Uwec Rels 100 exam 1

Religion

"To reconnect" a pattern of beliefs and common practices that enacts what is sacred in a community

8 characteristics in most beliefs

-belief system/ world view
-community of believers
-core stories
-rituals
-ethics
-emotional experiences
-material expression
-sacredness

5 demensions of religion

-emotional
-cognitive
-ritual: pilgrimage, myth
-aesthetic
-institutional

Pre-understanding

The state of ones understanding of reality with which one makes sense of ones new experiences

Polytheism

Belief in many gods

private religion

pattern of belief held by only one person

Secularism

life without religion. Members call them selves "nones"

Secularization hypotheses

Idea that science and education diminishes or ends religion in the modern world

cultural intelligence

the ability to understand, repect and deal with people of other cultures and religions

Pilgrimage

Travel to a special destination to increase ones devotion and/ or improve ones religious status

New Religion Movements (NRM's)

Religious groups that have artisan since the 19th century and now have sufficient size to merit study

Laity

main body of people who practice a religion

8 ways to study religion

-Theology: promoting religion you study
-religions Studies
-historical- critical methods: studying past using careful scholarly analysis
-psychology: Freud and jung
-sociology
-cultural anthropology
-women's study
-biology

phenomenology of religion

Study of religion through its observable practices ("phenomena")

Aetheism

Conviction that there is no god

New aetheism

Group of current atheists who have made sharp public attacks on religion

agnostic

One who believes that the existence of God is unknown and unknowable

Tolerance

Putting up with views of others that are opposed to ones own

transcendent

Beyond time and space; unlimited by the world

immanent

A devine force that exists within nature

Alter

Raised platform for religious rites/ sacrifices

aisle

a passageway between rows of seats

deity

a god or goddess

mystic

One who experiences God indirectly

Canon

Set of authoritative texts/ books; sacred scriptures

piety

Individual holiness

ascetic

One who leads a life of self-denial and little materialism

James Frazier theory

Religion attempts to influence/ control nature

Sigmund Freud theory

Religion helps us feel free to secure in an unsafe universe

Carl Jung Theory

Religion fills a need for individualization; personal fulfillment

Karl Marx Theory

Religion allows leaders to oppress the working class

divination

means "guess what" in French; shamans ability to tell the future

traditional religion

Present before colonization

primitive religion

Religion that is not derived from other religions; also called primal religion

Anism

Belief that individual spirits exist not only in people but also all things in nature

Totemism

Based on the idea that the spirit of ones primary source in nature provides the basis of tribal life

Manaism

belief in an impersonal spiritual power and energy that permeates the world as a whole

Shamanism

religion based on the work of shamans

small-scale religion

religions held by relatively small societies; ex. Judaism, Sikhism, Jainism

nature religion

Have a stronger connection to the natural environment than other religions

Indigenous Religion

A religion that is native to a place or region

First Nations

native groups who lived south of the Arctic region in Canada

Aboriginals

Indigenous peoples there "from the origin" of Australia and New Zealand

5 Challenges to study some religions

-lack of written sources
-hard to distinguish how far back some go
-main stream guilt; Genocide of entire populations
-miss representation in pop culture
-misuse of indigenous rituals

Noble Savage

Rousseau's term for a indigenous people who he held are naturally good

10 Common features in indigenous religions

-importance of place
-global distribution
-many gods and spirits
-continuing vitality
-influence by many cultures
-based on myth, story or orality
-our eyes towards practice then belief
-in group based
-the goodness of the world
-the roles of religious specials

cosmogonic myth

story about creation that helps to explain the origin of existence

etiological myth

story that explains how things have come to be as they are now

semihistorical myth

elaboration of an original happening, usually involving a tribal hero

trickster

God, spirit, human, or wily animal that plays tricks on people or otherwise behaves against conventional norms of behavior, often for the good of others

Lakota: location and amount

- black hills: the sacred place of creation/ life and the spirits of the dead are at rest there
- 7 tribal groups organized into 3 main population units

Lakota: spirit world

"Wakan Tanka" which created the universe

Lakota: Gods and spirits

"Wakanpi" who exersize power and control over everything. Acting as intermediates through which Wakan Tanka flows.

Lakota: 5 rituals

-vision quest
-sacred pipe
-sweat lodge
-peyote
-Sundance

Little big horn

1876 battle in Montana, Sioux and Cheyenne defeat US army

Ghost Dance

1880's movement looking for restoration of Indian life and departure of whites

Massacre at Wounded Knee

1890 shooting of a group of unarmed Sioux by army troops

Yoruba: high God

Olorun "ruler of the sky"

Yoruba: other gods

-orisha; the god who controls relations between earth and the high god
-ogun: highest Orisha and is the chief god of war, hunting and ironworking

Yoruba: religious specialists

-babalawo; "father of secrets" who is a male priest
-iyalawo; "mother of secrets" who is a female priest

Together giving people power and guidance to make their destined come true

Vodou: location

Based off of 9-12 million African slaves brought to Brazil and the Caribbean

Vodú definition

Both God and worship

Vodou: divinities

Loas; "divinities" or "mystery" ruling over the sky, earth and between

Vodou: two main groups of Gods

-Rada; Derived from the old kingdom
-Petro; comes from the name of a Vodou priest

Vodou: 2 types of worship

-possession cult; religion in which the gods inhabit people and speak through them usually during rituals
-Baron Samed; "lord of death" who is the head Loa in the vodou culture of the dead

Vodou: Gris-Gris

small cloth bag containing items gathered under the direction of a god for the protection of the owner

Exoticism

Distorting something in another culture by portraying it as strange or exciting

Huichol/ Wixarika

- huichol tribe
- about 35,000 people
- in Mexico/ Guatemala
- last indigenous group to have maintained pre-Columbia's traditions

Judaism

Historic religion of the Jewish people

Hebrews

Name of the ancestors of the Jews during patriarchal times through the exodus

Israelites

Name for ancestors of the Jews during the time period of the Judges and during the first temple period

Judaism numbers

- 13 million world wide
- concentrated in New York and Israel

Hebrew Bible: 3 parts

- Torah: "teachings" describing how to follow God, first 5 books
- Nevi'im: "prophets" describing how to return to God
- Keturim: how to talk to God

Chai

"Living" or "to live" referring to God who alone lives perfectly

Menorah

A candelabrum with a central stem bearing seven candles. The oldest symbol in Judaism.

Star of David

6 points, A symbol of Zionist but now modern nation of Israel

Creation to Ancient Israel

C.A. 2000 B. C.

First Temple Period

950-586 B.C.
Era of Israelite history until destruction of Jerusalem

Second Temple Period

ca. 539 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.
Dispersion of Jews outside ancient Israel territory

Revolts and Rabbis Period

70 C.E. to Ca 650

Jews under Islamic and Christian rule

C.a. 650 to 1800

Emancipation and Diversity period

1800 to 1932

Holocaust and after math period

1932 to present

Pharisees

Lay movement of Torah teachers who later became religious leaders and developed the oral traditions of the Torah

Essenes

Selaratist Ultra-Torah- observant movement probably founded the Qumran settlement during the 2nd temple period

Maccabean Revolt

Rebellion against Hellenistic Greek rulers led by Judas Maccabeus and his sons

Hanukkah

Winter festival commemorating the rededication of the Temple in 164 B.C.E.

Rabbis

Teachers of the law and successors of the Pharisees who eventually gained authority over Judaism

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice against Jews

Babylonian Talmud

Jewish law code, a compilation of the "oral Torah"

Sephardic

Jews in medieval and modern times living in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain

Kabbalah

System of Jewish mysticism emphasizing the immediate, personal, and emotional experience of God

Ashkenazi

Jews whose traditions originated in central and Eastern Europe

Hasidism

Jewish mystical movement that stresses joyful emotion, which arose in the 1700s

The Jewish Reform Movement

Liberal!!!! Lead by Abraham Geiger; was the first rise of Judaism. Synagogues became temples and gave up in traditional dress

The Jewish Conservative Movement

Founded by Zecharias Frankel; middle ground between reform and orthodox movements

The Jewish Orthodox Movement

Lead by Sampson Raphael Hirsch; more conservative movement

Masorti

"Traditionalist," name of Conservative movement in Europe and Israel

Zionism

Modern organization promoting large Jewish immigration into Palestine

Shoah

"Destruction," Hebrew term for the Holocaust