1. Introduction to Religion
What is Religion?
Introduction to Religion

2. Images of Religious Life

3. Symbols

4. Images of Religious Life

5. Religion Religare Religia Latin root Re plus ligare
To bind, to tie fast
Religia
Latin – obligation or bond

6. 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.”

7. Mircea Eliade
“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.

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

9. Practical or Ritual Formal or informal Temporal and spatial
Experiential or Emotional

10. Rudolf Otto
– Mysterium tremendum fascinansa mysterious something that draws you in and inspires both awe and fear
Mysticism key here
- Intuitive
- Beyond reason
Experiential or Emotional

11. Narrative or Mythic Dimension
a vehicle that relates a truth defying normal expression and sets pattern for human behaviors
Usually considered poetry (metaphors!) rather than prose

12. Narrative or Mythic Dimension
Symbol something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance Roses = romance Lion = bravery

13. Narrative or Mythic Dimension
Metaphor
a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar
Broken Heart
Wounded King
Achilles Heel

14. Narrative or Mythic Dimension
Cosmogony
Accounts of the creation of the world
  Cosmology is different (the nature and structure of the universe – can be scientific, too)
Eschatology 
Accounts/Beliefs about the end of the world
Morality Tale
How to behave in relation to others; your code

15. Joseph Campbell’s Work
Mythologist
Comparative Religions/Mythologies
Monomyth
One single great story
Template/Model
All of the great myths have a common pattern; Famous example – Hero Tales
Video

16. Doctrinal or Philosophical Dimension
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

17. Ethical or Legal Dimension
  The things required of a believer
Social and Institutional Dimension

18. Material Dimension Artifacts – Buildings – Art – Music – Symbols
– Natural World

19. Why do religions exist?
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

20. Sigmund Freud  
Religion is about projecting our childhood experiences with our parents onto a God or gods

21. Carl Jung Individuation or personal fulfillment
Individuation or personal fulfillment
 Symbols particularly important

22. Some Key Terms Polytheistic – Multiple forms of the divine Atheism
Atheism 
– Non-belief in any deity
Agnosticism
 – No knowledge if the divine exists or can be known
Theistic
 – Religions based on a
Multiple relationship with a divine being; apparent forms of the divine; there is one ultimate reality
Monotheistic
– The Divine in a Singular form

23. Why Study Religions ?
Insight into other cultures and into the lives of other people. Religion is a key to the way many people live.
Understanding religious practice helps us to better understand others’ lives and hopefully, to be tolerant of people not like us.
  Improve your appreciation of new places because you can understand what you see and hear and experience more fully.

24. Why Study Religions ?
To assist in your own religious quest. Summed up simply: we can learn from others who do not practice as we do. 
To appreciate everyday life more fully. You cannot see a movie, read a book, hear a song, listen to a Presidential debate without some mention of religion it seems. Knowing more is a positive. 
To make you a better citizen of the world