Download 2-UNIT STUDIES OF RELIGION

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STUDIES OF RELIGION PRELIMINARY COURSE
FOUNDATION STUDY 1: THE NATURE OF RELIGION
VIEWS OF REALITY
Students learn about a religious view of reality as compared with other views of
reality –
 Distinctions between a religious response to the meaning of existence, the
origins of the universe, and the cycle of birth and death and other responses to
these issues.
 Recognition of a religious world-view as one that acknowledges a
transcendent dimension and has belief in a divine being or powers beyond the
human and/or dwelling within humanity.
Students learn to distinguish between religious and other responses to some of the
enduring questions of human life and experience.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
Anthropology
The scientific study of human existence.
Cosmos
The world, the universe, conceived as an ordered harmonious system.
Psychology
The study of the mind, the study of behaviour, and the study of the human person
interacting with his/her physical and social environment.
Theology
The scientific study of religious experience and the doctrine that have developed in
various religious traditions concerning the relationships between God, humanity and
the universe.
Transcendent
Theologically, the term refers to God, the one who is beyond human limitations.
Universal Questions Facing Humanity
Certain questions have puzzled people for thousands of years. These have sometimes been referred to
as the great questions of human existence. They include –

Why am I here?

What is the purpose of birth, life and death?

Where did I come from in the first place?

Where did the universe/cosmos come from?

Why is there death, suffering and evil in the world?

Is there a greater power than me who is either just there or controlling all that exists?
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Choose TWO of the questions above. For each of the two questions, give a religious and a non-religious
response.
Religious Response
Non-Religious Response
Share your responses with the class, then explain how religious responses are different to non-religious
responses to universal questions facing humanity.
Defining Religion
Religion has to do with a person’s experience of the transcendent, or something beyond the ordinary,
and it concerns the human response to whatever the mystery of life is for a particular group or person.
Religion is a way of life that incorporates a system of beliefs and practices involving the transcendent.
People’s understanding of religion are modified by their experience of life – how they were brought up,
the religious tradition or traditions of their family, their level of education, their travels, and the many ways
in which life has shaped them as a person. Answers to the universal questions are influenced by one’s
attitude to particular forms and expressions of religion, and by commitment or lack of commitment to a
particular tradition or way of life. One’s personal response to the subject of religion can also be enriched by
the work of different academics.
Philosophers are concerned with that which is common to all religions in order to devise a general
philosophy of religion. Theologians are interested in explaining the system of beliefs and the perspectives of
a particular tradition and therefore they do not examine the ways in which religions are similar.
Anthropologists try to understand the ways that different forms of religion have contributed to human
history. Psychologists focus on religious experience and the ways in which people develop a deeper sense of
the religious during their lives. Sociologists study religion for its contributions to the formation and
transformation of society. Scientists have recently, with a certain humility, come to recognise that not
everything in the world is subject to explanation and that there are possibilities for dialogue between religion
and science when we are confronted with that which is ultimately mysterious.
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The preoccupations of these various disciplines makes it difficult to define religion, but they do indicate
that religion has to do with the whole of life rather than with some limited sector of human experience.
Theology reminds as that all efforts to define “religion” cannot be reduced to the world of sense experience,
because to do so would leave God out of the equation – whatever else religion is about, it concerns the
relationship between the human and the divine. Anthropology clarifies the ways in which historical peoples
have given meaning to this relationship. Psychology offers interpretations of the human drive towards
meaning and warns against its distortions. Sociology discloses the essential communal and cultural
dimensions of religion and its significance for all human activities. Science makes possible a way of
viewing the world as a whole that does not marginalize religion as a merely personal or social encounter
unconnected to the bigger picture.
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Religion is that complex of experiences, attitudes, convictions, ideas, emotions, beliefs, images,
rituals, symbols, texts and institutions by which human beings as individuals and social beings
identify, express and live out their most fundamental relationship with, a source of meaning that
both transcends and encompasses their lives and their world.
Historical Account of Religion
Neanderthal Man
Use the cartoon material on pages 4 and 5 to answer the following questions.
Neanderthals were concerned for the proper treatment of people who have died, and supposed that there was
a possibility of life of some sort after death. What is the evidence?
Neanderthals were concerned with alleviating suffering caused from expose to the elements. What is the
evidence?
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The Egyptians
Use the cartoon material on pages 7-9 to answer the following question.
The ancient Egyptians were concerned for the proper treatment of people who have died, and believed in life
of some sort after death. What is the evidence?
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Venus Figures
The Venus figures were found between southern France, across Europe and the Ural mountains. These
figures were made somewhere between 29,000 to 14,000 years ago. They are female figurines with
exaggerated hips, buttocks and breasts, and distended stomachs suggesting advanced pregnancy. They are
considered significant, because –

They may represent the universal female in Nature, a symbol for the recurring creation of life.

They may represent the source of all life, the earth itself.

They may point to a time when people saw the earth as female, and life-giving.
Many scholars think that belief in a mother goddess, who gave fertility to crops, animals and humans, may
have been the dominant factor in ancient religion.
Certainly, as people made the transition from hunter/gatherer to settled agricultural life, the question of
fertility became more important.
The Venus figures made between 29000 and 14000 BCE support a belief
in a mother goddess who gave fertility to crops, animals and humans.
What is the evidence?
Stonehenge
Early societies had already become aware of the regular turning of the seasons, and the phases of the
moon. Being able to predict these cycles became increasingly important as society became dependent on
agriculture for its food. Farmers needed to know on what day of the year to plant different crops. It was in
this context that the great stone megaliths such as Stonehenge were built.
Though the exact use of the Stonehenge site is unknown, it seems probable that it was an elaborate
model used to determine the major days of the annual calendar. If you stand in the centre of the circle of
stones, facing the heel-stone, you will find that the tip of the heel-stone touches the horizon at the point the
sun appears on mid-summer morning. Stonehenge means more than that, however. If the builders had
simply wished to mark the midsummer sunrise, they would have needed only two stones. The elaborate
nature of Stonehenge, and the massive effort that went into its building, must mean that it was an important
focal point for a well-organised group of people. This group of people was prepared to put a substantial
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effort into a construction which would give it a measure of control over, or understanding of, the forces of
Nature.
The Stonehenge site suggests that the ancient
people who built it were attempting to
understand the nature of the universe and to
give them some measure of control over nature.
What is the evidence?
Maya Astronomical Observatory
The pyramid-like constructions of the Mayan people in Central America were the scenes of elaborate
rituals, in which people asked for the cooperation of Nature. Gifts would be given to the uncontrollable
forces of Nature, in the hope that these forces would be pleased, and thus ready to cooperate, for example, by
giving rain or sunshine when it was desired. The gift sometimes took the form of a valued life, either animal
or human, or of some valued object.
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The Maya people attempted to understand and, in some measure, control the natural elements on which
human life relied. What is the evidence?
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Conclusion
This communication between human beings and the forces of Nature was possible because people did
not see themselves as separate from, or as dominating, Nature. They had a distinctive understanding of
reality, which we would call religious. They saw themselves as one element in an overall scheme. Many
early cultures believed that the other elements in Nature had feelings, and could be communicated with.
Many cultures have seen the world as a harmonious whole, with interdependent relationships. Religious
practices may have been attempts to understand and, in some measures, control the natural elements on
which human life relied.
People did not feel that they were alone in the universe. They recognised the possibility of the
transcendent dimension, of the existence of forces or powers, either outside of humanity or dwelling within
humanity. The existence of this transcendent dimension is one of the essential characteristics of religious
belief.
References
Board of Studies. (1999). Stage 6 syllabus: studies of religion. Sydney: Board of Studies New South
Wales.
Gonick, L. (1990). The cartoon history of the universe (Vol. 1-7). New York: Doubleday.
Kelly, M. (2000). The nature of religion. In D. Parnham (Ed.), Exploring religion (pp. 3-20). South
Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Lovat, T., & McGrath, J. (Eds.). (1999). New studies in religion. Katoomba: Social Science Press.
Morrissey, J., Mudge, P., Taylor, A., Bailey, G., Gregor, H., McGillion, C., O'Reilly, P., Magee, P., &
Mills, L. (2001). Living religion (2nd ed.). Sydney: Longman.
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Emmaus Publications (2003). Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge all materials used.
This material may be photocopied for educational use only.