Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Religion Matters

predicts that as societies modernize, they will become less religious.

________ (written or oral) that concerns issues transcendent to the contingent, finite human world.

is the act of reducing particular religious traditions to hard- and- fast things.

evolves and changes over time, and religious influences are embedded in all dimensions of culture.

those who affirm it cannot agree who or what resides on their mountaintops, even though they believe all religion connect at the peak

predicts that as societies modernize, they will become less religious

they exclude too much

include too much

The Way of Faith and Devolution

• this is the way people talk about Judaism or Christianity in Sunday school, or how Hindus sing of their love of Krishna

• basically, the nonreligious study of religion

• KEYWORD: insider view

A Nondevotional and Nontheological Way

• it is the way of religious studies. aim is not to do religion but to study it

• KEYWORD: outsider’s view

1. an analysis of the human PROBLEM

2. a SOLUTION to that problem

3. TECHNIQUES for achieving that goal

4. EXEMPLARS who chart the path toward the goal (saints, gurus, etc.)

1. the ritual dimension (rites and ceremonies)

2. the narrative or mythic dimension (myths and other stories related to sacred things)

3. the experiential or emotional dimension (experience of awe, guilt, bliss)

4. the social or institutional dimension (religious organizations)

5. the ethical or legal dimension (laws and moral codes)

6. the doctrinal or philosophical dimension (creeds, theologies)

7. the material dimension (prayer beads, icons, temple architecture)

1. Discourse (written or oral) that concerns issues transcendent to the continent, finite human world

2. a set of practices who’s purpose is to produce a proper world (or proper human character)

3. a community whose members construct their identity with reference to such discourses and practices

4. an institution that regulates discourse, practices, and community (with the goal of reproducing this into the future)

• be suspicious of the religious categories, avoid bad generalizations, and acknowledge ourselves and others that the generalizations we make are just generalizations