RLGA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Immanence, Atheism, Protestantism
VARK – survey of hat type of learner you are
Religion/ Folk concept:
- Religion- claim that people make, it is not something we can find anywhere
- Western folk concept – urban tale, not scientifically established
- Folk concept of religion - experience out of ordinary life – rituals / activities;
interaction with a transcendent being
- Transcendent – outside of space and time, going beyond
- Set of beliefs, code of behavior,, world views
Reading: Defining Religion p135
- Western, Christian concept
- Academy’s concept
o Jonathan Z. Smith (1982, p. xi) ‘‘Religion is solely the creation of
the scholar’s study. It is created for the scholar’s analytic purposes
by his imaginative acts of comparison and generalization. Religion
has no existence apart from the academy.’’
- as scholars we are constructing or concocting these definitions
- Teaches us: rethink what language does, by defining something it doesn’t
necessarily attach to something in the world. Ex: religion- has no attachment
- Scholars create the object of study but is not necessarily out there
Folks:
- Institution that is distinct for other institutions (factories, hospitals, business,
schools)
- Transcendence – belief in…
- Singular membership – long to one particular tradition
Counter examples:
- Don’t think of it as a different institution
- Principle that’s in from t of us , within or in our world – immanence
o Mystics: Ex: Sufi’s – god is closer to you, than you yourself / god Is
always present
- Heretics: someone who doesn’t agree with an institution or corporate
statement about how things should be practiced or believed
- For some just ritual action. Go to temple but don’t think about god
P 138 Alcoholics Anonymous
- belief that if you’re addicted to a substance you have no will power so you
give way to the higher power – beaconing and alcoholic
- Confessions = religious meeting
Religion basis history
- Romans = religio
o Social duties / responsibilities / obligations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
As scholars we are constructing or concocting these definitions interaction with a transcendent being. Set of beliefs, code of behavior,, world views. Religion- claim that people make, it is not something we can find anywhere. Religion/ folk concept: jonathan z. smith (1982, p. xi) religion is solely the creation of the scholar"s study. It is created for the scholar"s analytic purposes by his imaginative acts of comparison and generalization. Religion has no existence apart from the academy. "". Vark survey of hat type of learner you are. Western folk concept urban tale, not scientifically established. Folk concept of religion - experience out of ordinary life rituals / activities; Transcendent outside of space and time, going beyond. Teaches us: rethink what language does, by defining something it doesn"t. Singular membership long to one particular tradition. Don"t think of it as a different institution.
