Session 1

 Definition  Universality  Perceptions of Divine – Relation to the World  Perceptions of Divine – Number of Deities  Primal Religions – Characteristics  Conclusions

 Latin word “religio” – respect for sacred, religious scruple, awe  “Feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine.” – William James, The Variety of Religious Experiences (1902)

 Cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, ethics, and social organization that relate humanity to an order of existence – Religions of the World (1993)  Set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing conduct of human affairs (BBC)

 “Ultimate Reality” – Paul Tillich

 Historically, an almost universal phenomenon  Inspires passion, creativity, and vision  Promotion of societal virtues such as justice, love and hope  Dark Side – spawned violence, prejudice, persecution and destruction, violation of human rights in name of religion

 Theism ◦ God imminent in the world yet transcends the world ◦ Personally and actively involved in created order ◦ Judaism, Christianity, Islam, some sects of Hinduism

 Pantheism ◦ God and physical universe are one ◦ Common in primal religions, those that involved nature or animal worship ◦ Taoism, Wicca, some sects of Hinduism

 Nontheism ◦ Whether God exists does not matter ◦ Emphasis on spirituality leaving the divine out of equation ◦ Buddhism

 Polytheism ◦ Often unspecified number of gods, demigods and other deities ◦ Most common form of religion in ancient world ◦ Hindu Dharma and Wiccan practices

 Dualism or Ditheism ◦ Belief in two equal Gods ◦ Dichotomy of good and evil ◦ Zoroastrianism

 Monotheism ◦ Only one God ◦ Judaism, Christianity and Islam  Atheism ◦ Belief that there is no God, divine entity. or Supreme Being ◦ Technically not a religion ◦ Often with ethical dimensions

 Definition – “being first in time” or “the original member of the group”  Misunderstood as primitive or savage  Simpler answers to big questions such as – How is life created?, Where did the world come from?, What happens after we die?  Native American and traditional African religions most documented

 Animism ◦ From Greek word anima – “spirit,” “breath,” “air,” or “life” ◦ Every single thing, whether animate or inanimate, is endowed with a soul – animals, insects, plants, rocks, air, water, etc. ◦ All things in nature deserve respect – dependence on environment for survival – e.g. Native American practice of offering prayer or offering to spirit of animal after killed in hunt

 Magic/Divination ◦ Priest or shaman to control nature or evil to enemies ◦ Shamans read and interpreted signs commonly used divination to predict future, e.g. – examining entrails of sacrificed animals, studying bird flights and interpreting pattern of cracks in a tortoise shell

 Religious Taboos ◦ Actions that should be avoided ◦ Touching the dead ◦ Avoiding menstruating women –sometimes women lived separately from men during this period

 Myth ◦ Creation stories ◦ Universal expressions of early man’s relationship to the divine and the world

 Rituals ◦ Sacrifice ◦ Placate spirits, including gods, dead ancestors and demons  Ancestor Veneration ◦ Dead lived on in some form and could bring either good or harm to the living ◦ Sacrifices of food, drink or even blankets to deceased relatives to create positive energy between world of living and of the dead

 Universality of Religion  Variety of Perceptions of the Divine ◦ Relation to the World – Theism, Pantheism, Nontheism ◦ Relation to number of deities – Polytheism, Dualism, Monotheism or Atheism  Primal Religions – some characteristics live on in Higher Religions