REL1300 Midterm Study Guide 10 20 2015 Identification o Rudolf Otto o Mysterium Tremendum o Emile Durkheim o Religion is a mystery something than cannot be figured out o religion is social o A unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things religion brings people together in a group we grow up knowing there is something bigger than us o Jonathan Z Smith o Religion is the construction of academics o Religion is solely the creation of the scholar s study o We created religion to group together similar things o Mircea Eliade o A reality that does not belong to our world manifestation of sacred realities the natural world is profane o Believes there are primitive forms whereas Christianity is the most highly developed things are sacred people do not make them that way o To speak things of eternal and transcendent with a authority equally o Bruce Lincoln transcendent and eternal o Discourse o Written or spoken communication o Look at how traditions rituals and religions have been constructed through the use of discourse and force o Normative o Establishing relating to or deriving from a standard or norm o Ex All Christians believe a normative statement o We will not make normative claims about any religion or tradition in this course all are equally up for discussion and analysis o Ideology o The ideas and manners of thinking characteristics of a group social class or individual o Ex Capitalism communism etc o Sui generis o Latin meaning of its own kind o This phrase is used to describe the idea that religion is separate from all other institutions o Theorists we will look at argue against thinking about religion this way o Functionalism in society o Martin s approach to look at how religion plays a particular function o Hermeneutic of suspicion approach of functionalism o Method of interpretation that is suspicious of whatever is being studied o Don t accept things as solid facts take things from a functionalist standpoint to see how this claim functions and what it intends to do o What does this approach do for us Helps us try to be objective look at all other religions fairly not believing what we hear or read it s easier to be objective when we are studying other religions however complete objectivity is probably not possible o Ex Presidential oath of office Obama misspoke the oath and had to take it again in private to officially make him the President o Russell McCutcheon o What is the academic study of religion o Anthropological enterprise o Not theology actions evaluated What we are studying is fundamentally human human o Descriptive not making judgments on the data that is being o Every word in religion has a history behind it o Is a tradition a religion if there is no such word in its accompanying language o Theses on method o By Bruce Lincoln o 13 theses meant to outline the academic approach to the study of religion o distinguishes between that which is and that which is not o Gives definition on religion the one we ve been using o Used for the questions What s at stake Who wins and who conversely loses o Ex Thesis 3 Do not accept the representation of eternal transcendence from the divine there is always another way to explain what is happening in rational terms Ex It may be true that Jesus is God s son but it could also be true that there s a social function as to why people believed that What can we know about the community that produced the text what are they trying to teach persuade us Ex Nun in Italy claims divine birth vs Mary Look at how the claim works not judging the claim itself o Ex Thesis 4 o Tomoko Masuzawa o The invention of world religions o Implies religion is created it s not inherent to the world o world religions seems to imply that religion is everywhere and can be found at any point in time o phrase was created during and after the time of Enlightenment o includes key themes of escape the dominance of the Christian church secularization scientific inquiry philology and colonialism o these themes lead to the discovery of new cultures practices and ideas o Colonialism o The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial control over another country occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically o Beginning with European expansion in the 15th century most indigenous religious groups lost their independence to European powers o Each group attempted to cope with this situation o Compromise seen by the Iroquois and Handsome Lake s vision o Conflict seen with the Lakota and the Ghost Dance o Classification o Creating categories and concepts Social constructionism is for us o labeling things grouping o the basic idea is that we as humans make the world what it ex Platypus mammal because it s warm blooded has hair but it lays eggs rather than giving birth but we still group it as a mammal shows these rules we make are extrinsic intrinsic vs socially determined ex Would you rather receive a bouquet or roses or carnation assigning value o Principles of Social Constructionism Words are tools that humans use to delimit from the stuff of the world what is of interest to them religion Obama tries to separate terrorist groups like Al Qaeda from Islamic religion The tools we use produce the world for us Ex Cookie cutter The uses of words are variable Who decides what is correct grammar It s a power play because I m better than you if I correct your grammar Southern accent dumb British accent sophisticated There are no intrinsically right or wrong uses of words just different uses Whether a claim is true depends on the agreed use of the words for a particular community What we are as humans is a result or product of the concepts and practices in our society Social facts are real facts if only for the community that recognizes them as such o New testament o 27 books written in Koine Greek o The four gospels o Mark o Matthew Jesus is returning soon his identity is a secret Jesus is a suffering servant of God Jesus is Israel s true messiah Jesus as supreme Torah teacher interpreter Possibly served as a handbook for early Jewish Christian communities o Luke Focus on society s despised people women poor Role of the Holy Spirit in the world Jesus is not returning soon o John Salvation means true correct knowledge about who Jesus is God made flesh Jesus is High Christology o Acts of the Apostles same author as Luke o Epistles o Revelation o Heresy o Orthodoxy o Hereses a philosophical school o Comes to be used derogatively by Christians o
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