Religious Studies - Exam 3

What is the human problem (in general)?

There is a problem, something is wrong in human society.

What is the human problem and according to Stoicism?

No control over our destinies. 

What is the cause of the problem according to Stoicism?

Ignorance of the grand plan

What is the solution to the problem according to Stoicism?

Control (emotional) reactions to what is out of our control.

What is the problem according to Christianity?

Human propensity for evil (drawn to evil things).

What is the cause of the problem according to Christianity?

Disobedience/The Fall

What is the solution to the problem according to Christianity?

God has saved humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. 

What are the theories of atonement?

1. Ransom - God ransoms human souls by sending Jesus as payment. “Fish hook theory”

2. Satisfaction - Sin offends God’s honor

   1. Ending the offense and offering something extra.

3. Penal substitution - Sin makes God angry and sends Jesus to bear the punishment we all deserve.

4. Moral influence - Jesus reveals God’s love by willingly sacrificing himself, thereby causing us to become more loving and turn back to God.

What are objective theories?

Salvation happens outside of human history (no human action required); happens once and for all (theories 1,2,&3)

What are subjective theories?

Requires human change; happens individually. (Only Theory 4)

What is the problem according to Buddhism?

Suffering (dukkha): Nothing is permanent.

What is the cause of the problem according to Buddhism?

Clinging to/desiring impermanent things as if they are permanent.

What is the solution of the problem according to Buddhism?

Follow the Eightfold path

What is The Fall?

The moment or condition of corrupted human nature.

What is the Catholic Theology of The Fall?

It is bad, introduces the capacity to sin.

No catastrophic.

Humans retain reason and the ability to know and do the good.

What is the Protestant Theology of The Fall?

It was a disaster.

We can’t not sin.

All goodness is erased.

What does the phrase “The Problem of Evil” mean? (why evil is a problem for many religions)

It represents not just one single problem, but a cluster of issues arising from an attempt to relate to a diverse set of experiences to notions of sacred realities. 

Every religion has their own set of problems (evil) that they face.

How does the Deuteronomist Principle solve the problem of evil?

Suffering is never unjust/undeserved.

Suffering is punishment/teachable moment.

How does the Sovereignty of God solve the problem of evil?

We can’t fathom God’s way.

How does the Consolation of the Promise solve the problem of evil?solv

Eventually everything will be solved.

People will get what they deserve in an afterlife.

How does Dualism solve the problem of evil?

Evil exists because there is a powerful evil force.

What is Moral evil?

Evil resulting from the misuse of free will o

What is Natural evil?

Evil that results from the operation of natural processes in such a way that no human can be help morally accountable for. 

Views of the Social Gospel Movement

Improve lives and create Heaven on Earth. (Kingdom of God).

Return of the Soul

Soul is freed upon death to return immediately to God.

The soul never dies

bodies are bad

happens individually and automatically.

Resurrection

Bodies are seen as good

Requires God’s action

Happens once and for all people at the same time.

Soul-making Theodicy

Evil of some sort is required in order to create the kind of environment that would facilitate our moral and spiritual growth.

Free-Will Theodicy

Without the knowledge of how to bring about good or evil, we would not have the ability to do either. We thereby lack the freedom to act in a good or bad way.

Natural law theodicy

The natural evil that befall humans and animals are the unavoidable by-products of

Individual this world characteristics

1. Evil suffering not due to supernatural

2. problem and solution in this world

3. Relies on people’s own innate, rational, creative resources — unleashing human potential

   1. General distrust of institutional religion.

Individual this world examples

1. Being remembered 

2. Finding meaning

3. Ideal of completion

4. Self-actualization

5. New Age Spirituality 

6. Satori

Group this world Characteristics

1. Problem and solution are in this world

2. Group matters more than the individual.

Group this world examples

1. Tradition

2. Patriotism

3. Confucian Social Harmony

4. Social Gospel Movement’s Kingdom of God

5. Ancient Israelites’ nationalistic hope.

Individual other world characteristics

1. Relies on solution after death

Individual other world examples

Heaven/paradise

Way of Faith Characteristics

1. strong emphasis on belief (intellectual assent to principles).

2. Trust that salvation comes from the mercy of the sacred; humans can’t earn salvation - has to be freely given by God.

3. Negative view of humanity

4. Strong notion of sin

Way of Faith Examples

1. Protestant Christianity

   1. Salvation by grace through faith

2. Pure Land Buddhism

   1. different Buddha’s take you to their pure land to help you achieve nirvana.

Way of Devotion/Emotion Characteristics

1. Emphasizes personal emotion and feeling

   1. Rests on a deeply felt encounter with the sacred that results in radical change.

2. Dissatisfaction with the formal unfeeling character of traditional religion.

Way of Devotion/Emotion Examples

1. Mysticism

   1. Beatific vision

2. Pentecostalism

Way of Action/Obligation Characteristics

1. Most popular

2. Practical, everyday, nondramatic approach to religion.

   1. No big separation between sacred and secular parts of life.

3. Orthopraxis is more important that orthodoxy

Way of Action/Obligation Examples

1. Catholic Christianity

2. Hinduism

   1. want to build good karma by fulfilling the duties to caste.

3. Islam - “submission”

4. Judaism

Catholic vs Protestant view of The Fall and salvation

Catholic view of The Fall: can be saved because of rituals specifically the sacraments.

Protestant view of The Fall: Cannot be saved because the salvation has to be earned and humanity has not earned it due to the fall.

Way of Mediation and Insight Characteristics

1. Pursued only by the religious elite (i.e. monks, nuns, etc.) because of its rigorous conditions.

2. Meditation is key

   1. The regimen of mental cultivation that leads to higher levels of consciousness/mindfulness/wisdom/enlightenment.

Way of Meditation and Insight Examples

Theraveda Buddhism

Five Pillars of Islam

1. Confession of Faith

2. Prayer

3. Almsgiving

4. Fasting during Ramadan

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

Mitzvah/Mitzvot

Commandment, religious obligation

good deed

Halakah

Collective body of religious law

Theodicy

An attempt to answer questions about the sacred given the presence of evil in the world.

Karma

Suffering is the result of punishment for bad actions in a previous life

Theism

There exists just one absolute perfect being, called 'God’, who exhibits at least the following properties:

• Omnipotence

• Omniscience

• perfect goodness

• aseity

• Incorporeality

• Eternity

• Omnipresence

• Perfect freedom

• Worship-worthiness

Day of Judgement 

Central orthodox Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religious traditions.

Eschatology

Study of the end (times)

Apocalypse

Cataclysmic end to the world

Beatific Vision

The direct, unmediated vision of the Godhead.