Deck 2: Indigenous Religions

Question 1

Before agriculture and urbanization, humans organized themselves into

A) Clans based on gender.
B) Tribes based on skin color.
C) Hunter-gatherer societies.
D) Trade-bearing societies.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

It is believed that the human capacity for language to create and build culture existed by

A) 100 BCE.
B) 1000 BCE.
C) 10,000 BCE.
D) 100,000 BCE.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In the prehistoric worldview, time was viewed as being

A) Linear.
B) Circular.
C) Neither linear nor circular.
D) Both linear and circular.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In oral cultures, history was preserved, in part, through

A) Written scrolls.
B) Bone relays.
C) Shared stories.
D) Chance.

Question 5

Indigenous religions view the process of birth, death, and rebirth as

A) A one-time occurrence.
B) Eternal.
C) An illusion.
D) Karmic.

Question 6

What element has always been at the center of human culture?

A) Cave rituals.
B) Religion.
C) Shamanism.
D) None of the above.

Question 7

The term "axis mundi" refers to

A) Ancestors.
B) The latitude and longitude of a society's location.
C) Physical objects and sites where people believed they had sacred experiences.
D) Ancient myths.

Question 8

The most basic expressions of religion include

A) Ritual, ability to create meaning, sacred space, and devotion.
B) Interpretation of symbols, devotion, and ritual.
C) Myth, doctrine, and ritual.
D) Devotion, participation in church sect, and ability to tell a story.

Question 9

Evidence suggests that the function of burial in indigenous societies was to

A) Please the relatives of the departed.
B) Ensure a good crop for that season.
C) Submit to the expectation of the gods.
D) Open a gateway to an afterlife.

Question 10

The progressive complexity in the mastery of tools was accompanied by what two features?

A) Development of language ability and presence of religion.
B) Development of writing and observance of religious rituals.
C) Rational attitudes and awareness of other societies.
D) Literacy and increasingly complex myth and ritual.

Question 11

Scholars fairly recently learned that first peoples were actually

A) Superstitious, irrational, and simple-minded.
B) Highly rational, subdued, and analytical.
C) Irrational, primitive in their thinking, and moderately skilled.
D) Highly skilled, rational, and sophisticated in their thinking.

Question 12

For indigenous societies, being religious meant

A) Participating in the oral tradition of telling stories.
B) Experiencing an embodied engagement with the world.
C) Perpetuating creeds and doctrines passed down from previous generations.
D) Interpreting credal texts correctly.

Question 13

For humans before the modern era, which of the following was an acceptable representation of ultimate reality?

A) A dictate from the gods.
B) Only thoughts while fully awake and conscious.
C) Dreams and visions.
D) The material world.

Question 14

The shaman's role is universally regarded as

A) Dangerous.
B) Ordinary.
C) Secret.
D) Mythical.

Question 15

Groups of related individuals in indigenous societies usually consisted of

A) 6 to 8 individuals.
B) A dozen individuals.
C) Around 50 individuals.
D) 75 to 80 individuals.

Question 16

The term "animism" can only be applied to

A) Indigenous peoples.
B) The Abrahamic faiths.
C) Chinese religions.
D) None of the above.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of indigenous religion?

A) Engagement of all the bodily senses and emotions with the natural world.
B) A strong relatedness to the natural world.
C) A linear view of time.
D) Expressions of singing, dancing, and fasting.

Question 18

Objects called Venus figurines that were found across Eurasia in late prehistory were likely related to concerns about the

A) Success of crops.
B) Rising of the sun and moon.
C) Well-being of ancestors in the afterlife.
D) Birth and survival of children.

Question 19

A shaman would NOT

A) Be trained by the local priest.
B) Be considered a folk healer.
C) Be called a witch doctor.
D) All of the above.

Question 20

In indigenous societies, people used a totem to

A) Promote collective solidarity, maintain right relations with ancestors, and ensure the group of a bountiful food supply.
B) Establish indigenous identities, replace making sacrifices to the gods, and ensure the group of a bountiful food supply.
C) Regulate relations with outsiders, assert their personal identity, and express their ideology.
D) Establish indigenous identities, promote collective solidarity, and regulate relations with outsiders.

Question 21

The New Guinea agricultural group called the Dani engages continuously in lethal warfare to

A) Satisfy their moral precept of "a life for a life."
B) Weaken the collective community.
C) Make sure the dead remain dead.
D) Appease the enemy's ancestors.

Question 22

Religion is centered on humans establishing and expressing

A) Life's ultimate truths.
B) Boundaries.
C) A safe space.
D) Common bonds.

Question 23

The term "shaman" originally came from a group of hunters and reindeer herders in

A) Norway.
B) Finland.
C) Siberia.
D) Antarctica.

Question 24

The four religious figures central to understanding the world's religions are

A) Priest, pope, Buddha, and disciple.
B) Pope, god, ancestors, and shaman.
C) Shaman, prophet, sage, and priest.
D) Sage, disciple, philosopher, and priest.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT one of the disastrous consequences of modern European colonialism on indigenous societies?

A) Introduction of new diseases.
B) Enslavement of native peoples.
C) Plundering of native peoples' riches.
D) Introduction of hallucinogenic substances.

Question 26

According to Kung San belief, why would the soul of a person who has died return to earth as a ghost?

A) To try to sicken loved ones so they arrive in the afterlife quicker.
B) To alleviate the pain and suffering of their loved ones.
C) To heal the community.
D) To feel closer to friends and family.

Question 27

According to French sociologist Émile Durkheim, religion's power to _______ keeps it central in human life.

A) Bind us together.
B) Heal us.
C) Convert us.
D) Tell us how to live.

Question 28

Which of the following would NOT be required for a protective spirit to help a shaman?

A) Increase healing power.
B) Negotiate with evil spirits.
C) Hold a burial ceremony.
D) Perform heroic spirit flights.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT an example of an indigenous religion?

A) Animism.
B) Kung San.
C) Yanomami.
D) Lakota Sioux

Question 30

Across South Korea shamanic practices are

A) Outlawed.
B) Tolerated, if done quietly.
C) Treated indifferently.
D) Uniquely honored.

Question 31

In the record of human history, the first known mode of religious life is clearly bound to

A) Social life.
B) Recreation.
C) Stories.
D) Ancestor veneration.

Question 32

Providing answers to such problems as whether the ghost of a dead child is causing family troubles, where a soul might be residing, or what can be done to gain the favor of a god who can help end a drought is a method of communication called

A) Storytelling.
B) Prayer.
C) Divination.
D) Beseechment.

Question 33

The term "indigenous religions" implies that the social and religious lives of a group are

A) Very poor.
B) Well developed.
C) Primitive.
D) Rooted deeply to a given place.

Question 34

A "totem" is a symbol that is

A) Emblematic of the community.
B) Treated as sacred.
C) Can be animal, reptile, insect, or plant.
D) All of the above.

Question 35

Some Western urbanites want to study with shamans because they see traditional shamanic practices as

A) Feminine in nature.
B) Proper and contained.
C) Open and modern.
D) The last remaining spiritual frontier on earth.

Question 36

The phenomenon in which indigenous beliefs are woven together with those of outsiders is called

A) Syncretism.
B) Colonialist religion.
C) Sympathetic response.
D) None of the above.

Question 37

What one change directly helped human groups organize themselves better, understand and adapt to their environment better, and adapt to each other better?

A) Creation of religion.
B) Shamanism.
C) Increased quality of diet.
D) Cave drawings.

Question 38

Which of the following was NOT a major concern in indigenous societies?

A) Fertility.
B) Gender boundaries.
C) Trade.
D) Group boundaries.

Question 39

An example of archaic practices still enduring in East Asia is

A) Ancestor veneration.
B) Karma.
C) Yoga.
D) Performance of miracles.

Question 40

Which dominant religions in Asia tolerate the integration of shamanic practices?

A) Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
B) Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism.
C) Ba'hai, Wicca, and Buddhism.
D) Islam, Judaism, and Protestantism.

Question 41

Indigenous religion is not private or secretive.

Question 42

The first known practice of religion was less than 2,000 year ago.

Question 43

In the record of human history, the first known mode of religious life is contingent upon a belief in angels.

Question 44

Survival in indigenous societies was not necessarily dependent on close-knit bonds.

Question 45

Scholars view prehistoric caves as a classroom where elders instructed adolescent boys in the rituals of hunting.

Question 46

No "small-scale subsistence peoples" exist today.

Question 47

Thinking symbolically made no difference in the destiny of our species.

Question 48

Before the modern era, most humans took dreams and visions seriously.

Question 49

A common conception in indigenous religions is that physical sickness is caused by the loss of an individual's soul.

Question 50

In an animistic worldview only humans and animals are endowed with souls or spirits that animate them.

Question 51

Many indigenous societies held spirit beings, or souls, to be the ultimate reality.

Question 52

Shamanism is the most enduring feature in indigenous religions.

Question 53

According to French sociologist Émile Durkheim, the power of religion to bind us together ensures that religion will always be central in human life.

Question 54

Shamans typically do not deal with issues of death.

Question 55

Some indigenous peoples believed that they should eat the flesh of the dead so that the spirit of the dead one could be freed and come back to life.

Question 56

Members of the Aboriginal kangaroo clan in Australia would likely eat kangaroo meat.

Question 57

In indigenous societies, a totem held no significance.

Question 58

Members of the Kung San culture believe that the dead go to an afterlife.

Question 59

The Lakota Sioux of North America believe that only select individuals have the potential for supernatural connection.

Question 60

Shamans around the world still play an important role of leading their societies in facing the crisis of modernity.

Question 61

Religion has been at the very center of human culture from the earliest days.

Question 62

A taboo is something that is considered acceptable in a community.

Question 63

The Blackfoot tribe is an example of an indigenous group in which shaman are marginal or completely absent.

Question 64

In response to colonialism by the Euro-Americans, indigenous peoples believed that hiding their beliefs and practices would be the final straw in their demise.

Question 65

A shaman cannot intervene with unseen powers.

Question 66

Both men and women may become shamans in the Kung San culture.

Question 67

Asia is the area of the world where shamanism has most readily integrated with other religious traditions.

Question 68

The role of spirit mediums, called dangki, in modern-day Taiwan has dramatically decreased with Taiwan's rising prosperity.

Question 69

Korean shamans, called mudang, are predominantly women.

Question 70

It was once legal in the United States to discriminate against Native American religious practices.

Question 71

The metaphor of human life existing on a plane between heaven above and a netherworld below is found only in a small minority of the major world religions.

Question 72

The prophets and sages of the great world religions are presented as being less skilled in shamanic arts such as miracle making and healing the sick than shamans in prehistory.

Question 73

A tutelary spirit is a supernatural agent whose help is required to perform spirit flights, negotiate with evil spirits, compel a soul to return, or increase the shaman's powers.

Question 74

It is important to compare the role religion played in understanding the central issues humans faced in prehistory with the role religion plays now.

Question 75

Indigenous peoples today consider dreams and visions important sources in discerning meaning and purpose in life.

Question 76

Because the Dani and the Blackfoot do not have shamans, all the adults in the group learn to perform common rituals.

Question 77

Indigenous peoples were always monotheists.

Question 78

A totem is a good luck charm, like a rabbit's foot.

Question 79

Humans 30,000 years ago were just as intelligent as they are now.

Question 80

It is not standard practice across the world for shamans to rely on fast rhythmic drumming, dancing, chanting, and fasting in achieving trance or altered states of consciousness.