Deck 15: Religion

Question 1

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Religion has been a central interest of anthropologists only recently in the history of the discipline.
B) Religion has been a central interest of anthropologists since the beginning of the history of the discipline.
C) Anthropologists reject the ideas of other disciplines regarding religion.
D) Religion is interesting to anthropologists because it is so rare in human culture.
E) Anthropologists are not interested in religion at all.

Answer 1

Religion has been a central interest of anthropologists since the beginning of the history of the discipline.

Question 2

French sociologist Emile Durkheim defined which of the following as an alienation that individuals experience when faced with physical dislocation and the disruption of their social networks and group values?

A) habitus
B) communitas
C) anomie
D) hegemony
E) sacredness

Answer 2

anomie

Question 3

Anthropologists are primarily interested in:

A) analyzing religion's ultimate truth or falsity.
B) capturing religious expression and making it come alive for others.
C) validating their own religious beliefs.
D) spreading atheism.
E) creating a record of exotic, shamanic traditions.

Answer 3

capturing religious expression and making it come alive for others.

Question 4

Which of the following is the first stage of rites of passage that involves the physical, psychological, or symbolic removal from the daily activities of the group, according to Victor Turner?

A) individuation
B) separation
C) alienation
D) anomie
E) liminality

Question 5

World religions are often quite flexible and innovative at the ________level.

A) local
B) national
C) global
D) individual
E) institutional

Question 6

Which of the following embody the beliefs, passions, and sense of solidarity of a group of people?

A) saints
B) scriptures
C) roles
D) martyrs
E) rituals

Question 7

French sociologist Emile Durkheim developed the notion of a fundamental dichotomy between which of the following sets of ideas that has been used by anthropologists in examining religion?

A) holy and sinful
B) sacred and holy
C) uncleansed and profane
D) clean and dirty
E) sacred and profane

Question 8

Which of the following is among the nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers who deeply influenced anthropological theories of religion?

A) Ruth Benedict
B) Alfred Kroeber
C) Margaret Mead
D) Franz Boas
E) Max Weber

Question 9

French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that which of the following was key to allowing a society to regenerate its sense of social solidarity?

A) ritual
B) sacrifice
C) holiness
D) sainthood
E) worship

Question 10

Which of the following rites enacts a change of status from one life state to another, either for an individual or for a group?

A) rites of entry
B) rites of engagement
C) rites of passion
D) rites of enculturation
E) rites of passage

Question 11

According to anthropologist Victor Turner, the second state of rites of passage that involves a period of outsiderhood during which the individual is set apart from normal society and exists on the margins of everyday life is termed:

A) liminality.
B) paucity.
C) communitas.
D) anomie.
E) hegemony.

Question 12

French sociologist ________ viewed religion as ultimately something practiced with others and thus a social practice rather than a private or individual one.

A) Emile Durkheim
B) Max Weber
C) Karl Marx
D) Clifford Geertz
E) E. E. Evans-Pritchard

Question 13

Anthropologists typically examine which of the following in order to understand religion's meaning and significance in the life of a community of people?

A) theology
B) language origins
C) political practices
D) economic systems
E) eating habits

Question 14

Which of the following is a central task of anthropologists when studying religion among groups of people?

A) to substantiate truths of the religion
B) to prove falsity of the religion
C) to rank order world religions
D) to understand the sense of moral order in religion
E) to push for a single religious order in the world

Question 15

Which of the following is defined as a set of beliefs based on a unique vision of how the world ought to be, often revealed through insights into a supernatural power, and lived out in a community?

A) ideology
B) economy
C) religion
D) politics
E) communitas

Question 16

Anthropological research illustrates that people make a religious tradition come alive in their own context through local expressions and which of the following?

A) creative adaptations
B) strict adherence to scripture
C) universal beliefs
D) standardized rituals
E) traditional customs

Question 17

Which of the following is an individual considered exceptionally close to God, who is then exalted after death?

A) priest
B) nun
C) saint
D) martyr
E) pastor

Question 18

Which of the following is a person who sacrifices his or her life for the sake of his or her religion?

A) saint
B) martyr
C) priest
D) nun
E) pastor

Question 19

Attention to local religious expressions complicates anthropologists' efforts to create a universal definition of which of the following?

A) spirituality
B) ideology
C) practice
D) scripture
E) religion

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true?

A) People make sense of the world, reach decisions, and organize their lives on the basis of their religious beliefs.
B) In a globalized world, religion has very little to do with humans lives.
C) Anthropology's primary interest in religion is to discover its truth or falsity.
D) Religion is not lived out in a community, but rather in isolation.
E) Religious expression in a culture is universal, without local variations.

Question 21

Which of the following is considered a type of magic that centers on the belief that certain materials, such as clothing, hair, or fingernails, allow power to be transferred from person to person?

A) contagious magic
B) ritual magic
C) continuous magic
D) imitative magic
E) liminal magic

Question 22

The role of the shaman is generally associated with which type of the following societies?

A) industrialized
B) seminomadic
C) technological
D) Western
E) Eastern

Question 23

Which of the following practices entails using spells, incantations, words, and actions in order to compel supernatural forces to act in certain ways?

A) ritual
B) liminality
C) magic
D) doctrine
E) ideology

Question 24

Which of the following anthropologists argued that the use of magic among Azande peoples was not an irrational expression but rather a component of a highly organized, rational, and logical system of thought?

A) Marvin Harris
B) Victor Turner
C) Emile Durkheim
D) E. E. Evans-Pritchard
E) Franz Boas

Question 25

Which of the following theories contends that religious practices have likely developed in response to very practical problems as people sought to adapt to the natural environment?

A) Marvin Harris
B) Karl Marx
C) Max Weber
D) Emile Durkheim
E) Victor Turner

Question 26

German political philosopher Karl Marx called which of the following "the opiate of the masses"?

A) rituals
B) pilgrimage
C) religion
D) rites
E) communitas

Question 27

According to Max Weber, the values of self-denial and self-discipline that provided the ethic necessary for capitalism to flourish are encapsulated in the ________ ethic.

A) capitalist
B) modern
C) Protestant
D) labor
E) Christian

Question 28

Which of the following anthropologists developed the theory of cultural materialism, which argued that material conditions determine patterns of social organization?

A) Marvin Harris
B) Karl Marx
C) Max Weber
D) Emile Durkheim
E) Victor Turner

Question 29

Which of the following anthropologists examined the role of religion in community life in Niger, West Africa, in order to contribute to understanding and respecting others' systems of knowledge?

A) E. E. Evans-Pritchard
B) Victor Turner
C) Marvin Harris
D) Paul Stoller
E) Mary Douglas

Question 30

Which of the following religious practitioners obtain their powers through special training or experience, passing through a journey or test of spirit such as illness, isolation, physical pain, or an emotional ordeal?

A) rabbis
B) priests
C) medicine men
D) pastors
E) shamans

Question 31

Which of the following was a German sociologist, philosopher, and economist who believed that ideas rather than economics can be equally powerful in shaping society?

A) Marvin Harris
B) Max Weber
C) Karl Marx
D) Victor Turner
E) Emile Durkheim

Question 32

Which of the following is defined by Victor Turner as a sense of camaraderie that shares a common vision of what constitutes a good life and a commitment to work toward that aim?

A) paucity
B) liminality
C) hegemony
D) anomie
E) communitas

Question 33

In his work with Azande peoples, E. E. Evans-Pritchard found that which of the following individuals are formally taught the knowledge of rituals and medicines and use that knowledge to thwart the work of a witch?

A) shamans
B) priests
C) witch doctors
D) rabbis
E) witches

Question 34

Anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard worked with the Azande peoples and studied which of the following topics in relation to religion?

A) ritual
B) magic
C) rites
D) ceremony
E) doctrine

Question 35

Karl Marx argued that which of the following played a key role in keeping the working poor from engaging in revolutionary social change that he believed was necessary to improve their situation?

A) communitas
B) rites
C) rituals
D) pilgrimages
E) religion

Question 36

Which of the following is considered a type of magic that involves performances that imitate the desired result, such as manipulating a doll?

A) liminal magic
B) ritual magic
C) continuous magic
D) imitative magic
E) contagious magic

Question 37

Which of the following is a unique form of religious ritual in which adherents travel to sacred places as a sign of devotion and in search of transformation and enlightenment?

A) sainthood
B) pilgrimage
C) communitas
D) ritual
E) conversion

Question 38

For ________, the key to the development of Western capitalism were ascetic values of self-denial and self-discipline.

A) Max Weber
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Karl Marx
D) Clifford Geertz
E) E. E. Evans-Pritchard

Question 39

Which of the following religious specialists are considered part-time religious practitioners with special abilities to connect individuals with supernatural powers or beings?

A) medicine men
B) rabbis
C) pastors
D) shamans
E) priests

Question 40

Victor Turner's final stage of rites of passage that involves the return of the individual to the everyday life of the community is termed:

A) retrospective.
B) reaction.
C) reincorporation.
D) relegitimization.
E) reentry.

Question 41

The anthropologist's task when examining religion is to try to capture the vivid inner life, sense of moral order, dynamic public expressions, and interactions with other systems of meaning and power. Based on your own experiences, how does religion inform an individual's inner life, sense of moral order, dynamic public expressions, and interactions with other systems of meaning and power? How does religion inform these aspects on a cultural or social level? What is the underlying purpose of religion within a cultural group or society? What do anthropologists have to offer to the exploration and understanding of world religions?

Question 42

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz suggests that religion is essentially a system of ideas surrounding a set of powerful:

A) symbols.
B) rituals.
C) rites.
D) beliefs.
E) practices.

Question 43

Which of the following constitutes the complex historical and social developments through which symbols are given power and meaning?

A) democratizing process
B) secularizing process
C) authorizing process
D) globalizing process
E) standardizing process

Question 44

French ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) was the first to theorize a category of ritual called "rites of passage." What are rites of passage, and what is an example of a rite of passage in your own cultural experience? How are rites of passage related to rituals and religion? Are there rites of passage in cultural groups that are not tied to religion? Provide an example. How do rites of passage affect the individual and how do they affect the cultural group as a whole?

Question 45

Which of the following is transforming the ritual practices of religious communities large and small as congregations adapt to their members' mobility and the lively flow of ideas, information, and money across borders?

A) democratization
B) aggrandization
C) proselytization
D) secularization
E) globalization

Question 46

French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that religion, particularly religious ritual, serves a crucial role in combating one's sense of anomie and in addressing larger social dynamics of alienation and dislocation. How did Durkheim define anomie and what is a specific example of it in the world today? How does religious ritual help combat anomie? How does religious ritual address larger social dynamics of alienation and dislocation? How did these notions argued by Durkheim influence the anthropological approach to the study of religion?

Question 47

Which of the following social processes is currently affecting the ways in which religion and religious practices are being stretched and shaped today?

A) immigration
B) revolution
C) neoliberalization
D) secularization
E) standardization

Question 48

Catholicism is being rejuvenated in the United States as a result of:

A) increased immigration from heavily Catholic countries bringing new membership, worship styles, social needs, and political engagements.
B) immigration of wealthy individuals from otherwise impoverished Catholic countries bringing an infusion of funds to local churches.
C) high rates of conversion to Catholicism from Islam.
D) government funding for Catholic education.
E) high rates of lapsed middle-class Catholics returning to the church.

Question 49

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz found that:

A) symbols used in religion acquire significance only for the actual material of which they are made and nothing more beyond that.
B) symbols used in religion acquire significance far beyond the actual material of which they are made and allow believers to feel that the religious world is truly real.
C) symbols are irrelevant to religious practice.
D) we cannot understand what makes religion work without understanding the authorizing processes that give symbols their power.
E) most definitions of religion are Eurocentric.

Question 50

Which of the following anthropologists argued that religion and religious symbols are actually produced through complex historical and social developments in which power and meaning are created, contested, and maintained?

A) Clifford Geertz
B) Victor Turner
C) Paul Stoller
D) Talal Asad
E) George Gmelch

Question 51

Anthropologist George Gmelch examined the rituals, taboos, and sacred objects of magic that are in almost constant use in which of the following sports?

A) basketball
B) soccer
C) baseball
D) ice hockey
E) football

Question 52

What did German political philosopher Karl Marx mean when he called religion "the opiate of the masses"? According to Marx, what purpose or purposes does religion serve in society? How is religion related to the economic reality and class struggle found within a society? Do you agree with Marx's arguments and ideas regarding the purpose of religion in society? Why or why not?

Question 53

Victor Turner was an influential anthropologist who studied various aspects of religion. Turner considered religious pilgrimage to be a unique form of religious ritual. What is a religious pilgrimage? What are three specific examples of religious pilgrimage and what do they entail? What stages of process do the pilgrimage examples you provided entail? What purposes do your examples serve a particular religion in general? What purposes does religious pilgrimage serve for the individual and his or her community?

Question 54

The role of the Catholic Church in the Zapatista Movement in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico illustrates a relationship in Mexico between religion and:

A) language.
B) family.
C) ritual.
D) poverty.
E) revolution.

Question 55

Anthropologist George Gmelch found that players who use a particular ritual, such as touching the bill of their cap every time they are up to bat, generally tend to believe that good magic is:

A) customized.
B) consistent.
C) ritualized.
D) ineffective.
E) contagious.

Question 56

Anthropologist Talal Asad argues that:

A) universal definitions of religion can actually obscure local realities and, subsequently, local expressions of religion should be examined rather than universal ones.
B) symbols used in religion acquire significance only for the actual material of which they are made and nothing more beyond that.
C) symbols used in religion acquire significance far beyond the actual material of which they are made and allow believers to feel that the religious world is truly real.
D) local realities are easy to comprehend once you have a universal definition of religion.
E) symbols develop in a culture completely independent of historical and social developments.

Question 57

Anthropologist Marvin Harris developed the theory of cultural materialism, which is built on Karl Marx's analysis of the way in which the material conditions of a society shape its other components. What is the basic premise of Harris's theory of cultural materialism, and how does it relate to religion? How can Harris's theory be applied to explain why cows are sacred in India? What is an example of a religious practice that people engage in within the United States that could be explained using the theory of cultural materialism? Do you think Harris's theory is useful in examining religion and religious practices? Why or why not?

Question 58

Which of the following locations is particularly experiencing increasing encounters between people of various religious faiths and new strategies for cultivating and educating participants?

A) rural villages
B) remote villages
C) isolated communities
D) cities
E) suburbs

Question 59

Anthropological research on religion clearly demonstrates that local religious activities:

A) are quite separate from other social systems of power, maintaining a clear boundary between religion and power systems.
B) are not rigidly separated from social systems of power, and meaning and power are intertwined.
C) inevitably give way to secularism as cultures become modern.
D) exist independently of the influences of historical and social developments.
E) are reflections of a universal definition of religion.

Question 60

In order to examine the role of religion in community life in Niger, West Africa, anthropologist Paul Stoller apprenticed with which of the following religious specialists?

A) priest
B) witch doctor
C) rabbi
D) witch
E) sorcerer

Question 61

Religious revivals have been spreading across various areas of the world such as China. What constitutes religious revivals? Other than China, what is an example of an area in the world that is experiencing religious revival? What is involved in your example of religious revival and why do you think it is occurring? How is the religious revival in your example related to other social systems of power? What do you think are the underlying forces spurring the religious revival, what direction do you think it will take in the future, and what forces do you think will affect the future direction? Do you think religion will eventually die out in the future? Why or why not?

Question 62

Swaziland provides an illustration of the relationship between religion and its potential to effectively help local congregations promote health and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. What is the current HIV/AIDS situation in Swaziland? What are health assets? What is the general relationship between religion and health assets in Swaziland? How might religious beliefs affect community members' desires to access local health assets? In what ways can local churches help address community and individual health concerns? How does this particular example illustrate the connection between religion and other social systems of power?

Question 63

In his research in Niger, West Africa, anthropologist Paul Stoller apprenticed with a local sorcerer as a means of exploring the role of religion in community life there. During his apprenticeship, Stoller's work came to an abrupt end and he fled back home to the United States. What occurred that caused Stoller to abruptly leave his field site? What did his research and experience demonstrate regarding the power of religion in people's everyday lives? What risks do anthropologists take by immersing themselves in others' religious belief systems and practices? Do you think it is possible to comprehend another group of people's religious beliefs and practices without accepting that they are real for believers? Why or why not? What does it mean for a religious belief or practice to be considered real and who should determine whether or not it is real?

Question 64

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz examines the role of symbols in religion. He argues that each symbol has deep meaning and evokes powerful emotions and motivations in the religion's followers. What are two different examples of religious symbols used in the world today? What meaning do the symbols have for the religious followers? What emotions and motivations do the symbols evoke in followers, and why? How do these symbols help followers make sense of their worlds? What purpose do these symbols likely serve regarding community life? Do you think symbols are imperative to religious beliefs and practices? Why or why not?

Question 65

The forces of globalization are affecting religion generally and religious practices specifically. Provide three examples that illustrate how globalization is affecting religion and religious practices, and explain how. Conversely, how are the religions and practices in your three examples affecting globalization? How do your three examples also reveal the relationship between religion and other social systems of power? How will future forces likely affect the religion and practices of your three examples? How will future forces likely affect the general status of world religions and practices? Do you think religion will be less or more prominent in people's daily lives in the future? Why do you think this will be the case?