Download The Nature of Religious Beliefs - Gerry-Sozio-SOR

St Mary Star of the Sea
College
Wollongong
Studies of Religion I
Gerry Sozio
Definitions
Religion – a form of belief and practise that comes from
and leads to human experience of God or the
ultimate reality.
Transcendent – outside the created world; not limited by
space, time or physical conditions.
Immanent – indwelling, spreading through.
Animism – the belief that natural objects, phenomena
and the universe are filled with good and evil spirits.
Semitic Faiths – transcendent religious
worldviews
 The great monotheistic faiths of the world
 Judaism
 Christianity
 Islam
 They are examples of transcendent worldviews which
is a belief in a divine being or powers whose
existence goes beyond human limitations
 Semite family of Religions – all Semitic faiths all
worship the God of Abraham as the one and only
God of the Universe.
 Salvation – semetic religions believe in life
after death
 Revelation – they all believe that God reveals
his will and law to humanity
 Personal responsibility for moral actions.
 Rank humanity as superior to nature because
they see humans as capable of transcending
the physical limits of the natural world.
 The transcendent dimensions of religion
enables humans to surpass the limits of their
creaturely existence and earthly concerns to
focus on heavenly or spiritual concerns.
Indian Religions
 Hinduism and Buddhism are immanent worldviews
that recognise a divine being or power as a constant
reality.
 Emphasize spiritual salvation through wisdom or
knowledge. Wisdom reveals the deeper reality.
 Indian religions move through birth, life, death, rebirth
and one ideally grows in wisdom in each life until one
reaches the ultimate spiritual plane.
Religion has a supernatural dimension
 This dimension implies a foundation on some
sort of divine revelation or revealed faith.
 This revelation exceeds the power and
capacity of human nature and any created
natural religion.
 Cannot be explained according to natural
laws or occurrences.
 The dimensions exceeds the ordinary limits of
human existence and is sometimes described
as abnormal, even miraculous.
 In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, God is
said to transcend (rise above) the world, that
is, God is predominantly beyond the world.
 This is an idea common to monotheism (the
worship of only one God).
 Judaism, Christianity and Islam focus on the
transcendent religious worldview and are
called Semetic religions.
 They go back to Abraham, and believe in one
God who created the universe.
 They also believe that God made himself
known to us by sending us prophets
(messengers) – the prophets showed and
taught the will of God to the world.
 Buddhism and Hinduism focus on the
immanent religious worldview – they have an
Indian background.
 Buddhist and Hindus rely on their inner-self
and their experience for religious truth – they
do not rely on books or people that have to
be followed.
 They are immanent worldviews that
recognise a divine being or power as a
constant reality.
Two types of Religious Views
 The first view is a world view that holds
beliefs in a divine power and/or powers
beyond the human dimension.
 This corresponds to the world views held by
Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
 The followers of these religious traditions
believe in the One God who exists beyond
the human and yet guides humanity
throughout its everyday existence.
 The second view maintains a belief in a
divine being or powers dwelling within the
individual. Such a world view is characteristic
of Buddhism and Hinduism.
 In the case of Buddhism, for example, it is
important not to look for a Buddhist
equivalent of ‘God’ but for an ultimate goal or
principle, such as nirvana or dhamma that
gives Buddhist lives a sense of ultimate
meaning.