WORLD RELIGIONS

1
WORLD RELIGIONS

• THE NATURE of a RELIGIOUS TRADITION- religion
  begins with mystery

2
Religious Experience

• Specific experiences such as wonder at the
  infinity of the cosmos, the sense of awe and
  mystery in the presence of the holy, feelings of
  dependence on a divine power or an unseen order,
  the sense of guilt and anxiety accompanying
  belief in a divine judgment, and the feeling of
  peace that follows faith in divine forgiveness.

3
Mysterious

• Deriving from mystery, defined by Websters as a
  religious truth that one can know only by
  revelation and cannot fully understand
• A secret religious rite believed to impart
  enduring bliss
• For example the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the
  Resurrection

4
Being human prompts questions about our existence

• Where do we come from?
• Where are we going?
• Why are we here?
• What is the nature of the supreme or ultimate
  reality?
• By responding to the questions, religion provides
  a way of living and dying meaningfully amid the
  mystery.

5
What is the Human Condition?

• The basic nature of human beings
• Are we good or evil or somewhere in between?
• Are we flawed by history?
• Why do we suffer?
• How do we respond to these conditions?

6
What is Spiritual Perfection?

• What is ethical how are we to act while living
• What is right and what is wrong?
• How do we transcend the human condition or
  overcome the limitations imposed by the human
  condition?
• How do we attain salvation?
• What is salvation?

7
What is our Destiny?

• One leads to reward, typically eternal life in
  paradise
• One leads to condemnation - hell

8
What is the Nature of the World?

• COSMOLOGY
• The understanding of the nature of the universe
• Where did the world come from?
• Is it real or is it a cosmic illusion?

9
What is Ultimate Reality and How is it Revealed?

• Theologies
• Monotheism belief in only one GOD
• Polytheism belief in many gods
• Pantheism belief that the divine reality exists
  in everything