the lord with all your heart
- repeat morning noon and night
- to your children
- indoors and outdoors
Solemn feast of Yom Kippur
A day of Atonement. Asking for forgiveness asking your neighbors for foriveness
Passover Seder
- Celebration of journey to egypt
- Eat standing
- God came to moses and let the people out
Passover Haggadah
the reading of the story
Reform Jews
- non fundamentalist.
- Update
- dietary and purity laws were optional.
- Willingness to change to conform
Conservative Jews
- Pary in all hebrew
- Maintain jewish tradition of service
Orthodox Jews
- Fundamentalist
- strong stance in government
- strict kosher
- Judaism passed down maternally
Reconstructionist Jews
- Humanistic moral teachings
- Hassids
- Do good deeds
Theodor Herzl 1860-1905 on assimilation
- Jews must have their own land and political state.
- Developing a homeland not just for jews but for the world
Why was Hitler’s campaign against the jews effective
- That economic woes were to be blamed on the jews
Emil Fackenheim’s duty
- must be remembered and never repeated
- People of Israel must look to their own survival
- Live as Jews so that Jewishness can never be exterminated.
Holocaust and Israel linked
- A Place in the world where Jews can be safe
Cunningham on Religion without a supreme being
- Practicing rituals
- repeated at specific times
- independent search for sacred through experiences
