Topic 1: Introduction to the History of World Religions

 

I. What is Religion?

    A. Definition

            1. Robert Ellwood

               - A bridge between the conditioned and unconditioned

                    realities by providing windows and doors to the

                   Ultimate

 

            2. William James

                - Religion consists of the belief that there is an

                    unseen order and that our supreme good lies

                    in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto.

 

    B. Forms of Religious Expression

            1. Theoretical

                 - what is said: myth and doctrine

 

            2. Practical

                 - what is done: practices

 

            3. Sociological

                 - kinds of groups and leadership

 

            4. Ethics

                 - how a person should behave

 

            5. Religious Experience

                 - a feeling of oneness or closeness with God, of

                     conversion and inner purification, of prayers

                     answered, of love for all beings

 

            6. Art

                 - anything crafted for the sake of beauty or its

                     truth-bearing capacity that can provide

                     "doors and windows" to the Divine

 

II. Early Evidence of Religious Belief and Practice

    A. Neanderthal Religion (c. 125,000 – 30,000 years ago)

            1. animal bones and weapons found in burial sites

                 indicate offerings made to gods or belief in an

                 after life

 

            2. bear skulls found in burial sites suggest worship

                 of bears

 

    B. Cro-Magnum Religion - Homo Sapiens Sapiens

            (c.100,000 years ago and replaced Neanderthals

            c. 30,000 years ago)

            1. Burials

                 > sites included tools, weapons, ornaments,

                      painted bones suggesting belief in gods and/or

                 > some corpses placed in a fetal position

                          suggesting rebirth

 

            2. Cave Paintings

                 - attempts to predict or bring about a successful hunt

                 - used for initiation rites

 

            3. Female Figurines

                 - suggests worship of a fertility goddess

 

    C. Neolithic Religion (c. 7,000 – 3,000 B. C. E.)

            1. Development of Agriculture > religions focused

                 on fertility and mythology personifying the sun,

                 moon, stars and seasons

                 > Rise of Patriarchy - Dominance of Male Gods

 

            2. Elaborate Burial Sites

                 - suggests the belief that the ruler would

                     continue to command in an afterlife

 

            3. Megaliths

                 - believed to be connected with a cult of the

                     dead, ancestor worship

 

III. Common Characteristics of Basic Religions

    A. Animism

            - belief that everything in the natural world has a soul or

                and people are not the only possessors of souls

            - these spirits can communicate with humans, be

               flattered or offended by them, and can hurt or

               help them

 

    B. The Gods and Spirits

            1. Deus otiosus (resting god)

 

            2. High God

 

            3. Ancestral Spirits

                 - the souls of deceased members of the family

                     who continue to take an active interest in

                     their communities and are capable of hurting

                     or helping the living

 

    C. Initiation Rites (Rites of Passage)

            - ceremonies performed at important times of a

                 person’s life: birth, puberty, marriage and death

 

    D. Shamans

            - a person who has powers of spirit control,

                divination, healing, and contacting the gods and

                spirits usually through elaborate performances

                and in a trance

 

    E. Magic

            - an attempt to control nature or influence the spirits

                or gods who control nature to help one's people

                or hurt enemies

            1. sympathetic or imitative magic                      

 

            2. fetish

                > an object that is used to bring good fortune or

                    ward off evil

 

    F. Divination

            - an attempt to predict the future through

            1. rituals                      

 

            2. Prophets

 

    G. Taboo

            - an action prohibited because it is deemed that it will

                 cause the spirits to bring harm to the individual or

                 group

 

    H. Totems

            - an identification of a group (tribe, clan) with

                creatures or objects in nature involving a sense of

                kinship

 

    I. Sacrifice

            - offerings made to the spirits often to gain favor or

                 establish a bond

 

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