Religion Quiz 2

Monotheism in the St. Thomas Aquinas'

1. FIRST MOVER- put the world in motion 2. FIRST CLAUSE- anything caused is caused by another and God started that chain 3. NECESSARY BEING- up to chance but not everything is up to chance. 4. GREATEST BEING- god is source of greatness 5. INTELLIGENCE DESIGNER

Humanity against the Gods

the idea is that being human involves a certain helplessness, a certain lack of power and at times the gods may turn against us. greek and mesopotamian thought- human life is at mercy with gods

Animistic & Polytheistic

the idea of a number of deities, each with a particular responsibility, and often with certain gods being more important than others.

Pantheism

God is everywhere/ God is identical to the world we experice. The world is God and God is the world Baruch Spinoza Argument: But if God is the world then is God evil? because evil exist in the world

Monolatry

this concept means "one worship". The idea that there may be more than one deity that one worship, but only one god is worth the worship

What does it mean to be made in the "Image of God"

this notion presupposes the human beings have a deep affiliation with whoever or whatever God is. Augustine argues that we are restless because we are made in the image of god and long to get back to that which made us

Polytheism and Monotheism

two primary perspectives regarding who inhabited the divne world

Ludwig Feuerbach and his claim about God

we must be aware of our own predispositions when talking about who we think God is. He argues that every definition about God was simply the projection of what a culture believed it needed most.

Garden of Eden

Where we come from and where we want to get make to separation from the garden is separation from that which is "East of Eden"- drift from where we're meant to be that leads to tragedy

The Tremendum

In addition to "awe" Otto provides more descriptions of tremendum of the holy. 1. majestas- being overpowered ( felt in ones mortality) 2. energy- life, vitality, will, force Exodus 3 "i am who i am" or "i will be who i will be"~ holy cannot be controlled by human desires or commands

Mysterium Tremendum

In english this means "Mystery & tremendous" mysterium- unknowable & not rational. There is something about holy that cant be articulated through normal human language~ beyond our reasoning Tremendum- element of fear. not necessarily "to be afraid" but a fear that is something to "awe" with a sense of "eerie". The manner in which one's hair stand on end in the presence of something inexplicable.

So what is the Numinous?

Numinous means "god, spirit, or divine" in latin. So the numinous is a sense of the spiritual world that transcends us. Similar to Tillich, that holiness is an awareness/ sense of dependence on something outside of one's self for life and meaning. The numinous is a mysterium tremendum et fascinans.

Gobekli Tepe: The Birth of gods?

One of the earliest "religious" communities in modern Turkey. 9000 BCE. It is thought to be devoted to the dead/ ancestors or devoted to other, superhuman beings *proves that worship of the gods began quite early in history- before cities or agriculture

Rudolf Otto

Originally focused on ideas of the holy within Christianity, but then shifted focus to the difference between religion and naturalistic explanations of the world after embarking on a trip around the world

The Mysterium of "Wholly Others"

Otto argues that a central element of this mysterium is its character "Wholly Other" Wholly Other- in effable object that fills us "with blank wonder and astonishment"~ something entirely different than we experience in everyday life

The Idea of The Holy

Otto's work from his experiences at all different regions of the world. he found the different manifestations of what holy is all over the world to be very interesting and not just the protestant/european definition that said a holy person was someone who contemplated life and made good ethical decisions

That of Becoming & That of Being

Plato said there there were 2 realms that divided the world: that of Becoming and that of Being Being- Something higher, more noble (soul) Becoming- was the world we experience here and now (body) The most perfect Being was God

The Bible & Polythesism

Polytheism was the belief long before the concept of monotheism was considered.The bible discusses the development from a polytheistic system to a monotheistic belief system. Psalm 82: in the midst of the Gods, he holds judgment.

Imago Dei

Suggest that humans are made in the image of god "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness."

The Mysterium

The sense of "mystery" come from the new testament in Mark Jesus says "To you have been given the mystery of the kingdom of God."(Mark 4:11) *mystery and awe

Dualism

affirms a belief in 2 Gods. usually one is "good" and one is "bad"

Braham & Atman

all living things are manifestations of a single divine *mediation to connect atman to braham Humans have a sould within in them (Atman)- presence of the brahman within us

The Fall of Goodness

Garden of Eden was first instance of Sin- to hide oneself from sin. We are made in Gods image but because of sin- there is evil

The Upanishads

Hindu collection of philosophical text- ritual is displaced by contemplation and refelction old gods disappear and new gods and ideas emerge mystics rather than priest

Fascination of Mysterium Tremendum

In addition to this ",mysterious awe" that is evoked the holy, there is an element of attraction or fascination The holy is not simply something that creates dread, but something that creates yearning toward and desire, exuberance and delight Mark 5:25-33

Mysticism

emphasizes harmony of individual with the natural world (which is representative of God), the sense of the divine which cannot be put into words, that is in some sense beyond language, more in line with pantheism.

Wendy Doniger

expert on hindu religion

Monotheism

idea of one God who has created the universe and, in theism, continues to reveal God's self to that which God has created. Deism and Theism would both find resonance with monotheistic ideas of God.

Rig Veda

earliest collection of hindu writings

Animism

not a philosophical idea about who or what God is, but it does have connection with how one experiences the divine. human beings, and nature, possess souls that exist independent of bodies and communicate with each other in a spiritual realm Can only connect to the realm through a Shaman. Catholicism~ bread and wine turn into body and blood

Classification of Types

Billington argues that conceptions of God(s) can be subsumed beneath 3 categories. animistic/polytheistic, monotheistic, mysticism

The Numinous

Chapter 2 of Ideas of the Holy. Says that Holiness is "equivalent to the understanding of beauty"- that there is something subjective about the experience (not a formula to produce it). Then claims that original holiness has nothing to do with ethical behavior- holiness may imply goodness but there is an extra to holiness- that something more is a type of yearning, awareness that isnt rational

Confucianism

philosophical and ethical system that emphasized responsibility towards parents (anyone higher up ie.teachers and bosses), personal virtue, and education self discipline and self improvement philosophy , worldview, and religion

Hsun Tzu

Confucian philosopher who wrote on human nature. believed humans were evil by nature. said humans were "crooked wood" who needed to be made straight. goodness was learned and acquired righteousness is learned through hard work, discipline, and deep study & it is a life or death matter a negative consideration of individual nature, in this sense, produces a positive view of society- you learn righteousness through learning and the people around you

Henotheism

stage between polytheism and monotheism in which there is a supreme being but this God exist alongside of lesser being "You should have no other Gods before me."

Deism

A view of God that emerged as an outgrowth of enlightenment during the 17th century. The influence on this concept was scientific discovery and the industrial revolution. God is a master engineer/clockmaker who created a perfect and beautiful machine and then retired and no longer intervenes No relationship between that world and God

Theism

Understanding that God sees the divine as both transcendent (deist) and apart of this world and immanent or one with this world (pantheist) God is all powerful and all loving & also capable of creating a world while also intervening in the world

The Being of God(s)

Among polytheism religions one idea is clear- The gods are being of some sort. We even see this in the Hebrew bible In Exodus 3 "I will be who i will be" presupposes God is a being. Ex: God in the garden of Eden- God with human-like characteristics

Monotheism and the Abrahamic Religions

-The central teaching about God in Islam is Tawhid meaning "oneness of God". - Judaism is monotheistic and rooted historically in the children of Israel - Christianity is monotheistic but through the idea of the trinity (father, son, & holy spirit)

Relationships & Decision

The hebraic perspective emphasizes a relational view of humanity, of a life thats always in relationship with a creator

Context & Culture of God

To ask about a religions concept of God already contains a host of presuppositions about what God is. In a lot of western religious traditions, religion is about god but that may be different in the east. Everyone has been shaped by a certain idea about God through our culture and traditions- whether we have faith in that God or not