The document provides an outline for a PowerPoint presentation on the nature of religion. It begins by instructing viewers how to view the presentation in full screen mode. It then outlines several key topics that will be covered in the presentation, including definitions of religion, approaches to studying religion, typical components of religious systems, why people turn to religion, and religion in the contemporary age. The presentation is a work in progress that aims to provide an overview of the required reading "Notes on the Nature of Religion."
An Invitation to the Study of World Religions Chapter 1ProfessorWatson
Exploring Chapter 1: An Invitation to the Study of World Relgions
Invitation to World Religions (2nd Edition)
Authors: Jeffrey Brodd, Layne Little, Brad Nystrom, Robert Platzner, Richard Shek, Erin Stiles
An Invitation to the Study of World Religions Chapter 1ProfessorWatson
Exploring Chapter 1: An Invitation to the Study of World Relgions
Invitation to World Religions (2nd Edition)
Authors: Jeffrey Brodd, Layne Little, Brad Nystrom, Robert Platzner, Richard Shek, Erin Stiles
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CvSU-B BSE English Seminar 99b on Society and Culture.
Theme: Revolutionized Society in a Mobilizing Humanity” “SOKSAY- Strategizing, Omnipotence and Kinship towards Social Advancement of the YOUTH”
** Disclaimer:
All of the pieces of information on this site are the property of the respective owners. I do not hold any copyright in regards to these pictures and information. These pictures have been collected from different public sources including various websites, considered to be in the public domain. If anyone has any objection to display of any picture, image or information, it may be brought to my notice by sending an email (contact me) & the disputed media will be removed immediately, after verification of the claim.
CvSU-B BSE English Seminar 99b on Society and Culture.
Theme: Revolutionized Society in a Mobilizing Humanity” “SOKSAY- Strategizing, Omnipotence and Kinship towards Social Advancement of the YOUTH”
Hey Team,
I had time to create a first draft. Please let me know what you think. I am very open to any ideas or changes that need made. Hope to hear from you soon.
Vanessa
The slide presentation contains some content and other relevant text to accompany my book, A Fruit-Bearing Spirituality published in Dec 2013 by Circle Books, John Hunt Publishing, UK. It is a more simple version of my Doctoral Thesis with four years of Participative Action Research about Spirituality Praxis (Practice - Theory)_
This slide presentation contains quotes from my book with the text inserted into my photographs.
A Fruit-Bearing Spirituality is available on Amazon.com
Spirituality - as a word - continues to be a confusing word, often used in multi-disciplinary contexts, within various religions, faiths, non faith contexts, businesses and various corporate and global considerations.
The book, published in 2013 itself is the fruit of Doctoral Research conducted over a four year period within a charity which offered multidisciplinary care to Disabled People.
Therefore, the understanding of spirituality emerged as a living theory from the bottom up as it were not through a top down rationalistic theoretical approach but a merging of the two - which is PRAXIS - when theory and practice inform each other in an on-going cycle
Religion as an Anthropological ConceptScott E. Antes 1996-2009.docxdebishakespeare
Religion as an Anthropological Concept
Scott E. Antes 1996-2009
Defining religion. Dozens of useful definitions exist for the term “religion”. For our purposes, however, I define religion as the belief in spirit beings or superhuman forces that directly influence human conduct, typically expressed through symbolic, ritual, and social behavior. This substantive (what something is, not what it does) definition works very well for the following reasons:
(1) It is all-inclusive; it defines the general concept of religion—including everything from animism to monotheism.
(2) It identifies religion as a cultural universal, something common to all human societies past and present. To the best of our knowledge, a belief in spiritual beings is and always has been a fundamental component of human culture.
(3) It simply describes what religion is (substantive definition), without complicating itself by trying to explain what religion does (functional definition).
(4) It does not confuse the concept of religion with any particular system of religion. Religious systems differ and continually change, whereas this definition of religion as a concept essentially is timeless.
(5) It is an elementary, simple—yet not oversimplified—definition that is easily applied and remembered.
Other definitions to consider:
Lydia Black 1997: “Religion is an ideological system of explicit and implicit notions and ideas related to reality accepted as true but unable to be verified empirically.” (Religion as a belief system.) I like this definition, but it overlooks the most fundamental component of religion, the belief in spirit beings.
Clifford Geertz 1965: “A religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” (Religion as a system of symbols.)
J. Milton Yinger 1971: “Religion…can be defined as a system of beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggles with (the) ultimate problems of human life.” (Religion as an institution.)
Religious systems:
Ancestor Veneration. The practice of venerating deceased ancestors. Note: Some authors label this practice as “ancestor worship,” which is incorrect. Worship is reserved for gods (deities).
Animism. A religious system based on the belief that every living thing possesses a spirit, or soul, that animates it. In this context, “living” things include not only animals and plants, but such entities as the wind, the waters, the earth, the sky, etc.
Animatism. A religious system from the South Pacific based on the belief in an impersonal force called mana, which all things possess, but in varying degrees. The most powerful people in society are those whom its population believe to have the most mana. Believers consider mana to be somet ...
Epiphany: Finding Truth Without Losing Faith. It challenges readers to celebrate and applaud their differences – as God does – and to seek their personal truth wherever it may come.
THE CHALLENGE FOR MODERN-DAY UNITARIANS AND UNIVERSALISTS: RECLAIMING THE SAC...Dr Ian Ellis-Jones
An Address Delivered on 4 October 2009 at the Biennial Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association (ANZUUA) held at The Centre, Randwick, New South Wales - Copyright Ian Ellis-Jones 2009 - All Rights Reserved.
1. Using this PowerPoint Presentation
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1/30/09
2. The Nature of Religion*
What is religion?
Various definitions
Approaches to the study of religion
Typical components of a religious system
Why do people turn to religion?
Religion in the contemporary age
*Based on “Notes on the Nature of Religion,” by G. Cronk
3. Note: This presentation is in the
process of being developed. At this
time, it is just a brief overview
outline of our first required reading,
“Notes on the Nature of Religion.”
The presentation will be expanded in
the future.
4. What is religion?
♦ Religion as a “binding together” (Latin, religio, from the
verb religare = “to bind together”).
♦ Religion is a relationship between the religious devotee
and that which is the object of religious devotion (the
gods, God, the Tao, the Holy, etc.), a relationship that
binds the two together.
♦ Religion is also a binding together of all those who share
the same or similar religious attitudes. In this way, religion
gives rise to a community of devotees, a collectivity
(church, synagogue, brotherhood, sisterhood, etc.) that is
itself related to and bound together with the object of its
devotion (the gods, etc.).
5. Religion
the here and now "The Beyond"
the human the superhuman
the natural the supernatural
the immanent the transcendent
the secular and the profane the holy, the sacred, the divine
the finite the infinite
the temporal the eternal
the mutable, the transient the immutable, the permanent
the contingent the necessary
Through religion, devotees are bound together with one another, forming a
community of devotion; and they are, even more importantly, bound together with
the supreme reality to which they are devoted. The “here and now” is joined to “The
Beyond;” the human to the superhuman; the natural to the supernatural; the
immanent to the transcendent; the secular and profane to the holy, the sacred, the
divine; the finite to the infinite; the temporal to the eternal; the mutable and the
transient to the immutable and the permanent; the contingent to the necessary.
6. In the “Notes,”
♦ there is a list of
definitions of religion
by numerous authors.
♦ Which of these
definitions do you find
most informative or
meaningful? Why?
♦Which of the definitions do
you find least informative or
meaningful? Why?
7. Approaches to the study of religion
♦ The historical approach
♦ The phenomenological approach
♦ The social scientific approach
What are the basic characteristics of
these approaches?
8. Typical components of a religious
belief system (world-view)
♦ A vision of reality (metaphysics)
– Cosmology – questions about the origins and nature of
the universe (Greek, kosmos)
– Theology – Supreme Reality and the idea of the Holy
– Anthropology – human nature, human existence, the
human condition
♦ A doctrine of salvation, deliverance, or liberation
♦ A doctrine of right conduct – in ethics and in ritual
♦ A theory of the ultimate destiny or final
culmination of all things
♦ A definition of the nature and membership of the
religious community
9. Why do people turn to religion?
Religion as a response to “the human condition”.
♦ The pursuit of happiness
vs.
♦ The human condition
– Alienation of self and other
vs. the need for a
meaningful and harmonious
relationship between self ♦ The promise of religion:
and other. transcendence of the
– The insufficiency of human human condition.
existence vs. the quest for
fulfillment.
– Guilt, meaninglessness, and
death vs. the search for
righteousness, meaning, and
immortality.
10. Religion in the contemporary age
♦ The process of modernization
♦ Modernization and change
♦ Modern thought
– The attitude of scientific reason
– The doctrine of philosophical naturalism
– The philosophy of secular humanism
♦ Science and technology in the modern world
♦ The problem of meaning in modern culture