Flashcards: World Religion - Mrs Hassey - Final Exam 2008
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NinJA999 on June 11, 2008
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religion, religion final exam, hassey, mrs. hassey
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World Religion - Mrs. Hassey Final Exam 2008 Including: Primal Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Study Guide Here: http://school.aldwin.us/exams/religion/study-guide/08 (see more)
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Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Ancestor | Supernatural beings who roamed the earth during the Dreaming. They gave shape to the landscape and created the various forms of life, including the first humans. They organized the humans into tribes. When they departed, they left symbols of their presence. |
| Axis Mundi | A tree or other entity that is believed to connect the heavens and the earth and is sometimes regarded as the center of the world. The Plains Indians dance their Sun Dance around one. |
| Esu the Trickster | The story in which two friends argued over the color of a hat. |
| Rainbow Serpent | Known as "she" in aborigine myths. Involved with the creation of the world. Laid eggs known as the devil's marbles. Lives beneath Uluru. |
| Ritual | A ceremonial act. |
| Taboo | The concept which dictates that certain things and activities are set aside for specific members of the group and are forbidden to others. Sometimes violation of it is punishable by death. |
| The Dreaming | The mythic period during which the Ancestors roamed the earth. |
| The Laughing Jackass & The Sun Fire | The story of how a bird sings before the fire of the sun is kindled. |
| Toonkoo & Ngaardi | A story about someone who went hunting, chucked his spear at the sky, and was put into the moon. His wife cried for him and put her heart on the mountain. |
| Totem | The natural form in which an Aborigine's representative Ancestor appeared in the Dreaming. |
| Trickster Figure | A sort of mischievous supernatural being who has a dual nature as both good and bad and are mediators between heaven and earth. |
| Uluru | A monolithic rock underneath which the Rainbow Serpent lives. |
| Atman | The eternal Self, part of the Brahman. Reincarnated from one body to the next. |
| Avatar | An incarnation (living embodiment) of a diety. Some examples are Krishna and Rama, representations of Vishnu. |
| Bhagavad Gita | A short section of the Mahabharata in which the god Krishna teaches the warrior Arjuna about bhakti marga and other ways to God. It's Hinduism's most popular sacred text. |
| Brahma | The Hindu god of creation. |
| Brahman | The eternal essence of reality and the source of the universe, beyond the reach of human perception and thought. |
| Brahmin | The highest of the four classes of the caste system, made up of priests. |
| Caste System | The four classes: Brahmin (priests), Kshatriya (warriors/administrators), Vaishya (producers: farmers, merchants, artisans,), and Shudra (servants and laborers). Below these are the "outcastes," including the Untouchables. |
| Dharma | Ethical duty based on the divine order of reality; one of the four goals of life. |
| Karma | The moral law of cause and effect of actions; determines the nature of one's reincarnation. |
| Krishna | An avatar of Vishnu. In the Bhagavad Gita, he advises Arjuna on the battlefield. |
| Mahabharata | An epic poem sacred in Hinduism. Contains the Bhagavad Gita. |
| Mahatma K Gandhi | The great twentieth-century Hindu who modernized the religion and helped the Untouchables get rights. |
| Moksha | Liberation or release of the individual self, atman, from the bondage of samsara; salvation; one of the four goals of life. |
| Polytheism | Belief in multiple gods. |
| Rama | A popular avatar of Vishnu; the hero of the Ramayana. |
| Rig Veda | A collection of 1,017 Sanskrit hymns composed about 1500 BC or earlier; Hinduism's oldest sacred text. |
| Sannyasin | A wandering ascetic who has advanced to the fourth and highest stage of life. |
| Sati | The traditional practice of burning a widow on her husband's funeral pyre; outlawed in 1829, though it still occurs rarely. |
| Shiva | Hindu god of destruction. |
| Untouchables | Part of the "outcastes," those who are considered to be outside of society altogether. They do the dirtiest jobs, etc. |
| Vishnu | The Hindu god of creation & destruction |
| Anatta | One of the Three Marks of Existence; the Buddhist doctrine denying a permanent self. |
| Anicca | One of the Three Marks of Existence; the Buddhist doctrine that all existent things are constantly changing. |
| Arhat | One who has become enlightened; the ideal type in Theravada Buddhism. |
| Asceticism | The practice of starving oneself to increase spiritual powers and gain enlightenment. |
| Bodhisattvas | Future Buddhas. As the ideal types in Mahayana Buddhism, beings who have experienced enlightenment but, motivated by compassion, stop short of entering nirvana so as to help others achieve it. |
| Dalai Lama | The spiritual leader of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, believed to be an incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. |
| Dukkha | The first of the Four Noble Truths, the basic Buddhist insight that suffering is part of the human condition. |
| Eight-Fold Path | The fourth of the Four Noble Truths; defines the basic practices of Buddhism that lead to nirvana. |
| Five Precepts | The basic moral requirements that are binding for all Buddhists. They are: do not take life; do not take what is not given; do not engage in sensuous misconduct; do not use false speech; do not drink intoxicants. |
| Four Noble Truths | The central teachings of Buddhism: to live is to suffer; suffering is caused by desire; the cessation of suffering can be achieved; the solution is the Noble Eight-Fold Path. |
| Mahayana | The Great Vehicle. The largest of Buddhism's three divisions, prevalent in Chinca, Japan, and Korea; encompasses a variety of forms, including those that emphasize devotion and prayer to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. |
| Mandalas | Patterned icons that visually excite; used in Vajrayana Buddhism to enhance meditation. |
| Mantras | Phrases or syllables changed to evoke a deity or to enhance meditation; used in Hinduism and Buddhism, especially in Vajrayana. |
| Mudras | Choreographed hand movements used in the rituals of Vajrayana Buddhism. |
| Nirvana | The ultimate goal of all Buddhists, the extinction of all desire and any sense of individual selfhood, resulting in liberation from samsara and its limiting conditions. |
| Pali | An ancient language of India, similar to Sanskrit but more commonly understood, and used in the writing of the earliest Buddhist texts; most important for Theravada Buddhism. |
| Tanha | The second of the Four Noble Truths, selfish desire, which causes dukkha. |
| Theravada | The Way of the Elders. Prevalent form of Buddhism in Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Sri Lanka, and Thailand; focuses on the earliest texts and emphasizes a monastic lifestyle. |
| Three Marks of Existence | Characteristics that summarize the changing nature of reality: anatta (no-self), anicca (impermanence), and dukkha (suffering). |
| Vajrayana | The Vehicle of the Diamond. Named for the vajra, the Buddha's diamond scepter; prevalent form of Buddhism in Tibet; emphasizes the harnessing of sensual energies to attain nirvana. |
| Abraham | The patriarch of the Jewish and Christian religions. |
| Bar Mitzvah | The ritual celebration marking the coming of age of a Jewish boy, at which time the person takes on the religious responsibilities of an adult. |
| Bat Mitzvah | The ritual celebration marking the coming of age of a Jewish girl, at which time the person takes on the religious responsibilities of an adult. |
| David | The Israelite king who led the monarchy to its height of power. |
| Diaspora | The situation of Jews living away from their ancestral homeland, a circumstance that has been true for most Jews since the classical period. |
| Holocaust | The persecution of Jews by German Nazis from 1933 to 1945, resulting in the murder of some six million; commonly referred to by Jews as Shoah (Hebrew for "mass destruction"). |
| Jacob | The son of Isaac, also known as Israel. |
| Kaddish | A prayer of mourning. |
| Moses | The greatest prophet and most revered person in Judaism. |
| Pentateuch | The Christian name for the Torah. |
| Rabbi | A teacher of Torah and leader of Jewish worship. |
| Solomon | The Israelite king who built a huge, lavish temple that became the center of Israelite worship. |
| Synagogue | A common forum for Jewish worship. |
| Torah | Generally, the revelation of God's will to the people; more specifically, the divine Law, especially as contained in the first five books of the Bible, which together are often called this. |
| Yom Kippur | Judaism's most important holy day, occurring in the fall on the tenth day of the new year; spent primarily at synagogue services in prayer for forgiveness of sins and marked by abstention from food and drink (fasting). |
| Zionism | Originally, the movement arising in the late nineteenth century that sought to re-establish a Jewish homeland; since 1948, the general support of the State of Israel. |
| Caliphs | The military and political leaders of the Muslim community who succeeded Muhammad after his death. |
| Five Pillars | Specific religious and ethical requirements for Muslims: the confession of faith (Shahada), prayer or worship, fasting during Ramadan, wealth sharing, and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). |
| Hajj | The fifth of the Five Pillars; the journey to Mecca that all Muslims are to make at least once in their lifetime, if they can afford it and are physically able. |
| Imam | For Shi'I Islam, an early successor to Muhammad and leader of Islam (most Shi'is acknowledge twelve of them), believed to have special spiritual insight. For other Muslims, the leader of the Friday worship service who directs the prayers and delivers a sermon. |
| Jihad | "Exertion" or "struggle." Sometimes counted as the sixth pillar of Islam, the general spiritual struggle to be a devout Muslim. In a more narrow context, it refers to armed struggle (holy war) for the sake of Islam, which the Qur'an supports only if it is carried out in self-defense. |
| Ka'ba | The stone cubical structure in the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Mecca, believed to have been built by Abraham and regarded by Muslims as the sacred center of the earth. |
| Mosque | The Muslim place or building of worship, traditionally including a prayer hall and courtyard, with towers called minarets at the corners. |
| Qur'an | "Recitation." Islam's primary sacred text, regarded by Muslims as the direct words of Allah, revealed to Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel. |
| Ramadan | The ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, a period during which Muslims fast, in accordance with the third of the Five Pillars. |
| Shahada | The confession of faith, the first of the Five Pillars and central creedal statement of Islam: "There is no god except God. Muhammad is the messenger of God." |
| Sunna | The teachings and actions of Muhammad recorded in writings known as hadith, which provide the model for being Muslim; Islam's second most important authority (after the Qur'an). |
| Umma | The community of all Muslims. |
| Ecumenism | The promotion of worldwide Christian unity. |
| Eucharist | Also the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, a central sacrament and ritual of Christianity patterned after the Last Supper, which was shared by Jesus and his twelve apostles. |
| Gospel | Referring generally to the saving power of the life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
| Incarnation | A core doctrine of Christianity, stating that in Jesus Christ, God became fully human while remaining fully divine. |
| Parables | Stories that Jesus used to cast important moral lessons within the language and circumstances familiar to the common people. |
| Pope | The title conferred on the bishop of Rome, the leader of Catholicism, who is considered by Catholics to be the direct successor of the Apostle Peter. |