Religions of the World: Midterm Exam Review - Fall 2007 - Prof. Alan Godlas, Exams of World Religions

Download Religions of the World: Midterm Exam Review - Fall 2007 - Prof. Alan Godlas and more Exams World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! RELI 1006 - Religions of the World your name_________________ Dr. Godlas Fall 2007 Midterm Exam If you need more space, use the back and give the question number that you are answering after indicating on the front side “continue on the back” Short Answer (60 points) 1) Identify the significance of the following dates in Islamic history: 570, 610, 622, 632. (8 points) Islam 570 CE- Muhammad born known as Al-Amin the trusted one 610 CE when revelations begin during his seclusions from society. 622 Ce hijra, migration to Medina, Year now begins at 1 AH , after Hijra 632 CE Muhammad dies 2) What is the TaNaKh? (6 points) The TaNaKh is the Hebrew Bible composed around 1000 BCE and has 3 sections. The first is the Torah teaching with Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The next is Nevi’im the book of prophets and Ketuvim writings or proverbs. 2) List and explain the three components of the Protestant Principle (one philosophical expression, one theological, and one component relating to scripture) (6 points) It warns against absolutizing the relative. Do not give absolute authority to a human being or object because they are relative, don’t worship idols. You do not worship the sacraments, all you need is faith and Jesus the bible is the living word of god speaking to each Christian sole directly, the bible is a living eternal text that through god speaks to every Christian with the church interpreting it. Theological the love that his disciples where able to experience during his life is now liberated through his resurrection and able to be experienced by everyone everywhere unlike before when it was only in his presence. Human beings authority is relative to other human beings it is not absolute. The pope’s word is the word of a human being, only God speaks for God. The communication to each Christian is facilitated by the Holy Spirit. Philosophically- Do not absolutize the relative Theologically- Do not worship idols In scripture the bible is the living word of god. 3) Describe the covenant. What is it? Who is it between? What are two understandings of it? Respond in 1-2 sentences for each question. (6 points) The covenant is God’s relationship with the Jews. It was made at Mt. Sinai “Lord chooses you because he loves you” Deuteronomy. Two understanding of it- 1) if the Jews are not righteous, curses will cause them to suffer. But if kept blessings and righteous, God will end their suffering. 2) If they keep his commandments, God will bless the Jews, God causes their suffering to relieve humanity’s suffering. 5) List and define each of the five pillars of Islam. (10 points) The 5 pilars of Islam are 1) Shahadah the testimony “No god but God”, Affirmation of faith 2) Salat: 5 daily prayers in the direction of the Ka’ba in Mecca 3) Zakat Almsgiving Part 1: (12 points) List and define the three components of hermeneutical understanding. Hermeneutical understanding is scientific approach on a cognitive and affective method of teaching religions that focuses on beliefs in contrast to focusing on their actions. The 3 components of it are Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive. These components are used to address the problems of violence, lack of understanding and objectivity and mass egotism. 1) Affective deal with emotions in class we mainly do this in order to increase the likelihood that our behaviors will be optimal. The main goal is to enhance our emotional intelligence because it is difficult to understand and be aware of other people’s emotions when you can’t understand your own. 2) Cognitive provides both historical and worldview analytical methods of cultivating understanding of self and other. By understanding the historical context the event happened in you can better understand the reasoning of the people that did the action of the event. The worldview methods allow for the pieces of religious knowledge together. You are comparing what you believe about God to what someone else believes about God. In order to do this and not have biases you need emotional intelligence. This can enable us to respect, deal with and realize these biases, most importantly you need to understand not repress these biases in order to better understand them and increase emotional intelligence. Because you have greater self-respect after you have understood yourself and how the pieces of your worldview make sense you will be less threatened by a different world view simply because it is different. . 3) Behavioral- By increasing understanding and increasing emotional intelligence, you become better able to respond to threats appropriately and you become better able to know when to act violently in an appropriate manner. Your behaviors are indicators of the degree to which you have understanding and the degree to which you are aware of our emotions allowing for a better understanding of your level of emotional intelligence. Part 2: (28 points) - List the six religiological categories including the three subcategories of one of them. (10 points) - Give one analytical question for each of the six main categories. (6 points) - Pick one of the major religions we have studied so far (Judaism, Christianity, or Islam) and describe that religion’s beliefs in three of the six religiological categories. (12 points) The 6 Religiological Categories are: Epistemology- Beliefs concerning the basis of knowledge, what should we rely on in order to gain knowledge. What should we rely on in order to understand and properly interpret that basis of knowledge? Ontology- What is truly real? Beliefs concerning the nature of ultimate reality. Theology- What do you believe or think about God? Cosmology- What is the nature of the cosmos? Eschatology- What do you believe about the nature of reality when the world as we know it ends? Anthropology- Inquiry into man, Who are we? Psychology- Beliefs concerning the nature of human psychology, what does are consciousness consist of? Teleology- Beliefs concerning the purpose of life. What is the purpose/meaning of life? Methodology- Beliefs concerning the way of life that leads to attainment. What ways of life leads to this attainment?