Religion Midterm mhm

Four key features that the term "religion" has taken on since its increased usage in the 16th century:

1) Religion is not a native category. 2) Religion is part of every culture. 3) Foreign religions can be understood through one's own cultural background. 4) Religion is to be studied as an anthropological and not theological category.

Billington argues that conceptions of God(s) can be subsumed beneath three categories. These are:

1) animistic and polytheistic 2) monotheism 3) mysticism

These five "proofs" are

1) the unmoved mover 2) the first cause 3) contingency 4) degree 5) teleology

2) ________ a second challenge underscored by al-Hibri writes in terms of Islamic feminist scholarship is the history of colonialism. This is because colonial powers—whether French or British or Spanish—actively sought to minimize the ________ and _________ in the regions they controlled. Instead, they set up "Western" schools and education systems that promoted Christian or secular ideas. ________ in the Qur'an and Arabic within these regions in turn prohibited women from having a voice in the societies in which they lived since to participate in Muslim discussions of law and society one has to be able to read Arabic. 3) _______ And, lastly, al-Hibri argues that a further component that has led to the silencing of women's voices in Islam has been the idea of Ijtihad, or the __________________ As Islam expanded to non-Arabic countries, Islamic jurists restricted the category of those who could interpret legal matters to a small, elite and highly educated minority of individuals. So an idea that was meant to preserve the integrity of Islam fostered an environment in which women were restricted from having a say in legal affairs.

Colonialism: Arabic language Islamic schools Lack of education Ijtihad: interpretation of legal and religious texts.

Who is Hagar? In Gen 16 we read that Hagar is an _______ owned by ______, the wife of Abraham. Hagar is thus positioned on the absolute lowest rung of the social ladder: she is ___________. Because Sarah is unable to have children, she asks her husband Abraham to use Hagar as a ________ When Hagar becomes pregnant, however, conflict erupts, and Sarah deals with Hagar "harshly" (Gen 16:6), or in Hebrew she "oppressed/humiliated" her. With her son,_________ in tow, Hagar runs away into the desert. Told to return to Abraham by an ______, Hagar does so. But as her son grows, another conflict emerges: Sarah suddenly becomes pregnant and also has a son, _____ Threatened by the presence of Hagar's son, Sarah commands that Abraham cast Hagar into the desert (Gen 21:10) It is a ________ for both Hagar and Ishmael. Close to death in the desert, Hagar leaves Ishmael a distance away so she does not have to watch him die.

Egyptian slave Sarah woman, a slave, and a foreigner surrogate. Ishmael, angel, Isaac. death sentence

_____ key features that the term "religion" has taken on since its increased usage in the 16th century:

Four

In the East, then, ideas of what or who God(s) is/are do not conform to Western assumptions. At the beginning of any new undertaking by a devout Hindu, for example, one calls upon the assistance of _______, god of good fortune, remover of of obstacles. Hindus will pray to Ganesha when they enter a temple, start a job, go to college, begin a business. Why? In some sense, Ganesha is the god of ______ who removes barriers in your life. So he holds an axe in (one of) his right hands. So important is Ganesha that the first Hindu temple built in the USA was dedicated to this god.

Ganesha good luck

One of the earliest "religious" communities known to us, at ________ in modern ______, has preserved what seems to be some form of a holy site with a large number of ________ monuments displayed in a court yard. These finds come from around 9000 (!) BCE, and appear to may been devoted to _______, or the deification of the ______. Or these monuments were related to other, _________ that resembled humans. Important for our purposes is that this structure suggests that worship of the gods began quite early in human history - before the invention of ______ or _____!

Göbekli Tepe Turkey humanoid ancestor worship dead. superhuman beings agriculture cities

Tillich argues that today, faith is a. well understood and practiced b. more productive of disease than health c. under attack by our culture d. thriving in the USA but dead elsewhere

b. more productive of disease than health

In Platonic thought, a. true reality is the material world around us that can be sensed b. the pursuit of truth is useless and illusory c. true reality is accessed through the soul and an eternal realm of "pure forms" d. the best philosophy doubts everything and remains skeptical

c. true reality is accessed through the soul and an eternal realm of "pure forms"

For Tillich, faith is the state of being a. indebted to God b. in a personal relationship with God c. ultimately concerned d. completely devoted

c. ultimately concerned

eudaimonia

happiness.

For the Judeo-Christian tradition, to be human means, in some sense, to be "east of Eden," set adrift in a world of which one is only part. How does one describe life east of Eden? With the Greeks, the emphasis would be placed on what they described as ________ In Eastern religions, of a humanity caught in a spiral of _______ that they must fight against. In the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, it is life always confronted by a _______ from that which we are, from a decision to rebel against the divine within us and pursue death instead of life.

tragedy. suffering separation

When we turn to eastern religions we find that ideas of God(s) differ substantially. Among many eastern religions, much less emphasis is placed on defining and discerning who the gods are, or the being of the gods, or where they reside. Among some, one finds forms of the _________ (Shintoism, Confucianism, Taoism). Among others, the gods were deemed as _______ The ________ began his life praying to many of the Hindu gods, but found that such beliefs did nothing for the problem of suffering. So he stopped praying to those gods.

veneration of ancestors fickle and powerless. Buddha

What makes the study of religion unique is that there are so many different ways of studying it. You will not find another field in which such a variety of methods are used to analyze a particular topic. And this is a really important point: there is no ____ or _______ way to study religion. In fact, the more approaches you use, ______. What religious scholars seek to develop are more textured, sophisticated studies of religion that possess breadth and depth. The goal of this class is to introduce you to as many different approaches as possible.

"one" "right" the better

We begin our reading for today at Chapter 2, which Otto entitles __________ Otto begins with a very important point for his entire book. He argues that an understanding of holiness is something equivalent to the understanding of ______—that is, there is something _________ about the experience of the holy (i.e. there is not formula that 'produces' holiness). In other words, someone cannot be _______ to find the music of Beethoven beautiful or the paintings of Van Gogh to be beautiful. There is something about this music or painting that grasps the individual from the outside and creates within them a sense that what they have encountered is, indeed, beautiful. Once this point has been made, Otto enters into a discussion of what he considers to be a common understanding of holiness in which people identity _________ with holiness: Tom is such a holy person (i.e. he always does what is right). Beth is such a holy-roller (she is a goody-goody). Otto says: Well....maybe. When one takes a wide view of the history of religions across the world—which Otto was able to do—originally holiness had nothing to do with ________ In some sense holiness may imply goodness today, but there is an______ to holiness, a something more, that is actually the essence of the holy within many of the world religions one encounters. Otto calls this 'something more' a particular type of ______ or _______, even an awareness that is not rational. The name he gives to this 'something more' is the _________

"'Numen' and the 'Numinous'" beauty subjective "taught" morality or goodness ethical behavior. "extra" yearning intuition numinous.

In 1957 Tillich wrote a short book on what he termed the _______ The reason for the book, as with much of Tillich's writing on religion, was that Tillich believed a number of concepts had lost their meaning in contemporary society through ______ and _______ Words like "God," "love," "hope," and "faith" had become _______, Tillich argued, that eluded satisfactory meaning because people used these common phrases without reflecting on what these concepts actually meant for their lives and for the world. So Tillich writes in the preface: "There is hardly a word in the religious language, both theological and popular, which is subject to more mis-understandings, distortions and questionable definitions than the word 'faith'...Today, the term "faith" is more productive of disease than of health." In the spirit of _______, Tillich thus argued that saying "I have faith in X,Y,Z" or that my friend "has faith in X,Y, Z" was meaningless. The question that had to be asked was: how does your or your friend's faith operate in the world? What is the content of this faith, and what is it directed toward? What is the meaning of this faith? What was needed, in other words, was intellectual precision: how does the student of religion articulate what faith is for people who claim to have it?

"Dynamics of Faith." overuse misunderstanding. dead concepts Augustine

The legends of the Buddha offer a more robust story. According to legend, Siddhartha was a man who had it all and who, suddenly and to those who knew him, inexplicably, gave it all up. As a young man, he was given everything that a young prince could want: power, wealth, and prestige. The legends state that he was also given an exemplary upbringing and married a beautiful princess from a neighboring kingdom. But because Siddhartha's mother had died at birth, his father worked to ensure that Siddhartha would never again see suffering. So Siddhartha was confined to the palace as a child and lived a life removed from the world and its miseries. The precautions taken by Siddhartha's father however backfire. In a story entitled the _______ Siddhartha leaves the palace and encountered for the first time in his life an old man, a sick person, a corpse, and a sadhu or ascetic—and so is introduced to the facts of age, illness, death, and spiritual sacrifice. According to the story, the very night after seeing the fourth and last of these sights, Siddhartha resolved to make a clean break with his princely past. He left his bed in the middle of the night, kissed his sleeping wife goodbye, slipped from the palace, and headed for the forest, never to return to his former life.

"Four Passing Sights,"

The legends of the Buddha offer a more robust story. According to legend, Siddhartha was a man who had it all and who, suddenly and to those who knew him, inexplicably, gave it all up. As a young man, he was given everything that a young prince could want: power, wealth, and prestige. The legends state that he was also given an exemplary upbringing and married a beautiful princess from a neighboring kingdom. But because Siddhartha's mother had died at birth, his father worked to ensure that Siddhartha would never again see suffering. So Siddhartha was confined to the palace as a child and lived a life removed from the world and its miseries. The precautions taken by Siddhartha's father however backfire. In a story entitled the _______ Siddhartha leaves the palace and encountered for the first time in his life an __________—and so is introduced to the facts of age, illness, death, and spiritual sacrifice. According to the story, the very night after seeing the fourth and last of these sights, Siddhartha resolved to make a clean break with his princely past. He left his bed in the middle of the night, kissed his sleeping wife goodbye, slipped from the palace, and headed for the forest, never to return to his former life.

"Four Passing Sights," old man, a sick person, a corpse, and a sadhu or ascetic

Our next reading for today centers on the question posed to Jesus by the young lawyer in Luke 10:29: ti÷ß e˙sti÷n mou plhsi÷on _________ In many ways, this is the central question of justice across traditions: Who is it that demands my regard for them as one close enough to me to be called a "neighbor"? how does one behold another in such a way as to render that individual what is just? Why is this question of "neighbor" so important? Because it matters how we isolate and define who one's neighbor is. So long as we define the neighbor negatively as a person who is foreign and alien, our humanity is, essentially, in jeopardy. Why? Because we feel no moral obligation towards those whom we have already designated as outsiders.

"Who is my neighbor?"

Our second religious tradition to take up the problem of suffering is that of the perspective included in the Book of Job. The Book of Job is notoriously difficult to date, but was most likely written sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, probably in the period that stretched from 575 - 275 BCE. To begin our discussion of this text, a point must be made: the primary question raised within the Book of Job is not "why do humans suffer?" but rather ______________ And those are two very different questions. The Book of Job is thus concerned with the problem of _________ or why a supposedly good, all-knowing, and all-powerful deity would permit evil and suffering in the world. And what Job wants is a ______. And not just any trial: remarkably, Job wants to put God on trial as the ______. Job wants a hearing, and his lawsuit is against God. This is the background to the Book of Job.

"Why does God allow humans to suffer?" "theodicy," trial. defendant.

Phenomenology is the study of _______ or the study of ________ that we encounter in the world and what produces these phenomena. A phenomenology of religion is thus the study of appearances as these appearances relate to religious practice. Or, said differently, it studies the ______ of religion from the standpoint of the one involved in a particular religion. Phenomenologists want to know: how do religious people understand their own religious experiences? How do they describe them in their own words? To understand religious beliefs and acts, on this view, is to be _______ to the claims made by those who are religious. The point is not to prove them right or wrong, but to understand how people conceive of their religious lives in terms of their experiences.

"appearances," phenomena experiences sensitive

"Religion," Smith remarks, seems to have originally meant something like _________ likely through shared practices, beliefs, and customs that we would call religious. religare in ____, for example, means to "____________" (so ligament in English). But what we find in Smith's article is that the term "religion" did not enjoy widespread use until about the ________ And this is a crucial point in terms of world history: for it is precisely during this time that _______ gains traction. That is, the term "religion" begins to be used when Europeans began colonizing different places in the world and encountering different native peoples—and religions!

"binding together," Latin "bind, tie, fasten together 16th century. European colonialism

The beginning of Hsun Tzu's text lays out his argument: "The nature of man is evil; his goodness is the result of his activity...By inborn nature one is envious and hates others. If these tendencies are followed, injury and destruction result..." How then does one overcome this situation? "There must be the civilizing influence of teachers and laws and the guidance of propriety and righteousness." In other words, one must be reshaped like______ made straight through the ______ of wise sages and authorities. Goodness is_____ and acquired, it is the result of the ______ who work like the potter who formed clay and made a vessel. To those who argue that human nature cannot be controlled in this manner from the outside, Hsun Tzu uses the example of ______ the righteous individual, even when hungry, allows the elders to eat first; the righteous individual, even when tired, allows the elders to rest. Such righteousness is learned; it is the result of ________

"crooked wood" teachings learned "sages" hunger and sleep: hard work, discipline, and deep study

Leading up to Lincoln's inauguration the common sentiment in both the North and the South was that "God is on our side." This was expressed in the North's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" [He hath sounded for the trumpet that shall never call retreat] and in the motto of the Confederacy "Deo Vindice" or "God will vindicate [us]." The point: both sides believed that God would help them defeat the _______ of the opposing forces. God was for them and against the other. Lincoln's speech however offers a different vision of the Will of God and War. For such a short text, it is astonishing how nearly every sentence is taken out of different parts of the Bible.

"evil" army

But, even more, Job's anger is kindled because of the bad theology brought forth by his ____ The sentiments of these friends are all too familiar: ______ explains that Job suffers because he has sinned and must admit to his wrongdoing ( Job 4-5). _____ explains that Job must be guilty of something because God cannot do injustice (Job 8). _______ tells Job he just must accept the suffering because it is the "Will of God" and cannot be questioned (Job 11). Job resists each of these views in turn and argues against them. His language is some of the most severe in the entire Bible: "God has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me...I was at ease, and he broke me in two;seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces, he set me up as his target; his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy, he pours out my gall on the ground. He burts upon me again and again, he rushes at me like a warrior." Job 16:9-13. The result: "My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me." (Job 17:1) So severe are Job's words that _____ accuses Job of faithlessness and sedition, and of undermining religion: "But you are doing away with the fear of God, and hindering meditation before God...Your own mouth condemns you, and not I, your own lips testify against you." (Job 15:4,6).

"friends." Eliphaz Bildad Zophar Bildad

Otto connects his idea of the holy to the numinous, which is a strange word, even in German. It actually comes from the Latin numen, or _________ Here Otto uses an analogy with the word ______. An omen is understood as a supernatural sign given to an individual by the _______ in order to alert one towards _______ that may arise in the future. When one receives an omen, one an "ominous" feeling about what may lie ahead. So the "numinous" would be a sense of the ________ that transcends us. Otto asserts, much like Tillich, that holiness then is an _________, a sense of one's finitude and dependence on something outside of one's self for life and meaning. But this 'feeling' is only the very beginning of an answer. How, Otto asks, do we describe what evokes this feeling? How do we articulate this feeling more precisely? Otto's answer: the numinous, the holy, is a ________ And he spends the rest of our reading detailing what this Latin expression means.

"god, spirit, divine." "omen." divine world troubles spiritual world awareness mysterium tremendum et fascinans.

Though Confucianism held to ideas of a _______ or divine substance that filled the world and guided it, Confucianism did not develop ideas of a _____ in the manner of Western ideas of the gods. This matters because in the West most, if not all, religious traditions have understood humanity as somehow being _______ to a God or the Gods. How this connection played out could vary. In ancient Greece, the gods could appear as capricious and power-hungry. So the lines from the Odyssey: "Men are so quick to blame the gods: they say that we devise their misery. But they themselves - in their depravity - design griefs greater than the griefs that fate assigns. So did Aigisthos act when he transgressed the boundaries that fate and reason set" - Odyssey I, 32-35 So with Homer's poem we come across important themes that cut across religions: beliefs in the reality of divine beings who orchestrate the affairs of the world; of humanity who are vulnerable to these designs; of fate; of human misery and depravity.

"great one" deity connected

Our next window into justice is that proposed through a Buddhist understanding of _______ or the belief that all life is inextricably intertwined, and that there is no individual, no self-hood. The division between you and I, between myself and an animal, between you and the heavens, are understood to be an illusion. We are all one. What matters then is the law of _____. That is, one's behavior is always reciprocal, always oriented outward and then inward. Within this understanding of justice, then, no "demand" or "teachings" on justice is required. The reason for this is that violence enacted against another, according to this view, is first and foremost violence against oneself. To one who is enlightened about the true character of the world, injustice is impossible toward others, since all injustice perpetrated is injustice against oneself. From this perspective, justice is not something imposed on a society through laws or teachings. Instead, justice arises naturally from one's ________ of the connectedness of the world (karma) and from self-observation. To do harm is to affect one's karma, and thus any wrongdoing will always be return back on one's self. Self-awareness and enlightenment can only result in one act: _______

"nonduality," karma awareness compassion.

Phenomenology is often closely allied to what is termed ________ approaches. Over against social-scientific approaches (i.e. anthropology, sociology, economics), religionists argue that the need for religion is ________ That is, explanations for religious phenomena are rooted in what these scholars argue is a universal human need for the _______, or contact with god or the gods. There is something within us, on this view, that yearns for the _____. Since prehistoric times, these scholars of religion argue, humanity has sought after the divine, the Infinite, the sacred. So, for example ______ - particularly the sun - were often viewed as the source of something god-like: 'Thus sunrise was the revelation of nature, awakening in the human mind that feeling of dependence, of helplessness, of hope, of joy and faith in higher powers, which is the source of all wisdom, the spring of all religion.' (Max Müller). Our readings next week from Tillich and Otto will be explicitly religionist in their aims.

"religionists" religion itself. sacred Infinite celestial bodies

Another example Tillich highlights is success, by which he means the promise of __________ What is demanded by this faith is ________: family life, friendships, personal convictions regarding what is true and just, one's creativity, etc. But of course an ultimate concern be something that is more familiar to us within the study of religion. So Tillich cites a biblical text from Deuteronomy 6:5, for example, and the command that "You will love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your might." This, for Tillich, is the definition of "total surrender" to the ultimate concern of one's faith: one must devote all their heart, soul, and might to something that grasps them. The reason individuals have an ultimate concern, Tillich argues, is that humans _______ it offers. Human beings are meaning seeking beings. We yearn for meaning. As Tillich notes, this meaning could find a certain fulfillment by claiming membership in a "master race" (so again the Nazis), or it become a number of other notions, including "heaven," or "nirvana," for religious people, but also "success," "money," "fame," political power, etc. What matters about one's ultimate concern is the promise it offers and what it demands.

"social standing and economic power." everything long for the ultimate fulfillment

The question of what constitutes being human is central to nearly every religious tradition. That is, the question of ________ is asked by most religions, and most religions respond to this question in terms of _______, ________, and _________. Of course, answers to these questions will vary. Many differences will arise depending on whether a religion is theist or non-theist (i.e. religions that posit an active, being of God(s) and those that do not). In order to touch on this variety, our readings for today focus on both eastern and western responses to the question of what it means to be human.

"who are we?" ontology (how did we come to be?) epistemology (what do we know?) ethics (how do we act?)

The study of religion through the lens of politics )_________) attempts to uncover the hidden, or not so hidden, relationship between politics and religion throughout the world. How this study unfolds can take many different forms. The most obvious perhaps is how religious views influence ______ and _____. Beliefs about abortion, for example, or the death penalty, are often rooted in the religious convictions of individuals, and these convictions have real consequences in the political world. But more subtle studies can also emerge. One could track how religious affiliation affects one's desire to run for office. Or how much influence the government should have over civic life. Or whether certain laws can be mandated by the government.

(political science) political elections policies

Wisdom: Right View or perspective: understanding life as it really is, as an existence of ceaseless change and flux. _________ ______ ________ Right Intention: commitment toward addressing one's suffering; renunciation of the material world and non-violence Ethics Right Speech: attentiveness to what you say and how you say it. Right Action: avoid all actions that contribute to poisons Right Livelihood: professions must seek welfare of others. No making weapons, no slavery, no prostitution, no making poison Concentration Right Effort: One must focus directly and without interruption on how to live life well Right Mindfulness: One must be fully present and aware in every situation, as if your life depends on it. Right Concentration: various practices of meditation that calm the mind and achieve mental focus. The goal of these steps? a very specific state of called ______. Each of the Four Noble Truths and each of the steps in the Eightfold Path are designed to bring one to this ultimate destination. What this means more precisely is what we will investigate with next's week topic on death and the afterlife.

----karma ----impermanence -----suffering Nirvâna.

What we will find is that religion is not something un-identifiable. Rather, it carries with it a number of possible meanings—so Smith cites a study with 50 different (!) definitions of religion. Which is to say: everyone will define religion somewhat differently. But for our purposes we will follow Smith by citing two prominent views:

1) The first is that of Paul Tillich, who we will read more from next week. For Tillich, religion is an "ultimate concern" in the moral sphere, ultimate concern in the realm of knowledge, and ultimate concern in the "aesthetic function" of the human spirit. Religion is not a particular feature of spiritual life, but the very dimension of the depth of human life. [i.e., to be human is to be religious] 2) Spiro: Religion is "an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated superhuman beings."

As we saw last class, the study of religion developed rapidly during the colonial period and into the Enlightenment (so, roughly, the 16th-18th centuries). This development was due to a complex web of factors, but two stood out:

1) With the colonial period, there was a realization that a very large number of religious traditions were being practiced around the globe, and that human "religiosity" was something more complex than just Christians and Jews. In order to understand this complexity, and wider net needed to be cast that explored religions native to Africa, South America, and Asia. 2) Context and Perspective matters. The study of religion is going to be influenced by who you are and what presuppositions you bring to the table about religion.

If the 16th century marks a great transition point with the beginning of the study of "religion" in light of the colonial practices that began to dominate the Western world, the ______ forms another watershed moment. For it is at this time that the _______ of the study of religion begins to take hold. That is, the aim of the study of religion during this time transitions from an attempt to argue for the superiority of one religion over another. ________ as this form of study is called, is instead situated within __________ This marks the beginning of an important division between _________ and ______. Of course, one can be used to inform the other (so it can be extremely helpful to read St. Augustine in order to understand what Christians think about the Trinity). But the study of religion is considered something else: not the attempt to prove the superiority of one religion over another, or to make truth claims about what a particular religion says about the world (i.e. the Buddhist conception of Nirvana is true and the Jewish concept of heaven is false, so everyone should be Buddhist). The study of religion is not undertaken in order to make judgments about the "rightness" or "wrongness" of a particular tradition. Rather, we study a number of religions alongside one another, much as a detective watching something unfold and trying to describe what is taking place, and reflecting on how these beliefs and practices ______ those performing them. This is something different than being a participant arguing for the relative merits or detriments of a theological tradition.

20th century secularization "Apologetics" theological approaches. theology and religion influence

Of Plato's life we know more because of the sheer amount of writings that Plato left behind. Plato was born around_____ and died around _____. He also lived in ______ In contrast to Socrates, Plato however came from ________ Plato began in _____, but left the political sphere because it was______ in his opinion, and because _______ was the only career in which the pursuit of truth was possible. What results from Plato's efforts is the first _______ in Western history, ________, that trained students in a number of subjects. The most famous student who attended Plato's academy was ______ Plato and Aristotle however disagree on a number of important philosophical points—so the painting to the right by ____ of ________ now housed in the ______

428 348 Athens. one of the most prominent and wealthiest families in Athens. politics "un-truthful" philosophy organized school the Academy Aristotle. Raphael "The School of Athens" Vatican.

Theism is the viewpoint that is likely most familiar to us because this is the principal idea about God expressed in the __________ In a sense, this conception of God blends together __________. That is, this understanding of God sees the divine as both ________ from the world (so the deists) and _________ with the world (so the pantheists). Or, said differently, that God is both _______ from the world (i.e. in heaven), but is also at the same time ______ in the world. The combination of these two views offers an image of a God who is both all-powerful and all-loving, a God capable of creating the world but also intervening on its behalf. Two additional ideas of God are linked to this concept: _________ ___________

Abrahamic religions. Deism and Pantheism transcendent and apart immanent or as one removed active Henotheism monolatry

What's interesting about Du Bois' book is that one place he locates the possibility of this self-actualization and empowerment for his community is the _______ and their________—even though Du Bois himself was not overtly religious. How we understand the church here is important. On the one hand, Du Bois takes up ________ criticism of American churches before the Civil War, both in the north and the south, as locations where some of the most horrific ideas were propagated by ministers in the pulpit. But after Emancipation, the African American community created a new church. For Du Bois, this church was the _______ of African American life, in which "the church often stands as a real conserver of morals, a strengthener of family life, and the final authority on what is Good and Right" (140). He gives credit to the African American Christian Church as being a place of refuge and strength, the place for true expression of a people's "sorrow, despair, and hope" (138).

African American Church spirituals Frederick Douglas' "social, intellectual, and economic center"

Reinhold Niebuhr was an __________ and ethicist born in 1892 in _________(he died in 1972). Niebuhr went to _______ and became a pastor of a small church outside of Detroit. Throughout the 1920s Niebuhr become a more prominent pastor who worked on a number of _________—such as the fair treatment of autoworkers in Detroit—and eventually was hired as a________ in New York. And it was during this time as a professor that Niebuhr put forth his most important writings, including his works on religion in politics. His views were instrumental in the fight against ____, and Niebuhr was responsible for bringing many Jews and Germans to America and thus saving their lives.

American theologian Missouri seminary social issues professor Nazism

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in 1929 in_____. He was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39. MLK skipped two grades in high-school and graduated from college (_______) at the age of 19. In 1955, at the age of 26, he received his Ph.D. from ______. At the same time, he accepted his first call as pastor of ______ church in Montgomery, Alabama, and in 1957 he became head of the __________—a prominent civil rights network. In 1960, he would become co-pastor of the church his father and grandfather had served—________ He was arrested over 20 times, physically beaten on a number of different occasions, and had his house bombed while his wife and baby were at home. In response to this bombing King gave one of the most remarkable speeches in United States history to those assembled at his house. Hours after his family was nearly killed, King proclaimed: "Don't get your weapons. If you have weapons, take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword. Remember that is what Jesus said. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love."

Atlanta Morehouse College Boston University Dexter Avenue Baptist Southern Christian Leadership Conference Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

What does it mean to be made in the "image of God"? At the very least, this notion presupposes that human beings have a deep affiliation with whoever or whatever God is. For ________ (and, in a different sense, for Plato), this is the "spark" that resides within us and drives us toward thinking about God, our mortality, and a possible reunion with the divine at the end of life. We are restless, Augustine argues, precisely because we are made in the image of God and long to return to that which made us. To be human, on this view, is to contain an element of the divine within you. Typically, this is called the ______ though that term comes to us via the Greeks. There is not word for soul in Hebrew. So "image" must mean something else. Rather, the word used for "image" in Genesis 1 is the standard word for the _______—think along the lines of a sculpture. So there is a sense that whoever humans are, they are bodily images of how the Hebrews viewed God (so also Ezek 1-10). But it seems this "image" is also one of_______: there is something unique about humanity that they have control over the world, and this "something special" is their unique relationship to the divine.

Augustine "soul" form of something authority:

MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is one of his most famous texts that was written during the height of the Civil Rights struggle (1963) when King had been imprisoned for four days previous to its publication because of a non-violent protest in Birmingham. This text can, and should, be read from a number of a different angles so as to appreciate its richness. But from the standpoint of this week's theme, a number of observations are important: 1) Audience: What is often overlooked about this letter are those to whom it is written. This letter is written to fellow _______—priests, pastors, ministers, etc. This is not written to white supremacists, or segregationists; it is not written to government officials—it is written to church folk and the leaders of churches. Why is this so important? Because many clergy members had publicly called for MLK to stop his civil rights movement. That is, many church leaders were working against MLK because of the religious convictions they held. Some felt the Bible permitted segregation. Many others argued that the Bible did not condone boycotts and protests against government, or disruptions to civil society. Still others argued that the Civil Rights movement should move more slowly and allow God to "intervene at the right time." Looking back on this letter over 50 years later, we can now say that in these instances religion was being used to hinder justice for a people who were brutally oppressed, most often through a very selective reading of the Bible where arcane, ancient laws on slavery were cited while ignoring that the God of Israel is the God who frees slaves from bondage in Egypt, and who demands justice at every turn: "What does the Lord require from you but to do justice? (Micah 6:8). MLK, among others, recognized the hypocrisy of these so-called Christians and so-called ministers, and fought against it.

Christian clergy

Today, we read a short piece from Hsun Tzu. Tzu was a ________ who lived in modern day ______ from around 312-230 BCE. But confucianism itself began around 525 BCE with Confucious, who developed a philosophical and ethical system of life that emphasized _________ towards one's ______ (xiao), ______ (de), and _______ (xue). For Confucious, the time in which he lived had forgotten the ________. So he wanted to recapture the teachings of the ancestors and make them known once more in his culture. An emphasis that runs throughout Confucianism is _______ and ________: one must work towards bettering the self at all times. The most important text in Confuciansim is the ________. This book is a collection of Confucious' sayings that were preserved by his disciples. An example: "It is these things that cause me concern: failure to cultivate virtue, failure to go deeply into what I have learned, inability to move up to what I have heard to be right, and inability to reform myself when I have defects. " Is Confucianism a philosophy? Political worldview? Religion? ____

Confucian philosopher China responsibility parents, personal virtue, education old traditions self-discipline self-improvement Analects. Yes

The First Noble Truth of Buddhism states that all life is ______, or suffering. This is the first and most fundamental teaching of the Buddhist tradition, out of which all other teachings emanate. "Suffering," or Dukkha, is a term in the ____ language that has a much richer meaning than the English notion of suffering. Another way of thinking through this term is to envision it as a sense of ______ or being ______ That is, Dukkha is not merely a physical sensation; it's also connected with all of the many psychological and emotional aggravations and hassles that tend to make up the greatest part of our lives. If you associate Dukkha with physical suffering alone, you may think of Buddhism as a rather pessimistic tradition. But if you extend the idea to include the non-physical "dislocations" of life, you can see an element of ____ in this notion. For even in our happiest moments there is a realization that such moments cannot persist indefinitely. Life is change, whether we want that change or not. And it is this constant flux of life and the difficulties of coming to terms with this flux that the Buddha calls dukkha.

Dukkha Pali "dislocation" "disturbed." truth

This concern for the "other" who is different than you is at the center of an important French philosopher and ethicist________ He writes: "From the start, the encounter with the Other is my responsibility for him...I don't very much like the word love, which is worn-out and debased. Let us speak instead of the taking upon oneself the fate of the other." Entre Nous, 103 And again: "I am in reality responsible for the other even when he or she commits crimes, even when others commit crimes...All men are responsible for one another, and 'I more than anyone else.'" (p. 107) "What moment is the voice of God heard? It is inscribed in the Face of the Other, in the encounter with the Other: a double expression of weakness and strict, urgent requirement." (p. 108) "When I speak to a Christian I always quote Matthew 25; the relation to God is presented there as a relation to another person. It is not a metaphor: in the other, I hear the Word of God. It is not a metaphor; it is not only extremly important, it is literally true. I'm not saying the other is God, but that in his or her Face I hear the Word of God." (p. 110)

Emmanuel Levinas.

In our article from Billington for today, he offers us different ways in which people have thought about the image of God. The first viewpoint is that of Deism. Deism is a view of God that emerged as an outgrowth of the ________ during the _____ century. A major influence on this conception of God was _______ and the _________ That is, on this view God was conceived as a _______ or ______: having created a perfect and beautiful machine/world, God retires from the scene and allows the machine to perform its tasks. Importantly, God does not intervene in the world or necessarily communicate with it. God simply sets it in motion. Because God is perfect, that which is created by God must also be perfect. For this reason no intervention is needed. Again, the metaphor of a watchmaker is helpful: if an absolutely perfect watch was made and wound up, there is no reason to try to disturb the gears revolving inside it. The outcome of this view, of course, is that there is no sense of a ___________ between God and the world. Once the world is made, this God allows time and history to unfold as it will without intervening in it.

Enlightenment 17th scientific discovery industrial revolution. master watchmaker brilliant engineer relationship

Leading up to World War II many religious Americans did not want to go to war against _______ And oftentimes this opposition was rooted in important theological ideas, like "love your neighbor as yourself" and "turn the other cheek." To be good and virtuous meant________ But in the face of extreme evil, Niebuhr saw this viewpoint—one could term it idealism—as a severe problem. In an ideal world such forms of resistance could perhaps stop the Nazis, but Niebuhr argued that such a stance could not work in this world of fallen human beings. Something more was needed. In response to these questions and historical events, Niebuhr developed a doctrine of ___________. This perspective essentially boils down to the argument that the Kingdom of God cannot become fully manifest on earth because of the evil in the world and the evil within the human heart. Even the best human beings, Niebuhr argued, suffer from sin and self-interest. For Niebuhr, this meant that people who were religious had to ______ with the evil of the world and themselves. They could not stand by and do nothing. Why? Because such a stance was actually a ________—a decision to let evil prevail. Instead, Niebuhr argued that people of religious conviction must_________—and this meant the US leading the war effort against Hitler.

Germany. non-violence. "Christian Realism." reckon decision act against evil

The first thing that one must realize about the young lawyer's question, in light of our reading of Leviticus, is that this a question borne out of a close reading of the __________. That is, this is a Jewish question posed between Jews about their Scripture. So Jesus' initial question: "What is written in the law? What do you read there? (Luke 10:26). Jesus is referring to the ______. The young lawyer had done his homework. The answer first comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-9; and then Leviticus 19. The lawyer is well-schooled in biblical law because this is, essentially, the education one receives as a lawyer during this time. Lawyer's read and studied the Torah to get a handle on Jewish law. And Jesus acknowledges that the young lawyer's answer is correct (Luke 10:28). But it is only after this initial encounter that the young lawyer pushes further: "who is my neighbor?" To whom must love be shown? The point of the entire conversation has been to test Jesus (Luke 10:25). Initially, Jesus turns the question back on the young lawyer. But now Jesus responds differently.

Hebrew Bible Torah

Our first guide on this journey is W.E.B. Du Bois. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on February 23, 1868, in _______ during the presidency of ________ and the immediate ______ In 1888 Du Bois graduated from Fisk University in Nashville, and then later became the first African-American to earn his _______ from ______ in 1895 during a time when Harvard actively discriminated against black students. Before graduating, Du Bois attended the _______ and became acquainted with some of the leading intellectuals of religion, including his teacher _____ at Harvard. In 1897 Du Bois became a _______ at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), where he would publish major intellectual works on African-American life in the United States—including the most famous of these works, ______ In 1906, Du Bois founded the _________, which would lay the foundation for the NAACP. In time, Du Bois was singled out and, in 1951, prosecuted, for being a communist on trumped-up charges by the US government. Disillusioned with the United States, Du Bois left for the country of _____ at the age of 93 and died there two years later in the capital of Accra in 1963.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Andrew Johnson post-civil war era. Ph.D. (in History) Harvard University University of Berlin William James professor of economics and history The Souls of Black Folk. Niagara Movement Ghana

The unique character of Hagar is also recognized within Islam, but even in a more significant way. Within Islamic tradition, Hagar, or ____ in Arabic, is identified as the __________ But already in early Islamic tradition Hajar was accorded more importance. According to the early Islamic scholar Ibn ʿAbbās, Abraham brings Hajar and Ishmael to a desolate spot in _____, entrusts them to God, and leaves them with some water. When this is exhausted, Hagar runs ______ times between the hills of al-Ṣafā and al-Marwa looking for someone to help her. She returns to Ishmael, only to find him scratching at the ground with his heel which produces water (an explanation of the origin of Zamzam, the sacred well in Mecca). With this new source of water, Hagar is able to continue nursing Ishmael, and they survive. Later, a group from the tribe of Jurham see a bird that is known to fly near water. They find the source of the water and encounter Hagar and Ishmael, and they settle with them. Ishmael learns Arabic from them and eventually marries one of their women. Why is this story important? Because the story is acted out by every Muslim when they go on ________. Muslims remember the agony of Hagar in her search for water by a ritual of walking (sa`i, Arabic: سَعِي) between these two hills. Pilgrims also draw water from the Zamzam well that the angel ______ gave to Ishmael when he was dying of thirst. More than any other figure besides Mohammed, then, the hajj is a remembrance of ______

Hajar mother of Ishmael, Arab peoples, and thus Mohammed. Mecca seven pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj) Jibril Hagar/Hajar's life.

Another prominent female character in the Hebrew Bible who overturns gender expectations is ______, the mother of Samuel. In the first chapter of the Book of Samuel, we learn that Hannah is unable to have children. But she goes to a temple in Shiloh and pledges that, if she can have a child, she will install the child as a _____ at the temple. Soon, Hannah gives birth to a boy who will become the _______ leader of all of Israel. But what is especially remarkable about Hannah is the prayer she offers in 1 Sam 2. Here, we find themes announced about the God of Israel that will continue to echo throughout the entire Bible. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. (1 Sam 2:4-8)

Hannah, priest spiritual and political

But, before we enter into our readings for today, it is important to highlight that both the _________ traditions are also consumed with the question of justice. So we find in Deuteronomy 16:20, for example, the exhortation: "Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land the Lord your God is giving you." And again in Psalm 37:28: "For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his faithful ones." In the Islamic tradition, it is important to note that Islam itself is understood as a ____, or a "way of life." Islam is, at its core, an ______. The purpose of being a Muslim is to ________ The term for this in Islam is ____ - piety, or fear of God. One has an obligation as a Muslim to pursue God's will and to live one's life in relationship to it. This includes the pursuit of justice. So in the Qu'ran we read in the Surat al-Maida, 5:8, "O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah , witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness." But in a class taught in the United States, the question of religion and justice can begin only in one place: America's "original sin" and those who fought against it.

Hebraic and Islamic din ethical system live one's life in accordance with God's will. taqwa

Our article for today by Wendy Doniger focuses on the _______ religion and the complexities of the understanding of God(s) within this religion. Donger points out, first, just how old Hinduism is. The _______, the earliest collection of Hindu writings, descends from 1500 BCE, or 500 years before _____ would have existed, and much earlier than any extant copy of a Jewish, Christian, or Islamic text. These are the _________ in the history of humanity. What is interesting about these early Hindu texts, Dongier notes, is the way in which they admit of a _____________ (as every other religion in the world also did at this time), but also argue for ________ of one certain god over others, and sometimes imply that there is only one (true) god among the other gods. The sensibility was something along the lines of 'You, Indra, are the only god I've ever worshipped; you are, in this sense, the only one.' In our reading for today, Doniger argues that this allowed for "a kind of ___________; the attitude to each god was hierarchical ('You are the best'), but the various competing claims of supremacy cancelled one another out, so that the total picture was one of equality: each of several was the best." What is fascinating about these early Hindu beliefs, then, is a form of polytheism open to ideas of monotheism, or even the simultaneous belief in both polytheism/henotheism/monotheism

Hindu Rig Veda David oldest religious writings polytheistic worldview supremacy non-hierarchical pantheon

The important of al-Hibri's article is that it helps to undermine a persistent Western bias against religions that are outside of the Judeo-Christian worldviews common to those in Western society. And her article helps to remind us that Islam has a long history of women contributing to its ideas and practices. What Muslim feminist scholars, alongside other traditions, point out is that emphasis on exclusionary ideologies overlooks other religious traditions in which women have important roles. So, for example, the strong feminine images of the divine in _______—from Durga, Kali, Sarawati, and Lakshmi. Here, like other ancient religions, ideas of feminie divinity was very important in ways not true for the Judeo-Christian tradition. The problem, then, in focusing only on the ________ features of religion in terms of women's experience is that doing so can silence the centuries-long, ongoing importance of feminine contributions in other world religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, etc. So the notion that Western feminist scholars have recaptured a "new" perspectives of women's contributions to religion fails, in a certain sense, to be aware of how other, non-Western religions that have often lifted up these very features for centuries, if not millennia.

Hinduism "negative"

And this theme continued through the early and late medieval periods. For the most part, the West was divided into two regions: a Europe ruled by the _________, and a Middle East and North Africa ruled by ___________ For much of this time, the relationship between these two religions was _______. The Mediterranean acted as a buffer zone between them. Within the Christian West, however, a rupture occurred: the ________ Initiated by_________ teachings in the early 16th century, large parts of northern Europe declared their independence from the teachings of the _________, and asserted their authority to choose their own form of Christianity to follow. But because religion and nationhood were nearly one and the same, this "religious" independence initiated what also became a ______ between countries ruled over by the Holy Roman Empire (Spain,Portugal, Italy, Austria, Hungary and more) and those seeking to break free: the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia. What resulted was one of the most horrific wars in European history: _______

Holy Roman Empire and other Christian kingdoms various Islamic caliphates. peaceful Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther's Roman Catholic Church war the 30 year war.

Over time, Hindu thought became influenced by contact with other religious traditions. In the mid-7th century CE ______ came to India and provoked a sharp defense of the monotheistic, monistic tendencies within Hinduism. This same pattern would emerge a thousand years later with the era of colonialism. In order to bring Hinduism closer to Christianity, and particularly Protestantism, Hindus often emphasized the monotheistic traditions within Hindu writings in order to impress the British. Today, within the very diverse and international arena of Hinduism, one finds that many Hindus will worship among many different traditions, participating in a feast day for Shiva and then perhaps going to a Christian church afterward. And some of this stems from an openness within Hinduism that, according the Bhagavad Gita, all religions are, in fact, worshipping the _______—and that this brahman simply goes by the name of Allah or Christ or Yahweh in other traditions. So, Doniger concludes, is Hinduism polytheistic or monotheistic? Yes. In other words, what we find in Hinduism is a certain ________ against limiting conceptions of God to one particular worldview, whether that be polytheistic or monotheistic. So we find in Sikhism (a close, monotheistic cousin of Hinduism), for example, that all religions are invited to worship at their temples, with the belief that each religious tradition retains an element of truth.

Islam brahman resistance

Our last reading of the week on the question of one's neighbor provides a final window into the relationship between religion and justice. That is, here we see justice as a response to the one in need, even to one's enemy: "and seeing him, he was moved to compassion." How does this matter? Elsewhere, Hirshfield draws our attention to the________ The point is not subtle: if one sees the "Other"—the Samaritan, the Jewish man half-dead in the ditch—as one worthy of compassion, peace is possible. How does it work? The Israeli Jew must see the Palestinian's suffering as his or her own. The Palestinian Muslim must see the Israeli Jew's fear and vulnerability as their own. They must be moved to compassion, bind up wounds, pour oil and wine on the cuts, and place the injured on their own beast of burden. Is this form of radical justice possible? The parable of the Good Samaritan is not about possibilities. It's a ______: "Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:37)

Israel-Palestinian conflict. command

___________ all emerge from this idea of one God developed first in the Hebrew Bible. Of these three,_____ is the most rigorously monotheistic. The central teaching about God in Islam is _____, meaning the "oneness of God." To be Muslim, one first declares that God is singular, one, and that there is no other god besides God (so the first words of the ______, or declaration of faith in Islam). Judaism is also monotheistic, although its monotheism is rooted historically in a particular ____: the children of Israel. Christianity is monotheistic as well, but poses the idea of monotheism through the idea of the _____: namely, the belief that God consists of the Father (creator), Son (redeemer), and Holy Spirit (sustainer).

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Islam Tawhid shahada people trinity

So with the division of church and state, what role does religion have in public life? This question becomes difficult because of the dangers involved. Why dangerous? Because of the possibility that one will use religion to oppress others. Throughout history, and into our own time, there have been numerous moments when religion has been exploited for violence. And, in part because of this reason, the __________ has long been skeptical of becoming involved in the political sphere of this world.

Judeo-Christian tradition

In Romans 16:7, Paul writes: "Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kin, and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me." The text was very controversial in the early church because it could be read to mean that _____ was an apostle—which, to some, was a position restricted only to men. And so over and over again, from Origen to Jerome and into the Middle Ages, Junia's name in Greek was changed into ______—a male's name. But it now seems clear that Junia was indeed a woman, and was a woman who the early Jesus movement claimed was one of the _______—those who saw Jesus after the resurrection.

Junia Junias original apostles

____________ is remarkable for a number of reasons, including the fact that Lincoln could have used this occasion to deride his enemies: the war was nearly over, and he was the victor. To the victor go the spoils. But Lincoln's speech is neither triumphant nor derisive. Instead it is filled with ____ and _________ on the character of God and war.

Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address sadness deep religious reflection

When it comes to various images of God(s), we must be aware then of our own presuppositions when talking about what we think God is or is not. This was ________ (died 1872) central claim against theology, or discussions of God (and the point Billington makes in our article for today). Feuerbach argues that every definition or discussion about God was simply the _______ of a what a culture believed they needed most. So God is "just," "kind," "benevolent," "all-powerful," etc. God simply represents what a culture deems most important for life. Feuerbach believed that these images were ________ For example: if God is all-knowing, all-good, and all-powerful (Omniscient, Omnibevolent, Omnipotent), then how does evil exist? The question Feuerbach wanted to ask, then, was this: when you talk about what you think God is, how much of this description is what you want God to be? And how would you distinguish between these wants and the reality of something one would call God or the gods?

Ludwig Feuerbach's projection unsustainable.

An important example of anthropology is _________ In this book, Douglas asks: how do different religious traditions conceive of ______ and (bodily, cultural) _______? And what Douglas finds is that every religious tradition she analyzes, from African religions (she did fieldwork in the Belgian Congo), to the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible, is concerned with matters of ______ So what takes place within these traditions are ________ by which to purify oneself and one's community of pollution: this will of course address issues of hygiene, but also the foods one eats, the places one goes, ideas of sexuality, ethnicities with whom one can marry, etc. Religions create ______ and _______ in order to offer guidance for its adherents. _______ are those things which are beyond the boundary—acts and beliefs which are forbidden because they create pollution. So the eating of pork by Jews or Muslims. And what is fascinating is that these ideas of pollution are nearly ________—all religions studied have some form of boundaries—but what is "taboo" in one religion can be very normal and accepted in another. Christians drink wine in the most important ritual they enact; Muslims forbid alcohol. So the idea of____ or pollution is widespread across the world's cultures, but what constitutes pollution varies from culture to culture.

Mary Douglas' Purity and Danger. taboos pollution? cleanliness. guidelines boundaries boundary markers Taboos universal "dirt"

The idea of worshipping a many-handed deity with an elephant's head is likely difficult for those not native to Hinduism. The great German scholar of India, _______, quipped "Hinduism is a decrepit religion, and has not many years to live." He was wrong on both accounts. Today, Hinduism is a_______ religion of almost 1 billion people. And part of its vitality is connected to the way it envisions _______ Hindus worship in many different ways. There are paths taken (______), disciplines observed (_____), and philosophies studied (_______). Like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, many differences are encountered in these various forms of worship, just as differences emerge in how Hindus think about god or the gods. Perhaps most interesting is that, within this diversity, the gods do not need to be models of _______ or __________ Indra, one of the oldest and most important gods of early Hinduism, is reckless, a drunk, and blowhard (he was a storm god, so this makes some sense).

Max Müller thriving divinity. margas yogas) darshanas virtue morality.

Another approach to the study of religion is to employ the tools of historical research to a particular tradition. So, for example, _______ was one of the first European scholars to retrace the history of the _____ religion. To do so, Müller learned ____, published a number of editions of Hindu texts into English, and wrote about the changes that occurred within the four thousand years of its existence. Central to this approach is the fact that every religion has a history. No religion is timeless or remains unchanged. To understand a religion, then, one must attend to its historical development to see how it has transformed over time

Max Müller Hindu Sanskrit

Why does the 30 years war matter? Because out of the horrific character of this religious war the kingdoms of Europe crafted a new vision of what nationhood meant, and what nationhood meant in terms of religious practice. Two major outcomes stemmed from the Treaty of Westphalia that ended the war: ___________ were permitted to practice their religion within a particular territory—so the first movement toward the idea of ___________ A kingdom could not enter into the affairs of another kingdom on the __________: Protestants could not attack Catholic territory, in other words, to make this territory Catholic. Religion, in other words, could no longer be a ______ for a European country to go to war.

Minority religious groups a separation between "Church and State" basis of religion reason

These are the sorts of questions that J.Z. Smith sets out to explore in his article for our class today. Dr. Smith is a native ______ who received his ____ from _____ in 1969. He now teaches at the ________ and his research focuses on the discipline of _______, and particularly on how we think through the comparison of religions from an ________ He has written a number of very important books, including________ (1982) and __________ (1990) Fun facts: Smith has never used a computer, and considers cell phones to be useless. To reach him you write a handwritten note and slip it underneath his office door.

New Yorker Ph.D. Yale University of Chicago Religious Studies academic point of view. Imagining Religion Drudgery Divine

In highlighting texts and themes that subordinate women within particular religious traditions, it is nevertheless important to note that this is not the whole story. In Part II of this topic (for Thursday), we will see how these same religious traditions can also envision strong and powerful roles for women that resist forms of patriarchy that were prevalent in the societies in which these texts were composed. Examples include images of God as feminine, such as Isaiah 46: "Listen to me, O House of Jacob...who were placed within my stomach, those who have been carried within my womb" [Is 46:3] Or the central leadership of women in the early Christian community ("I commend to you our sister _____, a deacon of the church...help her in whatever she may require from you... [Rom 16:1]). But a new question comes to the fore: if religious texts often reflect the ideas and social structures of the societies in which they were written, what happens when these societies change over the centuries? How do religious communities respond to these changes?

Phoebe

But the deeper origins of our fixation on God(s) being stem once again from ______ Plato wasn't necessarily concerned with a monotheistic idea of God's being, but he did divide the world into two realms: that of _____ and that of _____. The "Becoming" was the world we experience ______, a world always ______ and in flux. The world of "Being" was something _____ and more ______, a world of _______ that never transformed. So, a human was made up of a ____ (Becoming) and a _____ (Being); the world we experience was one of _____; the world beyond us was _____. The most perfect Being was what Plato termed ____ The influence of Greek thought on Christianity, for example, was enormous. So the words of the ______, the early "Constitution" of the Christian Church, states that Jesus is: "begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father...." Here, "substance" just means of "One Being" with the Father (i.e. Christ is God, as a emanation of God's Being).

Plato. Becoming Being here and now changing higher noble pure forms body soul Becoming Being "God."  Nicene Creed

What we know of Socrates we only know through the writings of his student, _____ Which is to say that Socrates ____________. In fact it seems that Socrates distrusted writing because he felt it ________ But according to Plato, Socrates was born in ______ and died in ______. He spent almost the entirety of his life in _______ Socrates' father is said to have been a ________ and his mother a ______. His_______ died when Socrates was a boy. Early in his life, Socrates was involved in the ________ and in _______, but turned to ________ What is important for our purposes is that Socrates invented a new method of ________: the ___________ in which Socrates ___________ Coming to terms with _________, in Socrates view, was the beginning of knowing.

Plato. never wrote anything down. ruined memory. 469 BCE 399 BCE Athens. stonemason midwife father military politics philosophy. philosophy "Socratic method," posed a series of questions to a conversation partner in order to point out contradictions and to demonstrate how little we know about the world. what one did not know

Throughout the ________ are texts that call for war in certain circumstances, and, like Judaism and Christianity, assure those fighting that God's providence is on their side. But other teachings persist. Even the notion of holy war with _______ so often heard today, is only one facet of what jihad means. In fact, the word means _________, and quite often in the history of Islam has been applied to the self to ___________ Indeed, within Islam are highly sophisticated traditions that have to do with open dialogue and intellectual discourse to avoid conflict. The Qu'ran describes reconciliation as a basic stance (4:128) and states that Allah abhors disturbance of the peace (2:205).The mission of the Prophet Muhammad is one of peace and mercy to humankind. (21:107). According to the Hadith, the daily prayer of the Prophet Muhammad was centered on peace "O Allah, you are the original source of peace; from you is all peace, and to you returns all peace, So, make us live with Peace; and let us enter paradise; The House of Peace. Blessed be you, our Lord, to whom belongs all Majesty and Honor!"

Qu'ran "jihad," "to strive after" the will of God overcome personal shortcomings and sin.

In the earliest days of the Christian movement, it appears that few served in the ______. In part, this was due to their relatively small numbers and the moments when persecutions would flare up against Christians. But it was also due to well-known teachings of Jesus, such as "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you..." (Luke 6:27). Indeed, most Christian leaders of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD were against military participation and activity. In 312 AD the Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as a legal state religion. In time Christianity became the major religion of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Suddenly a new question was posed to Christianity: how does one rule over vast empires and kingdoms without rules and laws on warfare? In response to this question, Augustine of Hippo drafted a series of writings for a Christian Just War Theory. What is interesting is ________ arguments against individual self-defense: a Christian must never resort to violence when they or their possessions are threatened. But the commandment of love required that Christians defend the lives of others. Thus rules were crafted for this form of engagement.

Roman army Augustine's

In Part I of our discussion of religion and gender we drew attention to the ways in which the status of women had, at times, been erased, eroded, and subjugated within various religious traditions. Such observations led a number of feminist scholars to critique popular religious practices on the grounds that many of the world religions propagated sexist or harmful ideas about women and gender. So, in addition to Mary Daly, ________ groundbreaking work entitled "____________" wherein Ruether questions why God, and religious leadership positions, must be ______ The problem highlighted by Ruether is not that religion is bad, but that there has been a way of reading texts and promoting teaches that have often read these texts poorly and promoted teachings that have adversely affected both men and women. The problem, for these scholars, is that ________ blinds religious people from what their texts actually say. So Paul writes "there is neither male nor female" in Christ within the Christian tradition (Gal 3:28).

Rosemary Radford Ruether's Sexism and God-Talk male. misogynism

In turning to the question of the holy, one figure stands out: _______ Otto was born near _________ in 1869. Otto attended a number of _______ before becoming a ________ at the University of Göttingen. Early in his career, he worked on ideas of the _________. But later he turned his attention toward the differences and similarities between religious and naturalistic (i.e. scientific) explanations for the world. In 1911-1912 Otto went on a trip across the world to North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, China, and the USA. This experience set the question of religion and the holy in a worldwide context that would give rise to a new and distinctive work. Otto retired after teaching at the University of _____. In the last two decades of his life Otto also accepted positions in ________ and was an important voice in the Weimar Republic after WWI. Like Tillich, Otto was publicly against the Nazis, but dies in 1937 at the age of 68 before the beginning of World War II

Rudolf Otto. Hannover, Germany German universities professor Holy Spirit within Christianity Marburg Parliament

Today we begin our discussion with a figure consumed with the question of human life and suffering: ________, the Buddha, and the founder of Buddhism. What is Buddhism? Buddhism is one of two world religions whose name comes from a ___________ (the other is Islam): Buddhism means, in Sanskrit, _______ Buddhism arose in _______. Accordingly, as one might expect, it was developed within and in response to a ______ religious environment. In this sense, Buddhism is to Hinduism what Christianity is to Judaism—a later development from an older religious system. Buddhism however was also developed as a _____against Hinduism in terms of ritual and the caste system—the early Buddhist movement wanted to move beyond these practices into a more meditative religion. In this sense of protest, a (very) rough analogy is to think of Buddhism as what Protestantism was to Catholicism during the Reformation. The founder of Buddhism was an actual historical figure: Siddhartha Gautama. There are many legends about Siddhartha, some historical and others less so. But historically speaking, Siddhartha would have lived around 400 BCE. He was from the city of Lumbini in modern day _____, from a powerful family in the region.

Siddhartha Gautama spiritual goal "wakefulness" or "enlightenment." ancient India Hindu protest Nepal

All three Abrahamic religions do, however, claim that God is a being of some sort. A fine exmaple of this idea is found, as we saw already, in ________ famous proofs for the existence of God: 1 - FIRST MOVER: Things of the world are in motion. Anything moved is moved by another, and there can't be an infinite series of movers. So there must be a first mover (a mover that isn't itself moved by another). This is God. 2 - FIRST CAUSE: Some things of the world have been caused. Anything caused is caused by another, and there can't be an infinite series of causes. So there must be a first cause (a cause that isn't itself caused by another). This is God. 3 - NECESSARY BEING: Every contingent being at some time fails to exist. So if everything were contingent, then at some time there would have been nothing -- and so there would be nothing now -- which is clearly false. So not everything is contingent. So there is a necessary being. This is God. 4 - GREATEST BEING: Some things in the world are greater than others. Whatever is great to any degree gets its greatness from that which is the greatest. So there is a greatest being, which is the source of all greatness. This is God. 5 - INTELLIGENT DESIGNER: Many things in the world that lack intelligence act for an end. Whatever acts for an end must be directed by an intelligent being. So the world must have an intelligent designer. This is God. For our purposes, what is significant about this discussion is the desire to think deeply about God's existence, and how this examination of the question is steeped in (Western/Greek) philosophy of "being itself." When we turn eastward, we will find a different orientation.

St. Thomas Aquinas'

Our reading for today comes from perhaps Plato's most famous work, ________. It is thought that Plato wrote it around ________ In this work, Plato stages a number of dialogues between ______ and various other characters surrounding the questions of _______ , _________,_________ and, finally, _________ The vision that emerges through these dialogues is of a place called ______, literally the ________ which is ruled over by ________, and in which the city lives in _________ In the course of _______ the pursuit and cultivation of the just life, Socrates reflects on a wide number of topics, including, in Book VII, the question of ________ and _______. It is out of this subject matter that the story of _______ emerges.

The Republic 380 BCE. Socrates what justice is what marks the just city-state what makes a just individual if justice corresponds in any way to eudaimonia, or happiness. Kallipolis "Beautiful City," philosopher-kings perfect social harmony. defending education knowledge "The Cave"

Augustine's initial insights into what constituted just war were taken over and refined through later centuries by ________ and ___________.Through this interpretive process, the basic framework of Just War became: Jus ad bellum (justifiable circumstances for going to war) ________ cause must be morally defensible ________ only proper authorities may make the decision to go to war _________ Combatants must go into war in order to bring about a greater good. __________ those in war must never enter a conflict when the end results are worse than if war was avoided. ___________ the end of a war must be a just peace ____________: all other means of settling disputes must be pursued before entering into war Jus in bello (just conduct during war) _________: within war, combatants must not generate more evil than the evil they seek to stop. _________: lives of non-combatants must be protected whenever possible Lingering Question: can war ever be just? So the Anabaptists, Quakers, and many other Christian groups who have returned to what they believe is Christianity's pacifist's roots.

Thomas Aquinas Protestant Reformers. Just Cause: Right Authority: Right Intent: Proportionality: Peaceful Conclusion: Last Resort Proportionality Discrimination

A famous example of philosophy of religion would be __________

Thomas Aquinas' arguments for the existence of God, or the "Five Ways."

In many ways, then, the separation between church and state now embedded in the ____________ can be traced back to the religious wars that raged in Europe a century before the United States gained independence. Indeed, in the very first lines of the First Amendment we read of a separation between the US government and religious practice. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

United States constitution

The ______ were essentially an early collection of myths and rituals used by ancient Hindu priests. The________ are Hinduism's great collection of philosophical texts. In these texts, ritual is displaced by contemplation and reflection. The Upanishads also inaugurate a new period of Hinduism. Old gods disappear or become less important, while new gods and ideas emerge. _______ rather than priests, take center stage. The Upanishads come into being about 1000 years after the Rig Veda. Within them, a new idea comes to the fore: that all living things are manifestation of a single, universal divine being called the _______. Human beings have something like a soul within them called an _______. The Atman is divine; it is the presence of Brahman within us. In light of the Brahman, rather than offer sacrifices to particular deities at particular sacred sites in India, a new practice was put forward of ________ in which the individual sought to participate in this divine one-ness.

Vedas Upanishads Mystics, Brahman Atman meditation

From this perspective, an important contribution of feminist scholarship in the study of religion has been to push the boundaries surrounding ideas of gender. In al-Hibri's article for today, we find this sort of thinking. What is the problem al-Hibri finds with much feminist scholarship in terms of its treatment of Muslim women? "American feminist organizations, concerned about the status of women in Muslim countries, have been planning their strategies in full oblivion of the valuable role Muslim women in America could play. At times, they even consciously excluded them." (p. 128) The problem identified here by al-Hibri is very important: namely, that among ______ feminist scholarship there has been a tendency to dismiss __________- i.e., those who do not come from the Judeo-Christian tradition. How do we help and support women who come from depressed parts of the world? Pay attention to their religious beliefs and take them seriously, al-Hibri argues.

Western

From this perspective, an important contribution of feminist scholarship in the study of religion has been to push the boundaries surrounding ideas of gender. In al-Hibri's article for today, we find this sort of thinking. What is the problem al-Hibri finds with much feminist scholarship in terms of its treatment of Muslim women? "American feminist organizations, concerned about the status of women in Muslim countries, have been planning their strategies in full oblivion of the valuable role Muslim women in America could play. At times, they even consciously excluded them." (p. 128) The problem identified here by al-Hibri is very important: namely, that among ______ feminist scholarship there has been a tendency to dismiss __________- i.e., those who do not come from the Judeo-Christian tradition. How do we help and support women who come from depressed parts of the world? Pay attention to their religious beliefs and take them seriously, al-Hibri argues.

Western minority religious viewpoints

Having fleshed out in more detail this understanding of the tremendum, Otto circles back again to an intricate study of what he terms the mysterium. Otto argues that a central element of this mysterium is its character as "_______"—an ineffable object that fills us "with _______ and ________" (p. 26). It is, in short, something "we can feel, without being able to give clear conceptual expression." (p. 30) The Wholly Other is something entirely different than what we experience in everyday life. So in the Qur'an we read that Allah is beyond human words and conceptions: "Glory be to your Lord, the Lord of inaccessibility, above what they describe." (Qur'an 37: 180)

Wholly Other" blank wonder astonishment

How are these poisons released? The antidote is the Eightfold Path.

Wisdom: Right View or perspective Right Intention Ethics Right Speech Right Action Right Livelihood Concentration Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration

According to Genesis 3, a. Adam and Eve hide themselves because they are ashamed before God b. Eve eats of the forbidden fruit, but Adam resists c. Adam and Eve return to Eden after a period years of punishment d. Satan makes Eve eat of the forbidden fruit

a. Adam and Eve hide themselves because they are ashamed before God

Wendy Doniger argues that a. Hinduism is both polytheistic and monotheistic b. that the idea of the Brahman makes Hinduism a purely monotheistic religion c. that the worship of many gods makes Hinduism a purely polytheistic religion d. that Hinduism is not a religion, but a cultural construct

a. Hinduism is both polytheistic and monotheistic

Simone Weil argues that justice is driven by the recognition in each human of: a. a realm of God b. a categorical imperative c. the possibility of power d. the poverty of the spirit

a. a realm of God

Patriarchy is: a. a social and political system in which men hold primary power b. a religious worldview that values the role of women c. an early 3rd century Christian heresy fought against by Augustine d. a Latin expression that means patriotic and brave

a. a social and political system in which men hold primary power

Tillich argues that, a. doubt is necessary for faith b. doubt is natural but must be removed c. doubt undermines a religious community d. doubt is incompatible with faith

a. doubt is necessary for faith

Ludwig Feuerbach argues that god-talk consists of a. our human projections of what God should be b. God's revelation of who God is through the Bible c. Christian reflection on the character of God d. Polytheistic understandings taken over from nature religions

a. our human projections of what God should be

W.E.B. Du Bois argues that this post-Civil War institution was the center of Black culture a. the African American church b. The African American Home c. The african american university d. the african american museum

a. the African American church

The study of gender attempts to: a. transform the study of religion by critiquing forms of patriarchy b. illustrate the superiority of men with regard to women in religious matters c. undermine and eventually remove religious traditions and texts from society d. restrict the study of religion to women

a. transform the study of religion by critiquing forms of patriarchy

Our first readings on the topic of justice and religion centered on the problem of justice and religious responses to it in the United States in terms of the history of racial prejudice in this country. Our readings for today extend this question both further back in time and across the Atlantic to different world cultures. What unites these readings, on the one hand, is that, in part, they are rooted in the _______ Both ________ and the __________ in Luke are written in the_______ and composed over 2000 years ago (and more, in the case of the Oresteia). But what these readings also offer are different "windows" into how justice might be conceived, and how religion might play a role in its fulfillment. To begin, we turn to Janet Hirshfield's article and the story of Simone Weil.

ancient Greek world. Aeschylus' Oresteia story of the Good Samaritan Greek language

Perhaps the most important approach to the study of religion is one that uses the tools of ________ to do so. This is because religion plays a central role in the work of many anthropologists: in order to offer a_____ view of a particular culture, as anthropology tries to do, an anthropologist must reckon with the various religious beliefs espoused by that culture being studied. At its core, an anthropology of religion seeks to __________ religious beliefs and practices as they occur within a given culture. Oftentimes, this takes place through _______ and "_______"or the careful observation and retracing of religious acts and speech by a researcher who lives within the community investigated. Again, important for most anthropological approaches is the attempt to study beliefs and practices of others in emic, or ______, terms but without according them ________ That is, the point is not to study a religion in order to argue that Buddhism is a "true" religion and Mormonism is false, or that Hinduism is "better" than Jainism. The intent rather is to describe what Buddhist and Mormon adherents do within their religious practices, the texts they read, and how they describe their own beliefs without

anthropology holistic describe, classify, and explain active fieldwork ethnography," indigenous objective veracity.

Approaches to religion

anthropology sociology history psychology phenomenology politics and religion philosophy

The point of the preceding discussion has been to underscore the diverse viewpoints present within feminism. Feminism is not one thing, but an _____ of perspectives as disparate as culture itself—Hindu feminists, Buddhist feminists, Muslim feminists—each will approach feminist questions from different perspectives. We will take up one of these perspectives more in-depth on Thursday with our Al-Hibri reading. But for the sake of providing an overview of these perspectives, it is helpful to bring together their aims under a few headings. An important aim within a feminist study of religion can be understood as a form of _________. Hermeneutics simply means ________ The goal of feminist hermeneutics is to read texts in such a way as to expose explicit or implicit forms of patriarchy and sexism. A feminist approach toward Deut 22:28-29 would lift up the vulnerability of a women who is raped and then taken as a wife without her consent, for example, and critique the practice by which the father of the women is then paid money by the rapist instead of being brought to any form of justice for his act. Or one could study Luke 8 and Romans 16

array feminist hermeneutics. how one interprets texts.

Another window into justice is one that sees its pursuit as one of _____: justice is created through attention to ______ and attending to how the beautiful exists in the world. So Hirshfield writes that "Art allows a moving forward because it invites the seemingly fixed to yield. It makes of the unbearable something that can be taken in and grieved, that can be healed by making it, quite simply, both hearable and heard." (p. 101) Art, in this sense, is seen to hold the possibility of _______. Being attentive to beauty increases the possibility that what is beautiful will be carefully handled. Noticing beauty urges us to protect it; it also calls our attention to other things that are also beautiful, and thus the need to protect them. Creating, sustaining, and observing beauty thus can be one way of promoting justice. The beautiful gives life to the one who notices it, and the one who notices it gives life to the beautiful by caring for it.

art beauty, awaking compassion

Much of this is of course legendary. But most historians of Buddhism argue that the Buddha encountered a profound personal crisis at an early point in his life when he realized that suffering could not be avoided. Siddhartha spent some time being an______ among other ascetics (that is, he lived a monk's like existence removed society), but gave up this lifestyle because he did not find it offered a solution to the problem of suffering. The background to Siddhartha's life is important because we see, at the very core of the Buddhist tradition, is an immense concern with the _________ Suffering is, in fact, what gives rise to this religious tradition: shielded from the world's suffering, once the Buddha encounters it he is driven to find a way of coping with the personal and spiritual crises suffering causes. And the solution comes to Siddhartha beneath the ________: Siddhartha is "awakened" to the truth about existence and about what it means to be human. In this moment of revelation Siddhartha becomes the Buddha - the "__________" What the Buddha came to understand are collected into teachings termed the "_______" and the "_______" all of which are devoted to the notion of suffering in some way.

ascetic problem of suffering. Bodhi Tree awakened one" or the "enlightened one." Four Noble Truths" Eightfold Path,

Mary Daly wrote an important feminist work on religion entitled a. The City of God b. Beyond God the Father c. Thus Spoke Zarathusra d. The Republic

b. Beyond God the Father

Pantheism is an understanding of God in which a. God is like a divine watch maker who exists completely apart from the world b. God is the world; God is identical tot the world and exists through it c. God is in a struggle with a divine force of evil d. God is both transcendent and immanent with the world, in and apart from it

b. God is the world; God is identical tot the world and exists through it

The Upanishads are a. are set of holy texts in the Buddhist tradition b. a set of philosophical teachings, related to the Vedas, in Hinduism c. mythical tales of great divine deeds in Hinduism d. a set of meditative practices in Buddhism

b. a set of philosophical teachings, related to the Vedas, in Hinduism

MLK, Jr, wrote wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" to: a. White supremacists b. clergy members c. governors in the south d. president Lyndon B. Johnson

b. clergy members

In the "Allegory of the Cave," a. prisoners of war are enslaved in a cave by their captors b. prisoners are enchained from birth and can only perceive a wall in front of them c. prisoners revolt against their captors and overthrow them d. prisoners are taught Greek philosophy in order to return to society

b. prisoners are enchained from birth and can only perceive a wall in front of them

The approach to the study of religion that seeks to find patterns of actions in society is a. philosophy b. sociology c. anthropology d. psychology

b. sociology

Paul Tillich a. was an American scholar who taught at Harvard b. was forced to flee Nazi Germany because of opposition to Nazis c. was from a Jewish family and long lines of rabbis d. was a medieval, Reformation thinker who fought for Protestants

b. was forced to flee Nazi Germany because of opposition to Nazis

Junia is a figure of controversy in the New Testament studies because : a. she was a woman possessed by demons b. she was a prostitute who worked alongside the disciples c. she may have had her name changed in some translations because she was an apostle d. she was a wealthy woman who challenged Jesus' teachings

c. she may have had her name changed in some translations because she was an apostle

Among polytheistic religions one idea is clear: the gods are ________ of some sort. This is true in _________, where the gods looked and acted like human beings. Zeus becomes angry, Hera is jealous, Achilles is half-god half-man, born of a god (the nymph Thetis) and a human father. This is true in _________, where some of the gods were formerly pharaohs who had turned into gods after their death. In the great Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, Gilgamesh is said to have been 2/3 god and 1/3 human. And within the Hebrew Bible we find that the God of Israel is also a being of some sort. Even the divine name of Exodus 3 "I will be who I will be" presupposes that God is a being. Certain biblical images of God are, in fact, __________ or "human-like." These would include, for example, God walking in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8) or the human emotions God expresses from time to time, including those fascinating texts where God "changes God's mind" about a particular event (Ex 32:14) or feels remorse (Gen 6:6). In these texts we are invited to imagine God with human-like characteristics.

beings ancient Greece ancient Egypt "anthropomorphic,"

In the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 a. Sin is understood as sexual immorality b. Sin is understood as lies and deception c. Sin is linked to something that lurks at the door of one's heart d. Cain asks for forgiveness for his sinful ways

c. Sin is linked to something that lurks at the door of one's heart

For Hsun Tzu, the nature of humanity is like a. a perfect vessel that needs polishing b. a beautiful painting that needs to be touched up c. a crooked piece of wood that must be made straight d. a piece of coal that must be burned

c. a crooked piece of wood that must be made straight

For J.Z. Smith, religion is a. an ancient term that has been in use since the Roman period b. a set of theological truths that must be proven c. a term that means many different things depending on context and how it is used d. something that is indefinable and mostly obscure

c. a term that means many different things depending on context and how it is used

Mary Douglass' "Purity and Danger" is an important example of this approach to religion a. philosophy b. sociology c. anthropology d. psychology

c. anthropology

In the Oresteia, the Furies are: a. fairies who bring about good fortune b. gods who demand justice from the Romans c. goddesses whose obligation is to bring about vengeance d. a people who fight the Athenians in war

c. goddesses whose obligation is to bring about vengeance

In Genesis 1 a. humans are created second, immediately after the creation of earth b. men are created first, then women c. humanity is created in the image of God d. God claims dominion over the earth and all its animals

c. humanity is created in the image of God

Henotheism is the belief that a. there is only one God b. That the world is God, that there is no distinction between reality and God c. that there is one High God with other, lesser gods also in existence d. that there are many different gods with different powers

c. that there is one High God with other, lesser gods also in existence

The Second Noble Truth is devoted to the idea of the _________, which in Buddhism is defined as desire for or the craving of something—whether physical pleasure, high status, wealth, comfort, etc. The Third Noble Truth of Buddhism involves how one addresses the ________ in one's life. The solution lies in _____, or "cessation" in Pali, and it refers to the stopping or overcoming of _________ Thus, if you don't want to suffer, eliminating your ________ is the key. You must figure out a way to get rid of the demanding, egocentric attitude that typifies virtually all your thoughts and actions. As soon as you ask the question: "What do I want?" "How will my feelings be satisfied?" "What's best for me?" you've lost the battle according to the Buddha. And the swelling of selfishness is like a cancerous tumor. If you want the tumor to shrink, Buddhists say, you must begin by extracting from your system the infectious substances that have caused the swelling. There are _____ of these substances, three "poisons" as they're called: _______ Nirodha or cessation can be described as a ________, as a doctor seeks to do when he lances an infected wound and drains away the infection.

cause of sufferin presence of dukkha nirodha desire and self-interest. self-centeredness three greed, hatred, and delusion. draining away of these poisons

The final section of this initial chapter on faith has to do with __________, or the arena in which faith is expressed. Here Tillich argues that it is impossible to have faith without a community in which your faith is voiced, supported, and questioned. But how can a religious community exist in the presence of doubt? Because faith and a religious community is ________—because it is alive and continually operative in the world—it must embrace doubt so that a religious community is continually reflecting on the content of its faith—so that it avoids simply reproducing old ideas or practices without thinking about their value. Doubt, in this sense, keeps a religious community _______ by keeping its questions alive. So, in Judaism, the importance of the prophets—Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah—who condemn. Among religious people more generally this includes those who doubt the significance of certain religious teachings or laws. A Religious community cannot exist apart from those who doubt the _______ of a religious community. What Tillich is against, then, is ________ Tillich would argue that those who refuse to doubt, those who say they have blind faith, actually have no faith at all.

community dynamic alive validity "blind faith."

Indeed, within the Bible there is a strong strain of tradition that views the political sphere as ultimately ________ and _________ to God. God's people are to be a kingdom of______, not kings (Hebrew Bible), and must await God's final defeat of the fallen powers of this world in order for the New Jerusalem to arrive (New Testament). The result is _______, if not antagonism towards government action. And oftentimes this resistance to government is __________. But the question becomes: how does a person of religious conviction then engage the evil that does exist in the world? This is the question asked by __________ at the outbreak of World War II

corrupt antagonistic priests antipathy noble and virtuous Reinhold Niebuhr

In the Hebrew Bible we come across a somewhat different view of the nature and destiny of humanity that will come to have a profound influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. True, the theme of ______ and ________ by the divine is also present in this tradition. One need only refer to the flood story in Genesis 6-9 to see this theme played out in a way that is not entirely detached from those claims made in Greece or Mesopotamia about the capriciousness of the gods and humanity's vulnerability. What is significant about the Hebrew tradition however is the idea that humanity is made in the _______. The relevant text comes from Genesis 1: "Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

creation antagonism "image of God."

Niebuhr's views became more widely known and influential. To this day, a number of US presidents cite Niebuhr as an important influence on their policy. At the same time, Niebuhr was a constant critic of United States policies. The reason for these critiques once again stemmed from Niebuhr's conviction that everyone and every institution was capable of sin—even America. And so, while arguing that the US had to be the force of good against the evil in the world (Nazis, Stalin and Russia), he also argued that the United States must be ________ Patriotism without self-critique was, for Niebuhr, _____. The individual who believed that God was "only on their side" was mistaken, because they failed to perceive the evil within them. Quote from Diggins: "If he [Niebuhr] drew upon religion for political purposes, it was to foster skepticism and self-scrutiny, not to encourage arrogant self assertion and rituals of righteousness." (p. 90).

critical of itself. sin

And it is in the Black Church that spirituals, so critical to the entire book (Du Bois quotes from them to frame each chapter), that Du Bois argues that a _______ of a people has been saved. The sorrow songs are not only the "most beautiful expression of human experience born this side of the seas," but Du Bois also contends that spirituals are the only distinctly "_________" form (180). The spirituals created by Du Bois' community were a mixture, he argues of poetry, folklore, history, theology, celebration, sorrow, and soul.The "_______" as Du Bois describes them, are a microcosm of the achievements of African descendants in America; songs, which, like their composers, have been refined by the fires of American slavery, injustice, and oppression. These songs are the "music of an unhappy people," and the creations of "children of disappointment;" and yet, they are also prayers which breathe hope and "a faith in the ultimate justice of things" (188). And it is this "yet" or "nevertheless" that matters—it is the word of strength and hope.

cultural legacy American music" sorrow songs,

How we talk about God or the gods, then, is often shaped by our ______ and the long history of the religious traditions of which we are part. How does history and culture influence our ideas? Case in point: Santa. Where does the image of an old, jolly figure with a white beard come from? From Christianity. But the story actually goes back much further in time to the land of ancient Canaan. That is, in some of the earliest texts from the ancient Near East we read of the old, grandfatherly high god El who had a "grey-white" beard. And this image had a profound influence on Daniel chapter 7, in which the "Ancient of Days" wears clothes of snow white and has hair "like pure wool." So the point is to be aware of how history and culture shapes our understandings of very basic or familiar ideas. What we think is "natural" or "self-evident" when talking about God(s) is often connected to a long, long historical process.

culture

In the "Allegory of the Cave," a. a prisoner breaks free from the cave and is immediately able to see the world b. three prisoners break free, but they turn on one another and die c. a prisoner breaks free, returns to free the others, and is greeted with joy and relief d. a prisoner breaks free, returns to free the others, but the prisoners try to kill him

d. a prisoner breaks free, returns to free the others, but the prisoners try to kill him

In the story of the Good Samaritan, the question posed by the young lawyer is a. what is justice? b. who is the one to be loved? c. what are just laws? d. who is my neighbor?

d. who is my neighbor?

In order to respond to the question, "who is my neighbor?" it is necessary to reflect for a moment on the passage that put this idea into history: Leviticus 19:16-18. This text states, "You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord. Your shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." What does neighbor mean in this context? As our reading for this week notes, the notion of "neighbor" in Hebrew does not mean "that person who lives next door." It is much more accurate to think of "neighbor" as a _______, as someone you care deeply about. Even more, in the context of ancient tribal life, it is someone who is your ____, someone who is part of your tribe and extended family. So the close parallelism in this passage between "your people" and "neighbor." Your neighbor in this sense is anyone who is _________ So we come across the beginning of an answer: the neighbor is one of your people, an individual whose well-being is deeply connected to your own.

dear friend kin part of your community.

For Plato, the world that we experience—the world available to our senses—is ______ and filled with _______ that we have forgotten are illusions. But there is beyond this world a more real and perfect realm inhabited by_____ or ______ that are_____ and ______. Plato will call this realm ______ What we encounter in this earthly world then, are the _________ of these perfect entities contained in heaven. The most important of these pure "forms" are ________ such as goodness, beauty, equality, unity, being, sameness, and changelessness. The most fundamental distinction in Plato's philosophy is between the many observable objects that appear ______ in our world (a flower, a person) and the one entity in heaven that is ________ (goodness, justice, unity)______ To make this more concrete, let's take a familiar object like a tree. Plato would argue that in heaven there is ________. What we see on earth are simply the various reflections of this heavenly tree on earth. Nearly every major work of Plato is, in some way, devoted to or dependent on such distinctions. Many of these writings explore the ______ and______ consequences of conceiving of reality in this way. In addition, Plato argues that we must recognize that the soul is a different sort of object from the body—so much so that it does __________ of the body for its functioning, and can in fact grasp the __________ far more easily when it is not encumbered by its attachment to anything corporeal.

defective illusions pure "forms" "ideas" eternal changeless "heaven." imperfect reflections abstract ideas beautiful what beauty really is. one perfect tree ethical practical not depend on the existence nature of the pure forms

The question of "what is justice" leads into another: namely, where do we ______ our sense of justice? Again, our idea of the origins of justice may come from those who safeguard it: a government with its laws, the court system, those who police society. Yet throughout history, and into our own day, this answer has never been completely satisfactory for the simple reason that governments/courts/police departments are imperfect creatures that, at times, makes mistakes and promote injustice. They cannot then be the source of justice. So where does our sense of justice derive? _______, among others, argued that justice is a response to a "________" or a sense of justice built on what is inherently good for human beings in a manner universally recognizable. For Aquinas, the reason we recognize what is "good" for everyone (i.e. we don't murder) is that this Natural Law is rooted in ________ Our sense of justice is in this sense placed into us by God

derive St. Thomas Aquinas Natural Law, God's Eternal Law.

What the Good Samaritan parable does, essentially, is ___________ of the young lawyer. To the "question who is my neighbor?" the response is one of changing perspectives: rather than offering a straightforward answer (your neighbor is x,y, and z, under conditions 1, 2, and 3) Jesus invites the young lawyer to examine the question from the point of view of the one in need. And that is a radical solution. That is, the question is never: "who do I think is my neighbor," but it is instead "who is in need of my compassion." Justice is not determined by who you identify with, it is determined by the one in need regardless of who they are. Justice is not about you. It is about the victim, the one who is oppressed. Where does Jesus derive this interpretation? He reinterprets Leviticus 19:16-18 through the lens of Leviticus 19:33-34. Loving one's neighbor is loving the foreigner who is in need. It is loving the victim as one loves one's self. Jesus is always, first and foremost, a Jewish rabbi steeped in the writings of the Torah and Hebrew Bible.

displace the point of view

At the outset of this discussion, it is important to recognize that for some religious traditions this is a strange question. In Taoism, for example, the goal is to live in harmony with the universe; for Buddhism, the goal is to achieve enlightenment, whereby one breaks out of the cycles of suffering and self-centeredness. So within these traditions we find a similar problem with the definition of religion: namely, religious faith is quite ________ depending on what tradition one examines. But many world religions, including ancient traditions from Greece or Egypt, or modern ones, such as the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), do emphasize the ______ So our task today is to consider what, more precisely, is the nature and character of religious faith.

distinct character of faith.

"O Socrates, I used to be told, before I knew you, that you were always _______ yourself and making others ______; and now you are casting your spells over me, and I am simply getting _______ and enchanted, and am at my wits' end...and though I have been delivered of an infinite variety of speeches about ______ before now, and to many persons-and very good ones they were, as I thought. At this moment I cannot even say what ______ is." - _____ ...the highest point of my art is the power to prove by every test whether the offspring of a young man's thought is a _______ or an ______ with life and truth. I am so far like the _______....as we go further with our discussions, all who are favored by heaven make progress at a rate that seems surprising to others as well as to themselves, although it is clear that they have never learned anything from me; the many admirable truths they bring to birth have been discovered by themselves from within. But the delivery is ________ and mine." - ______

doubting doubt bewitched enchanted virtue virtue Meno false phantom instinct midwife heaven's work Theaetetus

As our reading notes, in Buddhist teaching dukkha can be viewed from three different perspectives.

dukkha-dukkha viparinama-dukkha samkhara- dukkha

Nevertheless, in the past three decades this vision of the relationship between religion and nationhood has been under siege in very palpable ways, particular for America. Why? In part, the reasons are _______ In many parts of the world poorer nations could not compete with Western powers, and fell into abject poverty and crumbled (i.e. Congo). The promise of being like Europe or American never materialized, and many of these nations felt exploited. In other parts of the world, _________, such as in Vietnam or Afghanistan, proved insufficient and naïve. Smaller countries wondered why they should emulate the United States when success seemed so distant. Many people in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa thus questioned the purpose of secular nationalism, and turned back to religion to give them identity and meaning.

economic. Western policies

Two important points arise from Hsun Tzu's reflection. First, it is important to note what Tzu argues is the logical outcome of a world that lacks _________ If "we try to remove the authority of the ruler, do away with the transforming influence of propriety and righteousness...the strong would injure the weak and rob them...the whole world would be in violence and disorder and all would perish in an instant." Humanity, if left on their own, will destroy itself. Being educated in the ways of righteousness and propriety is consequently a matter of ______

education in virtue: life and death.

The answer is elusive. Early hunter and gatherer societies appear to have been mostly _______. That is, power was more evenly dispersed and shared among men and women as humans sought to survive in an unforgiving landscape. From this perspective, the rise of patriarchy is likely connected to the rise of ______ and the creation of new _________ in which men played a much larger role in the public, day-to-day affairs of society because of the physical labor involved. On this theory, as human beings settled into agricultural communities, men moved into _____ But this system also descended out of _______. With agriculture came villages and, in time, cities. And with cities came ________ and war. The most violent societies have always had men in leadership roles because of the way in which warfare has been conducted.

egalitarian. agriculture economic systems politics. warfare territory

So this is a brief history of how the word religion has been used over time. What is important to note is that the "idea" of religion is ______ and _______—that is, it has changed through the centuries depending on when it has been evoked, who has used it, and where they have employed it. Definitions of religion therefore are dependent on ________ Reasons for the different understandings of the term religion is therefore predicated, in part, on those societies who have employed the term. What this cautions us about the term "religion" is that there is something ______ to it. We all tend to think of religion in ways that are based on our own religious or anti-religious experiences. And this is natural. There is nothing "wrong" or "right" about doing so. But the key to the study of religion, and this class in general, is to be _______ of the presuppositions you bring to the table. If you are a Buddhist, how might this matter to your own study of religion? If you are Roman Catholic? Hindu? Studying religion means, first and foremost, coming to terms with what you believe or don't believe about what religious traditions claim.

elastic dynamic context. subjective aware

The relationship between religion, war, and peace is, in light of these different perspectives, quite complex. But what is certain is that religion will play a prominent role within nation building and statecraft in the 21st century. If anything, our century has already shown that religion is one of the fundamental issues behind both conflict and peace in our time. What this means is that the conflicts that do erupt cannot be solved simply by political, social, or economic decisions—one must also attend to the religious element within a population. The challenge is often modern Western attitudes toward religion that dismisses its potency or misunderstandings its past. And, rather than holding religion solely responsible for violence, it is necessary to understand that violence is ________ in humanity as a whole; it is not an exclusive product of the religions.

endemic

What happens next is entirely unexpected. God, hearing the "voice of the boy," sends an angel to save Hagar and Ishmael. A promise is given: "Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." (Gen 21:18) Why is this promise unexpected? Because Ishmael, and the Ishmaelites, will be considered the __________ in later stories. Yet here we have an Israelite text that accords this group a remarkable story of ________ that echoes the same promise given to Abraham in Gen 12. But even more is the relationship between God and Hagar. A woman of no standing, who in some ways is a threat to the entire biblical story of Israel and the promise made to Abraham and Sarah earlier, is nevertheless attended to in this story by God. And not only protected. Hagar's son is the only character in the Book of Genesis to be given a name ________: yishma'el, or "______"—a reference to the fact that Hagar's voice—the voice of the oppressed—had been "heard" by God. And, in return, Hagar ________. The importance of this moment cannot be overemphasized: no one is allowed to name God!--a point made explicitly later in Exodus 3 and the revelation of the divine name in this story: "I will be who I will be." But here, a woman, a foreigner who is not Israelite, from one of the most hated enemies of the Israelites, and a slave—she is the one who is allowed to name God as the one who "sees" the affliction of the oppressed. There is no other text like it in the Hebrew Bible.

enemies of Israel divine blessing by God God hears" names God

Second, significant about this perspective is the crucial role sages and proper teaching play within society. For Hsun Tzu, humans have the capacity to be good--they are not lost, so to speak. Thus, on this view, it is necessary to create an _________ around them in which they could be molded toward the good. In another passage, Tzu writes, "If you want to know a man, look at his friends." That which surrounds a person influences the life they will lead. Goodness, then, is a __________. It is achieved by a society dedicated to the good. A negative consideration of individual nature, in this sense, produces a_______ of society—or the need for the active pursuit of righteousness within a society. What an individual lacks by nature must be acquired through the support and teaching of others

environment social product. positive view

A final feminist approach toward religion is ________, or the ways in which religious "knowledge" appears and is transmitted. This approach asks: how does being a woman affect one's understanding and knowledge of a particular religious tradition? How does gender influence the ways in which one conceives of religious faith and practice? On the one hand, this perspective would critique only __________ of divine representation, and instead uphold the many religious traditions, including the Judeo-Christian tradition, that places importance on female divine imagery and female leadership. But this perspective would also plumb the writings of women over the centuries, such as the remarkable texts of Hildegard of Bingen, for example, or the mystic visions of Julian of Norwich. How did the experience of being a woman influence these theological writings and images of God? Again, the attempt is to be more inclusive, and to research how conceptions of God(s) and the spiritual world can be influenced from a woman's perspective.

epistemological masculine forms

Another important approach toward feminism and gender is that of _________, or a manner of study that attends to the everyday practices and concerns that surround women's religiosity. In this sense, feminist research attempts to lift up the important roles women play in past and contemporary religions that can, and often do, go unnoticed by male researchers. As an example, one can turn to Islamic law and the rights accorded to women that are often surprising. So, for example, women are entitled to keep their father's last name when they marry; women can inherit property; women can initiate divorce if the husband is absent or unfaithful; etc. None of these rights are built into the Judeo-Christian legal tradition. Of course, Islam, like other world religions, practices many forms of patriarchy, and there is wide variation in how women are treated across different geographical regions in which Islam is practiced. But an ethnographer attempts to enter into contemporary societies and observe how women participate in a particular religious tradition at a particular moment in time. In this sense, the approach seeks to be ______: how do those who do not hold positions of religious authority nevertheless contribute to a religion? What practices to they engage in, and how is their faith expressed?

ethnography inclusive

Pantheism is the belief that God is in _______, or that God is identical to the world we experience. "Pan" in Greek means ____, and theism "God." So, all of reality is in some sense "God" on this view. This includes trees, rivers, animals, and human beings—all the known world is an expression of God. This perspective would argue that God does not exist as an entity or being apart from the world. The world is God and God is the world. The most famous proponent of this idea was the great philosopher________. In his Ethics, Spinoza writes: "All things that are, are in God, and must be conceived through God, and therefore God is the cause of things which are in himself...Further, no substance can be granted outside God, that is, nothing which is outside God exists in itself." The merits of this idea are substantial: if God created the world, then there is a sense in which all that which is created contains something that is connected to God, like a child to its parents. The child contains the DNA of the parents who formed it. The difficulty with this view, as Billington points out, is that there is little room for ________. That is, if everything is God, then how do we explain evil? How do we explain the misfortunes and disasters in the world?

everything all Baruch Spinoza moral categories

Which brings us to the question of what faith is not. In the following chapter to the one read for today's class, Tillich discusses what faith is not, and it's worth spending a few moments describing his arguments on this point. First, faith is not "an act of knowledge that has a low degree of _______" (p. 31). That is, faith is not something that is more or less _______ For Tillich, this type of statement is a matter of belief: "One believes that one's information is correct...One believes that a scientific theory is adequate for the understanding of a series of facts. One believes that a person will act in a specific way or that a political situation will change in a certain direction. In all these cases the belief is based on evidence sufficient to make the event probable. This, as Tillich notes, is the primary distortion we find of faith. So one can have faith only if scientific discoveries prove God's existence, or if human history proves that the hand of God is directing it. But faith, Tillich argues, is not something that can be _______. It is not belief centered on a certain amount of evidence. It is faith.

evidence probable. proved

The development of monotheism in ancient Israel, and Aquinas' later defense of it, did not however dissolve all of the difficulties associated with conceptions of God. If fact, it provoked new questions over the centuries among Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thinkers. As we saw last class, many of these questions centered on the relationship between a singular God and creation. Perhaps the most difficult question to overcome for these monotheistic religions was the problem of ____ and _____: if the world is a perfect machine (deists) or if God was the world (pantheists), then how does one explain evil and suffering? One way to get around this problem was to posit that another "force," "being," "power," or "entity" brought evil into the world. So the idea of Satan for some religious traditions. But to attribute such power to a figure like Satan quickly erodes any sense of monotheism.

evil sufferring

So far in our class we have approached the study of religion from a number of different angles: Philosophy of Religion: the question of the _____ and _____ of 'God,' different conceptions of what God or the gods are. Phenomenology of Religion: the ______ of the holy; the experience of religious faith Sociology of Religion: the problem of______ and response to it by religious communities Anthropology of Religion: the question of what it means to be _____; the character of human nature Our topic for this week has its foundation in anthropology—namely, the study of what constitutes ______—but has its expression in _____ through the analysis of how different religious traditions view the role of men and women within the societies they inform.

existence being experience justice human gender sociology

Animism is not necessarily a philosophical idea about who or what God is. But it does have connections with how one _________ At its most basic, animism argues that human beings, and often nature, possess ____ (anima in Latin) that can exist independent of bodies and communicate with one another in another, _______ The world then is comprised of ________ souls the move about independent of the reality that we can see or sense. Often, this spiritual realm can only be accessed through the work of _______. These shamans communicate with the spirits of the world so that they do not do us harm, or so that they might work on our behalf. While on the surface this idea may seem strange or foreign to religions such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, one finds in fact many religious ideas that take root in animistic thought. So, for example, the Roman Catholic notion of transubstantiation, in which inanimate objects (bread and wine) become actual body and blood.

experiences the divine. souls spiritual realm. "otherworldly" shamans.

Our study of religion and gender for today will focus foremost on what is termed _______, which is in many ways related to our previous theme of justice. Feminist theory, as applied to the study of religion, seeks a ___________ of existing approaches to the study of religion through the introduction of gender as a primary category of analysis. This approach is critical in that it endeavors to confront the history of neglect and maltreatment toward women's experiences of religious categories by religious and academic institutions long dominated by men. In this sense, it strives to overcome the perpetuation of unjust, exclusionary practices that have legitimated male superiority within the study of religion This approach is _______ in that it attempts to recapture and highlight the important, but often suppressed, role women have played in religious communities since the dawn of civilization. In this sense, it strives to give voice to those in society who have often been silenced, and to empower these agents and perspectives within academic discourse.

feminist theory critical transformation transformative

In fact, in the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, for example, we find a similar emphasis on the _____ of human existence, and how human life was always at the mercy of the gods. In the famous story of Atrahasis the gods come together and decide to send a flood to wipe out humanity: "Enlil opened his mouth to speak and addressed the assembly of all the gods: Come now, let us all take an oath to bring a flood. Anu swore first, Enlil swore, his sons swore with him. . . .Enki opened his mouth and addressed the gods his brothers: Why will you bind me with an oath? Am I to lay hands on my own people?. . . .Am I to give birth to a flood? That is the task of Enlil. . . .8 The gods commanded total destruction; Enlil committed an evil act against the people." Atrahasis Tablet 2. Atrahasis is however warned of the coming flood by the god Enki, and builds an ark to save his family. Humanity is preserved. Thus, what seems to be at issue in this story, and those in Greece, is that humans are both _____ by the gods and also under the ______ of the gods. The idea is that being human involves a certain _______, a certain lack of power, and that there are times when a god or the gods may turn against us.

fragility created control helplessness

What does this mean? If someone describes faith as a feeling they get when they worship their God(s), or as a series of things/rituals they do, or what they study very hard to understand, what we encounter is not faith but _______ of it. Faith is all of these things, Tillich argues, but bound together. Most important however is the fact that faith for Tillich is _______. That is, faith cannot be forced or coerced into being. Faith arises in the freedom to have faith. You cannot "force" yourself to have faith or be "guilted" into having faith, or come into faith because you are "afraid" of certain consequences. True faith is faith that is ________ One is "convicted" that a concern is, indeed, the ultimate concern of one's life.

fragments freedom freely chosen.

As English speakers, were more fortunate than Otto in that our language is much closer to Latin. So we can get a sense of what this phrase means in our English expressions of mystery and tremendous. But the Latin actually means much more. Mysterium: "...denotes merely that which is ______ and esoteric, that which is beyond conception and understanding, ________ and _________." The "mysterium" of the holy is that which is ________, that which is __________. There is something about holiness that simply cannot be articulated through normal human language. It lies beyond our ________ (p. 13) Tremendum: the element of_____ Not necessarily 'to be afraid' but a fear that is something akin to ______ with elements of _______. Otto would say it's the manner in which "one's hair stands on end" in the presence of something uncanny, inexplicable. We are afraid not in the sense of physical harm, necessarily, but because we are encountering something strange and unusual. One _______ before the "tremendum."

hidden extraordinary unfamiliar un-knowable not rational reasoning. fear. "awe" "eerie." "trembles"

The Souls of Black Folk is one of the most outstanding pieces of literature and thought in American history. And it was written here in Georgia. The purpose of the work is essentially two-fold: Du Bois seeks, in part, to examine the ______ of African American religious thought; and second, to assess the ________ within African American culture in light of their history within the United States. It is the earliest ______ study of African American religion and how this religious tradition has rooted itself in the United States. In this sense we come across the sense of _____ sought after by Du Bois as that which _____ the African American community of his time. And the question that Du Bois asks again and again throughout this work is what does life ______" do to the "soul" of a community? And by "veil," Du Bois means the _______ that African Americans experience.

history and roots sense of community sociological "soul" "animates" "behind the veil active discrimination

Faith, Tillich comments, is certain insofar as one experiences ________. But faith is at the same time uncertain because finite creatures (i.e. human beings) can never fully grasp and understand something that which is infinite. In other words: if you can fully understand and explain the source of one's faith, than it is not really ultimate. And this is a very important point: faith is faith, not a ________. As soon as a religious person says that they can "prove" their faith or that they "know it for certain" and "without a doubt" we are not dealing with faith according to Tillich. We are dealing with something else. "This element of uncertainty in faith cannot be removed, it must be accepted. And the element in faith which accepts this is courage." (p. 16) One must have ______ if he or she has faith. Faith is always _______ because it can never be proved. You will never be 100% certain that what you have faith in is, indeed, the infinite.

holiness scientifically demonstrable fact courage vulnerable

The importance of Hsun Tzu for our discussion today is his extensive writings on _______ within this Confucian tradition. In the society of Hsun Tzu's time (200 years after Confucious died), there were widespread debates about whether humans were _______. Confucious himself left the matter open, but many Confucian followers argued that humans were innately predisposed toward the good and, if they received the right training, could attain the good. If humans acted in morally evil or ambiguous ways, this was because their environment led them to do so. Hsun Tzu, as we will see, is of the opposite view. Perhaps because he lived during a time of ____ across eastern China, Tzu contends that humanity's nature is born into _____

human nature intrinsically good or evil war strife.

The 30 year war began in 1618, or about a _________ after Luther's reformation. At this time, a law was in place that stated whatever religion a particular ruler chose to follow would be followed by everyone in his kingdom. This principle was called cuius regio, eius religio ("Whose realm, his religion"). Because an entire territory would be allotted to Protestants or Catholics based on the faith of who ruled over it, tensions became high between different territories and the varied populations within them. Finally, these tensions exploded into open war. The devastation wrought by this war was enormous: modern estimates suggest that the region of Germany lost 40% of its total population, which would make that war worse than World War I and World War II combined. Some territories lost 75% of their population, especially to hunger and disease. The war ended in what was essentially a _________ northern Europe remained Protestant, while Spain and the Holy Roman Empire remained Catholic.

hundred years stalemate:

One answer can be found in the __________. This is because with the rise of industry and new forms of labor, perspectives of women's roles began to change. Why? Because as societies modernized and moved from agrarian to industrial modes of production, the distinctions between men and women in the public sphere began to fade away. If women could perform many of the tasks undertaken in a factory equally as well as men, and if they were paid to do so (i.e. not be dependent on husband's earnings), then the question arose as to why men should receive special treatment. So the rise of _________—from voting rights to wages—were initiated by rapid changes in European society. Suddenly, older systems of patriarchy no longer seemed self-evident, and so many began to question the roles women could play in society. This point has continued into our own day with ______. If war—like labor—is no longer wed to physical attributes that favor men (size, strength, etc.), and if women risk their lives in the military, then the distinction between the power leveraged by men and women appears less necessary.

industrial revolution women's equality movements modern warfare

How have these changes in society affected the study of religion? One response to the changing role of women in society has been a critique of religion on the grounds that religious institutions and ideas promote _____, and are thus detrimental to the status of women. This view of religion, then, sees little value within it. The study of religion is undertaken principally in order to expose the modes of oppression built into its various institutions and practices. To study religion, in other words, is to overcome its negative effects on society through religion's subjugation of women. So our article by Juschka for today notes an important example of this perspective in __________ In this groundbreaking book, the former _______ announced her departure from a religious tradition she viewed as a form of male idolatry that was inherently antagonistic toward women, and that she believed prevented women's spiritual development. In opposition, Daly attempted to create new forms of spirituality that were connected to both older and newer notions of the ________ From this vantage point, the subordination of women, and often their mistreatment, within certain religious traditions over the centuries forced a break between older religious traditions and some feminist scholars.

inequality Mary Daly's Beyond God the Father. Catholic theologian divine feminine.

What then is justice and what does religion have to do with it? On the one hand, justice simply means "lawful." That is, our word justice comes from the Latin ____ or "law." To uphold justice means, in this sense, to uphold the _______ For this reason the depiction of justice is often that of a blindfolded women with a balance in her hands. But is justice simply "following laws"?

ius, law, to be equitable, to be fair.

In addition to "awe" Otto provides two other descriptions of the tremendum of the holy. The first is ______, or "majesty" in English, which Otto accords a sense of _________ This sensibility is felt most in one's _______, Otto argues, in one's finitude as related to what is a feeling of the infinite. The one who experiences holiness knows that they are mortal, that they will die, and yet feel connected to something that transcends this mortality. The second description is that of ______ or, perhaps better, life, vitality, will, force. It is encapsulated, Otto argues, in the Jewish and Christian expression of the ________, a deity that does not conform to human expectations and whose movements cannot be predicted by the human mind. It is the divine name of the Hebrew Bible (Ex 3): "I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be." The Holy cannot be controlled by human desires or commands—it "will be who it will be" regardless of what one may want or expect.

majestas, "being overpowered." mortality energy living God

The demand made in Lev 19:16-18 is difficult, but reasonable. To guarantee your own flourishing, care for those with whom you encounter in the world. But already in Lev 19 we see that this vision is extended outward. Some verses later we read: "When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the foreigner. The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as one who is native among you; you shall love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Lev 19:33-34) Here, indeed, is the stunning vision that will give rise to Jesus' response in Luke. One is commanded not only loves one's neighbor, but to love that foreigner whom you do not know—the one who looks different than you, the one who speaks a different language, the one who participates in different customs. Why is this passage remarkable? Two reasons The status of ________ in ancient Israel is of utmost importance. To be a foreigner is to be land-less, and thus in some sense impoverished. To treat a foreigner as a "native" means not only to be kind to them, but to take care of their _________. It means to provide for them so that they are not uprooted, to provide for them in such a way that they become an integral part of a community. Second, this passage reflects a _______: why should the Israelites treat foreigners this way? Because they were once foreigners. Here, justice emerges out of historical experience. The repetition in terms between Lev 19:16-18 and Lev 19:33-34 is crucial: "you shall love....as yourself." Neighbor and foreigner must be treated one and the same.

land-holding economic and social needs historical awareness

What stood out to Otto on his trip to different regions of the world was the different _________ of holiness within the disparate religions that he encountered. A number of other works had been written on this topic before, particularly from the perspective of Christian thinkers who, after the Enlightenment, had sought to connect holiness to moral judgments and rational thinking. The holy person, according to this view, was someone who thought _____ about life and made ________ While Otto agreed in part with these ideas, he found in his travels that this rationalistic, individualistic explanation of holiness wasn't satisfactory—it felt very "European" and even Protestant, whereas a large number of world religions also had adherents who claimed to experience the holy. So Otto decided to write a book that took into account this larger picture of the holy that sought out an explanation that was not simply_________ (i.e. connected to the individual's religious learning and reflection). The book, __________, proved to be a big success. It has never gone out of print, and the work continues to influence a host of scholars of religion.

manifestations deeply good ethical decisions. rational The Idea of the Holy

The importance of this observation is that the influence of patriarchal worldviews is written into the texts of nearly every major religion in the world. This is because nearly every major religious text—from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament to the Qu'ran—was written by _____ This is not to argue that a particular religion is false because of its patriarchal background or to denigrate a particular perspective to to patriarchal worldviews, but simply to say that most major world religions were born in _______, and were thus influenced by ancient ideas of gender roles that were derivative of patriarchal understandings. These ideas could be expressed in different ways: from one vantage point, God or the gods could be conceived of with __________ Here race and gender often find similar expressions: just as God has long been viewed in the Judeo-Christian tradition as an old white individual, so also has God been conceived mostly as a man (with worship of God's consort—or wife—dying out slowly over time [Asherah]). From another perspective, religious leaders were chosen only from among men; on another level, religious laws were created that subordinated women beneath the power of men.

men. antiquity predominantly male attributes.

Examples of the profound influence of gender in religion are abundant. This influence is well-expressed in the Judeo-Christian tradition (so Gen 3; 1 Timothy 2), but such texts are found in many other religious traditions--so Qu'ran 4:34 ("Men are in charge of women..."); the Garudhammas of Buddhism (conditions of subordination for Buddhist nuns to male leadership), the Manusmriti of Hinduism ("women must constantly worship and serve their husbands"), etc. Why these themes? Because religious texts often _____ the world in which they are created. And these worlds, by and large, have supported systems of patriarchy. A central thrust of feminist approaches to the study of religion, then, is point out this essential relationship between religion and society.

mirror

So a text from the Upanishads: 'But how many gods are there, really?' the increasingly impatient teacher replies, first, 'Three hundred and three, and three thousand and three,' then, 'Thirty-three,' then, 'Six,' then, 'Three,' then, 'Two,' then, 'One and a half,' and finally, 'One. The image used to characterize the relationship between this "One" and the believer, Doniger notes, is that of salt and water. The believer would enter into meditation in such a way that they "lost themselves" and melted away into the divine essence that surrounded them. What sort of God was this? The idea of the brahman stands in contrast to both "Vedic polytheism and with the sort of monotheism that posits a single deity with consciousness and/or a physical form," such as that often represented within the Abrahamic religions. The best analogy may be that of pantheism, or what Doniger also calls _______: all the world emanates from a single substance, what can be called God or, in Hinduism, the brahman. The point of worship, and life itself, is to enter into and return to the _____ from which we have come.

monism brahman

Over time, polytheism and monism abided together within Hindu thought. Polytheism was not removed, but often subsumed to a ________ worldview: so various gods—krishna, shiva, rama—were understood as different manifestations of one god (often vishnu). These manifestations were termed ______ So in the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most famous Hindu texts, the god _____ appears to a warrior named Arjuna in the guise of his avatar krishna. And krishna relates to Arjuna important theological statements: O Arjuna! I am the Self (Brahman), seated in the hearts of all beings; I am the beginning and the life, and I am the end of them all. Of all the creative Powers I am the Creator, of luminaries the Sun; the Whirlwind among the winds, and the Moon among planets. Of the Vedas I am the Hymns, I am the Electric Force in the Powers of Nature; of the senses I am the Mind; and I am the Intelligence in all that lives. Among Forces of Vitality I am the life, I am Mammon to the heathen and the godless; I am the Energy in fire, earth, wind, sky, heaven, sun, moon and planets; and among mountains I am the Mount Meru. Of the great seers I am Bhrigu, of words I am Om, of offerings I am the silent prayer, among things immovable I am the Himalayas. Of trees I am the sacred Fig-tree, of the Divine Seers Narada, of the heavenly singers I am Chitraratha, their Leader, and of sages I am Kapila.

monistic avatars. Vishnu

Second, faith is not simply trust, though trust is part of faith. But faith is _______, more than trust even in important authorities. In other words, one has faith in Allah if Muslim, but not faith in the Qu'ran. One has faith in Jesus if Christian, but not faith in the biblical stories about Jesus. Faith is not, then, simply religious knowledge. It includes knowledge, but ________ it. Third, faith is not ______. "No command to believe and no will to believe can create faith." Faith, for Tillich, is being grasped by the ______ Faith is not ______ or _______. Faith demands the whole person; it demands commitment and not the oscillations of emotion. Faith, in short, is not something you can do or ______. It is an _______ of something that grasps you and which you direct your life toward.

more than trust transcends will ultimate. emotion "feeling." perform. awareness

The first "window" into justice offered by Hirshfield's article for today is an idea of justice once again connected to_______ On this view, one studies human nature and deduces laws from it that are in accord with this nature. We get a sense of this idea in the ___________ "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The French philosopher and critic _______ (1909-1943) whom Hirshfield cites at the beginning of her article, also argued that human nature is connected to the idea of justice. That is, there is something about being human that demands justice. But Weil flips this idea on its head. Yes, she argues, justice is connected to being human. Weil, however, argues that justice is not a set of "rights" for the individual, but rather justice is a _________ Justice, then, is not about what I receive—for example, the right of property, the right to vote, the right to bear arms. These are necessary legal rights that ensure safety and well-being, but they do not necessarily lead to

natural law. United States' Declaration of Independence: Simone Weil set of obligation toward others.

So ends Otto's discussion of the Mysterium Tremendum. Within his definition, Otto notes that this is essentially a ______ of the holy, and by negative he means an accent on that which ________ the individual from the source of the holy. But in addition to this "mysterious awe" that is evoked by the holy, there is an element of attraction that Otto labels the ________, or that which fascinates. "The 'mystery' is for him not merely something to be wondered at but something that entrances him..." (p. 31). The holy is, in this sense, not simply something that creates _____, but something that creates yearning toward and_____, exuberance and delight.

negative assessment separates fascninans, dread desire

And so within the opening chapters of Genesis we are confronted by two ideas concerning the nature of humanity On the one hand, humanity at its height: created in the image of God and given dominion over all creation; On the other, humanity turned away from Eden, whose existence now takes on a tragic tone: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return." For Adam and Eve, and thus for all humanity according to these Hebrew writers, there is _________ Standing at the entrance to Eden is one of the Cherubim with "a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life." (Gen 3:24) Second understanding of sin: _______. Human life is, in some sense, a separation from that which it is. In Hebrew and Greek, both mean ________. To miss the mark of understanding who you are.

no turning back to the Garden. separation "to miss the mark."

In response to the lack of justice surrounding MLK, he develops a program of _________. This form of protest is drawn from both______ and ________ The principles of this form of justice-through-nonviolence are (p. 106 ): Collection of facts to determine the character of injustice being perpetrated Negotiation between those in authority and those oppressed Self-purification of those working for justice Direct action through non-violent protest What does this create? _____ "Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue...This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates...." (p. 107).

non-violent protests Christianity Hinduism (via Gandhi). Tension

To investigate this question, we turn to the writings of Paul Tillich. Tillich was born in a small village in _______ in 1888 to a family long involved in _________ After obtaining his ______ on the writings of the philosopher ______, Tillich was ________ and served as a _________ (like his father, he was an ordained Lutheran minister). Tillich had a number of close friends die in the war and he suffered numerous nervous breakdowns. After the war, he became a _______ In response to the crisis of the war, Tillich developed a new trajectory for the philosophy of religion and became a renowned scholar. But his views brought him into conflict with the Nazis, and he fled to the ______ in 1933. He taught at Union Theological Seminary, ____, and died while teaching at the _________ in 1965.

northern Germany religion and theology. Ph.D Schelling drafted into the army chaplain in World War I professor. United States Harvard, University of Chicago

Over half the world's population are women. But only recently have women's lives and voices been lifted up within the academic study religion. This is a significant change that occurred only a relatively short time ago (mid-20th century). What's important to note is that feminist approaches toward religious studies are _________ In fact, it is crucially important for men to be aware of and participants in this manner of research. Feminist theory touches on all manner of society, including both men and women's role within these social structures. And, lastly, this form of study is in many ways an __________—or to acknowledge the important roles women have played in religion and the important perspectives they hold on religious ideas and practices.

not restricted to women. attempt at justice

1) animistic and polytheistic: the idea of a ____ of deities, each with a particular _______, and often with certain gods being more important than others. 2) 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. _________ would both find resonance with monotheistic ideas of God. 3) 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 _______

number responsibility Deism and Theism pantheism.

What we find with Hannah, and with so many figures in the Abrahamic traditions, is that they claim that whoever or whatever God is, this God is first and foremost the God _______ In the ancient world where women held very little political, economic, or social power, over and over again, it is women who nevertheless play an integral role in the narratives surrounding Jesus' life and the early Christian community. This is astonishing in light of the fact that very few texts from this time in history ever portray women so positively and so often as central characters. Indeed, when we turn to the New Testament, oftentimes women are incredibly courageous in these stories. The Syro-Phoenician woman (not Jewish!) of Matthew 15 (cf. Mark 7) is the only character in the Gospels to convince Jesus of an idea he did not initially hold (that Jesus must also respond to Gentiles): in response, Jesus declares "Woman, great is your faith!" (Mt 15:28). In every Gospel—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the resurrection is first announced to women. In one of the most moving scenes in John, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene who stood outside the empty tomb weeping (John 20:11-18)

of the Oppressed.

dukkha-dukkha: _______ suffering such as birth, old age, sickness, death, association with unpleasant persons and conditions, separation from beloved ones, not getting what one desires, grief, lamentation, distress—all such forms of physical and mental suffering, which are universally accepted as suffering or pain, are included in dukkha as ordinary suffering viparinama-dukkha : A form of ______ or _______ suffering that arises because one has not come to terms with the _________. A suffering that arises because one tries to hold on to forms of life that must pass away. samkhara- dukkha: A form of suffering, often subtle, that arises through a ___________. A suffering that occurs because life is not what we think it should be, that we do not have control over our fate, what the West might call ________

ordinary mental emotional impermanence of life general dissatisfaction with life existential suffering.

1) Religion is not a native category. It is used by others ______ of a particular religion to describe it. Christians, in other words, usually do not say they are part of the "Christian religion."They say they are Christians. But during the 15th-16th centuries Christian thinkers began to talk about the "religion of the Aztecs" or the "religion of Judaism."

outside

Today, well ______ the planet's population say the have faith in a God. For some, this is Allah. For others, Yahweh. In Hinduism, this could be Vishnu or the Brahman. But these answers only pose larger questions: what, more precisely, is Allah or Yahweh or Christ or Vishnu? What is a god? Is god an idea? A thing? A place? A substance? A being? In our article for today, Billington states "I wish to examine what it is that people have in mind when they reflect on the idea of God, or gods." (p. 55) This is our task for today.

over half

4) Religion is to be studied as an anthropological and not theological category. In other words: the study of a "religion" is not attempting to make truth claims about a particular God(s), but attempts to describe what humans are doing in response to their ________

own religious worldviews.

As our reading for today notes, what dismayed Niebuhr the most during the years leading up to World War II was the inability of religious leaders to prevent the atrocities that were beginning to occur in Europe. In fact, over and again, prominent Christian leaders, from Protestants in Germany to the Vatican in Italy, worked alongside of fascist parties in their respective countries, believing that the fascists were less dangerous than the communists. And, many religious traditions, particularly in Christianity, were inclined toward _______. Thus, they believed that they could not in good faith act against fascist leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. To remain innocent meant to remain apart from the problems of politics. To make matters worse, other, scientific or atheistic belief systems posed little resistance to the oncoming evil. There simply were not "moral" responses to evil, Niebuhr argued, within scientific frameworks. In fact, an evolutionary theory of life suggests that only the strong should survive, and many individuals cited this idea as reason for the rise of the Nazis and other fascist governments. One could not stop what nature had ordained. In response to this state of affairs, Niebuhr argued that only those who held to _______ about good and evil, sin and the redemption of the world, could oppose Hitler and his minions.

pacifism religious convictions

For much of Western history, we find that one's allegiance to a ___________ was intricately wed to one's participation in a state religion. To be a citizen of the Roman Empire, for example, one worshipped the Roman gods, including Caesar. To be a member of a Caliphate after the rise of Islam in the 7th century AD meant to be Muslim. Christianity only takes hold and begins to grow once the Emperor Constantine converts and makes Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD. Of course, in each of these instances one could choose to be part of a religion other than that of the state. But doing so often left one marginalized and, time and again, persecuted and killed. The Romans, Christians, and Muslims all, at different moments in their history, persecuted religious minorities or forced those who lived within their boundaries to convert to the state religion. The reason was straightforward: _________ were considered essentially one and the same. One could not be Roman, Byzantine, Arab unless one was the religion these empires sponsored. And the symbols of this relationship are still with us: so the _____ to the right.

particular state power religion and nationhood flag

A central concern of feminist theory is the problem of _______ Patriarchy is a _________ system in which men hold primary power (from the Latin pater/patris, or father). This power is manifested in political leadership (warlords, kings, emperors, presidents), economic transactions (i.e. inheritance rights that transfer only through the eldest son), and family structure (husbands having authority over a wife, [oftentimes in antiquity over wives], and in some cultures having ownership rights over wives and daughters). The opposite system of patriarchy is _____, in which women hold power over these same institutions and social structures. And, indeed, there have been some instances that skew toward matriarchy in history. So, for example, Jewish identity can be construed through a matrilineal framework—i.e., a person is Jewish by virtue of the mother's ethnic background, not the father's. But throughout history, most ancient and many modern cultures have been historically invested in various forms of patriarchy. But why?

patriarchy. social and/or governmental matriarchy

The next approach is that of sociology. The sociology of religion is concerned principally with_____ That is, it is concerned both with _______ and with _______ the nonrandom ways that individuals, communities, and societies order their lives through religious belief and practice. How, in other words, does religion affect the society in which it is immersed? An example of this approach would be to look at _______ in _______ in terms of religious belief. What's interesting is that women are often much more ____ than men. A sociologist would look at this pattern (i.e. women are more religious than men in modern Christian Western societies) and investigate why this pattern has emerged in contemporary times. Another famous example is that of ______, one of the founders of ______, who examined_______ among different religious groups in the late 19th century. Again, this study sought out patterns, particularly regarding why Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics or Jews. What a sociological approach allows for, then, is a _______ of the values held by a society influenced by a particular religious worldview. In our class, we will find that the week devoted to "Justice" for example, or to secularization, will incorporate the insights of sociologists.

patterns. identifying explaining Christian women Western society religious Emile Durkheim, sociology suicide rates consideration

And yet, as we have encountered so often, what stands in tension with these perspectives are those that promote ______ within these very same traditions. In fact, nearly every major religion harbors a peace tradition that emphasizes the importance of conflict resolution and the avoidance of bloodshed whenever possible. With few exceptions, each religion offers sacred stories and teachings that address the importance of social harmony and, consequently, each tenders a viable tradition that, when fully apprehended, can offer a major tool for those who have invested in the peace process. How does this possibility play out in certain religious traditions?

peace

Faith, Tillich contends further, is something in which all elements of one's ________ participate: reasoning, will, emotions, consciousness, unconsciousness, etc. This is simply to say that everyone has faith in something, regardless of whether they are religious are not religious. To be human is to put faith into certain things over others. Every human being operates on faith! This faith may or may not, however, be devoted to religious ideas as traditionally understood. But Tillich also argues in this section that faith is not just a matter of____ ("I am going to try to do certain things so that I might have faith in X, Y, or Z) or _______ ("I am going to study Buddhism so I can have faith in it") or _______ ("I have faith in X because I feel good when I put my faith in it"). Faith is connected to all of these things, but it is something more: it is the __________ This is what Tillich argues in terms of faith being a _________ If faith however is described as being similar to one of these aspects of personality (will, emotion, etc.), what we are describing instead is a ______ of what faith is, not faith itself.

personality will reasoning emotion totality of one's personality. "centered act." distortion

Today we take up the question of faith. In many ways, this approach to religion is __________ how do we, as scholars of religion, describe faith as it is claimed by religious people? What is religious faith? How is it different than other forms of knowledge? What does faith mean, in other words, for religious people who say they possess it?

phenomenological:

Henotheism: this concept reflects a stage between __________, in which there is a supreme being, but this God exists alongside of ________ beings or gods. We saw this in Ps 82, but it is also expressed in the first commandment of Ex 20:3: "you shall have no other gods before me." Monolatry: this concept means __________. The idea is that there may be other gods besides the deity one worships, but only one God is worth of being worshipped. So again the 10 commandments and the idea that the God of Israel is a "jealous God" who does not permit worship of other deities.

polytheism and monotheism lesser "one worship."

Within the history of religion, two primary perspectives emerged with regard to who inhabited the divine world: ___________ Contrary to the world we live in today,________ is much more ancient and widely attested. That is, we often find traces of polytheistic thought in the oldest world religions of which we have some evidence. Often, different gods were representative of different _______ experienced by humans. So Hades was the god of death, Poseidon the god of the sea, and Aphrodite the goddess of love. Behind every human experience stood a god. In other cultures we find storm gods (such as Baal to the right) and gods who protect certain locations, such as Markuk in Babylon. To the best of our knowledge, around 600 BCE a new idea emerged in the backwaters of the ancient Near East: in Israel, people began to argue that there was only one God, and that this God governed over the entire world. Or, said differently, they created the notion of _______

polytheism and monotheism. polytheism "powers" monotheism

To ask about a religion's concept of God already contains a host of________ about what religion is. For those from Western religious traditions, religion is about ______ Even the decision to capitalize the G in God betrays my location in the West and the 2500 history of the idea of monotheism. But a Buddhist, for example, might claim that God is an _________ that is beyond all that this world can know, and that God cannot therefore be reduced to a concept. Trying to describe or imagine God is considered in some sense ______ as it distracts from what many Buddhist followers argue is what is more necessary—the confrontation with _______ in this world. So we need to be aware of our own time and place (USA, 2016), and we need to be sensitive to the fact that we have all been shaped by certain ideas about God given to us by our traditions—whether or not we have faith in them.

presuppositions God. "emptiness" "false," suffering

What we find when it comes to conceptions of "religion" is that ideas about what it means derive from the ________ of those who are using the term. So, for example, early Catholic colonialists in Central and South American tended to focus on the "rituals" and "customs" of native peoples from the region because Roman Catholicism at this time emphasized the importance of rituals and customs within its own belief system. Over time, the understanding of religion shifts in _______ thought. With the ______ and rise of ______, particularly at European universities, the former emphasis of religion-as-ritual moves toward an understanding of _______. And this transition tends to mirror the arguments that are taking place between _______ and _______ after the Reformation. But this shift to piety also had the effect of bringing the study of religion to the study of _____ and _______: if someone believed in something, what was the truth of this belief system? The growing awareness of many different types of religion in the world only exacerbated this question. A few centuries later during the Enlightenment the question of religion shifts once again, and this time to the question of ______. That is, rather than studying the belief system of a religion in terms of the truth behind its practices and ideas, scholars during this period of time questioned how a particular religion _______ What resulted was a division between _______ and _________ that arose elsewhere. Whereas Christianity (and to some extent Islam and Judaism) represented _______ religion, these were differentiated from shamanism, nature worship, polytheism, etc., as _______ and _______

presuppositions Western (mostly Christian) Reformation Protestantism religion-as-piety Catholics (ritual) Protestants (piety) truth credibility origins arose within a culture. "enlightened" Westerners "primitive" natural religion "advanced" backward unrefined

And Jesus' response is undermines all expectations. It is the ______ who the listener expects to help the wounded man. Priests at this point in time are highly revered individuals, and the Gospel of Luke had previously cast them in good light in the infancy narratives. But, surprisingly, the priest does not take care of the man, most likely because priests could not come into contact with the dead or they would be unable to fulfill their duties in the temple. The _____, though not as highly regarded as the priests, are also considered to be of good moral fiber. They are the teachers and professors of the people. But, again, the Levite does not respond. Finally, it is the Samaritan. To give you a sense of how Jews and Samaritans thought of one another, here is a near contemporary text from the Mishna: "He that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like one that eats the flesh of swine." The eating of pork was absolutely against Jewish law—which meant eating with Samaritans would get you removed from Jewish society, and quickly. But it is the Samaritan who responds. Everything hinges on the word e˙splagcni÷sqh, "he was moved to compassion." What separates the Samaritan from the rest? Compassion drove him to the one who was injured. What is justice: love that moves one toward compassion toward another.

priest Levites

And Jesus' response is undermines all expectations. It is the ______ who the listener expects to help the wounded man. Priests at this point in time are highly revered individuals, and the Gospel of Luke had previously cast them in good light in the infancy narratives. But, surprisingly, the priest does not take care of the man, most likely because priests could not come into contact with the dead or they would be unable to fulfill their duties in the temple. The _____, though not as highly regarded as the priests, are also considered to be of good moral fiber. They are the teachers and professors of the people. But, again, the Levite does not respond. Finally, it is the _______. To give you a sense of how Jews and Samaritans thought of one another, here is a near contemporary text from the Mishna: "He that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like one that eats the flesh of swine." The eating of pork was absolutely against Jewish law—which meant eating with Samaritans would get you removed from Jewish society, and quickly. But it is the Samaritan who responds. Everything hinges on the word e˙splagcni÷sqh, ____________ What separates the Samaritan from the rest? ________ drove him to the one who was injured. What is justice: _________

priest Levites Samaritan "he was moved to compassion." Compassion love that moves one toward compassion toward another.

The astonishing character of the ________ stated in the First Amendment cannot be overstated. It was an unprecedented vision of nationhood and law. In contrast to three thousand years of Western history, the founders of the United States came together to make it illegal for any US government official or branch to sponsor or favor a religion, or, conversely, to persecute or outlaw a particular religion. This was a revolutionary idea. And it came out of hundreds of years of intense suffering and tragedy as countless people died through war and persecution because of their religious beliefs.

prohibition

Other examples of the ___________ for women's roles in society can also be found in the Hebraic tradition. What is remarkable about these ancient texts, in fact, is their ________ in many instances: written within a patriarchal world, again and again these stories subvert traditional understandings of gender roles. A brief example: in ancient Hebrew society, the dominant idea of the tribe was a collection of related households bound together by the notion of the __________ In Song of Songs 8:2, however, the lovers enter into the "House of the Mother." The social-political idea of household is, in this poem, completely overturned. But other examples abound. Another profound examples of this subversion is located in the stories of _____ and _____ which feature prominent in the Book of Genesis, and which give rise to both Christian and Islamic ideas as well.

promise of empowerment counter-cultural edge "House of the Father." Hagar Rebekah

What was the result of this bold idea? On the one hand, this division __________. That is, the United States is a much more religious country than most Western nations because of this law. When a nation cannot tell people what to believe, its citizens, it seems, have the freedom to pursue and decide what to believe for themselves. And these citizens often do so with much more conviction and energy than in places where one's religion is forced on you. What this law also created however was a distinction between ___________: one could be a member of whatever religion one chose, but the United States could never be wed to a particular religious worldview. So an individual could be religious, but the government had to be ______. One could term this view a __________ in contrast to what was different forms of Religious Nationalism (i.e. Roman Catholic kingdoms of Europe). And so the US flag has no religious symbols on it.

promoted religious practice. national identity and religious identity secular. "Secular Nationalism"

Who is Mary Magdalene? In Luke 8 one comes across the most information we receive about this woman. Luke 8:1-3 states: "Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources." Yet according to tradition, and nearly every representation of her in art (so Da Vinci to the right), Mary Magdalene is said to have been a _______ But not once does the New Testament ever say she was one. Where does this idea come from? It is likely due to a conflation of Luke 7 with Luke 8, in which an unnamed woman washes Jesus's feet. In the 5th century AD, this type of interpretation flourished and is found in a number of Patristic writings. How does this matter? From a feminist point of view, one questions the association between Mary Magdalene and the status of a prostitute. One questions the (mis)reading of the biblical texts about her, and inquire into the interpretive tradition that made these claims about her. And feminist scholars attempt to recover who the woman actually was: likely a woman of some status who had been cured by Jesus, and who supported the early Christian movement as one of its most devoted followers. In other words: ___________

prostitute. one of the leaders of the early Church.

In the background of such observations are overtones of _________, but in this instance against minority religious experiences from the standpoint of those who live in the West. Or, to put it differently, rather than setting up boundaries between races, the boundaries are shifted only a little and are set up between ________ and _______ in other parts of the globe that are deeply religious—such as Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu societies in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. But the challenges faced by Islamic women scholars go well beyond this secular challenge. 1) ________ Included in these challenges, al-Hibri writes, is a long history of patriarchy within Islam that has sought to __________. Here, we might find parallels with the _________ and the intra-religious controversies that have developed over women and their positions in church bodies (Vatican) or religious organizations (seminaries; non-profits, etc.) This is all the more striking because women played a crucial role in __________, much like women played a crucial role in the early Jesus movement and among the early churches of Christianity. A prominent example that al-Hibri points out a wife of Mohammed, _____. Within Sunni tradition, 'Aisha is recognized as a scholar and teacher. Over 2000 haiths are credited to her, including topics surrounding marriag, pilgrimage, and the end of the world.

racial prejudices "modern" society "religious" individuals Patriarchy: silence female Islamic writers Judeo-Christian tradition early Islamic teachings and society 'Aisha

In circling back to our overarching theme, we come across one agreement among Western and Eastern religions: that the divine is _____ and that it is ________ And this point allows us to circle back to Otto and his writings on the holy: an understanding of what is divine must, in some sense, respect the Wholly Other character of this divinity that we both experience and do not fully understand. To be Wholly Other means that this experience of god or the gods cannot be fully elucidated or explained. This "cannot" would be the ______ that Otto highlights. There is something about God/s, on this view, that is inexplicable and inexpressible. Here we draw near to a final connection between East and West: the path of _______ Mystics from both traditions argue that the divine cannot be fully explained and fathomed (something finite cannot limit, by description, what is infinite), But God can nevertheless be sought out and experienced in a way that is non-rational but not irrational. So the famous Christian mystic Julian of Norwich writes of a mystical experience: "The number of the words pass by my wit and all my understanding and all my powers. And they are the highest, as to my sight: for therein is comprehended...but the joy that I saw in the showing of them passes all that heart may wish for and soul may desire."

real, mysterious. mysterium mysticism.

At its core, then, the Hebraic perspective emphasizes a _______ view of humanity, of a life that is always in relationship with a personal, active creator. This tradition therefore also emphasizes the notion of decision for or against God: "This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him." (Deut 30:19-20) This will be taken up by Jews in the 1st century once again, and set on a new trajectory: "But what about you?" Jesus asked. "Who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:29)

relational

Part II of our topic on religion and nationhood takes up the difficult theme of the relationship between _______ On the one hand, we encountered this topic indirectly with regard to our first installment of this theme when we analyzed religion and nationhood and observed how the intimate connection between the two had led to numerous conflicts in history. Religion in the service of nation building and national identity, in other words, often encouraged _______ against those who were not of the same religious background. In Europe, this culminated in the 30 Years War from 1618-1648; in the United States a new constitution was drafted that stipulated a separation between "church and state." Of course, the story is more complicated than this.

religion, war, and peace. violence

An important aspect of these images is straightforward: to understand many of the conflicts in the world, one must study the _______ that lie behind these conflicts. To be an expert in foreign policy, in military stratagem, in economics and social structures—necessitates being an expert in religious studies. Why? Because religion is central to the vast majority of the world's population. Yet to trace these wars and conflicts to a only one cause—that of religion—simplifies what is a much, much more complicated series of motivations for the outbreak of this violence. The issues that feed into modern war almost always go beyond matters of religion. Religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in India/Pakistan are often rooted, for example, in the borders established during the British Empire and the haphazard way in which regions were divided between cultures. And more often still, war fought in the name of religion is waged by individuals who come from_______ of the world and who have turned to violence because they see no other alternative. In these instances, religion simply provides the framework to _________ that these individuals, communities, and countries had already adopted. Religion in this sense is not the cause, but an ideological support system used to promote decisions already made.

religions very poor regions justify actions

2) Thus it is this criticism levied by fellow Christian leaders that provokes MLK to write. Normally, he says, he does not "pause to answer criticism." But this was different. Something more was at stake with the religious voices calling for him to step down. He had to respond, and he had to marshal the forces of religion to do so. 3) Thus, it is important to recognize that MLK is writing from the standpoint of a ________. The letter is steeped in religious terminology and allusions (including Tillich!), and there is a reason for this: MLK needs to make it known that Christianity is, in the end, always on the side of the oppressed. For the purposes of our class this letter thus provides an important case study of how the resources of a religion can both promote or hinder justice.

religious authority.

1) With the colonial period, there was a realization that a very large number of _______ were being practiced around the globe, and that human _____ was something more complex than just Christians and Jews. In order to understand this complexity, a wider net needed to be cast that explored religions native to Africa, South America, and Asia. 2) _____ and ______ matters. The study of religion is going to be influenced by who you are and what presuppositions you bring to the table about religion.

religious traditions "religiosity" Context Perspective

MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" illustrates that the Civil Rights movement was (in part) a ________ led by Christian clergy members. But this reading is important for our class because it also illustrates how this movement faced religious hostility by those who warped religion into a means of oppression. Which begs the question: is religion a force of justice or a force for injustice? Second: How would you explain the role of religion in the fight against racial injustice in the United States?

religiously motivated movement

What is necessary, then, is to perceive in another human being a ________ toward them. To be human is to recognize in another something worthy of justice, and to be responsive toward this demand. And what makes another worthy of justice, Weil argues further, is that the _______ within each individual. It is, in her language, the ________ at work in each individual and in communal life that drives us toward justice for others. What is remarkable about Weil's writings is that this view of _________" was particularly pertinent in light of Weil's life: In 1933 she quit her job and left her life of affluence to work grueling hours in a factory for a year, and in 1936 she took up arms and fought in the Spanish Civil War within a regiment that, shortly after she had to leave because of an injury, was entirely killed. Later she would die, in part, from refusing to eat more food than soldiers fighting in World War II. Justice for others, responsibility for others, was something worthy of giving one's life over to.

responsibility divine dwells "realm of God" "justice for the other

Faith, then, is a _____. Why? Because a Muslim can never prove that Allah is an ultimate reality that supports all life and the world; a Jewish person can never know for certain that Yahweh has created the world and will bring this world to an end in the heavenly Jerusalem; a Christian can never prove that Jesus rose from the dead. Because faith is a risk, _____ about one's faith is not just possible, but necessary. This is not doubt about "facts" (like the scientific method) or "knowledge" (as with the sceptic), but is an ________ doubt: it is an awareness of the insecurity of every act of faith, of never fully "knowing" if one has put one faith's in the ultimate. "If doubt appears, it should not be considered as the negation of faith, but as an element which was always and will always be present in the act of faith. Existential doubt and faith are poles of the same reality¡ the state of ultimate concern." (p. 22) To put this differently: one cannot have faith without having doubt. One does not exist without the other. They are two sides of the same coin. And the only way to confront this risk of faith, this doubt, is, Tillich argues, ______. The person of religious faith is the person who has the courage to have faith in the midst of doubt.

risk doubt existential courage

It is the great wonder and beauty of Hebraic religion that they took their astonishing claim about humanity—that humans are, in some sense, divine—and juxtaposed this image immediately to the story of humanity's fall and separation from the God who made them. Indeed, for the Hebrew writers, a philosophical system is not fashioned in order to to explain the complexities of human existence; instead a story is told. And in the midst of Gen 3 we come across one of the most remarkable reflections on what it means to be human Gen 3:8-10: "They [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid..." This, for the Hebrew writers is that state of humanity: God is in _____ for us, trying to find us wherever we may be hidden. But over and over again we hide, _______ of what we become. So the first definition of sin: _______

search ashamed to hide oneself from God.

The point is not to lose your identity or your beliefs or what you consider to be true. But what is needed is ________ and _______ toward other cultures and religions and peoples who are different from you. In response to these factors a number of different theoretical approaches to the study of religion emerged in the _______

self-awareness openness 19th and 20th centuries.

The importance of Niebuhr for this week's discussion is that it provides one approach to the question of the role religion should play in ideas of nationhood and politics. And this viewpoint is one of active participation by religious individuals against social and even worldly evils. But it is also a viewpoint that is always suspicious of one's self. Here, religious beliefs are used as means of ___________: it poses the constant question of what the purpose of one's activity really is. Are one's acts directed toward the benefits of others, or one's self? Of course, other viewpoints are possible, and important. But Niebuhr's reflections on the role of religion in national politics and policies remain some of the most important from the 20th century.

self-correction

What does the continual experience of injustice do to a community? What is life like "behind the veil" of racism and prejudice? For this community, Du Bois argues, "These powers of body and mind have in the past been strangely wasted, dispersed, or forgotten." (p. 9) The striving of such a soul is, in contrast, "to be a co-worker in the kingdom of culture, to escape both death and isolation, to husband and use his [and her] best powers and latent genius." (p.9) Injustice, in this sense, strips a community of their humanity by denying the right of ____ and _____—by denying a community the possibility of creating for themselves a culture. By injustice, then, Du Bois did not simply mean forms of slavery, whether ancient or modern forms of it. For Du Bois, injustice meant the persistent forms of _______ that denied his community the opportunity for true _______: "Freedom, too, the long-sought, we still seek,—the freedom of life and limb, the freedom to work and think, the freedom to love and aspire. Work, culture, liberty,—all these we need, not singely but together, not successively but together, each growing and aiding each..."(p. 14). How then does a community strive and produce a freedom of culture and self-expression denied to them by the world in which they live? This is the question that Du Bois takes up in the rest of the essays that comprise this book.

self-expression self-identity prejudice freedom

What we want to do in this class is to be aware of these presuppositions, and in doing so cultivate ______ and ________ toward others. If you are a Christian, this does not mean you stop being a Christian in this class. But it does mean that you treat other religious traditions with ______ and ______—that you are open to being in conversation with these traditions in order to understand a little better why they do what they do and resist notions of being ________ If you are an atheist, this does not mean you stop being an atheist. But it does mean that you think deeply about the beliefs and practices engaged in by people who do claim to be religious, and that you are generous toward these individuals in a way that resists "taking down" to them. To be a scholar of religion means to be ______, to be ______, to be ______—all without losing one's own ______

sensitivity empathy respect dignity "superior." generous open-minded caring sense of identity.

Humanity is, on the Hebraic view, a part of God but apart from God. That is, humanity is created in the image of God, made to abide in the paradise of Eden alongside God, but falls away from this destiny. It is this split character of human nature, according to the Hebrew Bible, that seeks fulfillment through חסד, or faithful-love. But this split character also results in what the Hebrew writers term "sin." Sin here is not simply immoral behavior or bad decision-making—it is _______ The most vivid example of this is provided for the careful reader in Genesis 4. God, looking into Cain's heart, perceives that something is amiss. God pleads with Cain to refrain from his inten (Gen 4:6-7)t: The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." Here is the great description of sin: a force that "lurks" at the door of one's heart, a verb used in Hebrew to depict a lion waiting for its prey. Cain must resist; he must "master" that which drives him away from God's will. Cain, as those who have read this story know, cannot master the temptation. He kills his brother. And so the "first family" of humanity is symbolized through disobedience, suffering, and murder. We are who we are not supposed to be. We live______

separation from God and the will of God. "east of Eden."

In time, European nations followed the lead of the United States and, to various degrees, put into law a similar separation of church and state. This form of Secular nationalism - the ideology that originally gave the nation-state its legitimacy - contends that the authority of a nation is based on the secular idea of a________ rather than on ethnic ties or sacred mandates. And this form of nationalism reached its widest extent of worldwide acceptance in the first half of the twentieth century as many world governments sought to modernize and modeled themselves after the United States. What resulted was a particular world system in which the vast majority of governments sought to be secular, and to preserve a distinction between "Church and State" (or Synagogue, Temple, Mosque, etc.)

social compact of equals

What is the meaning of the story? For a moment it appears as if Job's friends have been vindicated: one simply must be pious, careful, "good" and simply go on in life without questioning God when encountering suffering or the suffering of others. Such suffering is "meant to be," "the will of God," or the result of one's own wrongdoing. But in a startling conclusion to the book we receive a different, unanticipated answer: "After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. "Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly..." (Job 42:7-8). The God of the Book of Job has no time for "nice" "pietistic" people who try to defend God with easy answers and solutions. It is Job who calls God his enemy, who calls God unjust and wicked, who insinuates that God is a murderer, who has the courage to contend and fight against God....it is this individual who God claims has "_______" It is one of the most important and most overlooked claims of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The response to suffering is not a fake and brittle form of acceptance that adheres to some notion of "being good," but it is a ______ that keeps one in a true, living relationship with God. To have faith is to ________

spoken of me what is right." protest question and argue with God.

What is an "allegory"? An allegory is a type of ______ in which certain images and references within it are used to ______ other things. In other words, the cave and the events that transpire in Plato's text are used to symbolize something more about life in general. Plato offers this allegory to compare the _________(514a). In other words, the story itself is supposed to speak about how ______, and what _________ But another way of saying it is that this story is about ________. What, Plato asks through this story, is ________? How does one discern between what is false and true? What is authentic and inauthentic? Real and Unreal? And these question lay at the heart of religious faith and practice across many different religions.

story represent "effect of education or the lack of it on our nature" we become educated comprises the educated mind. knowledge true knowledge

What then is the source of faith? The source of faith, Tillich asserts, is both ______ and ______ Subjective, in that the source of faith is an awareness of the _______ that a religious person feels connected to (this is Augustine's "restlessness," or a Buddhist's idea of Nirvana): "Man is driven toward faith by an awareness of the infinite to which he belongs, but which he does not own like a possession." (p. 9) Faith is objective in that the source of faith comes from somewhere outside of the personality: it comes from that which is believed to be the __________. This may be money, or fame, or, for those who claim to have faith in a deity, that deity itself (Allah, Yahweh, Jesus, etc.). With this definition Tillich however also raises the possibility of _________—i.e. faith that is not real. For how do you know if the source your faith is, indeed, ultimate? Tillich answers: If you can make the source of faith an object that is completely understandable, then it is ______ and not worthy of faith: again money, or personal fame, or career success and prestige, or being popular and influential. But even, more provocatively, static religious teachings, religious buildings, personalities. All of these are finite, and disappear over time. So, Tillich argues, they should not be the source of faith. Faith is faith in something ________

subjective objective. "infinite" ultimate itself idolatrous faith finite infinite.

As historians of religion, we do our best to retrace when and, if possible, why, monotheism emerged. The most striking feature of montheism is that it was unusual, strange, and no other culture in the ancient world believed it to be true. But the merits of a monotheistic conception of God are __________ For the religious communities who hold to this view, the idea of God as singular, unified, and perfect offered a way of conceiving of the divine in a manner that moved beyond what could often be an erratic and unstable group of gods in which no god was in full control—leaving the world, and every individual life, __________ to the whims, emotions, and battles of these divine beings. So one can read in the Iliad, for example, of different gods intervening in the battles of the Greeks, with the characters in the story never knowing if their patron god would be able to sustain them, or if another god may come into control and through their life and plans into disarray. So Zeus states in Book 20: "Still, here I stay on Olympus throned aloft, here in my steep mountain cleft, to feast my eyes and delight my heart. The rest of you: down you go, go to Trojans, go to Achaeans. Help either side as the fixed desire derives each god to act." In _______ a different idea of God was put forward: One God who is in control of all things We find however that a form of monotheism emerges only late within the _______ itself with figures such as Jeremiah (so Jer 16:19-20), Ezekiel, and later portions of the book of Isaiah (so our text from Is 55 observed last class). Early on in Israel's existence, however, it was polytheistic or, perhaps better, ________

substantial. vulnerable Israel, Hebrew Bible henotheistic.

What resulted from this division between advanced and primitive religion were more and more studies in the 18th and 19th centuries that sought to classify these religious traditions within different lists, or _______, that ranked the quality of these religions. Perhaps predictably, these lists were often deeply ______ and mostly _______ of different world religions. Arab religion (Islam), for example, was deficient because it was tribal; Judaism because it was rooted to a particular people and not universal (such as Christianity). _____ religious traditions, because they were ______ in focus, were accorded the most prominent status: __________ Since nearly all of these early scholars of religion were Christian or from Christian contexts, ________ was considered the most refined of these. For the most part, whatever religion one was not a member of was _________. Sometimes Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism were considered the "best" or "most mature" religions because of their universal character; sometimes Christianity and Buddhism for their "ethical" features, etc. These categories were often however ______ (this religion is the best because it is our religion).

taxonomies racist ignorant Three "universal" Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. Christianity disparaged arbitrary

Our Buddhist and Hebrew texts thus provide with us with two different perspectives on suffering. On the one hand, a set of ________ that strive to make one aware that much suffering is _______ and to promote a form of wisdom and way of life that is able to cope with the inevitableness of suffering, aging, and death. It is a way of meditation, intense focus, and a willingness to de-center one's self from the desires of the world. On the other hand, a ______ against a divine power that does not prevent suffering from occurring in the world. And that somehow the act of protest itself, and the realization that this protest is heard, matters. The protest of Job does not negate the suffering that occurs, but the protest reframes what this suffering means. It is heard, it is acknowledged, and the protest is deemed ______ What unite both traditions however is an______ that suffering is real, universal, bitter, and unavoidable. And that this suffering must be named and responded to—that it cannot be buried away, or borne alone, or made as if it does not exist. Instead, to live well, to be human in all its possibilities, means that suffering must be ______

teachings t self-induced, protest "right." honesty confronted.

The psychology of religion is the application of the ______ and ______ of psychology to understanding religion. Here, the focus is on the ______, or mental disposition of a religious person: what is it about religious practice that contributes to the mental health of a religious person? What about religion may elicit negative, detrimental mental conditions? So, of course, the work of ______ looms large over this discussion, in which certain religious states are attributed to _______ Freud found, for example, that many of his patients conceived of God in terms of their own relationship with their ______ Another example of this approach however is that of _____ who wrote a book, _________ In this book Fowler retraces what he sees as the ______ of faith within individuals who claim to be religious, or how faith "develops" through different stages during the course of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood. Fowler argues that, from a psychological point of view, individuals either "grow" into more complex forms of religious understanding over their lifetimes, remain stagnant or stunted in their views of religion, or leave religion altogether.

theories methods psyche Sigmund Freud sub-conscious yearnings or desires. fathers. James Fowler Stages of Faith. progression

Today, we concentrate on the experience of suffering itself. Why this theme on a week devoted to being human? Because the problem of suffering—the question of why humans suffer—has had a profound influence on both eastern and western religious traditions. What does to suffer mean? To trace it back to its Latin roots, the word signifies "________" something, usually in the sense of something _______: pain, death, punishment, judgment, grief. When it comes to the world's religions, nearly all address the experience of suffering in some way. But two texts stand out from the rest in their concern with and reflections on suffering: in Buddhism, those writings that center on the _____ and the ______ and in Judaism/Christianity, the ______

to undergo, bear, or endure" negative "Four Noble Truths" "Eightfold Path," Book of Job.

3) Foreign religions can be understood through one's own cultural background. There is, in other words, something ______ about the understanding of religion. When Hindus from Delhi talk about various deities, it is assumed that English colonialists will understand their concepts of the gods because Christianity also has an idea of a Supreme Being.

transferable

In a heart-pounding courtroom scene, the Furies are invited to the ________ in ______. The Furies have stated that they will inflict their vengeance on Orestes because he killed his mother, who had killed his father, who had killed Orestes sister (it's quite complicated and gruesome). The god _____ intervenes, however, by saying that he commanded Orestes to kill his mother, and so Orestes should be set free. The Furies refuse this line of reasoning. They want vengeance. After bringing Orestes' trial to a vote, he is acquitted. The Furies then threaten to torment and destroy the entire population of Athens. In response, ______ offers the Furies a new role: instead of being consumed with vengeance, the Furies are accorded the power to ________. Rather than seeking blood for blood, they are now gods of mercy. Within the play, we thus watch as pure vengeance is transformed into a communal act of deliberation and vote: a trial by jury. Instead of matching violence with violence, a new vision of justice is put forward.

trial of Orestes Athens' Apollo Athena watch over justice

Our next window into justice descends from Aeschylus' Oresteia. The Oresteia is a _______ first performed in 458 BCE in Greece, and surround the theme of the curse of the ________ The core question at the center of these plays, as our reading points out, is how the spiraling succession of ________ might come to an end. If everyone who has been wronged pursues vengeance, when will violence stop? The question is as pertinent today as it was in ancient Greece. The quest for vengeance within these plays is sustained by the ______. The Furies are gods who search out those who have committed heinous crimes and drive them mad. Their duty is to ________ on those who have done wrong.

trilogy of plays House of Atreus. vengeance and violence Furies enact vengeance

Dualism affirms a belief in ________. Usually, one of these gods is "good" and the other is "evil." History then is the battleground on which these forces of good and evil collide, but also the human soul itself. Such a view may appear simplistic, but the idea stems from deep reflection on the problem of evil in the world. That is, if God is perfectly good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, why then is there evil in the world? Why would such a God allow the immense suffering one encounters? This view of God (or the gods) is quite ancient, and can be traced back to the influential ancient religion of ________ This religion argues that the world is governed by a ________, Ahuro Mazda, who is opposed by the ________ Angra Mainyu. But this idea of opposing forces of good and evil is also widespread in other religious traditions (so yin-yang philosophy of Chinese religions), including that of Christianity. The personification of evil in Satan, for example, attests to this conception. It is only with startling texts such as Isaiah 55 that this viewpoint is overcome a purer form of monotheism:  "so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things."

two gods. Zoroaster. wholly good God evil god

1) The first is that of Paul Tillich, who we will read more from next week. For Tillich, religion is an ______ in the moral sphere, ultimate concern in the realm of knowledge, and ultimate concern in the "aesthetic function" of the human spirit. Religion is not a particular feature of spiritual life, but the very _______ of the depth of human life. [i.e., to be human is to be religious] 2) Spiro: Religion is "an institution consisting of _________ with _______

ultimate concern dimension culturally patterned interaction culturally postulated superhuman beings."

Which brings us to the question: what is faith? For Tillich, "faith is the state of being ______: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man's ultimate concern." (p. 1) But this only begs the question: what is an "ultimate concern"? For Tillich, if something claims ultimacy, it demands ________ To put it differently: an ultimate concern is what a human being is willing to live and die for. An ultimate concern promises ________(i.e. offers you the meaning of your life) and demands everything from you (i.e. you will do anything and sacrifice anything for it). Tillich offers a few examples of how he understands this concept. The first is ________. For a number of people, particularly of Tillich's generation, the nation was their ultimate concern: for the Nazi's, all of Germany was expected to sacrifice everything for the German "people." Even the Christian churches were supposed to support the Nazis and their god, "the nation." The promise of this god was _____: the nation could rule Europe and promote Aryan ideals. The demand of this god was life itself: all of Germany, man, woman, and child, was expected to give their lives for this cause, including economic well-being, ideas of justice, and, of course, warfare.

ultimately concerned "total surrender." total fulfillment nationalism power

For 35 chapters Job and his friends argue back and forth about Job's suffering and its cause. But Job remains _________. He believes his suffering has no cause, and that God is guilty of allowing this suffering to occur. And then, finally, in Job 38 an answer comes out of the _________ "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me." (Job 38:2-3) At no point does God reply to the question Job poses about his guilt or innocence. Instead God hurls a series of questions at Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (Job 38:4) "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?" (Job 38:16) "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk flies?" (Job 39:26a). And, finally: "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Anyone who argues with God must respond." (Job 40:2). Job replies in the only way he can: "See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?" (Job 40:4) The answer to Job's suffering appears, in one sense, to be clear: the ways of God are inscrutable—______—to a human being (a point, interestingly, that will draw near to the Buddha).

undaunted whirlwind: unknowable

How does it work? Let's take the example of Roman Catholic meditative prayer that has had a long and robust history. A phenomenologist of religion would ask a number of questions about this form of prayer, such as: How does one describe the feeling of presence experienced upon the rehearsal of the prayer? What gives rise to this feeling of divine presence? How would we describe the transitions that occur from one step in the prayer to another and how does the one praying make conscious changes within these steps? How do conscious perceptions cue the meditator that grace was operative in aiding the prayer? And is there a relationship between the power of the meditative insights and the practice of being good? What elements of the prayer were more effective and which ones enkindled commitment to the values expressed by the one praying? In short, phenomenologists would attempt to ______ whether each step of a meditative prayer was grounded on the previous step, which steps were in the conscious control of the meditator, which steps were (apparently) influenced by factors outside of conscious experience, and which steps were indispensable to the results sought. And, more generally, phenomenologists would be interested in looking across religious traditions to see whether other meditative practices in other religions delivered similar results and under what conditions they did so.

understand

2) Religion is part of every culture. It is a _____ human experience. Everyone, from aboriginal tribes in Australia to Native American communities in Alaska, have religion according to this view. The key is then to be _______ to different religious expressions.

universal sensitive

Hinduism also has a long and storied tradition of peacemaking. In part, this is due to its _______ tendencies: that is, unlike the majority of teachings among the Abrahamic religions, Hinduism believes in multiple paths to truth, including those outside of the Hindu religion. In the Bhagavad Gita, we find a number of teachings that offer strict guidelines for how to treat non-combatants and those wounded with ______ In the poem Ramayana, one even finds a teaching that is quite similar to Jesus: one "should not retaliate when another does you injury. Even if those who do wrong deserve to be kileld, the noble ones should be compassionate since there is no on e who does not transgress." Perhaps the most impressive teaching of Hinduism in this vein is that of _______ or non-violence. Under _______, this ethic became incredibly important for resistance against British rule, and indeed it is this teaching that Martin Luther King, Jr., also drew on for the Civil Rights movement. The most visible expression of ahimsa today is that found among Hinduism very close cousin, _____. Jains interpret this teaching in such a way as to forbid any form of violence anywhere, including any living creature. For this reason, Jains are _________, and are careful to avoid killing any living thing, including avoiding stepping on insects. In light of these teachings, Jains are some of the most visible proponents of ___________

universalist dignity. "ahimsa" Gandhi Jainism absolute vegetarians world peace.

Our theme for this week centers on what it means to be human. Our first lecture on this theme was devoted to eastern and western perspectives on the "nature" of humanity. For Hsun Tzu, humanity was born into a _____, crooked and misshapen, and only through ______ could one be made straight once again. For the Hebrew writers of Genesis, humanity was made in the ________ But this relationship was put into jeopardy not simply through disobedience, but even more profoundly through the symbol of Adam and Eve ______ from God in the garden of Eden. The result of this separation was _____ and, in the offspring of this couple, _____. So, while not intrinsically evil, humanity was nevertheless explained as _______

wayward state education and community "image of God." hiding themselves hardship murder "fallen" from a state of grace.

So far in this class we have touched on questions of ontology (___________) and questions of epistemology (_________). This week we enter into the domain of ethics. Every major world religion is invested in the question of ethics, or a set of ________ that offers _______ regarding right or wrong conduct. But "ethics" should not be understood simply as a set of rules that you have to follow. Rather, ethics means _______ - a way of life that, for our class, a religion advocates so that one attains _________. For Aristotle, ethics is tied to eudaimonia - or ________ In order to focus our discussion, we turn however to a topic treated at length already with Plato's Republic: how do we create a just society? Plato will argue, in fact, that the beautiful soul is first and foremost the ______

what does it mean to be human; what is God or the gods?) Allegory of the Cave; Thomas Aquinas teachings/guidelines instructions "a way of life" "the good life." "happiness"/"fulfillment" just soul.

The philosophy of religion is an approach that argues that the study of religion, to be complete, needs to address basic philosophical questions about ________, about __________, and about ___________ Such philosophical questions, philosophers of religion argue, are impossible to avoid. Even the radical dismissal of philosophy involves a philosophy. For example, someone may dismiss philosophy as futile on the grounds of a severe skepticism about human cognition, but this rationale is itself a philosophy—skepticism. A philosopher of religion is unconvinced about claims, as from some anthropologists, about "objectivity," or about a dispassionate, unbiased account of a particular religion that does not address its claims about the world. Every researcher, every human being, operates with _________ about how the world works and one's place in it. So its important to be honest about those philosophical commitments and to be aware of them. With this being the case, a philosophy of religion endeavors to asks what is the meaning of certain religious beliefs and practices. A philosophy of religion does not, then, seek to articulate and describe how a particular religious act unfolds. Rather, a philosopher of religion might ask: what does it mean to _______ as religious. Or, here we can take a famous quote from Augustine: "what do I love when I love my God?" This "what" can be construed as a philosophical question. What is the object, more precisely, that I love when I say that I love God? What, more precisely, is sin?

what exists (metaphysics) what can be known (epistemology) what is valuable (value theory and ethics). deep philosophical assumptions "know" something

The radical critiques of religion by a segment of feminist scholars have been extremely important. Other possibilities however remain in terms of the relationship between feminism and religion. One notable example is that of the __________ What's important to note for our class is the religious background of these early pioneers and the use of religion for the promotion of women's rights. By and large, the vast majority of those involved in women's rights issues in the 19th and early 20th centuries were participants and leaders of _________ The famous Declaration of the Rights of Women at Seneca Falls in 1848 was read, in fact, by a Quaker women minister, Lucretia Mott. Protestant women ministers, Catholic nuns, Jewish women rabbis—all have been at the forefront of women's rights. The point, then, is that religion and religious traditions have also been harnessed as a source of power and support for women seeking equality. On this view, then, religion is not solely a ________ within feminism.

women's rights movement. particular religious organizations. negative force

Can law be broken in the pursuit of justice? Can ius be overturned with justice? To this difficult question, MLK gives a clear answer: _____ But with this distinction: there are two types of laws, just and unjust. One has a duty to obey just laws, but more importantly one has the duty to break unjust laws. So the quote from St. Augustine: "An unjust law is no law at all." (p. 108). How does one tell the difference between a just and unjust law? "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is put out of harmony with the moral law...Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." (p. 108). In other words: justice is about how you treat people, and particularly how you treat those who are oppressed, those who are poor, those who are powerless. How does one break an unjust law? One who does so must do it "lovingly...and with a willingness to accept the penalty." All acts of disobedience must be acts of _____ Is breaking the law a form of extremism? ____. But "the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?" (p. 112)

yes. love. Yes