Download Study Guide: World Religions for Final Exam

Study Guide: World Religions
for Final Exam
You should know the definitions and contexts of the following terms:
Zarathushtra
Angra Mainyu
Tower of silence
Asha (“truth”)
Zoroaster
Chinvat Bridge
Avesta
Haoma
ark
Nevi’im
tefillin
prophet
Conservative
Bible
Kethuvim
Talmud
tetragrammaton
diaspora
Constantine
trinity
Immaculate
conception
epistle
Council of Nicea
incarnation
Ecumenical
movement
gospel
Qur’an
shahadah
Ramadan
shaikh
Surah
hanif
Hajj
imam
Zoroastrianism
Ahura Mazda
dualism
Gathas
Faravane
Judaism
covenant
Torah
synagogue
YHWH
Yom Kippur
Christianity
Great Schism
sin
testament
synoptic
Islam
hadith
Hijra
Sunni
Fravashis
Spenta Mainyu
eschaton
eschatology
Kushti (sacred cord) Zand
Decalogue
Tanakh
Sabbath
Reform
mezuzah
psalm
kosher
Orthodox
Sacraments
purgatory
Protestant
Reformation
apostle
apocrypha
indulgences
Creed
jihad
mosque
Shi’a
jinn
minaret
Sufi
baptism
You should know anything covered in class, in particular the following:
Zoroastrianism: View of time, importance of fire, towers of silence, duality of good and evil, effects on
Judaism and its offshoots, performative and non-cognitive use of scripture, eschatology, avoidance of
spiritual “pollution”
Judaism: Importance of history, Smith’s view on the Jews conception of the Other (God): (not prosaic but
personal, not chaotic, not amoral, not hostile), view of humanity as a “blend of dust and divinity”,
importance of morality through restraint around danger zones, the Prophetic Principle (p. 292),
meaning in suffering and the concept of being the chosen people, hope and the messianic principle,
Diaspora and its effect, historical branches, modern branches
Christianity: Origin in Judaism, background of Jesus, Jesus’s invitational style and parables, centrality of
crucifixion and resurrection, early Christian equality and more, the church as the mystical body of
Christ (the Christened one, one anointed with oil), doctrine of incarnation, atonement, sin, Trinity,
three major branches, transubstantiation
Islam: Origin in Judaism and Christianity, background of Muhammad, centrality of Mecca, two miracles:
(the Qur’an and the Night Journey), why Mecca was reluctant to accept Islam, Revelation of the
Qu’ran, Hijra, no original sin, the Five Pillars, social teachings regarding: (economics, the status of
women, race, and force), sufism and Islamic mysticism
For all religions you should know who theirs founders, if they exist, were, the dates of their founding, the
names of their scriptures, and their branches, if they exist. You should probably also know the names
of their houses of worship and leaders.