Religious Studies 1022A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Harpercollins, Christian Mortalism, Agnosticism
1 Oct 2018
School
Department
Professor
Common Features of Religion
Common Features of Spirituality
Teachings - verbal
•
System of belief - afterlife
•
Greater power
•
Set rules, morals/values
•
Missionaries
•
Sacred scriptures
•
Structure
•
Community
•
Lost history
•
Rituals
•
Long traditions
•
More likely to have a recognized leadership
structure and/or hierarchy
•
Overall: Institutionalized
•
Ultimate reality - not personified
•
Not a long history
•
Oral teachings
•
Mother nature
•
No written teachings
•
Personal focused, individual
•
Not institutionalized
•
Less likely to have a division between
leaders and followers
•
Less organized and less structured
•
May or may not have organized teachings
and beliefs
•
May or may not have sacred texts
•
What is 'religion'
Classification of beliefs:
Theism:
“belief in the one or more divine beings”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 1065.)
□
§
○
Polytheism:
“the belief in a plurality of gods.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 849.)
□
§
○
Monotheism:
“a belief that there exists only one divine being.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 728.)
□
§
○
Atheism:
“a critical stance toward divinity.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 88.)
□
§
Belief that gods/deities do not exist
§
○
Agnosticism:
“the view that there is insufficient evidence to posit either the existence or
nonexistence of God, and by extension, of the immortal soul. Agnosticism functions
as an intellectual mid-position between theism and atheism.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 32.)□
§
○
•
Asking the perplexing questions…
Transcendence
“Transcendence is a condition attributed to divinity as beyond the limitations
characterizing creatureliness and as beyond comprehension by any created mind.”
(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion, at 3556)
○
'Transcendence' = 'going beyond'
○
In religion, condition or state of being that surpasses, and is independent of, physical
existence
○
‘Self-transcendence’ = ‘moving beyond a prior form or state of oneself’
○
•
Etymology:
religio (Latin, noun)
fear or awe that one feels in the presence of a spirit or a god;
○
also, moral obligation, duty
○
•
Religare (Latin, verb)
to tie, to bind
○
Also means ‘concerning a gathering’
○
•
Key modern thinks***
Durkheim•
Weber•
Otto•
Freud•
Livingston•
History
Pre-modern (up to 16th century)
Usually applied to ritual obligations
○
Ritual
Set of actions that are performed for their symbolic value
§
○
Focus on orthopraxy (right actions, practice) rather than orthodoxy (right beliefs)
○
Together, rituals include ‘myths’, ‘rites’. ‘ceremonies’, and ‘festivals’
○
A 'rite' is the right way of doing a ritual
○
•
Modern (late 16th century to Present):
Protestant Reformation (16th century) – Reformers tended to use ‘religion’ to mean
‘piety’
○
Piety = a desire and willingness to work toward spiritual goals through our actions in this
world
○
Common usage equated with ‘virtue’: Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English
Language (1755)
○
German distinction between ‘faith’(glaube) and ‘religion’
○
Encountering ‘new religions’: Colonialism (19th century)
‘true religions’, ‘religion'
§
○
Emergence of secularism (20th century)
Not associated with religion
§
○
Modern Thinkers:
Emile Durkeim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)
§
Max Weber, Sociology of Religion (1920)
§
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1912)
§
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (1913)
§
○
•
Samuel Johnson on Religion
“The great task of him who conducts his life by the precepts of religion is to make the future
predominate over the present, to impress upon his mind so strong a sense of the importance of
obedience to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrors of the
punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal
hope or fear can bring in its way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and sorrow, to turn
away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the
threats of calamity.”
Johnson: Rambler #7 (April 10, 1750)
•
Religion is “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is too say, set apart
and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community, called a church, all
those who adhere to them."
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
○
•
“Religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred
value and transforming power."
James C. Livingston, Anatomy of the Sacred
○
•
Some Distinctions in terms:
Sacred v. Profane
Sacred is considered to be holy and deserving respect
○
Profane is showing no respect for a god or a religion, often through language
○
•
Religion v. spirituality
Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and
worship
○
Spirituality is relating to deep feelings and beliefs, especially religious beliefs
○
•
Religious studies v. theology
Theology looks at the religion with an insider viewpoint, study of religion from a believers
perspective
○
Religious studies looks at religion from an outsider viewpoint, apathic perspective
○
•
Ultimate Reality
•
Types of Definitions of 'religion'
Substantive
Attempts to define what religion is
○
•
Functional
Attempts to define what religion does
○
•
General Approaches to the Academic Study of Religion:
Historiography
•
Anthropology
•
Sociology
•
Psychology
•
Philosophy
•
Phenomenology
Observational approach; experience is through the observation
○
•
Ethnographical
Observational approach; gained through experience
○
•
What is Religion?
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
1:32 PM
Common Features of Religion
Common Features of Spirituality
Teachings - verbal •
System of belief - afterlife•
Greater power•
Set rules, morals/values•
Missionaries•
Sacred scriptures•
Structure•
Community •
Lost history•
Rituals•
Long traditions•
More likely to have a recognized leadership
structure and/or hierarchy
•
Overall: Institutionalized •
Ultimate reality - not personified•
Not a long history•
Oral teachings•
Mother nature•
No written teachings•
Personal focused, individual •
Not institutionalized •
Less likely to have a division between
leaders and followers
•
Less organized and less structured•
May or may not have organized teachings
and beliefs
•
May or may not have sacred texts•
What is 'religion'
Classification of beliefs:
Theism:
“belief in the one or more divine beings”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 1065.)
□
§
○
Polytheism:
“the belief in a plurality of gods.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 849.)
□
§
○
Monotheism:
“a belief that there exists only one divine being.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 728.)
□
§
○
Atheism:
“a critical stance toward divinity.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 88.)
□
§
Belief that gods/deities do not exist
§
○
Agnosticism:
“the view that there is insufficient evidence to posit either the existence or
nonexistence of God, and by extension, of the immortal soul. Agnosticism functions
as an intellectual mid-position between theism and atheism.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 32.)□
§
○
•
Asking the perplexing questions…
Transcendence
“Transcendence is a condition attributed to divinity as beyond the limitations
characterizing creatureliness and as beyond comprehension by any created mind.”
(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion, at 3556)
○
'Transcendence' = 'going beyond'
○
In religion, condition or state of being that surpasses, and is independent of, physical
existence
○
‘Self-transcendence’ = ‘moving beyond a prior form or state of oneself’
○
•
Etymology:
religio (Latin, noun)
fear or awe that one feels in the presence of a spirit or a god;
○
also, moral obligation, duty
○
•
Religare (Latin, verb)
to tie, to bind
○
Also means ‘concerning a gathering’
○
•
Key modern thinks***
Durkheim•
Weber•
Otto•
Freud•
Livingston•
History
Pre-modern (up to 16th century)
Usually applied to ritual obligations
○
Ritual
Set of actions that are performed for their symbolic value
§
○
Focus on orthopraxy (right actions, practice) rather than orthodoxy (right beliefs)
○
Together, rituals include ‘myths’, ‘rites’. ‘ceremonies’, and ‘festivals’
○
A 'rite' is the right way of doing a ritual
○
•
Modern (late 16th century to Present):
Protestant Reformation (16th century) – Reformers tended to use ‘religion’ to mean
‘piety’
○
Piety = a desire and willingness to work toward spiritual goals through our actions in this
world
○
Common usage equated with ‘virtue’: Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English
Language (1755)
○
German distinction between ‘faith’(glaube) and ‘religion’
○
Encountering ‘new religions’: Colonialism (19th century)
‘true religions’, ‘religion'
§
○
Emergence of secularism (20th century)
Not associated with religion
§
○
Modern Thinkers:
Emile Durkeim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)
§
Max Weber, Sociology of Religion (1920)
§
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1912)
§
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (1913)
§
○
•
Samuel Johnson on Religion
“The great task of him who conducts his life by the precepts of religion is to make the future
predominate over the present, to impress upon his mind so strong a sense of the importance of
obedience to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrors of the
punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal
hope or fear can bring in its way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and sorrow, to turn
away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the
threats of calamity.”
Johnson: Rambler #7 (April 10, 1750)
•
Religion is “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is too say, set apart
and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community, called a church, all
those who adhere to them."
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
○
•
“Religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred
value and transforming power."
James C. Livingston, Anatomy of the Sacred
○
•
Some Distinctions in terms:
Sacred v. Profane
Sacred is considered to be holy and deserving respect
○
Profane is showing no respect for a god or a religion, often through language
○
•
Religion v. spirituality
Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and
worship
○
Spirituality is relating to deep feelings and beliefs, especially religious beliefs
○
•
Religious studies v. theology
Theology looks at the religion with an insider viewpoint, study of religion from a believers
perspective
○
Religious studies looks at religion from an outsider viewpoint, apathic perspective
○
•
Ultimate Reality
•
Types of Definitions of 'religion'
Substantive
Attempts to define what religion is
○
•
Functional
Attempts to define what religion does
○
•
General Approaches to the Academic Study of Religion:
Historiography
•
Anthropology
•
Sociology
•
Psychology
•
Philosophy
•
Phenomenology
Observational approach; experience is through the observation
○
•
Ethnographical
Observational approach; gained through experience
○
•
What is Religion?
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
1:32 PM
Common Features of Religion Common Features of Spirituality
Teachings - verbal •
System of belief - afterlife•
Greater power•
Set rules, morals/values•
Missionaries•
Sacred scriptures•
Structure•
Community •
Lost history•
Rituals•
Long traditions•
More likely to have a recognized leadership
structure and/or hierarchy
•
Overall: Institutionalized •
Ultimate reality - not personified•
Not a long history•
Oral teachings•
Mother nature•
No written teachings•
Personal focused, individual •
Not institutionalized •
Less likely to have a division between
leaders and followers
•
Less organized and less structured•
May or may not have organized teachings
and beliefs
•
May or may not have sacred texts•
What is 'religion'
Classification of beliefs:
Theism:
“belief in the one or more divine beings”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 1065.)□
§
○
Polytheism:
“the belief in a plurality of gods.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 849.)□
§
○
Monotheism:
“a belief that there exists only one divine being.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 728.)□
§
○
Atheism:
“a critical stance toward divinity.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 88.)□
§
Belief that gods/deities do not exist
§
○
Agnosticism:
“the view that there is insufficient evidence to posit either the existence or
nonexistence of God, and by extension, of the immortal soul. Agnosticism functions
as an intellectual mid-position between theism and atheism.”
(The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion, at 32.)
□
§
○
•
Asking the perplexing questions…
Transcendence
“Transcendence is a condition attributed to divinity as beyond the limitations
characterizing creatureliness and as beyond comprehension by any created mind.”
(Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion, at 3556)
○
'Transcendence' = 'going beyond'
○
In religion, condition or state of being that surpasses, and is independent of, physical
existence
○
‘Self-transcendence’ = ‘moving beyond a prior form or state of oneself’
○
•
Etymology:
religio (Latin, noun)
fear or awe that one feels in the presence of a spirit or a god;
○
also, moral obligation, duty
○
•
Religare (Latin, verb)
to tie, to bind
○
Also means ‘concerning a gathering’
○
•
Key modern thinks***
Durkheim•
Weber•
Otto•
Freud•
Livingston•
History
Pre-modern (up to 16th century)
Usually applied to ritual obligations
○
Ritual
Set of actions that are performed for their symbolic value
§
○
Focus on orthopraxy (right actions, practice) rather than orthodoxy (right beliefs)
○
Together, rituals include ‘myths’, ‘rites’. ‘ceremonies’, and ‘festivals’
○
A 'rite' is the right way of doing a ritual
○
•
Modern (late 16th century to Present):
Protestant Reformation (16th century) – Reformers tended to use ‘religion’ to mean
‘piety’
○
Piety = a desire and willingness to work toward spiritual goals through our actions in this
world
○
Common usage equated with ‘virtue’: Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English
Language (1755)
○
German distinction between ‘faith’(glaube) and ‘religion’
○
Encountering ‘new religions’: Colonialism (19th century)
‘true religions’, ‘religion'
§
○
Emergence of secularism (20th century)
Not associated with religion
§
○
Modern Thinkers:
Emile Durkeim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)
§
Max Weber, Sociology of Religion (1920)
§
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy (1912)
§
Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo (1913)
§
○
•
Samuel Johnson on Religion
“The great task of him who conducts his life by the precepts of religion is to make the future
predominate over the present, to impress upon his mind so strong a sense of the importance of
obedience to the divine will, of the value of the reward promised to virtue, and the terrors of the
punishment denounced against crimes, as may overbear all the temptations which temporal
hope or fear can bring in its way, and enable him to bid equal defiance to joy and sorrow, to turn
away at one time from the allurements of ambition, and push forward at another against the
threats of calamity.”
Johnson: Rambler #7 (April 10, 1750)
•
Religion is “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is too say, set apart
and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community, called a church, all
those who adhere to them."
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
○
•
“Religion is that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred
value and transforming power."
James C. Livingston, Anatomy of the Sacred
○
•
Some Distinctions in terms:
Sacred v. Profane
Sacred is considered to be holy and deserving respect
○
Profane is showing no respect for a god or a religion, often through language
○
•
Religion v. spirituality
Religion is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and
worship
○
Spirituality is relating to deep feelings and beliefs, especially religious beliefs
○
•
Religious studies v. theology
Theology looks at the religion with an insider viewpoint, study of religion from a believers
perspective
○
Religious studies looks at religion from an outsider viewpoint, apathic perspective
○
•
Ultimate Reality
•
Types of Definitions of 'religion'
Substantive
Attempts to define what religion is
○
•
Functional
Attempts to define what religion does
○
•
General Approaches to the Academic Study of Religion:
Historiography
•
Anthropology
•
Sociology
•
Psychology
•
Philosophy
•
Phenomenology
Observational approach; experience is through the observation
○
•
Ethnographical
Observational approach; gained through experience
○
•
What is Religion?
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 1:32 PM
