Chapter 1: Studying the World's Religions

The Nature of a Religious Tradition

Question. What issues are addressed when asking about the human condition?

Answer. Are we by nature good or evil? Or are we somewhere in between, originally good but now flawed? Why do we suffer?

Question. What is meant by the notion of salvation described as transcendence?

Answer. Overcoming the limitations of the human condition in the here and now.

Question. What do religions determine by answering the ethical question, What is right and wrong?

Answer. How we are to act while living in the world.

Question. Name some ways that different religions perceive the nature of the world.

Answer. The world may be real or a cosmic illusion; living and sacred or merely matter; a help or a hindrance to religious quests.

Question. Identify the difference between theistic and nontheistic religions.

Answer. Theistic religions hold a belief in a personal God or gods, and nontheistic religions do not.

Question. What are the two ways through which revelation of the ultimate reality usually takes place?

Answer. Through sacred stories or myths, or through various types of religious experience.

Question. Describe in general terms the religious experience of the theistic religions. Then briefly compare this with the religious experience of the nontheistic religions.

Answer. Generally speaking, within the theistic religions God is experi­enced as a holy presence who is other. This presence evokes both fear and fascination. In nontheistic religions, religious experience usually takes the form of mysticism.

Question. Briefly explain the concept of myth.

Answer. Myths are non-historical and non-rational sources of sacred truth. Myths are also very powerful, for they give meaning to life. Passed along from one generation to the next, myths set forth fundamental knowledge regarding the nature of things and the proper way to live.

Question. In addition to myth, belief, and religious experience, identify other basic elements of religions.

Answer. Ritual and worship; religious community; sacred entities, art, and architecture.

Question. How does the study of the world's religions benefit from a comparative approach?

Answer. Studying many religions of the world enables us to know each one, including our own, more precisely.

Question. What is empathy?

Answer. The capacity for seeing things from another's perspective.