comparative religious study

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Study guide
In this booklet you will find unit notes, reading materials, specific study guides and general suggestions relevant to the unit content. Topics 1 and 2 cover issues, themes and ideas relating to the nature and study of religion generally. Topics 3 through 7 briefly introduce the five world religions studied this trimester as well as provide links and lists of required and recommended readings. Consider too the questions posed with each topic as they form useful prompts for moodle discussions & reading aides. The five world religions -being Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam -are sometimes referred to as religious traditions, and so you might read mention of, for example, "the religious traditions of Buddhism and Christianity" and/or specifically "the Buddhist tradition" or "the Christian tradition" etc. Further, Judaism, Christianity and Islam you might also hear described as belonging to the Abrahamic tradition where Buddhism and Hinduism belong to the Asian traditions (along with Confucianism, Taoism, Jainism and others). Throughout the trimester you will be introduced to a variety of new and interesting terminology as you work through the unit. You won’t be expected to memorise all of it, rather, the aim here is for you to begin developing a rational sensitivity to new ideas and new contexts relating to religious phenomena, and to stretch your intellectual horizons in new and interesting ways.

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Introduction to the Study of Religion I
Since this is an introductory unit in Studies in Religion, there may be quite a number of you for whom such study is unfamiliar. With this in mind, we shan’t begin with definitions or content analysis just yet, but with suggestions and recommendations on how you might proceed in your approach to the unit. Spend some time familiarising yourself with the Unit Information and Assessment material. If you haven’t already done so, review the link now from the Moodle site. The pages are printable by selecting Print Book down the left-hand side of the Moodle page. I’ve posed some administration related questions at the end of this topic to help you organise your study over the summer semester. It might be an idea to jot down your answers and to keep a copy of them handy for future reference. Religion is a fascinating and important area of study and as such a great deal has been written on the subject. The World Wide Web has dramatically increased our access to material, although importantly not all electronic sources are particularly useful or valuable. It will take a little time to develop the skill of discerning the good from the not so good, but by the end of this course you will have mastered something of its involvedness. One way of getting started is to begin, not with the web itself, but with UNE’s Dixson Library where the standard of material is academically sound. It is extremely important that you learn how to make the best use of the resources that are available to you through the library. You cannot simply rely on Google to locate materials via the Net, nor Wikipedia as your primary source on any topic. Note: Wikipedia is ok as a very basic introduction to any topic or issue, but that is all. At university level you are expected to engage with the issues at a much deeper level than Wikipedia provides. Also, the academic quality of Wiki entries varies enormously and therefore Wiki itself cannot be trusted to provide sound commentary. Throughout this unit I will be encouraging you to become familiar with the library’s collection, and to hone your skills in locating the information that you need to extend your knowledge and complete your assignments. While it’s true that I will provide you with suggested readings, the onus will be on

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you to track down other sources pertaining to the weekly topics and unit assignments where necessary. “How do I do this for Studies in Religion” I hear you ask? Let’s put your skills to work and practice searching for materials through Dixson Library. Begin at the UNE homepage and follow the links outlined below. Library Research Exercise
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From the UNE homepage choose LIBRARY. Once at the library homepage find the heading "Quick find databases" and choose BY SUBJECT located underneath. You will find an alphabetical listing of all the discipline areas including Studies in Religion Select the STUDIES IN RELIGION link. Here you will find a number of recommended resources for this area of study. Let’s now take a closer look at some of these sites.

Encyclopedia of Religion
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Under Dictionaries and Encyclopedias choose ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION. Type in your username and password. You will be taken to the Encyclopedia of Religion database within the Gale Virtual Reference Library In the search box type the word ‘religion’. Make sure to tick the ‘within this publication’ box if it’s not already ticked When I type in ‘religion’ over 1700 entries are signalled. You can scroll through them if you like noting the many and varied topics. To narrow the search, in the yellow search box type in ‘religion and definition’. The ‘and’ here constitutes a logical operator, which limits your search parameters. When I do this the number of entries reduces significantly. Again, scroll through them and familiarize yourself with what’s available. Once you’ve finished return to the research guide for Studies in Religion and take some time to explore some of the other sites. By the way, this encyclopedia is a truly excellent source.

E-reserve


Return to the Library homepage
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Choose READINGS located under Quick find e-reserve. Type in the unit code RELS181 (and RELS182) Click on the live link to the listings (A link to the e-reserve listings is available through the Moodle site as well) You will find a number of pdf copies of various journal articles and book chapters held in e-reserve. You need only click on the article title in order to open it and download it should you choose to do so. I will advise as to which readings are compulsory if any, otherwise they are there as suggested resources. Don’t assume that you need only download articles from e-reserve to complete your final essay. I expect students to make use of the newly found research skills developed here.

Dixson Library Holdings Dixson Library has a very good collection of books and journals on religion that you can borrow or download. The Library also provides a great deal of online help in locating relevant books (and journal articles). Please familiarise yourself with this information. Briefly though, if you don’t know book titles or authors’ names then do a Keyword search. Try the following:
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Select the CATALOGUE tab Choose the KEYWORD search option Type ‘religion’ or ‘world religion’ in the box. Regarding the latter, my search threw up over 500 entries. If you like, select the ‘Descending’ option and push ‘sort’. The entries will be re-ordered with the most recent publications appearing first. You have the option of narrowing your search even further by adding more keywords. Make sure the logical operator chosen is ‘and’ (notice you have several options here Try typing the word ‘religion’ and on the second line ‘India’. What comes up?

Anything interesting?
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Try a keyword search for journals Type the word ‘Journal’ in the first box & ‘Religion’ in the second box

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When I did this over 250 journal titles popped up You will notice that some say ‘Internet access’ Select the information given at the Full Text prompt and you will be taken to the journal itself where you can access those articles with full text privileges

E-Books Dixson Library has a very good collection of e-books available. They are easily accessible:
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Select the E-BOOKS ONLY under “Quick Find books/ebooks” Follow the instructions or try the following. Choose the EBOOKS link in the column to the left Select EBOOK LIBRARY from the collections list (You may need to enter your username/password if you haven’t already). Type in, for example, “Hinduism” into the search box. A list of books appears, many of which say “available” (i.e. UNE has access). Select one and Click on VIEW DETAILS and proceed to explore the book. After 5 or so minutes the system will ask if you want to “borrow” the book. If it’s a book you deem useful then click yes & you will have access to it for a period of time. You will be able to print a certain percentage of the book should you wish by selecting the Print option at the top of the page.

REMEMBER If you run into any difficulties accessing Dixson Library holdings, please contact staff at Dixson (you will need to go directly to the Library site to click on the Ask a Librarian link):

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Why not check out your own local library. The local library in Armidale for example, stocks a number of invaluable texts relevant to the academic study of religion.

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Defining Religion
Let’s now turn our attention to more substantive matters and begin thinking about the nature of religion itself and some key themes related to it. Before beginning this section, you might find it helpful to try to write down your own ideas about what "religious" or "religion" means. Keep your definitions so that you can look back over them after completing this section or even at the end of the unit. The word "religion" comes from the Latin religio which probably (though scholars are not absolutely certain) comes from the verb religare which means "to bind again". The term was used in ancient Rome to describe the activity of citizens in offering public honour in rituals to the gods and goddesses of the state. The concept of binding may refer then both to the relationship between the deities and the state as well as to the relationship of citizen to citizen within their activity as a community of worshippers. Bryan Turner1 comments on the meaning of the term in this way: Religion (religio) is an obligation or bond; the etymological meaning of religion points to its social functions of discipline and bondage. In particular, in western Christian societies I have argued that historically religion had the function of binding sons to fathers, daughters to mothers and wives to husbands. The Roman writer Cicero contrasted religio (proper and healthy respect for the deities expressed in acts of worship, which supports the state) with superstitio (unreasoning fear of the deities, which is dangerous for the state). In origin then the Western term "religio"/"religion" describes the public performance of rituals for the gods and goddesses of the Roman state rather than any individual religious experience. In current popular usage, the term "religion" has a much broader meaning. It is used to describe the activity of groups of believers associated within an organised system of belief (e.g. "world religions" or "the Jewish religion") or for an individual experience of some sacred or extraordinary reality (e.g. "she got religion" or "she has become very religious"). The Latin term in its original usage relates only to the first example in which religion is situated within communities, cultures, or sections of cultures, though not everyone

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within a particular culture need be religious or identify themselves as religious.

Buddhist Monk, Ayutthaya Thailand

Believers within an organised system of belief do not necessarily use the term "religion" to describe what their group is or does. You will note in your studies that some natural religious communities may not have any word at all to differentiate religious activity from any other activity of their group. Sometimes scholars refer to the Sanskrit term dharma as the term in Hinduism that comes closest to the English term "religion". Dharma is variously translated as "truth", "duty", "law", "order" and "right". It refers to the way in which a believer conforms to the laws and duties and conventions of the social order, which itself is based on the laws which govern the cosmic order. The Buddhist Pali term related to it is dhamma. This term has a stronger emphasis on doctrine than the Hindu word. Dhamma is based in the teachings of the Buddha, especially as they are summed up in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Interestingly, the Hindu term yoga means "to bind" or "to yoke" in the sense of binding the believer

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to the sacred power. This term may actually be closer than dharma to the term "religion" since it uses the image of binding to a deity. On the other hand, yoga does not have the connotation of binding one believer to another or to the group of believers, which dharma may cover in its concern for ethically and socially ordered relationships. From the point of view of the outsider (non-member) a religion is a social organisation with rituals, stories, structures, laws and activities which can be observed and described. For the insider (member) of a religious group, such observations can only record external details. Other purposes of religious affiliation may be invisible. For example, believers may experience religious feelings of awe, devotion and fear, or they may have a personal relationship with a sacred power, or they may experience a union with such a power, all of which are not observable experiences to the outsider. Both the externally observable phenomena and the personal experience which cannot be observed but only described by the believer are part of what we call religion. There is little consensus among scholars about what constitutes religion. To make this clear, I have listed the examples given by James Livingston in his book, Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion, New Jersey, Pearson Education, 2009, p. 5.

"Religion is the belief in an ever-living God, that is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind."

— James Martineau

"The essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence."

— Friedrick Schleiermacher

"Religion is that which grows out of, and gives expression to, experience of the holy in its various aspects."

—Rudolf Otto

"Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.''

—Immanuel Kant

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"The religious is any activity pursued in behalf of an ideal end against obstacles and in spite of threats of personal loss because of its general and enduring value."

—John Dewey

''Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of the meaning of our life."

— Paul Tillich

“Religion centers upon an awareness and response to a reality that transcends ourselves and our world whether the ‘direction’ of transcendence be beyond or within or both…this object is characterized more generally as a cosmic power, or more specifically as a personal God. "Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.''

—John Hick

—Sigmund Freud

"Religion is the sign of an oppressed creature . . . . It is the opium of the people. . . . Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself.''

—Karl Marx

Livingston (pp. 6-7) goes on to provide a short critique of these definitions which you will also find very useful, and which I’ve also included here: Each of these definitions or descriptions of religion is informative and each has been influential. However, not one of them strikes us as fully adequate. Obviously, they are not all compatible; some appear to be

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too limited in terms of what we know about the variety of historical expressions of religion. Certainly, the philosopher James Martineau would limit religion to monotheism and thus would exclude the polytheism of much Greek and Roman religion, and popular Hinduism, as well as TheravadaBuddhism and Confucianism, which are nontheistic. This is hardly an adequate definition. The definitions of Schleiermacher or Otto focus on the affective, or emotional and feeling, dimension of religious experience that is so important. They point especially to the profoundly real and pervasive human experiences of finitude and dependence, awe, fear, and mystery as essential to religious life. They appear correct in what they affirm but again narrow in what they leave out. The critical place of belief and the ritually and ethically active dimensions of religion are left in the shade. In a different way, the definition of the philosopher Kant also is too narrow in scope. Kant perceives the profound moral dimension of religion, but he essentially reduces religion to the function of moral regulation; thus he leaves out important affective, aesthetic, social, and ritualistic dimensions of religious life. The difficulty that we encounter in the valuable but problematic definitions of the philosopher Dewey and the Theologian Tillich is that they may be too inclusive. Dewey says that “the religious” is a quality of experience, a quality that may be found in aesthetic, scientific or political activity. For Tillich, the research scientist or the political zealot whose commitment represents a “state of being grasped by an ultimate concern” is, by his definition, religious. It was said of Dewy– not entirely in jest–that, for him, everything can be religious except religion! It does appear, however, that for Dewey and Tillich almost everything and anything is capable of being religious. But if everything human is religious, then it would seem to be synonymous with politics or artistic endeavor and not a very informative concept. The definition offered by John Hick attempts to emphasize that religion sees the object of its belief, loyalty, and hope as real, and as transcendent of our human psychological or sociological needs, although necessarily portrayed in human images and language. The definitions–or, rather, theories–of Freud and Marx suffer from different limitations. They are explanatory in intent; that is, they claim
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to explain why or how religion came into being or why it persists–in these instances, as a psychological neurosis or as an illusory happiness. They are essentially reductive in that they seek to reduce religion to either psychological processes or socioeconomic factors. Such an approach can be guilty of the genetic fallacy, the confusing of the essence, value or truth of religion with an explanation of its origin. They may also, of course, be considered prejudicial because they regard religion as something infantile and illusory that must be overcome. In light of such critique you might well ask whether religion can be adequately defined at all. One definition that has often been used by those doing Studies in Religion comes from Clifford Geertz. Religion is "…a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long- lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic" (cited by Livingston, 2009, p. 8). In reading these definitions you might well think that many scholarly definitions emphasise a personal or social reaction or behaviour to define what religion is. Some of the descriptions of religion focus on the organisational/social aspects of religion, others on the human experience of the sacred or extraordinary power and accompanying feelings of awe. There is also a division between those concerned for the "internal" aspect of religion, to those concerned for the "external". Geertz is obviously a scholar who emphasises the social aspect of religion. A good example of the internal individual aspect of religion can be found in the definition by William James (1920), that religion comprises "the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men (sic) in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they consider the divine". Does your own definition have anything in common with any of these? These definitions mention the behaviours and reactions of people to certain situations. I would want to pose a further question and ask to what are individuals or groups reacting? In asking this question I am making a distinction between the experience itself and the forms through which a person or group tries to express the experience. Some people might say that religion is the mode of expression, just the external structure of the

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expression, and not the experience of extraordinary reality itself. I would want to include both the expression and the experience. What it is that an individual encounters in her/his solitariness that has an outcome in religious behaviour? Religion is certainly concerned for behaviours but it also has ideas and stories about what inspires the behaviours or "drives" them. Generally speaking what "drives" religious systems and their various activities and beliefs is some concept of a power or extra-ordinary reality, whether that be perceived as transcendent to (moving above/beyond) or immanent in (moving within) the world. In using the words "power" and "reality", I am not implying necessarily any kind of personal deity or deities, but rather allowing for a full range of options including the extraordinary experience of nirvana (enlightenment) experienced by the Buddhist. Of course people are religious for a variety of reasons and this general definition may not adequately sum up even the core value of a religion for all believers. In this unit I will not be discussing the actual existence of a sacred power or extraordinary reality. I respect the views of believers who say that such a power or reality exists and forms the focus of their various religious systems. In saying this, I do not mean to imply that a sacred power or extraordinary reality may only be mediated or accessed by religious systems, or wholly defined by those who attempt to name it with religious language.

The Sacred Sacred power may be understood in various ways, from a rather amorphous power that resides in natural phenomena to a very definite image of deity. For those who accept the concept of a sacred power, a distinction is often made between what is sacred and what is profane. This is the title of a classic text in this field of study by Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (1959). Eliade sees the sacred as the opposite of the profane, the sacred belonging to a wholly different order to our world, and yet manifested through the ordinary things of our world. The sacred changes the people or objects in which it is manifested into something wholly other, while they remain themselves at the same time. Objects or people in which such a sacred power is manifest are often thought to be taboo during their time of possession by the power or even for the

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duration of their existence. In each case the reason for taboo is not because something or someone is bad or dirty but rather that these things or people have so much power that they are dangerous to others or to themselves. Holy or sacred things and people are not always "nice" or benevolent or clean or gracious, just as the power which imbues them is not always nice and benevolent, and cannot be controlled by human decisions about what the sacred should be.

Moses & the Burning Bush There is a story in the Jewish scriptures which brings this point home. After Moses is called to be the prophet of the Hebrew god in the famous scene of the burning bush in Exodus, where the divine name of this god is revealed to him and he is given the mission of freeing the Hebrew people, we are told that he sets out with his wife and sons to return to Egypt. The text continues in Exodus 4:24: "On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the Lord met him and tried to kill him." The Hebrew god is only turned aside from killing Moses by the quick thinking of Moses' wife. There is much to the story which is difficult to understand, but one thing stands out clearly—the Hebrew god is a power who cannot be controlled, who deals with human beings in ways which might seem to them to be beyond the normal human understanding of good and evil. Trying to kill the man who only shortly before was chosen and given power to liberate the Hebrew people does not

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sit well with a "warm fuzzy" understanding of what deity is about. Deity can be dangerous, unpredictable, and at times, downright malevolent! So what the Sacred imbues or possesses may be full of wonder, but it can also be the source of terrible fear and danger. This is what Rudolph Otto tried to express in his phrase mysterium tremendum et fascinans, the tremendous and fascinating mystery, where "tremendous" must be understood in the sense of what is energetic or urgent, what overpowers, what is aweful (i.e. causes feelings of awe or dread in us). It is mystery because it is wholly other, and fascinating because it draws us even while we are in dread of it. There is a good example of this aspect of sacred power in the Bhagavadgita where we read about the reaction of Arjuna to the vision of Vishnu— Arjuna with his hair standing on end and full of amazement. Although he is filled with joy by the vision, nevertheless we read that Arjuna cries for mercy to Vishnu, because he is also filled with great trembling and fear, and he asks Vishnu to return to the gentler form of four-armed Krishna his charioteer: I joy to see what I had not seen before, And yet my mind is trembling all in fear: Let me behold thy other form, O Lord! Have mercy, Lord, O refuge of the world!

Vision of Vishnu from the Bhagavad-gita

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It may seem strange to you that some religions have a sense of the Sacred as revealing itself somehow in the ridiculous. This might not seem to be very mysterious. While you may have seen pictures of Zen monks sitting very straight-backed and looking serious about their meditation in order to come to enlightenment, some Sufis have a method of bringing their disciples to a point of intimacy with the Sacred through laughter and a sense of the ridiculous. One interpretation seems to be that these ideas are all somehow connected with the way in which the Sacred is thought to break into the normal parameters of the human world—and people's worlds, minds, or attitudes can be "broken" or entered into more forcefully when they are somehow unhinged, either by great sorrow or fear or even by laughter or a sense of the ridiculous. Of course the concept of the Sacred itself gives rise to a number of important questions: how can we speak about the Sacred, how can we use human language and imagery for it; how can we communicate with it or relate to it without perishing in the attempt; how can we take cognisance of the Sacred and yet remain in a relatively normal relationship to the profane world of the everyday. With regard to the first question, many religions speak about the Sacred by using anthropomorphic (literally "in the shape of a person") images of gods and goddesses, which serve also as the focus of communication with the Sacred. The second question regarding the desire to communicate with or relate to the Sacred in some way, leads us to the ideas of sacred space and sacred time.

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Sacred Space and Sacred Time The two ideas of sacred space and sacred time are very strongly connected and it is difficult to deal with one without considering the other. Space and time become sacred when the sacred breaks into the profane world which is constituted, in human perception, by the two major parameters of space and time. In this way perhaps, we could speak of all time and space as sacred if we believe in a Sacred that is in constant communication with, or constantly manifests itself in, the profane world, or if we believe in a sacred power which is immanent rather than transcendent to the world, in which there is nothing profane. Yet even where there is a belief in the immanence of the sacred power, there is also often a concept of special times and special places which are imbued more fully or more potently with the sacred power than other times and places. Sacred Space There are spaces which are in the profane world which are thought to be imbued naturally with the Sacred, there are places where the Sacred has manifested itself and there are places which human beings, themselves, have set aside as sacred. All are spaces in which communication from or with the Sacred may take place. There are a number of aspects of geography related to the Sacred which I would like to draw out here. In a very simple way, climate, landform, and natural features have a profound effect not only on the living habits of people, but also on the total culture, on how people think, and of course, on how they think about the Sacred. Thus for the Aboriginals from inland Australia, the stories of the Dreaming concern the creation of waterholes and soaks, and the animals of the Dreaming are desert animals. Where vegetation is scarce, trees are significant, and these often feature in the Dreaming stories. On the other hand, religious stories from the Cree or Inuit concern themselves with the harshness of life in the frozen north of the American continent. Their myths are concerned with arctic foxes and caribou and especially polar bears, who can be divine or demonic. If you have ever visited sacred sites in the midst of the lush green countryside and then at some other time visited a holy place in a desert region, likely you would get a strong feeling for the difference which geography can make to the very expression and interpretation of the Sacred.

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Rock Formation, Northern Territory Australia ! Geography is also to do with maps, and there are various maps which people work from to understand the world, including religious maps. People in Australia, for example, may have many different ways of seeing themselves in relation to the world as Australians. I suppose we could talk about maps of the physical countryside as well as maps of the heart or maps to express the deepest meaning of life, which might be very different from the map on the page of the atlas. Some of these "heart maps" for Australians may situate home here, or some may situate it in Southeast Asia, or some in Eastern Europe, and so on. If we are speaking in religious terms, the centre or heart of the world (the axis mundi), might be Mecca, or Jerusalem, or Uluru, or Benares, or Rome, or Canterbury, and so on. These are places of great meaning to various religions. If you have Mecca as the axis mundi of your heart map, for example, then there will be other places of lesser value but nevertheless of significance which relate to that, perhaps other sites in the Near East, and sites right down to your local mosque. A number of people from different religions may have the same axis mundi(such as Jerusalem which is sacred for Jews, Christians and Muslims), but the related sites will be different and thus the whole map will be different. For some people who have sacred sites as key points on their heart maps, it will be important to undertake sacred journeys or pilgrimages, out of the profane and into the sacred, by sacred routes -journeys that are both inward and outward.

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The movement of a believer into and out of intimate connection with the Sacred in a sacred space might be termed a "liminal experience", a term taken from the Latin limen which means "threshold". The threshold which the believer crosses leads into another reality for the duration of the experience. He or she is somehow more closely connected to the Sacred. S/he moves out of her/his ordinary life in the profane world, and becomes a different person for the time of the close connection with the Sacred, and then moves back again into the profane world into the everyday situation as previously experienced. It is a movement from profanity across the threshold of ordinary space into a sacred space (and a sacred time) and then back across the threshold again into ordinary space. When the doorway to the sacred space is opened, some religious texts speak of the great care which must be taken (a) that the profane world is not invaded by all that inhabits the other dimension; and (b) that the one who is entering into the sacred space is also protected and strong enough to meet whatever is encountered there. Many religions consider that there are special places where the Sacred has entered more particularly into the natural world, whether this be through some kind of natural object or the landscape in general or through a person perhaps who lives in such a place. Many of these places are celebrated among religions by the construction of some building or monument. Sometimes we speak in terms of consecrating a place, that is, making it holy, by such a building, and people may come to remember or celebrate the original moment of revelation when the Sacred was first perceived to enter the world at this particular spot. Of course buildings may also be erected in places where there has been no revelation or opening by the Sacred in a special way. Your local mosque or Buddhist temple or Christian church or Jewish synagogue may not be such a site of power, and yet there is a connection from it to key sites of power by the rituals which take place there. There is a concept of the relationship through space from one spot to another which overrides the vast distances say between Mecca and your local mosque, just as the same rituals may override vast ages in time, say between the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and the Christian eucharist which celebrates or shares in that event, or between the exodus event of the Hebrew people and the celebration and reenactment of the Passover feast today.

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Thus each small local site may also be the axis mundi in a kind of microcosmic sense. It is still the place of the Sacred, the place to which the Sacred comes or within which the Sacred is called upon. The consecration of such a place is the action of setting it aside as sacred but also, at the same time, it involves making a place safe for the coming of power or for containing power somehow. If power is invited to come to a place which has not firstly been made holy, then that place may be destroyed. When entering or leaving such a place there will be a change in status for the people. This is similar to the idea of liminal experience which we dealt with above. There will need to be a consecration in some way, however small, perhaps involving a ritual of cleansing or blessing or focussing the mind and heart or taking off one's shoes, and then a second moment of deconsecration when the person leaves, although this second action is often seen as less important than the first and in some cases is not carried out. In the same way when one enters the inner sacred spaces of the self for activities like meditation, many traditions teach small rituals of entering and leaving to safeguard the person who makes the inner journey. Within the structure there are usually spaces set aside for even more acute awareness of sacredness. Thus the objects for ritual, the places where the religious professionals stand or sit, and so on, may not be readily accessible to all those who come into the structure. I think immediately of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple, which only the High Priest could enter. It was the holiest place in the holy place. This is an extreme example of what occurs in even a small way in most religious structures for worship or ritual. Of course we could also talk about the use made of the spaces within the structure and the way in which people move from one space to another and perhaps gain or lose status with that movement; for example, moving to the podium in the synagogue to read from the Torah and then back again to take one's place in the congregation of ordinary worshippers. Finally the structure may be a symbol of the sacred itself. Thus the Buddhist stupa sums up by its very architectural form the creative source and power of the universe from whence all life flows. We could also consider the gothic Christian church in the form of a cross, with its spire pointing towards heaven.

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Sacred Time I would like to consider two aspects of sacred time: first, how religions themselves consider history to be sacred, since it is a record of how they have been in contact with the Sacred; and secondly, how religions organise time by feasts and seasons and by the smaller rituals of everyday devotion. The first aspect we could call the concept of history in religion, the way in which religions deal with history, how they incorporate history into their doctrines and understandings of life and what part history plays in their teachings and ideas. You might think that it is self-evident that all religions, because they exist in history, will be concerned for some way of interpreting human history in the light of their religious experience. Yet there are some religions which are not at all interested in aspects of human history as we generally define it. Thus, for example, the Mandaeans of Iran and Iraq, who are a very ancient baptising sect, have sacred writings which deal with the primordial events of the world of light in contest with the world of darkness, but treat the historical events of this world as of very little consequence. They are more concerned to experience some kind of heavenly existence in the world of light, although they still live physically on the earth. However, while there may be little interest for some religions in recording the experiences which we interpret as human history, there is generally some way of understanding human existence, at least in a sense of a sacred time or history. This is a period of time, according to their own stories, that is distinct from other times, perhaps where contact with the Sacred was more likely to happen than at other times, or when human beings or the earth were in a state of some kind of particular closeness to the Sacred so that communication was particularly intense. This concept is often found in religious myths, that particular genre of writing that is a symbolically rich narrative about some archetypal character or characters whose story takes place at the primeval time of the beginning, and represents some universal aspect of the origins or nature of humankind in its relation to the Sacred. This is really a narration of a sacred history. Sacred history is found too in other stories, especially in the lives of founders like the Buddha or Jesus or Muhammad. The story is about something that happens in human time, to someone who has at least some aspect of humanity, but it is also about something which happens or finds its deeper meaning in another kind of time—sacred time—since the Sacred
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breaks into profane time in a special way in this person. This person too may actually belong simultaneously both to profane time and outside profane time by virtue of their special contact with the Sacred or by their special sacred status. Think for example of the Buddha's experience of enlightenment or Jesus' experience of resurrection or Muhammad's experience of the visions in the cave or Moses' experience with the Hebrew god on Mt. Sinai, and so on. Each experience takes place both within and outside of ordinary time (and space). Within the religious concept of sacred time there may be a great many levels at play, from the concept of sacred time one finds in creation stories, to sacred time in the lives of individual founders of particular religions, or the concept of sacred time that occurs in religious rituals or in individual religious practices. There are other sacred times which are linked not simply to the way in which the yearly calendar rotates in days, weeks or months, or in seasons, but are connected to the pattern of human life. These may be times of birth, puberty, marriage, and death, which are common to all believers, or they may be times of special setting apart or initiation into the professional group within the believers, like a group of priests or shamans. Times are sacred not simply because time is differently experienced or the believer feels herself moved in some special religious way during this time. Even to speak of the qualitative nature of the experience is not really a basis for calling something sacred time. We often talk about time as sacred when we aren't even thinking in specifically religious terms. We say things like, "That time was sacred to us", meaning of course that we set aside time for something important. We may speak even more strongly in specifically religious terms and say something like, "He watches the football religiously every Saturday night". Time is sacred in religious terms when the time experienced is thought to have some qualitative difference about it in terms of the way in which human beings and the Sacred are in contact, whether this happens through specific forms of prayer or meditation, or whether by some sacrificial or sacramental activity, or whether it is in reference to some time of primal

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innocence in the beginning, before the world or the relationship of human beings to the Sacred was somehow set askew.

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Reflection Exercises
Administrative Related Questions Having read the Unit Information and Assessment overview: 1. When are the assessments due and how many are there? 2. How are the assignments to be submitted? 3. Which referencing style or styles are permitted in RELS181?

Library Research When conducting your search through Dixson Library, choose 2 or 3 books or articles that strike you as interesting or relevant and post their bibliographic details to the general discussion forum. I suggest that everyone have a go at this, because the end result will be a ready made list of references that each of you can draw on to complete assignment tasks in this unit and beyond. For example, the 3 I might add are:
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Smart, Ninian. The World’s Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. [291/S636w/1998] Smith, Huston. The World’s Religions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. [290/S649r/1991] Woodhead, Lynda et al. Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations. London: Routledge, 2001. [electronic resource]

Content related Questions 1. At this stage it would be good to look back at the definition of "religion" or "religious" you wrote at the beginning of this topic and see if you think you might need to make any changes to it. 2. What does it mean to be a spiritual person? a religious person? Are they the same thing? Why do you think so many people in Western societies today like to say they have spiritual interests but are not religious?

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3. Draw a diagram of a particular religious place you are familiar with, marking in sections in that place which may be distinguished from others by the more acute degree of sacredness that’s recognised there. If you visit this place as a member or non-member of the group which maintains it, are there sections where you may go and others which are forbidden to you? Is access dependent on whether there is some ritual taking place at the time of your visit or not? What does this say about your relationship to the sacred power that is thought to be accessible in this place? Of all the people who visit this place, are there some who are considered to be better able than others to access the sacred power there?

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Introduction to the Study of Religion II
Required reading
Livingston, James C. "Ways of Studying Religion", Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2009, pp. 15-34. [available on the moodle site]

Useful Resources
Connolly, Peter, ed. Approaches to the Study of Religion. London: Cassell, 1999. [210.1/C752a] Hinnells, John, ed. The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, London: Routledge, 2005. [200.71/R869] [Available also as an electronic resource] Jones, Lindsay, ed. The encyclopedia of Religion. 15 vols. Detroit: MacMillan Reference USA, 2005. [electronic resource] Search for individual entries relating to the various approaches. Pals, Daniel. Eight Theories of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. [207/P182s/2006] Pratt, Douglas. Religion: A First Encounter, Auckland: Longman Paul Ltd, 1993. [291/P913r] See particularly the extract available through e-reserve entitled The Phenomenological Method. Segal, Robert, ed. The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2006. Smart, Ninian. The World’s Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. [291/S636w/1998] [Introduction available through e-reserve] *****Use your new found research skills and conduct Keyword searches within Dixson Library. For example, type in “philosophy” and “religion” or “anthropology” and “religion”, and peruse the various entries available for particularly introductory texts.

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Approaches to the Study of Religion
This week we are concerned with the ways in which religion is studied within the academy. You will notice at the outset of these unit notes a statement about studies in religion and personal religious faith and the general expectations regarding academic writing. Why do you think such a statement requires explicit announcement? Think about this question as you examine the prescribed reading for this week. Livingston’s second chapter entitled, Ways of Studying Religion, is the key reading for this week as well as the basis for the first assessment task which is an online quiz. The quiz is made up of 10 questions and will open in the second week of Trimester 3. Studies in Religion is somewhat unique in academia in that it is not a straightforward discipline as such, like anthropology, sociology, history or psychology, where the method of scientific inquiry is clear, pervasive and overriding. Rather, scholars in the Studies in Religion field draw on the various disciplinary methods of inquiry – whether they be historical, anthropological, sociological, psychological or philosophical and so on – to examine a range of religious phenomena from different perspectives. Livingston’s short chapter provides an excellent critical survey of the more common methods used and why they’re used. PLEASE NOW READ THE CHAPTER BEFORE MOVING ON.

Phenomenology
You will notice that Livingston ends the survey with a short discussion of phenomenology, citing it as the “most recent” and “most illuminating” approach to the study of religion. What are your views on such a method? Do you think such “bracketing off” as that which Livingston describes possible or even desirable? Another scholar who promotes the phenomenological method is Douglas Pratt and I have included a link to a short extract of his entitled The Phenomenology of a First Encounter. Pratt is dependent to a large extent on Ninian Smart's seven dimensions of religious experience and you will find these dimensions outlined in detail in the
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introductory chapter to Smart's book, The World’s Religions listed under the recommended readings above. From Smart’s seven dimensions of religious experience Pratt formulates three broad phenomenological categories which he labels: Foundation Phenomena, Developmental phenomena, and Expression phenomena. Through these categories Pratt offers a means by which we might encounter the historical and contemporary data fundamental to an understanding of the five major world religions (hence the title of his book). We will be using Pratt’s chapters on the foundational, developmental and expressional phenomena central to Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam as our main readings in subsequent topics. You may wish to refer to other introductory texts or indeed use other introductory books as your main source of reading. This is certainly possible because many such texts provide good accounts of the origins and development of the various world religions and implicitly or explicitly discuss the issues along phenomenological lines. For example, you may like to read something like David Noss’ A History of World Religions (11th or 12th editions), which covers in some detail the various religions under study with an eye to foundational, developmental and expressional phenomena (although not stated explicitly as such). I have mentioned others elsewhere. Certainly the phenomenological approach is not the only approach to the study of religion and you’ve been introduced to several others in this topic. It is, however, an extremely helpful approach at the introductory and comparative level, hence its emphasis here. In the next topic we will begin our study of the world’s major religions with an introduction to the foundational, developmental and expressional phenomena central to the Asian religious tradition of Hinduism. I have included the readings on developmental phenomena in this unit to give students a sense of continuity. You need not focus too heavily on the chapters relating to developmental phenomena, particularly the later developments, as their content will not form any part of the assessments, but they may prove useful in providing points of clarification for phenomena relating to the foundations of the religions under study. Reflection Activities

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1. What kinds of questions interest you regarding religious experience, thought and practice? Are your questions typically historical, philosophical, sociological, or theological etc? How are you able to classify them as such? 2. Can a non-religious person truly understand religion? Can a person of one particular religious tradition hope to understand another? 3. Is a wholly disinterested neutral position really possible in academic study (of religion)? Can we genuinely understand another culture or another religion from the perspective of complete detachment? ! ! !

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Hinduism
Required Reading
Please read the following chapters from Pratt’s Religion: A First Encounter (1993) available through e-reserve (focussing on the Foundation/Expression Phenomena particularly): Chapter 6 Hinduism: Foundation Phenomena, pp. 52 – 63 Chapter 11 Hinduism: Development Phenomena, pp. 126 – 137 Chapter 16 Hinduism: Expression Phenomena, pp. 194 – 208

Useful Resources
Basham, A. L. The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 or 2003 [294.50901/B299o] or [294.50901/B299o/2003 Burke, Patrick. The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts, Malden & Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Chapter on Hinduism [291/B959m] Herman, A. L. A Brief Introduction to Hinduism: Religion, Philosophy, and Ways of Liberation. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991. [294.5/H551b] Hopkins, Thomas J. 1971. The Hindu Religious Tradition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. [294.5.H796H] Chapter 3: The Upanishads is available through e-reserve. Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Survey of Hinduism, 2nd edn, Albany: State University of New York, 1994. [294.5/K66s] . Chapter 4: 'Revelation and scripture in Hinduism’ is available through e-reserve. Noss, David S. A History of the World's Religions, 11th edn, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. Chapters on Hinduism. [200.9/N897m/2003]. Glossaries from the 12th edition available through e-reserve.
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Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Major World Religions: From their Origins to the Present, Abigdon: Routledge, 2003. Chapters on Hinduism [electronic resource] Rambachan, Anantanand. 'Hinduism', in Experiencing Scripture in World Religions, ed. Harold Coward, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000, pp. 85-112 [291.82/E96]. Rodrigues, Hillary. Introducing Hinduism. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. [294.5/R696i] Smith, Brian K.: 1998. 'Hinduism', in Sacred Texts and Authority, ed. Jacob Neusner, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, pp. 91-115 [291.8/S123]. Zaehner, Robert C. Hinduism. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 1966. [294.5/Z17h] There are five chapters from the 1st edition available through e-reserve. Zaehner, R. C. Hindu Scriptures. London: Dent, 1966. [294.592/Z17h]

Foundation and Expression Phenomena
Pratt first delves into the origins of the Hindu religious tradition, beginning with the Indus Valley civilisation centred in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. He introduces the Vedic religion of the Indo-Aryans with information on the scriptures (Vedas) and the caste system. He then moves through a discussion of Classical and Medieval Hinduism and finishes with a brief account of Hindu deities, and key beliefs and practices.

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Fig. 1: Clay female figurines from the Indus Valley Civilisation 2500 – 1700 BCE http://www.harappa.com/figurines/1.html

Most scholars agree that these prehistoric figurines are probably related to the figurines still used in religious rituals throughout India today and the female ones could well represent deities or spirits petitioned and worshipped by the Indus Valley people.

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Fig. 2: Replica of a stamp seal impression from the Indus Valley civilization. Approx. 5cm square. Photo courtesy Joan Relke, University of New England ! The script at the top of the seal has not been deciphered. However, it is likely that the imagery on the seal is mythological or religious, as were similar seal images throughout the ancient world at this time. A "sacred" bull appears to be decorated and standing in front of a ritual object, unknown. The decorations resemble those on carvings of the sacred bull, Nandi, throughout the history of Indian art. !

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Fig. 3: Replica of a stamp seal impression from the Indus Valley civilization. Approx 3.5 cm square. Photo courtesy Joan Relke, University of New England ! This stamp seal again displays undeciphered writing as well as mythological or religious motifs. In this case, a presumably male figure (possibly ithyphallic) is seated in a yogic posture on a dias. The figure has a headdress of water buffalo horns, and is possibly painted with stripes representing the stripes of a tiger. The figure is surrounded by animals, and is often thought to be a prototype of the Hindu god, Shiva, as Pasupati, Lord of the Animals. Also featuring in Indian mythology and suggested here is the myth of Durga and Mahishasura. Durga is a saviour goddess who slays the water buffalo demon, Mahisha. ! !

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! Fig. 4: Another stamp seal impression from the Indus Valley. Approx 3.5 cm square. Photo courtesy Joan Relke, University of New England ! It is widely held that the fig tree or pipal tree was sacred to the people of the Indus Valley, as it is in India today for both Hindus and Buddhists. Again, undeciphered writing is present, along with other symbols, but the leaves are interpreted as fig/pipal leaves, and other evidence from archaeology (impressions in clay) indicate that these leaves had symbolic meaning for the Indus Valley people. !

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Fig. 5: A Brahmin Priest performs a fire ceremony with ghee http://www.vnn.org/world/WD0005/WD12-5939.html ! ! !

! Fig. 6: One of the oldest extant copies of the Rig Veda http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=5

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Fig. 7: A modern sadhu http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/hindu/holymen/515060.htm

Fig. 8: Sadhu in meditation posture http://www.daveontrek.co.uk/Pages/People/Sadhu%20(People)/P-s1-Sadmed2.htm

Questions for consideration
1. ‘Hinduism may be best thought of as an emergent religion’. Why? 2. What are the two categories of Hindu scripture? How did they come about? 3. Discuss the meaning and significance of the Hindu caste system. 4. What is an epic? What are the two major epics of Hinduism and what is their contribution to Hindu life? 5. Outline the main features of the teachings of the Bhagavad gita.

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Buddhism
Required Reading
Please read the following chapters from Pratt’s Religion: A First Encounter (1993) available through e-reserve (focussing on the Foundation/Expression Phenomena particularly): Chapter 7 Buddhism: Foundation Phenomena, pp. 64-76 Chapter 12 Buddhism: Development Phenomena, pp. 138 – 147 Chapter 16 Buddhism: Expression Phenomena, pp. 209 – 226

Useful Resources
Burke, Patrick. The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts, Malden & Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. [291/B959m]. Chapter on Buddhism available from e-reserve. Choong, Mun-keat. "Appendix 1: Historical and Textual Background of Buddhism" Annotated Translation of Sutras from the Chinese Samyuktagama relevant to the Early Buddhist Teachings on Emptiness and the Middle Way. Johor: Lu Ye Chen Si, 2004, pp. 75-89 available from ereserve. [294.38/C548a] Cohen, Richard S. 'Shakyamuni: Buddhism's founder in ten acts', in The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad as Religious Founders, eds David Noel Freedman & Michael J. McClymond, Grand Rapids/Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2001. Available through e-reserve. [291.63/R622]. Conze, Edward. Buddhist Scriptures. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1959. [294.3/C768B

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Edkins, Joseph. Chinese Buddhism: a volume of sketches, historical, descriptive and critical. Charleston, S.C.: BiblioBazaar, 2009, c2008. [294.30951/E23c/2009] Hawkins, Bradley K. Buddhism. Abingdon: Routledge, 1999 [294.3/H393b] [electronic resource] Harvey, Peter. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. [294.3/H342i] Noss, David S. A History of the World's Religions, 11th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. Chapters on Buddhism. [200.9/N897m/2003]. Glossaries from 12th ed. Available through e-reserve. Prebish, Charles S. & Damien Keown. Introducing Buddhism. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006. [294.3/P221/2010] Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Rev. ed. London: Gordon Fraser,1978. [294.34/R148w] Chapter 6 ‘The Doctrine of No-Soul: Anatta’ available from e- reserve. Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Major World Religions: From their Origins to the Present, Abingdon: Routledge, 2003. Chapters on Hinduism [electronic resource] Schumann, H. W.: 2004. The Historical Buddha: The Times, Life and Teachings of the Founder of Buddhism, 1st Indian ed. trans. M. O'C. Walshe, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. [294.363/S392h]. Strong, John S. The experience of Buddhism: sources and interpretations. 3rd ed, Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education 2008. [294.3823/S923e]

Foundation and Expression of Buddhism
Pratt discusses the origins of Buddhism in the life and teachings of the founder, Siddhartha Gautama, the key teachings including the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path (the fourth noble truth), impermanence, not-self, Dharma, samsara, karma, and the ultimate goal of Nirvana. While these core teachings form the basis of all Buddhist thought, they may be
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interpreted somewhat differently in the Mahayana and Theravada traditions as you will see. The teachings can be found in the early Buddhist scriptures, the Pali Canon, first written down around the first century CE.

Questions for Consideration
1. Who was the founder of Buddhism? Outline his life story and discuss its significance. 2. Discuss the ‘crisis of continuance’ that was occasioned by the death of the Buddha. How did Buddhism survive the absence of the historical Buddha? 3. What is the Sangha? How does it function? 4. What is the Tipitaka? Outline its structure and indicate the focal concern of each part. 5. Outline the fundamental teachings of the Buddha. 6. Identify, and give examples of different types of ritual practice found in Buddhism. 7. Discuss the significance of meditation in Buddhist practice.

(From Smart, The World's Religions, p.152)
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A statue of the Buddha from the famous Buddhist complex at Borobudur in Indonesia. As you ascend you pass scenes illustrating karma and its effects, the life of the Buddha, and ultimately nirvana.

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Judaism
Required Reading
Please read the following chapters from Pratt’s Religion: A First Encounter (1993) available through e-reserve (focussing on the Foundation/Expression Phenomena particularly): Chapter 6 Judaism: Foundation Phenomena, pp. 77-94 Chapter 13 Judaism: Development Phenomena, pp. 148-162 Chapter 18 Judaism: Expression Phenomena, pp. 227 – 240

Useful Resources
Burke, T Patrick, 1996, The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts, Malden & Oxford: Blackwell. Judaism - pp. 193-203 (291/B959m). Neusner, Jacob & Alan J. Avery-Peck, eds. The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, 2nd edn, Malden: Blackwell, 2000. (296/B632j). Ehrlich, Carl S. 2001. 'Moses, Torah, and Judaism', in The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad as Religious Founders, eds David Noel Freedman & Michael J. McClymond, Grand Rapids/Cambridge: William B Eerdmans, pp. 11-119 [291.63/R622]. Available from e-reserve. Goldenberg, Robert. The origins of Judaism : from Canaan to the rise of Islam, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007. [296.0901/G618o] Murphy, Frederick J. 2003. 'Second temple Judaism', in The Blackwell Companion to Judaism, 2nd edn, eds Jacob Neusner & Alan J. Avery-Peck, Malden: Blackwell, pp. 58-77 (296/B632j).

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Macmillan Reference U. S. A. Staff, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. Farmington Hills: Macmillan Reference USA [Imprint], 2006. [Electronic resource]. Neusner, Jacob. Judaism: the Basics, NY: Routledge, 2006. [296/N496j] Noss, David S. A History of the World's Religions, 11th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. Chapters on Judaism. [200.9/N897m/2003]. Glossaries from 12th ed. Available through e-reserve. Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Major World Religions: From their Origins to the Present, Abingdon: Routledge, 2003. Chapters on Judaism [electronic resource]. Segal, Eliezer. 2000. 'Judaism', in Experiencing Scripture in World Religions, ed. Harold Coward, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, pp. 15-33 [291.82/E96]. Wazana, Nili. 'From Dan to Beer-Sheba and from the wilderness to the sea: Literal and literary images of the promised land in the Bible', in Experiences of Place, ed. Mary N. MacDonald, Cambridge (USA): Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 45- 71 [291.35/E96]. Available through e-reserve

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Foundation and Expression of Judaism

[From W. Matthews. World Religions, p.276] A Scribe Copies a Torah Scroll; Hebrew characters are read from right to left.

Question for consideration 1. Can you discern at what stage the religion of the ancient Hebrews gave way to Rabbinic Judaism? What caused the change? What were the 'substitutions' involved? What were the continuities? 2. Discuss the history of Judaism in terms of exile and return. 3. Outline the significant features of the early formative era of Rabbinic Judaism.

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4. What are the principal festivals of Judaism that derive from its foundations in the biblical (ancient Hebrew) period? 5. What are the two main commemorative festivals that have emerged in modern times? How do they relate to each other? 6. What is the significance of 'keeping kosher'? ! ! !

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Christianity
Required Reading
Please read the following chapters from Pratt’s Religion: A First Encounter (1993) available through e-reserve (focussing on the Foundation/Expression Phenomena particularly): Chapter 9 Christianity: Foundation Phenomena, pp. 95-111 Chapter 14 Christianity: Development Phenomena, pp. 163-177 Chapter 19 Christianity: Expression Phenomena, pp. 241-254

Useful Resources
Barnett, Paul. Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times, Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999. [225.95/B261j]. Bruce, F. F. The Spreading Flame: the Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its Beginning to the Conversion of the English. London: Paternoster Press, 1958. [270.1/B886S] Burke, T Patrick. The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts, Malden & Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Chapter on Christianity [291/B959m]. Carter, Humphrey. 'Jesus', in Founders of Faith, Michael Carrithers et al. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1986 (1980). [291.6/F771]. Chadwick, Henry. 1967.The Early Church. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [270.1/C432E] Chilton, Bruce: 1998. 'Christianity', in Sacred Texts and Authority, ed. Jacob Neusner, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, pp. 117-142 (291.8/S123). McClymond, Michael J.: 2001. 'Jesus', in The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad as Religious Founders, eds David Noel Freedman & Michael J. McClymond, Grand Rapids/Cambridge:
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William B Eerdmans, pp. 309-456 [291.63/R622]. Available from ereserve. Noss, David S, 2003, A History of the World's Religions, 11th edn, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Chapters on Christianity. [200.9/N897m/2003]. Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Major World Religions: From their Origins to the Present, Abigdon: Routledge, 2003. Chapters on Christianity [electronic resource]. Woodhead, Lynda. An Introduction to Christianity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. [270/W888i] Wilson, Brian. Christianity. London: Routledge, 1999. [Electronic Resource] The Bible. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Foundation and Expression of Christianity

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! [From A Lion Handbook. The History of Christianity, p. 91] A page from Codex Sinaiticus containing the last chapter of John's Gospel.

Pratt first discusses the birth, life and death of the founder Jesus, the Jew of Nazareth, as well as an introduction to Christian scripture. He also discusses the key period after the death of the founder, and the development of Christian theology around the figure of the Christ, as well as the key beliefs and practices central to the Christian faith.

Questions for consideration 1. Paul "has frequently been called 'the second founder of Christianity'" (Noss, 2003: 466). In what ways and to what extent did Paul shape the Christian message? 2. What were some of the conflicts and issues encountered by the early Christian Church? How were they resolved?Outline the Christian understanding of deity. What are some of the issues involved? 3. Outline and discuss the pattern of key Christian festivals and celebrations. What do they signify?

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Islam
Required Reading
Please read the following chapters from Pratt’s Religion: A First Encounter (1993) available through e-reserve (focussing on the Foundation/Expression Phenomena particularly): Chapter 10 Islam: Foundation Phenomena, pp. 112-122 Chapter 15 Islam: Development Phenomena, pp. 178-190 Chapter 20 Islam: Expression Phenomena, pp. 255-269

Useful Resources
Ahmed, Akbar S. Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society. London: Routledge/Kegan Paul, 1990. [297.09/A286d] Burke, T Patrick. The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts, Malden & Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Chapter on Islam. [291/B959m]. Brockopp, Jonathan'Islam', in Sacred Texts and Authority, ed. Jacob Neusner, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 1998, pp. 31-59 [291.8/S123]. Cook, Michael. 'Muhammad', in Founders of Faith, Michael Carrithers et al., Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press: 1986 (1983), pp. 289-368 [291.6/F771]. Esposito, John L. Islam: the straight path. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, (1991) 2005. [297/E77i/2005] Kassis, Hanna. 'The Qur'an', in Experiencing Scripture in World Religions, ed. Harold Coward, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2000, pp. 63-84 [291.82/E96]. Nigosian, Solomon A. Islam, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. [electronic resource].

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Noss, David S. A History of the World's Religions, 11th edn, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. Chapters on Islam. [200.9/N897m/2003]. Peters, F. E. Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, Albany: State University of New York, 1994. [297.63/P481m]. Peterson, Daniel C.'Muhammad', in The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad as Religious Founders, eds David Noel Freedman & Michael J. McClymond, Grand Rapids/Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2001, pp. 457-612 [291.63/R622]. Ridgeon, Lloyd, ed. Major World Religions: From their Origins to the Present, Abigdon: Routledge, 2003. Chapters on Islam [electronic resource] Ruthven, Malise. Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. [297/R976i] The Koran. Trans. N. J. Dawood. 5th rev. ed. London: Penguin, 1997. [297.133/K84/1997]

Foundation and Expression of Islam
Pratt covers the context in which Islam emerged, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the key doctrines and practices of Islam—including the Five Pillars—and the Holy Qur'an, as well as the importance of divine law in Islam.

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http://www.warwickisoc.co.uk/isocpics/kaaba.jpg The Kaaba, physical and spiritual focus of the Islamic faith

Five Pillars of Islam
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Repetition of the Word of Witness (shahada) Prayer (salat) Charity (sadaqa, zakat) Fasting (Observance of Ramadhan) (sawm) Pilgrimage (hajj)

All Muslims agree on these five points as their fundamental articles of faith.

Questions for consideration
1. Describe the context from which Muhammad and the religion of Islam emerged. What does this suggest for the understanding of Islam? 2. What is the Ummah? How did it come about? 3. What is the Qur’an? What do Muslims believe it to be? 4. What are the basic beliefs of Islam? How do they interconnect? 5. Discuss Divine Law in Islam.
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http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/arab_pennisula.gif Relief map of South west Asia. Note that it would be wrong to depict all Arabia as stark, flat desert

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Concepts of heaven and hell !

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The Day of Judgment !

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