Deck 1: Introduction: Understanding World Religions in Global Perspective

Question 1

Belief in the nation as a sacred entity is called

A) Animism.
B) Nationalism.
C) Jihad.
D) Sympathetic citizenship.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In terms of religion, Postmodernists reject the dominance of

A) Science and modernism.
B) Myth.
C) Time and history.
D) Fundamentalism.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The authors characterize "postmodern" as the time

A) Immediately after premodern time.
B) When all areas of life became secularized.
C) When separation of church and state first developed.
D) When all religious and scientific knowledge is viewed as relative.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

This term refers to those who reject aspects of modernity and wish to return to the "purer" sociopolitical order

A) Symbolist.
B) Fundamentalist.
C) Modernist.
D) Via negativa.

Question 5

In ancient Greek, the word heretic means

A) Unbound.
B) One who lies.
C) Renegade.
D) One who chooses.

Question 6

The earliest religious stories are myths of

A) Modernity.
B) Transcendence.
C) Nature.
D) Liberation.

Question 7

A reliable exact count of the number of adherents to world religions is unavailable due to

A) Lack of consistent survey criteria.
B) A problematic assumption that a person can be listed under only one variable.
C) Disagreements about what constitutes a branch of a world religion versus a "new religion."
D) All of the above.

Question 8

This term signifies a way of explaining spiritual reality by using analogies from particular finite qualities and characteristics

A) metanarrative.
B) sympathetic imagination.
C) Via analogia.
D) globalization.

Question 9

A form of religious language is

A) Via negativa.
B) Via analogia.
C) Metaphor.
D) All of the above.

Question 10

In the myths of history, the problem of life is

A) Labor.
B) Sin.
C) Suffering.
D) Globalization.

Question 11

The study of religion is primarily defined by

A) The god or gods.
B) Demographics.
C) Geography.
D) None of the above.

Question 12

In the modern era, religion was primarily viewed as

A) Shared public knowledge.
B) A matter of private personal faith or opinion.
C) The root of all evil.
D) A sign of progress.

Question 13

Orthopraxy could include

A) Morality.
B) Ritual.
C) Both a and b.
D) None of the above.

Question 14

What the authors define as ultimate reality could include

A) Personal god(s) or impersonal world spirits.
B) Sympathetic imagination.
C) Myth.
D) Ritual.

Question 15

A modernist seeks accommodation of religious tradition to the insights of science and

A) Religious tradition.
B) History.
C) Philosophy.
D) Social and political realities.

Question 16

The postmodern era is characterized by the collapse of

A) Class.
B) Subjectivity.
C) Metanarratives.
D) Society.

Question 17

Which is an explanation used to make sense of injustice?

A) Socialism.
B) Theodicy.
C) Amulet.
D) Veneration.

Question 18

Western religion is typically monotheistic, meaning

A) Belief in one god above many.
B) Belief in many gods.
C) Belief in one god only.
D) Both a and c.

Question 19

Religious experience must have a _______ frame of reference.

A) Theistic.
B) Spiritual.
C) Contemporary.
D) None of the above.

Question 20

A civilization in which there is no separation between a dominant religion and society is called

A) Premodern.
B) Postmodern.
C) Civic.
D) Neomodern.

Question 21

This trend makes the study of world religions especially pertinent in a postmodern society.

A) Symbolism.
B) Scarcity of resources.
C) Modernity.
D) Globalization.

Question 22

According to the authors, the great world religions emerged in which of the following centers of civilization in the ancient world?

A) India.
B) The Middle East.
C) China.
D) All of the above.

Question 23

A myth is defined as

A) A false story.
B) A symbolic story about the origins and destiny of humans and their world.
C) A native story that is not true.
D) A children's story that has a moral lesson.

Question 24

Religion is most closely characterized by

A) Whatever a community believes in.
B) A way for people to understand history.
C) A certain denomination.
D) The sense of being tied or bound by sacred obligations to powers believed to govern our destiny.

Question 25

Which of the following is not necessarily a component of religion?

A) Ritual.
B) A god.
C) Storying.
D) Ethics.

Question 26

These actions are thought to 'tie and bind' an individual to the sacred and to the community

A) Myth.
B) Orthodoxy.
C) Morality.
D) Ritual.

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT necessarily a key element of religion?

A) Community.
B) Leaders.
C) Denominations.
D) Ritual.

Question 28

The authors define 'sacred' as

A) Of God.
B) Ethical behavior.
C) That which is universal.
D) What matters most to a given community.

Question 29

In response to globalization, emerging departments of religious studies offered courses which were unique because they

A) Were offered form a monotheistic viewpoint.
B) Sought to understand diverse religious traditions with no preconceived bias.
C) Privileged Judaism and Christianity.
D) Recognized the role of agricultural advances in urbanization and globalization.

Question 30

Which era of history began with colonialism and the rise of modern science, then declined after World War II?

A) The modern era.
B) The postmodern era.
C) The Byzantine era.
D) The greatest era.

Question 31

Comparative religion pioneer Rudolf Otto argued that the simultaneous presence of these two emotions is a sure sign that one is in the presence of the sacred

A) Excitement and passion.
B) Awe and wonder.
C) Fascination and dread.
D) None of the above.

Question 32

This form of religious language is typical of religious traditions in which human beings seek a direct embodied experience of the ultimate reality.

A) Metaphor.
B) Negation.
C) Fundamentals.
D) Orthopraxy.

Question 33

The authors use the term ultimate reality to designate

A) God or gods of highest value and meaning for humanity.
B) World spirits.
C) Transpersonal and impersonal powers.
D) All of the above.

Question 34

In postmodernity, recognition of the _______ of worldviews tends to "relativize" and "privatize" all stories.

A) Doubt.
B) Reality.
C) Innocence.
D) Plurality.

Question 35

Symbolic language in religious story can take one of two forms, analogy or

A) Metaphor.
B) Negation.
C) Fundamentalist.
D) Orthopraxy.

Question 36

This transition period, marked by trends of urbanization, encompassed the emergence of world religions and their development to Classical Expressions.

A) Postmodernity.
B) Premodern to Modern.
C) Modernity.
D) Modern to Postmodern.

Question 37

The authors characterize "postmodern" as the time

A) Immediately after premodern time.
B) When all areas of life became secularized.
C) When separation of church and state first developed.
D) When all religious and scientific knowledge is viewed as relative.

Question 38

This form of religious language is typical of religious traditions in which human beings seek a direct embodied experience of the ultimate reality.

A) Metaphor.
B) Negation.
C) Fundamentals.
D) Orthodoxy.

Question 39

Marxism was a movement in opposition to

A) Secularism.
B) Progress.
C) Capitalism.
D) Science.

Question 40

Marx believed that a large class of urban workers would organize and eventually create a revolution, resulting in a new _______ society.

A) Classical.
B) Progressive.
C) Patriarchal.
D) Classless.

Question 41

One of the newest disciplines in the modern university is the academic study of _______.

Question 42

_______ of 1965 drastically increased diversity of immigrant populations and trend of globalization in the United States.

Question 43

Rather than believe God was the directing force of history, Karl Marx believed history to be directed by _______.

Question 44

Max Müller argued that "the person who knows only one religion understands _______."

Question 45

During the modern period, the social authority of religion was undermined by _______.

Question 46

Departments of religious studies began to appear in secular American universities in the 1960s in response to the increasing _______ spurred by globalization.

Question 47

In regard to religion, a Postmodernist might seek to affirm the role of religion in a manner which embraces _______.

Question 48

A _______ is a story accepted by the majority of a society as expressing its beliefs about its origins, destiny, and sacred identity.

Question 49

_______ is the belief in the nation as a sacred (most valued) entity.

Question 50

In the myths of _______, the goal of religion is thought to be to free humans suffering in a wheel of death and rebirth.

Question 51

The myths of history characterize the goal of life as peace and justice through _______ with the will of God.

Question 52

Many scholars of the Modern era believed that an increasing reliance on science would cause civilization to become increasingly _______.

Question 53

Religion is about what people hold _______, what matters more than anything else to them.

Question 54

The political, social, cultural, and economic domination of one society by another is called _______.

Question 55

Postmodernists may argue that not only religion but also _______ is an imaginative interpretation of the world rather than final truth about reality.

Question 56

A _______, medium, or oracle uses trance to communicate with sacred ancestors and the supernatural.

Question 57

The highest goal of the myths of _______ is to overcome the bondage of suffering in life.

Question 58

The two different religions that emerged in China to restore balance in society and the universe were _______ and Confucianism.

Question 59

A _______ is a symbolic story about the origins of the world and what determines the destiny of human beings.

Question 60

Myths of blissful liberation primarily originate in _______.

Question 61

_______ reactions have divided each religious tradition into groups of fundamentalists, modernists, and postmodernists.

Question 62

Fundamentalists reject ideas derived from the sciences that would call the foundations of their religious _______ into question.

Question 63

For many people during the 18^th century, a _______ worldview came to replace religion as the most certain form of knowledge.

Question 64

_______ interpretations of symbolic religious stories can lead to great confusion and/or misunderstanding.

Question 65

_______ is a term for the belief of the central doctrines set forth in texts and formulated by scholars.

Question 66

_______ are people not simply born into a given religion or identity but choose among alternatives, including whether to stay with what religion one inherited at birth.

Question 67

When _______ became the first religion to span the globe, every religion was made to reckon with its beliefs, its practices, and its critiques of other religions in a new diversity of worldviews.

Question 68

In most religious traditions, _______ and morality are closely intertwined.

Question 69

_______, the domination of one society by another, is part of the story of virtually all religions and civilizations.

Question 70

The idea that any human understanding of religious truth and practice can be subject to historical change and development is a view distinctly held by _______.

Question 71

A _______ in Hindu and Buddhism is a means for achieving liberation or enlightenment.

Question 72

The authors call a particular moment in which pre-modern religious traditions clashed with modern worldview an Encounter with _______.

Question 73

The modernist movement of _______ was sustained by a vision of scientific progress yet rallied against extreme individualism and modern capitalism.

Question 74

Whereas modern cultural metanarratives emphasize a story of history as progress, ancient cultural metanarratives were based on _______ myths.

Question 75

In the postmodern world, every religious person is a _______, because we all "choose" our religious identity.

Question 76

_______ imagination is necessary to understand metaphor and messages of different times and places.

Question 77

In the Myths of History, the ideal goal of life is for humans to be in harmony with the will of God, whereupon peace and justice will reign, and death will be _______

Question 78

_______ has disrupted notions of singular identities, including religious identity.

Question 79

Most modernists and postmodernists argue that religious tradition must _______.

Question 80

From a postmodern perspective, all knowledge is _______.