World Religions
Lecture Outline for Quiz #1
Spring 2001 Rutgers University, Camden
Nature and Study of Religion
Critical distance vs. sympathy
Definition(s) of religion
G/god(s)
presence of concept of sacred
personal, cultural, ultimate
functional vs. descriptive
personal/experiential vs. social/cultural
Supernatural reports
supernatural
ghost belief as religion
folk stories vs. accounts
experience vs. interpretation
mediated vs. unmediated experience
NDEs
evaluation of miracle reports
parsimony
Indigenous Religious Traditions
animism
living world
totem
taboo
shaman
vision quest
psychological aspects of
bodily depravation
Nature of the sacred
at/off center
sacred
objects, places, people, times, books, words, actions, community
Neoplatonist model
apprehension of the sacred
symbol
ritual
private
public
worship
rites of passage
birth:
baptism
puberty
circumcison
clitorectomy/FGM
myth
vs. history
commutity/self identity
History of religion
-isms
atheism
as religion vs. agnosticism
monism / dualism
monolatry
monotheism
polytheism
transcendentalism
teleism/ology
evolutionary theory of history of religions
Hegel
Thesis vs. antithesis Ž synthesis
Marx
model:
animismŽpolytheismŽmonolatryŽmonotheismŽtranscendentalismŽatheism
supporting evidence
Hinduism, Greek religion, Islamic origins
archaism
model:
monotheismŽmonolatryŽpolytheismŽanimismŽtranscendentalismŽatheism
supporting evidence
otiose
primitive high/sky god
myths of god replacement (Zeus, Marduk)
Catholicism, Canaanite Religion, Islamic folk belief
traditional religious model for time and history of religions (revelation & decay)
Cyclical time
Apocalyptic eschatology
Primal Goddess theory
Maria Gimbutas
Venus of Willendorf
patriarchy
Last Modified 3/7/2004
by Alan Humm
humm@ccat.sas.upenn.edu