A History Of The World Religions - 13Ed

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Animism

Back 1

attribution of a discrete indwelling spirit to every material form of reality such as plants, stones, and to natural phenomena like storms

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Aversive Magic

Back 2

the use of extraordinary materials , rites, and spells to ward off or destroy agents deemed harmful

Front 3

Contagious Magic

Back 3

a form of sympathetic magic based on the view that things once conjoined continue to influence each other when separated

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Cosmogony

Back 4

a theory or myth regarding the origin of the universe, the earth, and living beings

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Divination

Back 5

the employment of magical practices (lottery, aurgury, special psychic powers, etc.) for the purpose of gaining knowledge of future events or events unknowable by ordinary investigation

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Fetishism

Back 6

veneration and use of natural or prepared material objects (fetishes) imbued with special potency (mana) for purposes of averting evil effects or acquiring values

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Mana

Back 7

an invisible potency believed to inhabit extraordinary and awesome person, object or phenomena

Front 8

Necromancy

Back 8

communication with the dead for purposes of divination or magically influencing the course or natural events

Front 9

Productive Magic

Back 9

the use of extraordinary materials, rites, or spells to gain desired products, values or effects

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Rites of Intensification

Back 10

prescribed forms of ceremony, worship, or veneration used for purposes of strengthening communal values or increasing spiritual potency

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Rites of Passage

Back 11

prescribed forms of ceremony used to mark and celebrate significant events in the life stages of an individual; birth, puberty, marriage, ordination to a special role, death, and so on.

Front 12

Shamanism

Back 12

a mode of dealing with the spirit world through the agency of an individual set apart as spirit possessed and specially equipped to deal with superhuman forces (The term shaman is generically applied to healers, exorcists, sorcerers, magicians, fetish priests, and the like)

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Sympathetic Magic

Back 13

the effort to control events, animals or persons by extraordinary means that are imitative or analogical in form (A doll or effigy, for example, may be stabbed or burned as a means of casting a spell upon a living being, or red ochre powder used to restore the glow of life to a pallid body)

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Taboo

Back 14

a strict prohibition applied to a person, a thing, or an action (The taboo is mandated by a superhuman sacred law, and the exclusion from use, approach, or mention are tacitly accepted beyond rational explanation or challenge.)

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Totemism

Back 15

the recognition of a special relationship between a human group or an individual and a class or species of animals, plants, or inanimate objects (The ritual relationship is usually seen as mandated by superhuman forces for the mutual benefit of the humans and the totemic objects.)

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Astrology

Back 16

a method of predicting the course of individual lives and world events by relating them to the movements and positions of stars and planes

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Chthonian

Back 17

forces, powers, or deities dwelling in or under the earth

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Moira

Back 18

what is allotted , fate in Greek thought

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Numen

Back 19

divine potency emanating from a deity, person, or thing; sometimes the divine part of a deified person

Front 20

Oracle

Back 20

a divine or an especially authoritative revelation (or the person who delivers it) often an ambiguous or enigmatic utterance spoken through a medium in a trance state

Front 21

Pantheon

Back 21

a set of deities, usually all of the divine beings venerated in a culture or region

Front 22

Theogony

Back 22

an account of the origin of the gods

Front 23

Wyrd

Back 23

a Teutonic term for "what happens," chance, fate, or destiny, sometimes generically personified, sometimes conceived as operating through three personifications called Norns

Front 24

Zigguarat

Back 24

a type of pyramidal structure erected by ancient Mesopotamians, a human-made mountain with stepped-back terracing encased in brick and topped by shrine

Front 25

Agni

Back 25

the sacred fire, as Agni, the ritual priest god of fire and light

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Aryans

Back 26

(Indo-Europeans) semi-nomadic peoples who migrated from eastern Europe and central Asia westward to become the ancestors of the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and Teutons, and eastward to Persia and India (ca. 1500 BCE); their Sanskrit culture infuses the dominant tradition in India today

Front 27

Asvamedha

Back 27

the ancient Aryan horse sacrafice

Front 28

Atharva-Veda

Back 28

Brahamic ritual poetry dedicated to meeting a practical needs; healing illnesses , casting spells to win a lover, averting bad luck, or expiating sins

Front 29

Atman

Back 29

the essence of consciousness, the soul; ultimately the subjective component of brahman

Front 30

Brahma

Back 30

the Creator,: although less popular than Shiva and Vishnu, he is a member of the supreme triad with them and a sharer of the title Ishvara ("Lord")

Front 31

Brahman

Back 31

in Vedic literature a manalike magical potency especially associated with sacred utterances (mantras) and prayer, in later philosophical works, Brahman is the ultimate ground of all forms and phenomena, the World Soul

Front 32

Brahmanas

Back 32

commentaries on the Vedas stress the potency of Brahmanic ritual for control over gods, nature, and humankind

Front 33

Brahman-Atman

Back 33

a compound term indicate the essential identity of individual consciousness with eternal Brahman, the universal World Soul

Front 34

Brahmin

Back 34

a member of the Brahmana or priestly class of castes, the highest group in the varna ordering of society

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Brihaspati

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a ritual deity, the power of prayer personified

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Dasas

Back 36

dark-skinned indigenous inhabitants of northwest India subdued by invading Aryans; the Dasas were probably survivors from the Indus Valley culture and kindred peoples of the Punjab

Front 37

Dravidians

Back 37

a major racial and linguistic family of dark-skinned non-Aryan peoples most numerous in south India; whether they are descendants of the Indus Valley culture is uncertain

Front 38

Henotheism

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flattering ritual attribution of supreme position and a vast array of powers to one of the many gods, temporarily ignoring, but not denying , the existence of the others

Front 39

Indra

Back 39

god of storms and monsoon, slayer of Vritra in mystic cosmogony in the Rig-Veda

Front 40

Jiva

Back 40

the principle of vitality, the empirical self, or the embodied atman

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Kalpa

Back 41

a world age or aeon, a unit in the cycle of periodic dissolutions and reconstitutions of all things

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Karma

Back 42

"deeds," "works," the principle of inexorable cause and effect

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Kshatriya

Back 43

the warrior-chieftain class of castes, the second-ranking group in varna

Front 44

Maya

Back 44

the illusion-creating power of Brahman, unlike the delusional avidya (ignorance) of mortals, this is the inventive sport of the cosmic Mind

Front 45

Moska

Back 45

release, liberation from the cycle of samsara

Front 46

Monism

Back 46

the metaphysical view that ultimate reality is made up of only one substance diversity is only apparent and can be traced to one substrate

Front 47

Prakriti

Back 47

the eternal self-subsisting material world, Nature

Front 48

Purusha

Back 48

as Purusha, the original cosmic Person; in later philosophies, pure consciousness, the non-material world, Nature

Front 49

Rig veda

Back 49

a collection of over one thousand Sanskrit hymns, the liturgical handbook of early Aryan hotar priests, the older portion of Brahmanic "revealed" sacred literature

Front 50

Rudra

Back 50

mountain god of the north wind, sometimes destroyer, sometimes healer, later worshiped under the name Shiva, "auspicious"

Front 51

Samasara

Back 51

sequence of change, impermanence, the cycle of rebirth-redeath that afflicts every living being until release (Moksha)

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Shruti

Back 52

"that which is heard," most sacred core of Brahamanic literature

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Shudra

Back 53

worker class of castes, fourth and lowest ranking in the varna social order

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Smriti

Back 54

"that which is remembered," secondary level of sacred writings that derive from revelation but are composed by human authors

Front 55

Soma

Back 55

sacred drink; as Soma, the ritual priest-god of libations

Front 56

Tapas

Back 56

austerity-generated "heat"; subjectively, each impulse mastered stokes the inner fire of psychic power, universally, containment generates warmth incubating the cosmic germ/egg

Front 57

Upanishads

Back 57

"sitting near a teacher," commentary treatises expanding on the philosophical meaning found in the Vedas

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Vaisya

Back 58

the merchant, artisan, and small landholder class of castes, third in the Varna order

Front 59

Varna

Back 59

classes of castes

Front 60

Varuna

Back 60

Vedic deity of the night sky, keeper of the natural and moral order

Front 61

Veda

Back 61

ancient Brahmanic ritual poems and hyms

Front 62

Vedanta

Back 62

"the end of the Vedas," commentary treatises (Upanishads) on the Vedas in later times, one of the six recognized systems of Hindu philosophy