Introduction to world religions

1. INTRODUCTION
TO
RELIGION
W
HAT IS
RELIGION?
LECTURE SERIES BY
Prof. Jeff Clyde Corpuz
De La Salle University

2. INTRODUCTORY QUESTION
Why is religion such
a sensitive topic?
Its ok to debate
politics, products
(mac vs pc) but
not religion.

4. DATA
View: animated map

5. SOME IMAGES

9. Religare
 Latin root
 Re plus ligare
 ‘again’ combined with ‘to
bind’ meaning ‘to tie fast’
Religia
 Latin – ‘obligation’ or
‘bond’
Religian
 Old French
WHAT IS RELIGION?

10. Some Definitions

11. A. GARY COMSTOCK
that part of some
people’s lives which
involves rituals,
beliefs, organizations,
ethical values,
historical traditions
and personal habits
or choices – some of
which refer to the
transcendent.

12. “The sacred always
manifests itself as
a reality of a wholly
different order
from ‘natural’
realities. ...The
first possible
definition of the
sacred is that it is
the opposite of the
profane.”
sacred: Set apart
for worship of a
deity or as worthy
of worship.
profane:
Nonreligious.
Outside the sphere
of religion.
B. MIRCEA ELIADE: PHENOMENOLOGY

13. Religion as a phenomenon looked on as
universal—Eliade’s concept of the
“sense of the sacred”

14. “The sacred always
manifests itself as a reality
of a wholly different order
from ‘natural’ realities.
...The first possible
definition of the sacred is
that it is the opposite of
the profane.”
sacred: Set apart for worship
of a deity or as worthy of
worship.
profane: Nonreligious.
Outside the sphere of
religion.

15. C. Anti-Rationalistic Definitions
 1. Lucretius—an anti-rational, coercive force.
 2. Reinanch—a sum of scruples which impede the free exercise of our faculties.
 3. Marx—a pathological manifestation of protective forces, deviation caused by ignorance
of natural causes and their effects.

16. D. Metaphysical Definition
Max Mueller wrote that religion is a
mental factor independent of sense
and reason to apprehend the infinite
in different names.

17. E. Emotional Definitions
1. Schleiermacher saw the
essence of religion as an emotion
and consists of feelings of
absolute dependence.
2. McTaggert said religion is best
described as an emotion resting
in conviction of harmony between
ourselves and the universe at
large

18. F. Religion as Morality
Immanuel Kant saw religion as the recognitions
of our duties as divine commands, the driving
force of the sacred is morality, e.g., tabu,
holiness

19. G. Psychological
Definition
 William James said that religion
comes from the feelings and
experiences and individual people

20. WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)
Major work, Varieties of Religious
Experience
James distinguished between
institutional religion and
personal religion.
Institutional Religion: This refers to the
religious group or organization, and plays an
important part in society’s culture.
Personal Religion: This refers to the
individual who has a mystical experience,
one that can be experienced regardless of
the culture.

21. SIGMUND FREUD
1856-1939
Religion is about
projecting our
childhood
experiences with
our parents onto a
God or gods

22. CARL JUNG
1875-1961
Individuation or
personal fulfillment
Symbols
particularly
important

23. CARL JUNG (1875-1961)
Jung was concerned with the interplay
between conscious and unconscious
forces. He proposed two kinds of
unconsciousness:
1. Personal Unconscious (or shadow): This
includes things about ourselves that we
would like to forget.
2. Collective Unconscious: This refers to
events that we all share by virtue of our
common heritage (humanity).

24. GORGON ALLPORT (1897-1967)
Classic work, The Individual and His Religion
Allport made important contributions to the
psychology of personality, refining the
concept of “traits.”
Allport classified the use of religion as:
1. Mature: Mature religious sentiment occurs
when a person’s approach to religion is
dynamic, open-minded, and able to maintain
links between inconsistencies.
2. Immature: Immature religious sentiment is
self-serving and generally represents the
negative stereotypes that people have about
religion.

25. ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908-1970)
Maslow developed a hierarchy of
needs, ranging from lower level
physiological needs, through love
and belonging, to self-
actualization.
Self-actualized people are those
who have reached their potential
for self-development.
Maslow claimed that mystics are
more likely to have had “peak
experiences,” experiences in
which the person feels a sense of
ecstasy and oneness with the
universe.
Maslow’s theory of “psychological
health” is value-based.

27. ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994)
Erikson is best known for his
psychology of development.
Erikson believed that proper
psychological development
occurs in a series of eight
stages that follow a
sequence.
Associated with each stage is
an identity conflict involving a
positive resolution (or,
“virtue”) and a negative
resolution (or, “pathology”).
Erikson considered religions to
be important influences in
successful personality
development, promoting
virtues and prohibiting
pathologies.

29. View: History of ideas:
Religion

31. Dimensions of Religion
Not a definition, but identifying features that
help
us understand the way academics think about
the topic.

32. a. Prayer
b. Asceticism
c. Possession
d. Modes of dress
e. Pilgrimage
f. Ritual
1.THE PRACTICAL AND RITUAL DIMENSION:
WHAT THE ADHERENTS OF A RELIGION DO AS
PART OF THAT RELIGION

33. A. : subjective, emotional side of religion. What goes on
inside the person.
B. Basis of religious vitality and human significance,
central to ongoing individual religiosity, to the founding
of a tradition itself
Muhammad, conversion of Paul, Buddha’s
enlightenment; devotional movements; mystical
traditions (direct experience of the divine or ultimate)
C. The very core of religion is experience and emotion –
all else revolves around experience
William James
2. THE EXPERIENTIAL AND EMOTIONAL
DIMENSION

34. Rudolf Otto
 Mysterium tremendum
fascinans – a mysterious
something that draws you
in and inspires both awe
and fear
EXPERIENTIAL OR EMOTIONAL
Bernini, Gianlorenzo
Ecstasy of St. Teresa
1647-52
Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome
 Mysticism key here
- Intuitive
- Beyond reason

35. Myth – a vehicle
that relates a truth
defying normal
expression and
sets pattern for
human behaviors
 Cosmogony
 Accounts of creation of the
world
 Eschatology
 Accounts/Beliefs about
the end of the world
Scriptural or
canonical (kanon is
Greek for
measuring rod)
3. NARRATIVE OR MYTHIC DIMENSION

36. i. Historical narratives: Moses, Buddha, Jesus,
Muhammad -- Histories of: a people; saints;
prophets; nations and lands; wars ....
ii. Creation narratives: before history,
before time
1. How the universe began - cosmogony.
2. How is creation organized -- cosmology.
iii. Destruction narratives: eschatological
(death and final destiny)
1. Nataraja: Lord of the Dance, circle of fire
2. Revelations: describes the signs and events
of final days when Christ comes to reclaim the
faithful. Final days = eschaton. Flood myths
3. Creation and destruction narratives tell us
about a tradition’s notion of time: i.e., cyclical,
linear.
KINDS OF NARRATIVE

37. The principles of a tradition
Typically explain complex ideas
May or may not be familiar to the average
believer, but is part of the scholarly tradition
4. DOCTRINAL OR PHILOSOPHICAL
DIMENSION

38. 5. ETHICAL OR LEGAL DIMENSION
The things required of a believer.
Ethics concerns what is good and bad,
how one should live.
Law concerns what you must do
and what will happen if you
don't (rules and punishments).
i. Examples: Shari'a
(Law): pray (5) times daily, give
alms, four wives.… Torah
("law"): hundreds of laws,
dietary (milk and meat)

39. 6. SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSION
how people's interactions are organized
as part of their religion

40. 7. MATERIAL DIMENSION
Artifacts
 Buildings
 Art
 Music
 Symbols
 Natural World
physical forms in which a religion is embodied
a. Structures: churches, temples, synagogues.
b. Architecture, theology, religious practice are
interconnected.

41. Representations of
divine beings
Ritual objects and
substances: the
physical objects used
in religious ritual
Natural Features:
sacred landmarks
such as mountains,
rivers, trees
Sacred cities

42. Religions help us deal with
a variety of human needs.
For example:
 Give us a way to think about our
own mortality
 Help us to find security in an
insecure world
 Organize us socially
 Assist the poorest and the weakest
with survival
 Stimulate artistic production
 View: origin of religions
WHY DO RELIGIONS EXIST?

43. Theistic
 Religions based on a
relationship with a divine
being
Monotheistic
 The Divine in a Singular
form
Polytheistic
 Multiple forms of the
divine
Monistic
 Beneath multiple
apparent forms of the
divine there is one
ultimate reality
Atheism
 Non-belief in any deity
Agnosticism
 No knowledge if the divine
exists or can be known
SOME KEY TERMS