Quiz 1- Introduction to Religion

Six ways of being religious

1. way of devotion 2. way of mystical quest 3. way of reasoned inquiry 4. way of right action 5. way of sacred rite 6. way of shamanic mediation

Historical Religion

A religious tradition which conceives itself to have originated in (or have been decisively shaped by) a revelation of "ultimate reality" intervening in human history through certain particular events, persons, and circumstances. Its central story will tell of a decisive revelation of trans-historical, universal significance as having actually taken place in historical time. In consequence, all efforts to convey the content of that alleged revelation will be shaped and colored by those historical particulars, and the tradition will continue to be preoccupied with those historical particulars as having been vested with eternal significance. The Western family of religions are all historical religions in this sense.

Empathetic objectivity

An objectivity appropriate to the study of human subjects and cultural phenomena such as religion. Specifically, it involves the effort to take into account and do full justice to the understanding and experience of the insider in developing a full or rounded understanding of the object of investigation. A disciplined empathy is thus an essential part of what is involved.

Eschatological

Pertaining to the end of history as we know it, sometimes spoken as the end of time. It relates to those religious traditions (primarily Western religions) that speak of a final end or culmination to human history, which is said to involve a cosmic judgment of persons in relation to the expectations of God and a final apportioning of justice in which each is expected to receive what he or she most truly deserves. There is no such conception in traditions (such as Eastern religions) which conceive cosmic time as cyclical rather than linear or non-repeating.

Insider/ Outsider

Someone who Actually practices the faith/ Someone who doesn't practice the faith.

Bracketing

The separating of an empathetic description of a religious phenomenon from the speaker's or writer's own person -- putting it in neutral, as it were -- so that the phenomenon may be observed, understood, and appreciated for what it is on its own apart from whatever the personal position of the speaker or writer may be on the subject. Instead of directly giving expression to the convictions of the participant, bracketing defers to the participant as holding those convictions. E.g., instead of saying, "In the Roman Catholic Mass the bread and wine sacramentally become the body and blood of Christ," bracketing would say, "In the Mass, Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine sacramentally become the body and blood of Christ."

at-onement

The state of being at-one with what is taken to be ultimate reality. It encompasses in its range of meaning "reconciled with," "in right or appropriate relation to," "in rapport with," "in agreement with," "in harmony with," "in conformity to," and "in union with"--with the understanding that the precise characterization of this state of at-onement will differ from one tradition to another.

Ultimate Reality

something that is the supreme, final, and fundamental power in all reality. ultimate reality in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is God

Phenomenology

the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to or a part of philosophy