RELIGST 1B06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Big Questions, Etiology, Abdul Rauf Aliza

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELIGST 1B06
• Professor: Philippa Carter

Document Summary

Religious studies lecture 4: big questions - creation, Etiological but not explicitly about sin in the christian sense. Human beings are willing to betray others in their own interests. Religious schools use the term myth to refer to narratives that are believed to be true by adherents of a particular tradition. More useful to think of myths as etiological: They explain why the world is the way that it is. They challenge and correct other explanations (genesis 1 corrects the view found in both the enuma elish and genesis 2 and 3) Myths have to make sense to their audience; they present or reinforce a speci c darshana/worldview. Morality - obedience to authority, partiarchy, heteronormativity. Theology - particular understanding of god: anthropomorphic, powerful, judgmental. Myths re ect and reinforce a particular worldview and this includes morality. Myths support the idea that there can be no morality without a divine mandate. What constitutes right and wrong is determined by god.