Religions of the World Midterm Study Guide

Navatri: 9-day Hindu festival in honor of goddess Durga. Varies throughout India with public celebration of dancing and feasts.

Dassehra: 10th day after the 9-day Navatri, triumph of good over evil and the victory over the buffalo demon.

Sukkot: Judaism, Feast of Tabernacles, a seven-day agricultural festival commemorating the 40 years of the Israelites in the desert. Jews construct a sukkah as a dwelling

Mawlid al-Nabi: Islam, Celebration of the birth of Muhammad in which Muslims share traditional poems, stories, and songs about Muhammad and may have street processions and decorations

Yom Kippur: Jewish Days of Atonement, 10 days of repentance, create brotherhood and abandon jealousy

Fall Equinox: Marks the beginning of Fall

Mabon: Pagan festival celebrating the Fall Equinox, harvest festival, and celebration of Thanksgiving

Paryushan: Jainism, Holy week and most important festival where Jains ask for forgiveness if wrong in any way.

Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year, in which Jews attend synagogue services, recite liturgy about repentance, and have feasts. Also blowing the shofar (Ram’s horn trumpet).

Krishna Jayanti: Hinduism, Annual festival to celebrate birth of Krishna (avatar of Vishnu)

1st World Parliament of Religions: Occurred in 1893 in Chicago. Organized by Christians wanting to showcase superiority, but failed to do so as many smalle religions showcased this better

Swami Vivekananda: Wanted to counter derogatory representations of Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions. Stressed Hinduism as showing a high level of tolerance and explaining the science. Very important in introducing Hinduism to the Western World

Moses Mendelssohn: Privatized Jewish Identity and emphasized ethical monotheism. Argued that Judaism was a religion of reason, rather than dogma. Considered the father of modern Jewish thinking.

Connections between Mendelssohn and Vivekananda: Reshaped religions to be scriptural, universal, belief-based, and otherwise fit the World Religions Paradigm

Features of Indigenous Religious Traditions: Oral revelation; practice over belief; locally practiced; related to the land, water, and nature; visualized with images of non-human agents (animals or forces of nature); animism

Doctrine of Discovery: Legal and religious concept to allow colonialism over indigenous lands

Animism: Belief in the whole universe as alive

Human/Nature Binary: Conceptual framework separating humans from nature and setting them as superior to the natural world.

Mahavira: Final spiritual teacher of Jainism who established central parts of the religion.

Polytheism: An implicit comparative practice in which it is natural and acceptable to worship different deities.

Revolutionary Monotheism: Insistence in absolute difference between polytheism and monotheism, ie. one exclusive and transcendent God

Orthodoxy: Correct belief to accepted beliefs held by a religion

Orthopraxy: Correct practice of prescribed rituals of a religion

Religions as Languages Metaphor: Viewing religions not as systems of human beliefs, but as languages that give meaning to humanity

Myth v. History: A myth is a sacred narrative that explains foundational truths, while history is a verifiable past event.

Insider-Outsider Dynamic: A discussion of whether religion is better studied with an insider who is a believer or an outsider who is a researched analyst

Ritual: Symbolic actions that express or reinforce shared beliefs, ideas, and values of a religious tradition

Relationship between Ritual and Myth: Rituals are re-enactments of myths that bring the world into being

Calendrical Rites: Rituals performed at specific times of the year tied to specific seasons or events

Life-Cycle Rites: Rituals related to major life events or transitions between stages of life

Rites of Exchange and Communion: Sacrificial offerings to the divine

Plato’s Cave Allegory: Describes the importance of reflexivity through self-reflection to escape the cave, awareness to realize that the cave is not all there is to know, and challenging assumptions or beliefs by returning to the cave to share that there was more outside the cave.

Expectations of the World Religions Paradigm: Religions are discrete, about belief, have defined doctrines and practices, and have a particular set of ideas. They should be scripture-centric and universal.

Religions as Belief Systems: Religions must be about religious belief over practice

Lived Religion: Shifting focus from belief and text to practice and behavior; understanding religion as about what people do instead of what they think. This is better because people’s beliefs greatly differ within a religion

Syncretism: Blending of religions

Functionalism: Interpreting religious phenomena in terms of role in meeting human needs

Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Method of interpreting religious claims centered in skepticism and looking for unseen functions of those claims

Key Impacts of Protestant Reformation: Individualism and scriptural focus, mass no longer conducted in Latin, faith and belief over ritual, religion separated from magic, deprived matter of spiritual power, separation of religion and politics

Immanuel Kant: Argued that science gives knowledge of only the phenomenal world but doesn’t have the ability to rule out religion. This is the first time that science and religion have explanation to coexist

Orientalism: Style of thought distinguishing the orient (East) and occident (West). Occident tried to dominate and restructure the orient by assigning it negative stereotypes

Origins of World Religions: In the 19th century, emerged from scholars attempting to categorize and understand diverse traditions, reflecting biases with Christianity and western understanding of religion as the standard

Friedrich Max Muller: Founder of comparative religion as method to study sacred texts and promote distinct religious systems

Social Darwinism: Justified imperialism, racism, and free-market capitalism

Hindu Demographics: 1.2 billion Hindus, 3rd largest religion, over 90% live in India and constitute 80% of the population. The other Hindus live in many other places worldwide.

3 Scriptural Historical Layers of Hinduism: Vedic Layer (Brahman, divine, one truth, one absolute divine with many gods), Epic Layer (Ramayana and Mahabharata), Sectarian Layer (Theistic traditions to Vishnu, Shiva, Goddess; Vernacular text; worship to images of the divine)

Vedas: Eternal divine revelation not of human authorship. Earliest scriptural foundation of Hinduism, focus on power of ritual, sacred fire, sacred sound, dharma

Dharma: Moral duty and righteousness to uphold and sustain the universe

Brahman: The ultimate reality or divine ground of existence

Atman: true self

Samsara: Cycle of life, death, and rebirth

Karma: Moral law of cause and effect or consequence

Moksha: Spiritual liberation from samsara, goal of Hinduism

Upanishads: Philosophical texts of Hinduism that focus on Brahman, Atman, Karma, Samsara, and Moksha

Bhagavad Gita & the Three Yogas: Karma yoga (Action; selfless service), Jnana yoga (Knowledge; meditation to realize Atman), Bhakti yoga (Devotion; emotional participation in a relationship with God

Ramayana: Ancient Indian epic narrating the story of Rama and Vishnu

Three Main Streams of Theistic Devotion: Vishnu, Shiva, Devi

Rama: “The ideal man,” a central Hindu figure who is worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu.

Krishna: The god of play

Puja: Worship or praise

Murti: Image or form of a deity

Darshan: Seeing the divine or having visual communion

Aarti: Circling of flame or light as worship

Prasad: Offering and eating sacrificed food

Tanakh: Canon of Jewish texts including the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim

Written Torah: Same as the Old Testament

Oral Torah: Helps to interpret the Torah

Pentateuch: First 5 books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

Mitzvah: Commandment or good deed in Judaism

Covenant: Solemn agreement or promise between God and humans

Adam & Eve vs. the Israelites: Adam and Eve universal humanity, Israelites represent God’s chosen people, both demonstrate how all humans sin.

Noah: Figure chosen by God to build an ark and save his family and animals from a great flood

Abraham: Patriarch of the Jewish people who made a foundational covenant with God, promising land and descendants

Jacob and the 12 Tribes of Israel: Jacob had 12 sons who became the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel

Moses: Led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and received the Torah from God on Mount Sinai

Exodus: Foundational biblical narrative recounting liberation from slavery in Egypt

Ten Commandments: Biblical moral laws given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai, forming the core Jewish law

Passover: Important Jewish holiday celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery

King David: Second King of Israel who established Jerusalem as the capital.

King Solomon: Son of King David who built the First Temple of Jerusalem

First Temple: Built by King Solomon, destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians. Many Jews were taken to Babylon until it fell to the Persians

Second Temple: Built around 500 BCE and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Afterwards, Jews were scattered and identity was not related to territory. Beginning of Rabbinic Judaism

Rabbinic Judaism: Belief that God revealed the Torah in two parts, as written and oral.

Talmud: Written form of oral Torah to include rabbinic debates, legal reasoning, and ethical teachings. Formed guide for Jewish daily life.

Jewish Demographics: 16 million Jews, with 75% in either US or Israel. About half of Jews are religious and half are secular. 4 main affiliations include conservative, orthodox, reconstructionist, and reform.

Shema Yisrael: Central Jewish prayer emphasizing oneness of God

Amidah: Central standing prayer in Jewish liturgy, recited silently

Judaism and Hinduism Parallels: Focus on Orthopraxy, not missionary, have sacred lands, have hero myths and creation myths, orally transmitted sacred scripture, don’t align with WRP

Brahmins & Rabbis: Spiritual leaders who guide religion, ritual, or knowledge

Zionism: Political movement supporting self-determination and national homeland for the Jewish people

Hindu Nationalism: Ideology seeking to define Indian culture in terms of Hindu values, advocating for Hindu supremacy.

Charisma: A special power of personality or leadership that inspires allegiance and devotion; often attributed to founders of religious movements.

Institutionalizing Charisma: The process by which the spontaneous spiritual power or authority of a charismatic leader is transformed into a stable, enduring religious institution through established roles, scriptures, laws, and material expressions.

Role/Office, Scripture, Law, Materiality: Key elements in the institutionalization of charisma. Role/Office refers to established leadership positions. Scripture preserves the teachings. Law provides codified rules. Materiality includes sacred objects, places, and art.

Routinization of Charisma: The transformation of charismatic authority into a permanent institutional structure, often after the death of the charismatic leader, ensuring the survival of the movement.

Meister Eckhart: A German mystic, philosopher, and theologian of the 13th-14th centuries, known for his innovative ideas on the nature of God and the soul, emphasizing an inner divine spark.

The Church and the Mystic: Refers to the often complex relationship between formalized religious institutions (the Church) and individual mystical experiences, which can sometimes challenge or be integrated into established doctrines.

Miracles: Extraordinary events attributed to divine intervention, often serving to demonstrate God's power or affirm the authority of a religious figure.

St. Joseph of Copertino: A 17th-century Franciscan friar known for miraculous levitations and ecstasies, often celebrated as a patron saint of aviators.

Daniel Dunglas Home: A famous 19th-century Scottish medium known for his alleged ability to levitate and other spiritualistic phenomena, observed by many prominent figures.

Son of God: A title often used in Christianity to describe Jesus, emphasizing his unique divine relationship with God the Father.

Appolonius of Tyana: A Greek Neopythagorean philosopher and sage of the 1st century CE, known for his travels, teachings, and reputation as a wonder-worker and divine man, often compared to Jesus by early Christian critics.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John: The four canonical accounts of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

Synoptic Gospels: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which share significant similarities in content, structure, and wording, allowing them to be viewed together.

Acts of the Apostles: The fifth book of the New Testament, narrating the early history of the Christian church after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, focusing on the apostles Peter and Paul.

Baptism: A Christian rite of passage, typically involving immersion in or sprinkling with water, symbolizing purification, regeneration, and admission to the Christian Church.

The Lord’s Prayer: The most common Christian prayer, taught by Jesus to his disciples, beginning with "Our Father who art in heaven."

The Eucharist/Holy Communion: A central Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper, involving the consumption of consecrated bread and wine representing the body and blood of Christ.

Paul (Saul): An influential apostle and missionary in early Christianity, who authored many of the New Testament epistles and played a crucial role in spreading Christianity beyond Jewish communities.

Supersession: The theological doctrine that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has replaced or superseded the Old Covenant between God and the Jewish people.

Christology: The theological study of the person and nature of Jesus Christ, including his divinity, humanity, and role in salvation.

Judas: One of the twelve apostles of Jesus, notorious for betraying Jesus to the religious authorities for thirty pieces of silver.

Pontius Pilate: The Roman prefect of Judea who, according to the Gospels, presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion.

Peter: One of the twelve apostles of Jesus, considered the first leader of the early Christian Church, and traditionally regarded as the first Bishop of Rome.

Icthys: An acronym for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior" in Greek, often represented by a fish symbol, used by early Christians as a secret sign.

Constantine: Roman Emperor who converted to and legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire in 312 and convened the First Council of Nicaea.

1st Council of Nicea: The first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, convened by Emperor Constantine in 325, which formulated the Nicene Creed

Jewish context of early Christianity: Early Christianity emerged from within Judaism, sharing many of its foundational texts, concepts (like Messiah, covenant, prophecy), and practices before diverging into a distinct religion.

Messianism: The belief in the coming of a Messiah, a divinely appointed leader who will bring about a new era of peace and redemption.

Apocalypticism: The belief that the end of the world is imminent, often accompanied by prophecies of divine judgment and the establishment of a new cosmic order.

Apocrypha: A collection of texts or books not included in the canon of sacred scripture, often considered of doubtful authenticity but sometimes retained as valuable for their historical or religious insight.

Jesus of History and Christ of Faith: "Jesus of History" refers to the reconstruction of Jesus' life based on historical and critical methods, while "Christ of Faith" refers to the theological understanding of Jesus as the divine Son of God and Savior within Christian belief.