Study of religion

of the brain. Cognitive science, in particular, is an interdisciplinary area of study - combining psychology, anthropology, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, and philosophy – that focuses on the mind. A subdivision of cognitive science, called the cognitive science of religion, explores the connection between religious experience and the mind. As Christians, we must critically evaluate these areas of study, seeking truth and understanding. My response to Dr. Barret’s essay will focus…

How Does Religion Impact Society? Some of the biggest aspects of culture involve language, tradition, and religion. Religion hasn’t always been the controversial subject it is today; religion was once the “glue” of a community. Presently, studies have been conducted on the impact religion has on society. There are positive ones, for example, health and the family life, and negative comments also; religion has a mixed impact on our society. Studies have shown that religion has an impact on the…

Mathematics and Religion Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali is known as one of the most influential thinkers in Muslim history. He lived from 1058-1111 and spent his life as a jurist, theologian, philosopher, and logician. Al-Ghazzali grew up and studies in a time of major change and innovation within Islamic culture. As the Islamic culture developed and spread to new areas, the cultures of many foreign areas began interacting and influencing the Islamic growth. While al-Ghazzali focused many of his…

In “Anthropology and Religion”, Robert L. Winzeler discusses religion and what it is in terms of the vast ranges of societies known to anthropology (1). He first discusses that terms for religion really do not exist in other places and are not necessarily the same within all of them (Winzeler, 2). For example, Winzeler says, “Neither the Chinese nor the Japanese have a single traditional term that is the simple equivalent of the Western notion of religion”, meaning that in both Japanese and…

The aim of this paper is to give a detailed and succinct synopsis of Chapter four of the book titled “The Religion Toolkit.” I will begin by addressing the author’s salient arguments, and conclude by addressing questions which arise in Chapter four. In this chapter, the author discusses ways in which academic scholars have evolved in terms of how they approach the academic study of religion. The writer explains that from the beginning of the early 20th century, there was a visible shift in the…

A Muslim, sometimes spelled Moslem, relates to a person who follows the religion of Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Quran. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Like Christianity, Islam teaches that there is one God in the universe, giving Muslims a monotheistic worldview. And Muslims believe that Muhammad was a prophet and Christians don't. Both faiths also believe in an afterlife, although the makeup of…

the "Living Religions" Ninth Edition book, there was one paragraph that really stuck out at me on page three. "In many cultures and times, religion has been the basic foundation of life, permeating all aspects of human existence. But from the time of the European Enlightenment, religion has become in the West an object to be studied, rather than an unquestioned basic fact of life. Cultural anthropologist, sociologist, philosophers, psychologists, and even biologist have peered at religion…

Since the dawn of time, Religion has been the center of man’s understanding. Striving to discern the world around us, we have devoted ourselves to gods and religions that supplied the answers to our unanswered questions. Man’s perceptions of these gods and have been the cause to humanity’s effect. Presently, Christianity stands tall among the world’s most popular religions, with just over two billion followers accounting for roughly thirty-one percent of the population worldwide (Shirley). Its…

All religions do not matter which, are composed of many components which make each religion different and unique in its own way. Rituals and myths are one of the main components of religion. Mythology is known as the study of myths, and myths are most commonly defined to be ancient/ traditional stories. Rituals are a sequence of activities involving ancient objects, spiritual words, and gestures. Even after defining these two components there is still a big question that religious studies…

people view religion as a cornerstone of their lives and indoctrinate their children into a belief system at an early age. This is done in an effort set a strong foundation for growth based upon the parent’s religious and personal beliefs to raise a child with morals, a strong sense of self, and of community. However, religion can inadvertently be a tool for intolerance against those of different beliefs. Heiphetz and colleagues performed five experiments using children and adults to study both…