Introduction%20to%20Religious%20Studies%20Prof.%20Felix%20Just,%20S.J.

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Introduction to Religious Studies Prof. Felix
Just, S.J.

• Western Religions Overview

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Faith and Belief

• Nouns faith trust, confidence
• Confidence in someone/somethingShe has faith in
  her doctor.
• A belief in a supernatural powerHave faith! He
  lost his faith.
• A religious system or institution The Christian
  faith. The Jewish faith.
• Verbs to believe to have faith, to trust
  (trans. intrans.)
• To accept something as real or true I believe
  this story.
• To affirm a statement or assertion I believe
  (that) she will come soon.
• To grant someone veracity or trust I believe
  you I believe in you.
• To assert the value of something I believe in
  democracy.
• To have spiritual or religious faith. I believe.

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Faith and Believing

• Word Derivations (from Latin)
• fides faithfulness, firmness fidere to
  trust
• Cf. English fidelity infidel confident, etc.
• credere to believe credo I believe
• Cf. English credible, credence, incredulous,
  credit, etc.
• Scripture Texts on Faith/Believing
• Judaism Gen 155-6 Josh 2414-15
• Christianity Heb 111 John 316
• Islam Quran 1099-100 82-4

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Types of Belief in God(s) lots of isms

• Theism, Atheism
• Agnosticism, Gnosticism
• Deism, Pantheism
• Polytheism, Paganism/Heathenism
• Henotheism, Monotheism
• Trinitarianism (vs.Tri-Theism)
• Others?
• Hint Learn these in pairs or groups of similar
  terms.

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Types of Belief in God (I)

• Theism
• Belief in the existence of a God or any gods
• The generic term, of which other isms are
  subcategories
• Atheism
• The opposite Belief that God and/or gods do not
  exist
• Agnosticism
• Not knowing whether God exists overall
  non-belief
• Gnosticism
• A religious system that believes salvation comes
  through knowledge (Gk. gnosis) of ones divine
  origin and destiny

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Types of Belief in God (II)

• Deism
• Belief that God created the world, but no longer
  influences it
• Based on 18th-century rationalism (e.g. Thomas
  Jefferson)
• Pantheism
• Belief that divinity is everywhere / in
  everything (Gk. pan)
• Whole universe is divine but there is no God
  apart from the world
• Polytheism
• Belief in the existence of many (Gk. poly) gods
• Egyptians Mesopotamians many gods, often in
  animal form
• Greek Romans large family of gods, on Mount
  Olympus

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Types of Belief in God (III)

• Monotheism
• Belief in the existence of only one (Gk. monos)
  God
• What others call gods are at most spirits, but
  not divine
• Jews and Muslims believe in one God
• God is an indivisible unity no associates or
  partners
• Christians believe in one God, who is a Trinity
• One divine nature in three divine persons
• Father (Creator), Son (Jesus), Holy Spirit
• Trinitarianism Trinitarian Monotheism
• not the same as Tri-theism (belief in 3
  different gods)

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Types of Belief in God (IV)

• Henotheism
• Allegiance to one (Gk. hen) god over the others
• All nations have their own gods Our god is
  better than your gods
• Assumes polytheistic worldview, but monotheistic
  worship
• Paganism / Heathenism
• All religions outside of Judaism, Christianity,
  and Islam
• Popular connotation is negative unbelievers,
  hedonists, etc.
• Academic meaning is neutral all
  non-monotheistic religions

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Identifying God (Titles Names)

• Generic Titles
• God / god, Deity, Divine Power, El, Elohim,
  Allah, etc.
• Father, Mother, Creator, Lord, King, etc.
• Proper Names
• Jewish YHWH (Yahweh? Jehovah?) Ya/Ja
• Mesopotamian Asherah, Baal Ishtar, Marduk,
  Tiamat, etc.
• Egyptian Aten, Horus, Isis, Osiris, Ra, Seth,
  Thoth, etc.
• Greco-Roman / Olympian ZeusJupiter
  AthenaDiana etc.

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Talking about God (Philosophically)

• God is Absolute (positive negative)
• ALL omnipotent (all powerful) omniscient (all
  knowing) omnipresent (everywhere)
  omni-benevolent (all merciful)
• NOT invisible (not seen) immutable
  (unchanging) immortal (not dying) infinite
  (not limited) etc.
• Language is Limited (analogies opposites)
• God is transcendent (beyond) immanent
  (internal)
• So God-talk is possible, but always analogical /
  inadequate
• Both/And Approach via positiva via negativa

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Classifying World Religions

• Major Categories
• Eastern Western Local New Religions
• Best term for Judaism, Christianity, Islam
• "Religions of the Book"?
• "Monotheistic Religions"?
• "Religions of Abrahamic Origin"?
• "Religions of Judaic Origin"?
• "Religions of Near Eastern Origin"?
• Advantages Drawbacks of each of these?

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The Three Western Religions (and their
sub-branches)

• Judaism (ca. 15 Million)
• Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist
• Christianity (ca. 2.1 Billion)
• (Eastern) Orthodox Greek Russian Armenian
  etc.
• (Roman) Catholic Latin, Byzantine, and other
  rites
• (Western) Protestant many churches/denomination
  s
• Islam (ca. 1.3 Billion)
• Suni Shiite Sufi

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The Three Western Religions(religion / members /
adj. // Book // founder, leaders)

• Judaism / Jews / Jewish
• TaNaK (Hebrew Bible, esp. Torah)
• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) -- 2nd mill.
  BC/BCE
• Moses, David, prophets, priests, kings
• Christianity / Christians / Christian
• Bible (Old Testament New Testament)
• Christ Jesus -- 1st century AD/CE
• Peter Paul, apostles, evangelists, bishops
• Islam / Moslems / Muslim Islamic
• Quran (or Koran)
• Prophet Muhammad -- 7th century AD/CE
• Caliphs ("successors"), Imams ("leaders")

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Summary / Review

• Types of Belief in God (-isms)
• Theism vs. Atheism vs. Agnosticism
• Deism vs. Pantheism
• Polytheism Paganism
• Henotheism vs. Monotheism (and Trinitarianism)
• Western / Monotheistic Religions
• Common Core Faith/Belief in One God!
• Differences Judaism / Christianity / Islam?