Comparative Religions An Introduction to Important Questions in Understanding Religions.
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Transcript of Comparative Religions An Introduction to Important Questions in Understanding Religions.
Comparative ReligionsComparative Religions
An Introduction to Important Questions in Understanding
Religions
Basic QuestionsBasic Questions
• What is the Sacred?• What gives life meaning and energy?
• How do we organize society?• How should we live (morality and ethics)?• What sort of rituals do we carry out?
• How do we worship the sacred
What is the sacred?What is the sacred?
• China: The Dao, Yin, and Yang• Vedic Hinduism: Polytheism• Chinese Daoism: Monism• Buddhism: the sacred without a god
The Evolution of “God”The Evolution of “God”
Forces, powers“animism”
Personal powers = “gods”pluralistic
One realityunified realm of being
Impersonal: Monism
Personal: Monotheism
Impersonal Personal
Many Animism Polytheism
One Monism Monotheism
A “Typology” of God
China: BackgroundChina: Background
• Dao: the way of the cosmos or universe• The proper path of Heaven • Harmony (Ho)
• Yin (shadow) and Yang (bright)•☯
Divination
courtesy of Amanda Parmley, http://www.amandaonline
.net/taiwan
“The worshipper will hold these together in her hand and ask the god a question. She will then toss them to the floor. If they both fall in the same direction the answer is ‘no good;’ if they [sic] one falls face up and the other falls face down, the answer is ‘good.’
I ChingI Ching
• I Ching: Oracular texts • Sticks, Correlated to a “hexagram”• “Sung intimates how, though there is sincerity in one's contention,
he will yet meet with opposition and obstruction; but if he cherish an apprehensive caution, there will be good fortune, while, if he must prosecute the contention to the (bitter) end, there will be evil. It will be advantageous to see the great man; it will not be advantageous to cross the great stream.”
• to guide one’s understanding of psychic states and inclinations
• Ancestor worship
Contemporary Chinese Religion
Contemporary Chinese Religion
• Happiness in this world: “prosperity, progeny, and longevity
• Reverence for ancestors and parents• Deities of place, scene, and agriculture
(“animism”)• Spirits and Demons• Divination• “Feng Shui” (geomancy), ch’i
Temple for neighborhood god
Burning spirit money in a
“spirit” can
courtesy of Amanda Parmley, http://www.amandaonline
.net/taiwan
Vedic HinduismVedic Hinduism
• Scriptures of the Aryans: the “Vedas”• The Aryans = “nobles”
• Migrated into India from Caspian Sea Area
Readings in the Rig VedaReadings in the Rig Veda• Gods: Indra, Varuna• Rituals: animal sacrifice, chanting of Rig
Vedas• Cleanliness: “purity”• Libations of milk and oil (ghee)
• Agni• Soma: hallucinogenic drink• A Vedic account of creation: § 5• §6: The “caste” system
• Sacrifice of “Purusha”• The 4 “castes”
Daoism (= Taoism)Daoism (= Taoism)
• Yin to Confucianism’s yang• Dao De Jing, (= Tao Te Ching)
purportedly written by Lao-tzu• The Dao• Wu-nian• Wu-wei• Daoist Government
The “Dao” according to Daoism
The “Dao” according to Daoism
• The Dao cannot be named• “Mystery” vs. “manifestations”• “like a well”• “empty yet inexhaustible”• So how do we “follow” the “Dao”?
• “No mind” (§2) = “Wu-nian”• “watch the turmoil of beings”
Wu-wei (Non-action) Wu-wei (Non-action)
• How does one act without doing?• How do things “fall into place”?• Don’t make things happen; allow things to
happen• Discuss no. 24 (top p. 154):
• Are we most effective when we make things happen or when we allow things to happen?
Daoist GovernmentDaoist Government
• Can the world be improved (#29)?• (#37) : the “natural rhythms” of life• Be free of desire• #60: stop trying to get it “just right”
• Good requires bad (§6, p. 161 bot.)• If we try to make life “good,” it becomes bad• So how do we keep people from stealing (#3)?• (#5) “The Tao doesn’t take sides”
BuddhismBuddhism
• The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama• Born around 560 BCE, prince• The king’s protection
• The gods intervened with “4 sights”• The first 3 sights• The fourth sight: “mendicant” = “ascetic”
What is the solution to suffering?
What is the solution to suffering?
• “The great going forth” (§8)• renounces the world
• Why did it look like it might solve the problem of the first 3 sights?
• §9: Why didn’t it “solve” the problem?
• He discovers the solution• The Middle way
“The Buddha“The Buddha
• He discovers the solution• The Buddha, “The enlightened one”• The Middle Way between pleasure
(indulgence) & asceticism (self-denial)• The Four Noble Truths• The Eightfold Path
The Four Noble TruthThe Four Noble Truth
• First truth: diagnosis of problem• Second truth: diagnosis of cause• Third truth: prescription of cure
• Extinction/extinguishment• “Nirvana”: § 34 (p. 75)
• Path to cure: The “Eightfold Path”
What is nirvana? What is nirvana?
• When we say, “the Buddha is in nirvana,” …• We cannot say: “the Buddha exists”• ... “the Buddha does not exist”• …: “the Buddha both exists and does not
exist”• …: “the Buddha neither exists nor does not
exist”• Tathagata: “thus gone”
World’s Wisdom, Ch. 2: §§ 16-20
World’s Wisdom, Ch. 2: §§ 16-20
• What did his followers have after the Buddha died?• §16b (p. 61)
• §16c: How can a person “be his own lamp”? —(see also § 18)
• §20 (p. 63): Moot points
What is the sacred?What is the sacred?
• Judaism• the origins of monotheism
• Christianity • the incarnation of God
• Islam • Allah and the Quran
Israelites: OriginsIsraelites: Origins
• Jews come from Israelites• Israelites were a people, became a nation
around 1000 BCE• The “bridge” between Egypt and
Mesopotamia• Language “Hebrew” →“the Hebrew
Scriptures”• = the Christian “Old Testament”
The “Geneology” of the Israelites
Abraham
Hagar
Ishmael
Sarah
Isaac
Jacob Esau
the “12 tribes of Israel”
Israelites become a PeopleIsraelites become a People
• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob = “Israel” (eponym)• “Israelites” enslaved in Egypt• “Exodus” & Moses
• God as “YHWH”• §8: “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh”
• I am who (what) I am, or,…• I will be who (what) I will be
WanderingsWanderings
• Torah at Mt. Sinai• “Invasion” of Canaan
• Ex-slaves• Migrants• Ex-Canaanites
Rise of Israelite NationRise of Israelite Nation
• Similarities to Canaanites• Worship• “Elohim”
• Internal conflict• David creates nation, c. 1000 BCE
End of IsraelEnd of Israel
• Separated into two kingdoms
• Israel destroyed 722 BCE
• Judah destroyed 586 BCE → Babylonian Exile (Captivity)
Origins of “Monotheism”Origins of “Monotheism”
• Polytheism, gods had a place• God guaranteed success and well-being• Disaster meant the god had failed
• The God of the Jews moved with them• God could be anywhere• God had power everywhere
• “One God”!
Everywhere, all the Time
Everywhere, all the Time
• God not divided into roles• No other god to turn to• It wasn’t the god who had failed, but the Jews• Following “rules” brings well-being
• Gives moral guidance• = “Ethical Monotheism”
Beginning of Early Judaism 500 BCE
Beginning of Early Judaism 500 BCE
• Returned to their home land • Temple rebuilt • “Judahites” → “Yudaious” → “Jews”• “Set-apartness” → sanctification
• Conflicts with empires• Hope for “Kingdom of God”• Messiah• Resurrection from dead
CreationCreation
• “…and God said…”• Humanity “created…in his image”• He “found it very good”
• Origins of Evil• “be like divine beings”• “who told you that you were naked”• “knowing good and bad”• Expulsion from paradise
The CovenantThe Covenant
• Noah: basic moral laws, don’t eat blood or living animals
• Abraham: §4• “go forth from your native land”: pilgrimage• Circumcision
• The “Mosaic” Covenant• Torah & the “Ten commandments”
Moral justice and the prophets
Moral justice and the prophets
• David and Bathsheba• Aristocracy and oppression of the poor
• Misuse of religion • “Don’t feed God, feed the needy”
• Continuing hope for “the messiah” = “the anointed one”• Peace, freedom from war, justice
JesusJesus
• Birth and Early Life• Baptism
• Awaiting “the kingdom of heaven”• Divine Call
• Jesus’ proclamation of “the kingdom of God”• Healings and exorcism• “The Beatitudes” (§22a, p. 244)• “Pray then in this way” (§25g, p. 252)
Jesus’ Death…and afterwards
Jesus’ Death…and afterwards
• The “Last Supper” (§13, p. 234)• Crucifixion
• Acceptance of evil and death• forgiveness
• Resurrection: §19 (p. 238)
The “Risen Lord”The “Risen Lord”
• Confidence in life’s troubles • §32h (p. 257)• §20 (p. 242)
• Why did a person “chosen” by God have to die?• Jesus “emptied himself”: §32j (p. 258)• “Atonement,” at-one-ment: §32c (p. 256)
Titles of JesusTitles of Jesus
• Lord• Christ
• Greek translation of “Messiah”
• Son (of God)• Nicene Creed (§36a)
Godimmortal, perfect,
without change
Worldimperfect,changing
Logos: the Word
“Jesus Christ”“Jesus Christ”
• “the Word”• Mediator between God & World• Incarnation of Word• Christ was divine and God was one
• Fully divine and fully human• Only a fully divine being can save humanity• Only a fully human being can save humanity
Humanity(Mortality
)
Eternal lifeGod (Immortality)
Jesus Christ asfully divine and
fully human
God as TrinityGod as Trinity
• One God• Fully unified, one divine “intention”
• Three “persons”• “Masks,” “characters”
• Father, Son, Holy Spirit• God reveals himself in…Jesus Christ is
experienced as divine power…through power of Holy Spirit
Islam: IntroductionIslam: Introduction
• Qur’an (“Koran”)• “Recitation”• Muhammad,
610-632 CE• Dome of the Rock,
693 CE
• Hadith “sayings”)
“God” in the Qur’an“God” in the Qur’an
• “Master of Day of Judgment” (§5d)• Will show mercy• Must serve, “submit” (islam)• We are nothing without God (§1a, §1h)
• Creator (pp. 284, 295)• “Begets not” (§1d, §5a)• Has no “associates”
• Co-opts Judaism and Christianity (p. 291 bot.)
