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RELS 110: Introduction to World Religions

WELCOME!. RELS 110: Introduction to World Religions. Greg Melchin gmelchin@stfx.ca. Course objectives:. To gain an understanding of the beliefs, practices, and histories of the major religions of the world:. Indigenous Traditions Hinduism Jainism Buddhism Taoism & Confucianism Shinto.

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RELS 110: Introduction to World Religions

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  1. WELCOME! RELS 110:Introduction to World Religions Greg Melchin gmelchin@stfx.ca

  2. Course objectives: • To gain an understanding of the beliefs, practices, and histories of the major religions of the world: • Indigenous Traditions • Hinduism • Jainism • Buddhism • Taoism & Confucianism • Shinto • Zoroastrianism • Judaism • Christianity • Islam • Sikhism • New Religious Movements

  3. How do you talk about religion and spirituality in university? • Religions: “True” or “False”? • Do my personal beliefs matter? • Religious Studies vs. Theology • Religionswissenschaft: The study or science of religion • Historical method • Phenomenological method

  4. Group Assignment: In groups of 5, discuss the following: • Name, year, program, major • What is religion?

  5. What is Religion? • Ninian Smart, a scholar of religion, identifies seven “dimensions” of religion: • Ritual dimension • Narrative/mythic dimension • Experiential/emotional dimension • Social/institutional dimension • Ethical/legal dimension • Doctrinal/philosophical dimension • Material dimension

  6. Why Are There Religions? • 3 perspectives: • Materialist perspective • Functionalist perspective • Belief perspective • Perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive

  7. Materialist Perspective • Scientific Materialism: the belief that only the natural, material world exists – the supernatural world does not exist • Theory was developed during the European Enlightenment (18th and 19th centuries), exemplified by thinkers such as Ludwig Feuerbach • “That which we neither understand or control, we fear.” – Feuerbach • Scientific materialism holds that religion invented by humans; God is a projection of human qualities • Are there any prominent scientific materialists today?

  8. Scientific Materialism Opium of the people! • Communist Manifesto author Karl Marx (1804-1872) argued that religion is used to control people • Religion provides justification or escape from real-world social injustice. • Many Communist societies in the 20th century outlawed or restricted religion

  9. Functionalist Perspective • The functionalist perspective is that religion exists because it is useful to people and society • Influential French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) argued that religion provides the “glue” that holds society together • Religion teaches values that are useful to societies, such as duty, altruism, justice, compassion, love • Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1938) views religion as a “collective fantasy” fulfilling psychological needs • God, for Freud, serves as a substitute parental figure • For Freud, religion resembles mental illness

  10. Functions of Religion • Provides a stable, consistent worldview • Can help provide meaning and inner strength to overcome personal crises • Provides a framework for understanding “ultimate” questions – the meaning of life, death, etc. • Some religions provide “dogma” – specific answers to such questions

  11. “Perhaps some religion could help him!”

  12. Belief Perspective • For many religious believers, religion exists because there truly is a “Supreme Reality” (e.g. God) • Belief in an Ultimate Reality may be based on non-rational ways of knowing (belief or faith), or it may be based on personal questioning and reasoning

  13. Religious Experience • Throughout history and around the world, many people claim to have had religious or mystical experiences • These experiences are often described as being direct knowledge of, or contact with, the Ultimate Reality • The German scholar Joachim Wach (1898-1955) lists four characteristics of mystical experiences: • Contact with “Unseen Reality” • Involves a person’s entire being • Is an extremely intense experience • Motivates a person to changed ways of living, sometimes including deeper involvement in a religious tradition

  14. Group Assignment “What is truth?” • In groups of 5, discuss: • What is truth? • How do we decide what is true?

  15. For Next Week: • Get course textbook: • Mary Pat Fisher, Living Religions, 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. • Read Chapter 1

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