Sociology Of Religion

Front 1

What are Symbols?

Back 1

Symbols are acts or objects that represent something else and therefore have meaning beyond their own fleeting existence.

Front 2

Otto distinguished five qualities of the human experience of the sacred (mysterium tremendum), which he considers to be the universal foundation and source of all religious behavior:

Back 2

1. The individual feels awe and fear.
2. He/she feels overwhelmed by the absolute unapproachability of the holy.
3. The experience brings about power, energy, or urgency.
4. It causes an awareness of the “wholly otherness” of the holy.
5. A sense of fascination and attraction to the holy is felt.

Front 3

Andrew Greeley points out that there are two kinds of religious extraordinariness:

Back 3

1. The need to make meaningful sense out of life.
2. The need for belonging and being connected.

Front 4

Myth and ritual are

Back 4

interdependent.

Front 5

Myths

Back 5

Myths are the stories or beliefs that help people understand the nature of the cosmos, the purpose and meaning of life, or the role and origin of evil and suffering.

~ They are the symbolic statements that explain and justify life.

Front 6

Orthopraxy

Back 6

correctness or orthodoxy of action or practice.

Front 7

Religious ritual involves

Back 7

affirmation of the myths and gives emotional impulse to the belief system.

Front 8

Myth, ritual, and nonrational experiences are

Back 8

interrelated and mutually supportive.

Front 9

Geertz definition of religion

Back 9

, “a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations… by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence,” clarifies the importance of symbols.

Front 10

Edmund Leach views rituals as

Back 10

“storage systems” that contain knowledge, which is transmitted into a worldview and ethos.
Example: Catholic altar and sign of the cross.

Front 11

Worldview

Back 11

Worldview refers to the intellectual process within which one explains the meaning of existence.

~ It is one’s mode of perceiving the world and one’s general overview of life

Front 12

Ethos

Back 12

is the attitudes about life (moods, motivations).

Front 13

Dissonance

Back 13

A person experiences dissonance, or internal cognitive conflict, when an occurrence does not fit into his/her world view.

Front 14

Official religion

Back 14

is the orthodox faith as is formally presented, and it usually involves a more systematic theology and a more universalistic application of the faith.

Front 15

Nonofficial religion

Back 15

Nonofficial religion is any set of religious and quasi-religious beliefs and practices that is not accepted, recognized, or controlled by official religious groups (side note: not all nonofficial religion is necessarily folk religion).

Front 16

Conflict between official and folk religion:

Back 16

1. Official religion develops a systematic theology, which may not be of particular importance to the common laity.
2. The elite’s desire to make faith relevant to all cultures and peoples differs from folk religion’s synthesis of local customs, values, beliefs, and traditions.
3. Some scholars believe that conflict between official and folk religion is a struggle over power.