Religious Studies 1

People and intro

Thomas Broughton

1750s, christian cleric

In a moment of crisis for Christianity in 18th century

Tries to rationalize Christianity(its about revelation not just empiricism)

Very biased in his work

Hannah Adams

1817

Argues for Christianity in a more subtle way than Broughton

Says there’s value in other religions as well (Hierarchy; Christianity is still best)

Tries not to pass judgement but critique religion more objectively

Akbar

Muslim Ruler but allowed for peaceful dialogue about religion to try to discern the truth.

Ruler in India

Aztecs

Thought Gods were things to collect/use

Had a completely different respect/notion of God from western cultures

Edward B Tyler

Primitive Culture

His theory of origin of religion says that the “soul” came from dreams which led to people projecting these entities into Gods and worshipping them.

Animism(Everything has a soul, including plants)

He believes that religion came about not through personal experience but through logic and reasoning.

Creates a foundation for origin of religion debates

James Frazer

The Golden Bough

Argued the origin of religion/God came from the inability to manipulate magic.

There we can’t manipulate natural world, someone must be able to logic

David Friedrich Strauss

Jesus Critically Examined

Argued that the gospels weren’t literal but rather fully mythical/theological, necessary to unite the early Christian church.

Argues that the gospels were written to prove OT prophecies

Although his study doesn’t reach modern standards, it opens the scholarly world for debate

Scala Naturae

Great Chain of Being

The idea that there is hierarchy in creation(humans being at the top)

Nicolas of Cusa

Christian Apologist

Argued that humans are exceptional creatures(Christ as example)

Anthropocentrism(belief that human beings are the most important entities in universe)

Lewis H Morgan

Savory to Barbarism to Civilization

Herbert Spencer

Created social darwinism

Getting rid of humans who are inferior/less evolved. Try to create perfect human being.

Ethnographic Upstreaming

Using present day information about a certain culture/religion and tracing it back to try to figure out the origin.

Due to a fragmented history/lack of information of origin