Theology IVA Final

reality as symbolically mediated

reality is changed by language and the culture with which it is experienced

worldview

a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world

paradigm

a typical example or pattern of something; a model

cosmology

the science of the origin and development of the universe

aesthetics

study of beauty

religions as vehicles of logic

religions work to bring certain truths to a culture, they may not work in other cultures

creed

“I believe,” guiding principles or beliefs

heresy

logic that does not fit within a dogma, used to be a crime in the Catholic church

pluralism

the holding of multiple truths to be true

zeitgeist

feeling of the age

the best way to judge an ideology

its ability to self-critique

sacred

“set apart”

profane

basic, common

eclecticism

putting together bits of different religions, draws upon multiple theories, raises the question of if religions have a function and you start messing with the pieces, does the religion still function as intended?

syncretism

amalgamation of religions (cannot combine two religions with different truths together)

emotivism

moral statements just express our feelings

solipsism

idea that everyone has created their own world to experience

Plato

idea that there’s a world of forms and a world of ideals, there is an ideal essence to everything (ideals of the Forms world)

essentialism

primacy of essence

Heraclitus

viewed the world as constantly in flux, always "becoming" but never "being,” found harmony and justice in strife

monism

the idea everything is constructed of a single subject

interdependence

idea that everything is connected

science is a faith in ____

numbers, the human mind, the scientific method, empiricism

who is the saint of the enlightenment?

Isaac Newton

equation of enlightenment

F=ma (most important equation, deists believed it would allow you to map molecules and unlock the secrets of the universe)

metaphysics

“meta” means behind, abstract theories without empirical evidence

Aristotle

idea there must be a separate and unchanging being that is the source of all other beings

empiricism

evidence-based learning

science

“to know”

faith cannot exist without ____

doubt

dogma

things you must believe for a religion, Western idea, central logic

doctrine

supporting logic in a faith (very few in Catholicism because of Catholic rigidity)

religion in the West/East

East - religion is a way of life, uses wu wei (uncontrived action or natural non-intervention to practice personal harmony and free-flowing, spontaneous creative manifestation), theodicy of ignorance

West - religion is a part of life, need redemption from sin, theodicy of sin

immanence v. transcendence

immanence - the state of being present as a natural and permanent part of something

transcendent - beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience

this model was overly simplistic of religions and did not allow for the nuances of religions between these two

what models to classify religions do we use today?

mountain model - each religion is its own mountain with different goals at the top

spectrum from immanent to transcendent, allowing for levels between the two

orientalism

putting Western categories of thought on Eastern cultures

supersessionism

idea that Christianity completes Judaism and Judaism is an incomplete religion

omniscience

all-knowing

omnipotent

all-powerful

immutable

unchanging

sentient

awareness, ability to feel and perceive things

myth

stories that point us to deeper human truths in the divine

deism

clock-maker god, everything in universe is a machine, science reveals the truth and mechanics of the universe, no free will, God is most transcendent (outside universe/system)

fatalism

fate, some end predetermined for

agnosticism

“without knowledge”

atheism

not believing in a God

pantheism

everything is God, everything is one (monistic)

polytheism

belief in multiple gods

monolatry

belief in multiple gods, but one top god

panentheism

God is in everything

monotheism

belief in one god

mysticism

belief that union with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender

theism

belief in the existence of a god or gods

humanism

prioritizes people

asceticism

any form of self-denial

revelation

uncovered or revealed, Judeo-Christian concept

secular

“apart” from religion, not really possible to be wholly unaffected from religion

theodicy

how to reconcile God with the problem of evil, idea of suffering (asking why)

alienation

to be estranged (from God, from self, from others)

science & religion

concordance (they can work together), denial (one or the other), incongruence (both work but should remain separate)

new religious movements characteristics

charismatic leadership, sense of belonging, love bombing, cut members off from family and friends, offer incentives (like food), exploitation/threats, weaponize the difficulty of saying no, prey on the vulnerable

mana

idea that there is an impersonal life force that is transferable

taboo

cultural no-no, idea of danger and protective warnings, most cultures have them, offers shape to cultures

animism

idea that when you die, you become part of nature

totem

a natural object or animal that is believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and that is adopted by it as an emblem, parts of nature that represent a group, have culturally-significant meanings

contagious magic

idea of something rubbing off on you (evil eye)

sympathetic magic

imitate something in nature hoping it happens (rain dance)

Dreamtime

Aboriginal people create the landscape by going into the Dreaming and following the songlines (path the Ancestors took)

the Dreaming

the time of the Ancestors, before people, left spiritual marks in the physical world

definitions of religion

“Religion is what one does with their own solitude” - Alfred North Whitehead

“That which is most real” - Paul Tillich

“The opium of the people, the sigh of the oppressed” - Karl Marx

white man’s burden

idea that white people were burdened to bring civilization to the rest of the world and save all others

noble savage

putting cultures on pedestals because they are different

savage

idea that certain people were uncivilized and less than (needed to be saved)

age of expansion

18th and 19th centuries

genocide

eradicating or destroying a language is the most effective way to commit genocide, last step of a successful genocide is to be able to take your hands off and ask why a people is killing their culture

what percent of Aboriginal people were wiped out in 100 years?

96%

gender (anthropological definition)

the division of labor in a society

dilemma of proselytizing

if we can save people shouldn’t we?

how does proselytizing harm cultures?

literate traditions

exaggeration because everything is probably written down

oral traditions

tell the truth, no exaggeration, say what you mean

African Ancestors

Ancestors are forever alive in the African world and cosmological view of life

shaman

the brain bank of a culture, generally healers, interpret existence, lead life rituals, often an apprenticed job, the imagination of their culture, also called kahunas, know so much about their cultures that they understand the boundaries of it, heal, teach, give names, pass on knowledge, run rights of passages; they keep their jobs based on success

sorcery

when an object has power

witchcraft

when words are constructed in a way to manipulate the supernatural

Africa

the most culturally and genetically diverse continent

basic/primal

degrades the humanity of a person or group

female circumcision

growing throughout the world, part of taming female sexuality

trickster god

cause of theodicy and alienation in Indigenous cultures, teach lessons, can cause you to be distracted or to fail

Lakota

“the human beings,” called the Sioux by their enemies which means “snakes”

Wakan Tanka

Lakota word for god, sacredness of all things

tob tob

important Indigenous number (four times four)

Sun Dance

Plains Indigenous people would pierce their chest and legs to a pole and dance and sing around the tree, ritual of renewal and healing, form of self-sacrifice, outlawed because it was viewed as savage

Ghost Dance

Indigenous crisis cult meant to promote spirituality to save themselves (thought the Ancestors would restore everything and make it like the colonizers never came), Indigenous people forming and dancing, movement that hoped for Indigenous land returned and a decline in white settlers, crushed by the Wounded Knee Massacre

two-spirit people

considered a moral positive in Indigenous cultures, fluid identities that had traits across the gender binary, third gender in Indigenous cultures

vision quest

a spiritual journey in various Indigenous cultures in which participants, often adolescents, are said to receive sacred knowledge and strength from the spirit world

wochangi

value of Indigenous cultures, idea of observing nature and the world, value of quietness, listening instead of acting right away

axis mundi

a place of connection between heavenly and the earthly realms

Indigenous culture

highest rate of poverty of any racial group

samsara

releasing the atman out of the cycle of rebirth, transmigration of atman or the cycle if rebirth (reincarnation) which are determined by your karma (actions)

moksha

a return to oneness with Brahman, releasing the Atman out of the cycle of rebirth, realizing the Atman and Brahman are the same and everything else is empty