Religion and Society
Terms
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- POLYTHEISM
- belief in more than one god or in many gods.
- MONOTHEISM
- belief that there is only one God.
- SHAMANISM
- the animistic religion of northern Asia, embracing a belief in powerful spirits that can be influenced only by shamans.
- ANIMISM
- the belief that natural objects have souls that may exist apart from their material bodies.
- CALENDRICS
- any of various systems of reckoning time
- NUMEROLOGY
- the study of numbers, as the figures designating the year of one's birth, to determine their supposed influence on one's life, future, etc.
- ASCETICISM
- the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, extreme abstinence, and the like.
- TORAH
- the entire body of Jewish religious literature, law, and teaching as contained chiefly in the Old Testament and the Talmud.
- TALMUD
- the collection of Jewish law and tradition consisting of the Mishnah and the Gemara and being either the edition produced in Palestine a.d. c400 or the larger, more important one produced in Babylonia a.d. c500.
- COVENANT
- the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.
- HASIDIC
- a sect founded in Poland in the 18th century by Baal Shem-Tov and characterized by its emphasis on mysticism, prayer, ritual strictness, religious zeal, and joy.
- ORTHODOX
- the religion of those Jews who adhere most strictly to traditional beliefs and practices.
- REFORM
- a religious movement that has modified or abandoned many traditional Jewish beliefs, laws, and practices in an effort to adapt Judaism to the changed social, political, and cultural conditions of the modern world.
- ASHKENAZI
- A member of the branch of European Jews, historically Yiddish-speaking, who settled in central and northern Europe.
- SABRA
- a person born in Israel.
- FALASH MURA
- people who had once been Jews (and converted due to societal pressures), or, more often, whose ancestors had been Jews.
- BETA ISRAEL
- a community originating in Ethiopia, but now most of which lives in Israel, that practices Judaism.
- MESSIAH CONCEPT
- used in the Hebrew Bible to describe Israelite priests, prophets, and kings who were anointed with oil in consecration to their respective offices.
- BIBLE
- the collection of sacred writings of the Christian religion, comprising the Old and New Testaments.
- MESSIAH CONCEPT 2
- The Christian Messiah is in essence only a further development of the Jewish Messiah.
- JESUS OF NAZARETH
- Also called Jesus Christ, the supreme example of God's nature expressed through human beings.
- ISLAM (LITERAL)
- To surrender, resign oneself, to make peace, to be complete.
- 5 PILLARS OF ISLAM
- 1.Shahada- Allah is the only true God. 2.Prayer(Salat)- Confessions of sins and purification of body and soul. 3.Fasting(Saum)- During Ramadan, an act of worship. 4.Alms-giving or charity(Zakat)- charity given to the poor. 5.Pilgrimage(Hajj)- Pilgrimage to Mecca...involves financial sacrifice and is an act of worship.
- KAABA
- a Muslim shrine in Mecca toward which the faithful turn to pray.
- HIJERA/HAJJ
- the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every adult Muslim is supposed to make at least once in his or her lifetime: the fifth of the Pillars of Islam.
- SUNNI
- The branch of Islam that accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Muhammad.
- SHIA
- the branch of Islam that regards Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, as the legitimate successor of Muhammad, and disregards the three caliphs who succeeded him.
- BRAHMAN
- a member of the highest, or priestly, class among the Hindus.
- BRAHMIN
- a person usually from an old, respected family who, because of wealth and social position, wields considerable social, economic, and political power.
- VARNAS
- the four traditional social classes of Hindu India.
- UNTOUCHABLE
- the former name given to a member of a lower caste in India whose touch was believed to defile a high-caste Hindu
- KSHATRIYA
- a member of the Hindu royal and warrior class above the Vaisyas and below the Brahmans.
- VAISYA
- a member of the Hindu mercantile and professional class, above the Shudras and below the Kshatriyas.
- SUDRA
- A member of the lowest of the four major castes of traditional Indian society, comprising artisans, laborers, and menials.
- KHARMA
- the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy it brings.
- ATMAN
- the World Soul, from which all individual souls derive, and to which they return as the supreme goal of existence.
- VEDAS
- the entire body of Hindu sacred writings, chief among which are four books, the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, and the Yajur-Veda.
- MANTRAS
- sacred verbal formulas repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.
- SHIVA
- “the Destroyer,†the third member of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Vishnu the Preserver.
- VISHNU
- “the Preserver,†the second member of the Trimurti, along with Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer.
- 3 BASKETS OF WISDOM
- 1.Vinaya Pitaka (the discipline basket)- A rule book for monks and nuns. 2.Sutta Pitaka (the teaching basket)- the actual experiences of Buddha. 3.Abhidhamma Pitaka (the higher doctrine basket)- an explanation on the teaching of Buddha.
- 4 NOBLE TRUTHS
- 1. Suffering- Suffering and frustration come from our difficulty in facing the basic fact of life that everything around us is impermanent and transitory. 2. Desire- The desire to pull apart from the rest of life and seek fulfillment for the separated self, at the expense of all other forms of life, causes suffering to the whole. 3. Suffering and Frustration Can Be Ended- If we can be released from the narrow limits of self- interest into the vast expanse of universal life, we will be free of our torment. 4. The Eightfold Path to Enlightenment- Right Understanding leads to Wisdom Right Aspiration leads to Divine Inclination Right Speech leads to Truth and Understanding Right Behavior leads to Goodwill Right Livelihood leads to Sharing Right Effort leads to Highest Outcome Right Mindfulness leads to Purposeful Living Right Absorbtion leads to Unity
- NIRVANA
- a place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivion to pain, worry, and the external world.
- SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA
- was a spiritual teacher from ancient India and the founder of Buddhism
- TAO OR DAO
- that in virtue of which all things happen or exist
- LAO-TZE
- was a philosopher of ancient China and is a central figure in Taoism.
- TAO TE CHING OR DAO DE JING
- the philosophical book in verse supposedly written by Lao-tze.
- YIN YANG
- generalized descriptions of the antitheses or mutual correlations in human perceptions of phenomena in the natural world, combining to create a unity of opposites.
- K'UNG FU-TZE
- (Confucius) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life.
- ANALECTS
- selected passages from the writings of an author or of different authors.
- CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM
- Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis of merit which is proven by the use of competitive examinations.
- KAMI
- Any of the sacred beings worshiped in Shintoism, conceived as spirits abiding in natural phenomena and sometimes in people with extraordinary qualities.
- MESOAMERICAN
- someone from the area extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua in which diverse pre-Columbian civilizations flourished.
- QUETZALCOATL
- the feathered serpent god of the Aztec and Toltec cultures.
- ROLE OF HUMAN SACRIFICE IN AZTEC CULTURE
- part of the millennia-long cultural tradition of human sacrifice in Mesoamerica. Sacrifice was a common theme in Mesoamerican cultures. they believed that great, on-going sacrifice sustains the universe.
- ORISHA
- they are vibrant, living entities who take an active part in everyday life.
- BABALORISHAS
- Govern the Orisha temples and serve as the junior Ile or second in the hierarchical religious structure
- SYNCRETISM
- Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.