Study Guide for Fall 2007: Comparative Religion and Philosophy, Study notes of World Religions

Download Study Guide for Fall 2007: Comparative Religion and Philosophy and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! Study Guide for Section #2-3: Fall 2007 (Excluding Apocalypticism) 1. Jews, Christians and Muslims all share the central notion of Genesis one: there is one God who created the world as good, by creating order out of chaos. T/F? Jews, Christians, and Muslims all think that humans are born sinners. T/F? Only Christians acknowledge that humans are capable of both good and bad. T/F? Only Christians believe in the notion of original sin. T/F? 2. “I had no motivation for my wickedness but wickedness itself…. I loved my fall, not the object for which I had fallen but the fall itself.” Who said this? What central religious idea does this quote illustrate? 3. Compare and contrast the Quran’s account of ‘the Fall’ with Augustine’s account. 4. Compare and contrast Plato with Augustine through the lens of the following: a) their understanding of the fall b) their understanding of the soul 5. “There is beauty in lovely physical objects, in gold and silver.... Temporal honor and the power of giving order and being in command have their own kind of dignity… Yet sin is committed because of these things when in consequence of an immoderate urge towards those things which are at the bottom of the scale of good, we abandon the higher and supreme goods, that is you. These inferior goods have their delights, but not comparable to the God who has made them all. It is in him that the just person takes delight.” A) Who said this? B) What central idea does this quote illustrate? 6. Analyze the Christian practice of confession (as exemplified by Augustine) as an act of ritual communication: be sure to identify an idea, a motivation, and a mood (as well as to argue HOW each is communicated through this practice). 7. Compare & contrast the Christian notion of gratitude with the Muslim notion of gratitude. 8. Plato thinks that we learn through experience. T/F? 9. When did Socrates die? Scholars argue that any idea expressed by Socrates in a dialogue is what the historical Socrates thought. T/F? 10. Scholars think it is best to read the Phaedo more in terms of ritual than transmission communication. Argue for this claim. 11. Contrast the Greek understanding of soul and body with the Hebrew understanding. 12. Why does Socrates/Plato see the body as a hindrance to knowledge/ truth? Be sure to support your reasons by reference to the text. 1 13. Use the cave analogy from the Republic to explain what Socrates/Plato thought about the knowledge that we get from our senses and true knowledge. 14. Socrates/ Plato thinks that the Forms are absolute—that is, that our souls ALL ultimately understand Justice Itself in the same way. T/F? 15. Analyze the Phaedo as an act of ritual communication that seeks to create certain ideas, motivations and moods. Be sure to tell me HOW it does this (for each category).. 16. Analyze the Theory of Forms as a way of creating order out of disorder. Be sure to identify the source of disorder. 17. Compare and contrast the excerpt we read from the Phaedrus where Socrates/Plato suggests that desire/love can make the soul remember what it forgot when it fell to the earth with Augustine’s understanding of the proper Christian relation to the created world. 18. Why does Plato have Socrates liken the body to a nail (84D)? 19. Use the last third of the Phaedo to analyze the specific mood Plato tries to instill in readers. Be sure to refer closely to the text, not just citing it, but using its words and metaphors and moments to help you understand something about Plato’s notion of order and disorder. 20. Recall that in class I said that one could read the Phaedo as Socrates’ swan song. Also recall the Deleuze handout entitled “On the Refrain,” which begins with the image of the boy, frightened, singing a song in the dark. Find support in the dialogue for the argument that what Plato is doing with his theory of truth/the forms is whistling in the dark, a la Deleuze. Terms for Section II: Mind/soul vs. body dualism recollection gradations of goodness original sin grace Terms for Section III: “the wise” wisdom literature Proverbs 8 ha-satan theodicy Antiochus Epiphanes Dead Sea Scrolls Messiah Mark 13 Son of Man Son of God Revelation (the book) Domitian Nero Catharsis 2