RELS 108 1nd Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture II Sacred Community III Religious Communities and Social Resistance IV Spiritual Community as Refuge V Heresy Schism Division Outline of Current Lecture II Spiritual Communities Continued a 3 Philosophical Positions of Religious Communities b Social Character of Worship Prayer i Communal Worship Has 2 Basic Thrusts III The Big Problem of Evil a 4 Classical Approaches to Evil Current Lecture Spiritual Communities Continued Reform Movements Signifies a strategy to effect religious change When reform threatens social order 3 forms of division 1 Heresy 2 Schism 3 New Religious Tradition 3 Philosophical Positions of Religious Communities 1 Exclusivism The position that truth belongs to one tradition alone 2 Inclusivism Truth belongs to one tradition however other traditions express the same truth but less adequately less clearly 3 Pluralism the view that all religious express truth adequately Social Character of Worship Prayer Liturgy Public Work communal response to the sacred through activity reflecting praise repentance etc Communal Worship Has 2 Basic Thrusts 1 Horizontal refers to the bonding of the community 2 Vertical refers to the object of worship These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute The Big Problem of Evil Theodicy the problem of evil within a religious context o Theodicy Divine Justice Religious people identify evil in terms of a contradiction between the facts of experience and the reality of God Two Main Theodicies o Augustinian Theodicy Evil does not exist except for a privation or corruption of goodness The world is perfect in its essence but fallen in its existence o Iranean Theodicy Existence of evil is necessary for human development The world exists as a vale of soul making 4 Classic Approaches to Evil 1 Evil and Karma o Indian Context o Karma what you do put out will come back to you o Buddhist Perspective evil is due to the 3 poisons 1 Greed 2 Hatred 3 Delusion 2 Consolation of Promise o Found in Judaism Christianity and Islam o At some time in the future evil will be overcome eradicated and justice will be established o The symbol for that is the Messiah o Judaism Messiah has not come yet o Christianity Messiah has come Jesus but not done yet Second coming called the Parousia which will establish justice o Islam Mahdi rightly guided one is the prophesied redeemer of the world who will rule for 7 9 years something like that before the time of judgment and will rid the world of evil and establish justice 1 Eschatology deals with the end times or end of the world