Deck 1: Thinking About Religion

Question 1

Watching repeated actions over time is a technique called __________.

A) linguistics
B) economics
C) ethnography
D) philosophy

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Eliade argued religion balanced the profane and the sacred. What does "profane" mean?

A) True
B) Ordinary
C) Transcendent
D) Spiritual

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Marx was one of the most faithful supporters of religious systems.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The main aim of the textbook is to discover which of the religions is true.

Question 5

Robson suggests you study the religions of the world using a __________.

A) Religion Journal
B) Question Matrix
C) Test Bank
D) Study Partner

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT one of the four questions your textbook author will ask of each religion?

A) What is essential?
B) What does it mean to be human?
C) How do we understand evil?
D) How do humans interact with the sacred?

Question 7

Karl Marx is famous for saying __________.

A) God is dead
B) if there were no God anything would be permissible
C) if there were no God we would have to invent one
D) religion is the opiate of the masses

Question 8

Durkheim was interested in the ways in which religion created and maintained __________.

A) illusion
B) introspection
C) cohesive communities
D) desires

Question 9

Which of the following is one of the fundamental questions asked by scholars Otto and Müller?

A) What happens after death?
B) What is the result of sin?
C) What is religion?
D) Why do bad things happen to good people?

Question 10

Your textbook author uses the example of __________ to support the claim that religions often resort to violence.

A) animal sacrifice in Judaism
B) animal sacrifice if Hinduism
C) crucifixion of Jesus in Christianity
D) radical terrorism in contemporary Islam

Question 11

Your textbook suggests that those who see humanity as fascinated by the young and childlike, might like __________.

A) Cartman
B) Freud
C) Hello Kitty
D) Pokemon

Question 12

Religion does not have much influence on politics in the modern world.

Question 13

The study of religion is limited to those who believe in them.

Question 14

Which of the following controversies is used by your textbook author to illustrate the relationship between religion and politics?

A) Barack Obama as a secret Muslim
B) Bill Clinton and Whitewater
C) Sarah Palin and Jesse Jackson
D) Saddam Hussein and George Bush

Question 15

Rudolf Otto believed that all religions interacted with the holy. Which of the following best describes what Otto meant by "the holy"?

A) Something useful for accomplishing worthy goals
B) Something ultimately good which interacts and transcends everyday life
C) Something mundane and ordinary
D) Something defying all expression and comprehension

Question 16

The idea that a dominant religion has simply been a successful "master narrative" is an argument made by __________ scholars.

A) Marxist
B) Conservative
C) 19th-century
D) Postmodern

Question 17

Some religions are very active, while others are inactive. These opposites were used by your textbook author to explain the question __________.

A) "What is essential?"
B) "What does it mean to be human?"
C) "How do humans interact with the sacred?"
D) "How does the sacred become community?"

Question 18

Of the following, who viewed religion skeptically?

A) Rudolf Otto
B) Max Müller
C) Friedrich Nietzsche
D) Thomas Aquinas

Question 19

Some religions do not believe in a god or gods.

Question 20

A verbal communion using some form of language is __________.

A) ritual
B) argument
C) conversation
D) prayer

Question 21

________ argued religion was like a drug: it was used by the wealthy to oppress the poor.

Question 22

________ argued modern science had eliminated the need for religion.

Question 23

How has science become useful for the study of religion?

Question 24

While some religions believe in countless gods, others don't believe in a god at all.

Question 25

List the four basic questions your textbook author will use to discuss the religions of the world.

Question 26

Eliade argued religion was a way of balancing the ________ and the ________.

Question 27

How are Cartman and Hello Kitty involved in understanding religion?

Question 28

Some religious practices encourage physical action.

Question 29

What is a question matrix and how can it help in studying religion?

Question 30

________ argued religion would be unnecessary once people learned to understand their own subconscious minds.

Question 31

Some religions practice violence as a means of communicating with the sacred.

Question 32

Name three modern critics of religion.

Question 33

What is the relationship between religion and culture? How do they influence one another?

Question 34

________ and ________ thought the study of religion could be placed on a scientific basis in the late part of the 19th century.

Question 35

Ethnography offers a way to learn about people by observing and talking.

Question 36

Name three critics of religion and briefly describe their views.

Question 37

Name three scholars of religion, and discuss their approach to the topic.

Question 38

Contemporary scholars of religion use ethnographic techniques.

Question 39

What does "sacred" mean?

Question 40

How can using modern scientific techniques, like ethnography, help someone understand religion?