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Taught by Professor Burchett at W&M. Midterm date: 10/19/2023. ( • • • ) = do not have information... CONTACT ME SO I CAN ADD IT!
Krishna Jayanti (Jamashtami)
A Hindu holiday celebrating the birth of the god Krishna.
(Krishna is an avatar/incarnation of Vishnu, known as the god of (theatre, child’s) play.)
To celebrate, members fast and perform worship (pūjā).
Paryushan (Paryushan Parva)
A Jain holiday, the most important holy day. The holiday lasts 8-10 days.
(Paryushan: seeking forgiveness for all harm of all living things/creatures.)
To celebrate, members take vows of austerity (no fresh fruit/vegetables, celibacy, etc.), perform inward reflection, and vow to purify negativity & not repeat mistakes.
Rosh Hashanah
A Jewish holiday celebrating the New Year.
(It is the ten day period of penitence cumulating in Yom Kippur.)
To celebrate, members blow the shofur (ram’s horn trumpet), partake in big feasts, consume apples dipped in honey, and go to a special service on the first day.
Yom Kippur
A Jewish holiday, it is the holiest day. It is the last of the ten days of atonement.
(Highlighted themes of brotherhood and abandoning strife/jealousy.)
To celebrate, members wear white clothing, partake in prayer services in synagogue & confess sins, participate in asceticism (fasting, no leather shoes, no bathing/washing, no anointing with perfumes/lotions, no sexual relations).
Fall Equinox
The moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator (day/night are of equal length).
Marks the end of summer, the beginning of autumn.
Mabon
A Neopagan/Wiccan holiday celebrating the Fall Equinox.
(“Pagan Thanksgiving.“)
Celebrates balance/harmony of nature, and thanks for the abundance of Mother Earth.
Sukkot
A Jewish holiday celebrating the Feast of the Tabernacles. It lasts seven days.
(An agricultural harvest festival of thanksgiving & a commemoration of the 40-year period wherein the children of Israel wandered in the desert post-slavery in Egypt.)
To celebrate, members enter (and may eat/reside in) a temporary booth (“tabernacle”). There are four plants in the Torah that are also used in celebrations today. Done as a memorial to the Holy Temple & an act of symbolizing a.) God’s control over the direction of the universe, b.) unity/inclusivity of the Jewish community.
Mawlid al-Nabi
A Muslim holiday celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.
(NOTE: conservative Muslims oppose the celebration because they deem it as “too novel/new.“)
To celebrate, members recite poems/stories/songs about Muhammad & his life.
Navratri & Dassehra
[Navratri] A Hindu holiday celebrating the goddess Durga, specifically her history over the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
To celebrate, members worship over nine days, have stage decorations, perform legend recitations, have story enactments, and chant sacred scripture. (Durgā-pūjā: classical/folk dances, feasts & fasts.)
[Dassehra] A Hindu holiday celebrating the god Rām and his defeat over Ravana.
To celebrate, there are Ram-lila performances (…).
Axial Age
Date: 800-200 BCE.
In four distinct regions (China, India, Israel, Greece), greater thought & religion came into being.
China: Confucianism, Daoism.
India: Hinduism, Buddhism.
Israel: monotheism.
Greece: philosophical rationalism.
Axial Age systems were aware of a transpersonal reality (eg: God, Dao, etc.).
Polytheism as “Implicit Comparative Practice”
Underlying polytheistic assumption of, “different people(s) worship different deities.“
(Name, shape, function of deities.)
Revolutionary Monotheism
Capitalized “God” v.s. lowercase “gods”…
(Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, around the sun god Aten; Moses and the ancient Israelites…)
“True” & “false” religions.
Eg: Jews & Gentiles, Christians & Pagans, Muslims & Infidels/Unbelievers.
Pantheism
God is the universe, the universe is the manifestation of God.
Panentheism
God is in [the] universe; is and transcends it.
Orthodoxy
(The idea of a “correct” or “proper” belief/doctrine.)
Orthopraxy
(The idea of a “correct” or “proper” practice.)
Plato’s Cave Allegory
Insider (those who have grown up in a religion) v.s. Outsider beliefs and opinions with regards to religion.
Full allegory: “… a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners' reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects under the sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason […]“ -Wikipedia
Expectations of World-Religions-Paradigm [WRP]
Religions are bound/marked/discrete entities.
Religion is above belief in [a] set of principles.
Has doctrines & practices that are well-defined.
Each one sets out what its believers/devotees think & do.
An outworking of a particular authoritative set of religious ideas.
Religions as “Belief Systems” (& Why Problematic?)
Ritual > belief.
Beliefs are rarely systematically/coherently connected to the whole.
Behavior of the individual conflicts belief.
Members of traditions rarely accept all “official” beliefs/doctrines of their tradition.
Human behavior is more often based on something other than stated beliefs.
Lived Religion (Features of this Methodology)
From belief/texts to practice/behavior emphasis… Action v.s. thought.
The heart should be people.
Elite/organized institutions & systems often differ from the practice/thinking of individuals.
“Official“ v.s. individual, everyday behaviors/attitudes.
Syncretism
Religious hybridity/fusion/amalgamation, whether intentional or not.
Functionalism
A method that examines the psychological/social uses of a religion(s).
Generally avoids any normative discussion of a religions’ truth claims.
Hermeneutics of Suspicion
Approaching a subject in a skeptical light to evaluate what its true function is (in its respective religion).
The Vedas
Timeless divine revelation, not of human authorship.
Composed in Sanskrit.
Transmitted orally for 1,000 years.
Earliest scriptural foundation of Hinduism.
Sacred & have authority.
The Vedas’ importance comes from their sounds, which brings/sustains an ordered universe/cosmos into being.
Renaissance Humanism
Emphasis on the virtues of intellectual freedom & individual expression.
Martin Luther
Posts his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517.
Key Ideas & Impacts of Protestant Reformation
Key ideas…
“Faith/grace/scripture alone,” aka sola scriptura.
Luther’s arguments…
God’s exclusive role in salvation.
Humans’ spiritual helplessness.
Moral bankruptcy of the church.
Exclusive authority of scripture.
Challenged/threatened authority.
(Distinction between “religion,“ “superstition,“ and “magic.”)
Impacts…
“Religions“ in the plural, “religion“ in general.
Religion v.s. magic/superstition.
Individualism (interpretation, priests, etc.).
Stress on faith/belief.
Words deprived of power/spiritual presence.
Emphasis on unbiased objectivity/critical mentality.
Secularizing & national effects (fragmentation of unifying Holy Roman matrix…).
Protestant work ethic & the spirit of Capitalism.
Wars of Religion
Date: 1524-1648.
Birth of “religions” in the plural.
Key Ideas of the Enlightenment
“Age of reason,” emphasis on reason & individualism.
Rational religion (God as a debatable hypothesis).
Nature as self-sufficient/an impersonal machine.
David Hume
Sought historical origins & natural causes of religion.
The Natural History of Religion: religion is subject to study/explanation, anthropomorphism & fetishism.
Immanuel Kant
Questioning, “What is Enlightenment?“
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.“
Religion v.s. science (knowledge on the world but leaves the door open for God/religion).
Natural phenomena study (science) v.s. faith/morals/values/experiences (religion).
Natural Religion
Thinking about God in a way that relies on the study of the natural world as an expression of God’s nature/wisdom/intentions.
Romanticism
Date: 18th-19th century.
Artistic, literary, and cultural movement in the West/Europe.
Displays the limitations/negative impacts of rationality/science… a reaction to the Enlightenment.
Heightened personal experience/imagination/emotion.
David F. Strauss
The idea of, “treat the Bible as literature.”
The history in and/or of the Bible.
Orientalism (Orientalist Stereotypes)
“Standard Orientalism.“
Irrational, primitive, uncivilized, polytheism/magic, religious, theocratic/autocratic, non-white (“impure“), feminine, barbarous, traditional.
“Romantic Orientalism.“
Mystical/spiritual, family-oriented, exotic, titillating, connections to nature, meaning, “noble savage” concept.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (Impacts)
( • • • )
Social Darwinism
Justified imperialism, racism, free-market capitalism.
Eg: “survival of the fittest.“
Max Muller
The founder of comparative religions, i.e. science of religions.
First World Parliament of Religions (1893)
Date: Chicago, 1893.
Tried to display Christianity’s superiority. Failed.
Features of Indigenous Religious Traditions
Key features of traditions…
Oral (not textual): oriented around the possibility of regular interchange with the spiritual world (ongoing revelation).
Practice (not belief).
Local: coterminous with Native collections (nations/tribes/villages/etc.), the community is the basic unit & they typically do not make universal claims (conform to particular life ways tied to particular landscapes).
Space (not time): fundamental relationship to lands/waters/sacred places.
Doctrine of Discovery
European monarchs, due to their Christianity/being Christian, enjoyed absolute title to lands ““discovered.””
At best, Native Americans had aboriginal rights of occupancy/tenancy due to a lack of Christianity and “religion.”
Animism
The non-human world has intelligence/spirit.
(The entire universe is alive according to Native Americans; no distinction between “human” & “non-humans.”)
Human/Non-Human (Human/Nature) Binary
Human (mind/reason) v.s. nature/non-human (soft, can be gendered like Mother Nature).
“Science, rationality”: the natural world is mindless, meaningless, composed of material objects.
“Primitive, religion/Indigenous”: the natural world has agency, intelligence.
Myth v.s. History
Myth: viewed as made-up, fabricated, simplistic, childish, irrational.
History: viewed as “what really happened in the past,” constructed through archival/textual/archaeological evidence.
Insider-Outsider Dynamic
“Who’s perspective is more important/valuabe?“
BOTH are important…
(Kripal 104.)
Ritual (Relationship with Beliefs/Ideas/Values)
Ritual: ceremonial actions characterized by a self-conscious formality/traditionalism; deliberate, self-conscious “doing” of highly symbolic actions.
Inculcate & express certain ideas/assumptions about the world.
Shape how we think/act (framework).
Beliefs/thoughts/values produced in & through rituals/actions.
Ritual & Myth (Relationship)
( • • • )
Calendrical Rites
They give order & social meaning to the passage of time.
[Seasonal]: time is ordered through periodic/predictably reoccurring rituals that often accompany a change in light/weather/labor.
[Commemorative]: remembering & celebrating important historical events.
Rites of Passage (3 Stages)/Life-Cycle Rites
Stages: birth, coming of age, death.
Often includes separation, liminality, and re-incorporation.
In many religions/cultural traditions, life is structured by a series of ritual passages or obligations.
Rites of Exchange and Communion
Humans make offerings to the divine with expectations of something in return.
Differs per religion.
(Eg: sacrifice, divination, etc.)
Myths as “Telescopes” & “Microscopes”
( • • • )
Hindu Demographics
Approximately 1.2 billion Hindus worldwide.
Reside largely in India & Nepal.
India’s population is 80% Hindu.
Dharma
“That which upholds” the integrity of the universe.
Each thing has its own place, contributing its dharma [ritual duties, moral obligations] to the total Dharma [Truth, Order] of the cosmos.
The essential foundation of all things, including a.) cosmic/eternal principle, b.) human behavior in line with that principle.
Purusha Myth (Rig Veda 10.90)
“The Man,“ ultimate reality.
(Purusha = Brahman… synonymous.)
Verse 12 & the creation of a hierarchy.
Varna (4 Varnas)
The social classes within the Hindu hierarchy…
Includes: Brahmin (priestly/scholarly), Kshatriya (warriors/nobles/rulers), Vaishya (merchants/businessmen/farmers), Shudra (manual laborers/serfss), Dalit (“untouchable“).
Jāti
Caste; the specific form/class upon being born.
Brahman
Hindu god of creation (?).
Ātman
The divine/true/eternal self.
Samsāra
The endless cycle of birth, death, re-birth.
Karma
The moral law of cause & effect, action & reaction.
Moksha
Liberation/salvation from samsāra.
The Upanishads
Sacred texts of Hinduism that display the ideas of samsāra/moksha/karma/dharma.
Bhagavad Gītā
The Hindu scripture featuring themes of resolution & acting (doing dharmic duty) without attachment to or a selfish desire for the fruits of action(s).
(Eg: featuring stories with the warrior Arjuna and the god Krishna.)
Three Yogas (of Bh. Gītā)
Karma Yoga (action).
Selfless actions.
Jnana Yoga (knowledge).
Meditation to realize the divine self within (i.e. Atman).
Bhakti Yoga (devotion).
Self-surrender in personal divine relationship.
Rāmāyana
Core Hindu scripture describing the story/journey of Rāma.
(Helpful etymology: Rāma + āyana, where Rāma is a prince and “the ideal man,” and āyana meaning “story.“)
Main Streams of Hindu Theistic Devotion
Vishnu.
Shiva.
Devi / Shakti.
Rāma
“The ideal man.“
Truth, public duty > emotions, personal concerns.
Krishna
( • • • )
Pūjā
Hindu worship.
Murti
A form/image of a deity.
Darshan
Seeing (and/or making eye contact with) the divine.
Aarti
Honoring a deity with light.
(Also commonly spelled: arti or ārati.)
Prasād
A food offering to a deity.
Tanakh
The anthology of books that comprise the Hebrew Bible.
Torah (Written & Oral)
Written Torah: Pentateuch, Nevi’im, Ketuvim.
These are sacrosanct scriptures. They do not change.
Oral Torah: Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash.
These are used to guide the practice of the Judaic religion; rabbis especially use them. They are more “flexible.”
Pentateuch
The first five books attributed to Moses.
Genesis.
Exodus.
Leviticus.
Numbers.
Deuteronomy.
Mitzvah (s.), Mitzvot (pl.)
Commandments given by God to the Israelites in order to keep them in the right covenant.
Covenant (Berith)
An agreement between two parties.
For Judaism, this covenant (agreement) was between the Israelites & God.
Adam & Eve and Israelites (how are their respective stories similar and different)
( • • • )
Abraham
A man who, when spoken to by God, introduced the covenant of the flesh (circumcision) to the Israelites.
Moses
A prophet in the Tanakh.
Received the Ten Commandments from the Lord God.
Judaic tradition teaches that Moses authored the Torah (i.e. Pentateuch).
Background, biography: as adopted by an Egyptian princess and was the leader of the Israelites.
The Exodus Story
( • • • )
Ten Commandments
Given to Moses by the Lord God.
(Heavily sets up values, moral codes in Judaism.)
Includes (heavily paraphrased)…
Value no other gods before me.
Do not misuse (take in vain) the name of Lord your God.
Do not commit idolatry.
Remember & keep the sabbath day holy.
Honor your mother & father.
Don’t murder.
Don’t commit adultery.
Don’t steal.
Don’t give false testimony against your neighbor.
Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Passover / Passover Seder
Passover: God commands Moses to tell the Israelites to use lamb’s blood to mark above their doors so that the Angel of Death passes over them. In the night, the Angel of Death passes over the houses in Egypt, where the Egyptian Pharaoh’s firstborn son dies. He then orders the Israelites to leave, ultimately releasing them from slavery.
Passover Seder, or the ritual meal on Passover night, includes unleavened bread.
First Temple
Who built: King Solomon.
When, who destroyed: 586 BCE, Babylonians.
What after: Persians conquer, then let them go.
Second Temple
When built: 500 BCE.
When, who destroyed: 70 CE, Romans.
What after: scattering of Jews, the Holy Land is lost.
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbis are “master(s) of interpreting the Torah.”
Talmud
The central text that Rabbis use.
Jewish Demographics
In U.S.A., ~50% of Jews consider themselves religious and/or affiliated with a synagogue.
(Jewish ≠ Judaic.)
Shema Yisrael
A morning prayer in synagogue, it highlights themes of creation, revelation, redemption.
(Deuteronomy 6:4.)
The Amidah
The core of every worship service.
19 blessings total, it includes praise, request (personal, communal, acceptance of prayer), and thanksgiving.
(Silent in conservative/orthodox settings, spoken or chanted aloud in reform/reconstructionist.)
Charisma
“A certain quality of an individual’s personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.“ -Max Weber
Strategies for Institutionalizing Charisma
Role, office.
Scripture.
Law.
Materiality (eg: sacred buildings, relics).
Max Weber’s Ideal Types of Religious Leaders
Magicians: charisma, no definite revelation.
Prophets: religious doctrine, divine commandment; reformer or new former of [a] religion.
Priests: cult; doctrine & ethics; systematize man’s relation to the divine.
Routinization (of Charisma)
The process in which original charisma fades (with the absence of its source), and is incorporated into a system of tradition.
I.e. leader death leads to succession issues, which can be solved by a.) charismatic qualification, b.) consecration of another with that charisma, c.) the belief in hereditary charisma.
Meister Eckhart
( • • • )
The Church v.s. the Mystic (types of religiosity)
Spectrum of religion… Individual <–> institutionalized community.
Church: authoritative institution, worldview through public rituals/doctrines.
Mystic: direct/personal encounter(s) with God & the sacred; fails in organizing into tight, well-formed communities.
St. Joseph of Copertino
( • • • )
Miracles
A story of the transcendent breaking into history that gives witness to the truth of religious tradition.
Daniel Dunglas (D.D.) Home
( • • • )
Note 
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