14 Jan There is only one God.

RELI448 Comparative Religions

Week 2 quiz

Question 1 Monotheism is the view that:

There is only one God.

Everything in the universe is divine.

All elements of nature are filled with spirits.

The existence of God cannot be proven.

Question 2 Atheism is the view that:

The existence of God cannot be proven.

There is no God or gods.

All elements of nature are filled with spirits.

Everything in the universe is divine.

Question 3 The term immanent implies that the Divine is:

Extant primarily in a realm beyond the everyday world.

Present in the immediate, natural world.

Only found after death.

Completely inaccessible.

Question 4 The theory that religion is exerts a positive influence on the lives of individuals, helping to fulfill psychological needs like a feeling of safety and of having a place in the universe, is attributed to:

William James

Sigmund Freud

Rudolf Otto

Carl Jung

Question 5 The theory that religion arises from an individual’s need to arrive at personal fulfillment is attributed to:

Carl Jung

William James

Rudolf Otto

Karl Marx

Question 6 All of the following are examples of material expressions of religions except:

Statues

Music

Architecture

Personal Wealth

Question 7 All of the following are examples of reasons we study the major religions of the world except:

Insight into the beliefs and practices of different religious traditions

Tolerance and appreciation of different views and belief systems

Usable information to prove the superiority of a specific religion over other religious traditions

Enriched experience of travel and cultural difference

Question 8 Derived from the words for “sitting near,” these texts record insights into external and internal realities:

The Upanishads

The Vedas

The Sutras

The Bhagavad Gita

Question 9 A word meaning both “magic” and “matter,” and also carrying the connotation of “illusion” is:

Karma

Moksha

Maya

Samsara

Question 10 The Hindu deity associated with preservation is:

Brahma

Vishnu

Shiva

Ganesha

Question 11 All of the following are forms of the Divine Mother except:

Durga

Kali

Lakshmi

Ganesha

Question 12 Karma, Artha, and Dharma are all examples of:

The Yogas

The Goals of Life

The Stages of Life

Castes

Question 13 Though it does not appear in the Bhagavad Gita, the fourth yoga promotes meditation and includes the physical practice of yoga with which we are most familiar in the West. This fourth Yoga is called:

Bhakti Yoga

Jnana Yoga

Karma Yoga

Raja Yoga

Question 14 Rama and Krishna are believed to be emanations of which deity?

Brahma

Vishnu

Shiva

Durga

Question 15 Which animal is especially revered in Indian culture?

Dog

Cat

Cow

Monkey

RELI448 Comparative Religions

Week 4 Midterm

Question 1 The belief that everything in the universe is divine is called:

Monotheism

Omnitheism

Pantheism

Animism

Question 2 The belief that reality is made of two different principles is called:

Monism

Dualism

Polytheism

Animism

Question 3 An analytical approach that does not seek to find universal structures that might underlie language, mental processes, mythologies, kinship, and religions, and instead focuses on individual elements in cultural phenomena is:

Deconstruction

Structuralism

Post-structuralism

Dualism

Question 4 The insider’s view, which is informed by the beliefs and practices of those people who are practitioners of a given religious tradition, is:

Etic

Emic

Monism

Dualism

Question 5 The elephant-headed son of Shiva, who has become a symbol of strength and abundance, is:

Vishnu

Shakti

Ganesha

Hanuman

Question 6 The spiritual essence of all human beings is called:

Brahman

Atman

Moksha

Anatman

Question 7 Which of the following is not one of the 5 castes of India?

Brahmin

Kshatriya

Sannyasin

Shudra

Question 8 The ideas of Mohandas Gandhi had a great influence on which 20th century activist?

Malcolm X

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cesar Chavez

Harvey Milk

Question 9 Ritual offerings in honor of a deity are called:

Puja

Yoga

Renunciation

Caste

Question 10 The spiritual discipline of devotion to a deity or a teacher is called:

Karma yoga

Bhakti yoga

Jnana yoga

Raja yoga

Question 11 The “royal” discipline of meditation is called:

Karma yoga

Bhakti yoga

Jnana yoga

Raja yoga

Question 12 The Buddha of the Western Paradise is called:

Maitreya

Amitabha

Guanyin

Shakyamuni

Question 13 This term literally means impermanence:

Anatta

Anicha

Bodhi

Satori

Question 14 A question, employed in Zen Buddhism, that cannot be answered logically is called a:

Koan

Haiku

Stupa

Sutra

Question 15 A person who has practiced monastic disciplines, achieving the ideal of entering nirvana, is called:

Bodhisattva

Arhat

Buddha

Lama

Question 16 Which of the following is not one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism?

Dharma

Sangha

Bodhi

Buddha

Question 17 A book of sayings attributed to Confucius and his early disciples is the:

Yijing

Analects

Daodejing

Zhuangzi

Question 18 The active aspect of reality that expresses itself in speech, light, and heat is called:

Yin

Yang

Dao

Wu wei

Question 19 Doing only what comes spontaneously and naturally is called:

Ren

Li

Wu wei

Yang

Question 20 Confucius believed that the virtues:

Would lead to harmonious society.

Must be learned and nurtured.

Defined a noble person.

All of the above.

Question 21 Compare and contrast a psychological view of religion(Freud, Jung, or James) with a sociological point of view (Durkheim or Levi-Strauss). Defend one of the two theories you selected as a better explanation for the origin of religions.

RELI448 Comparative Religions

Week 6 Quiz

Question 1 Biblical Judaism refers to Judaism that:

Predates the destruction of the Second Temple

Follows the destruction of the Second Temple

Is led by teachers called Rabbis

Encourages the creation of the nation-state of Israel

Question 2 This form of Judaism attempts to blend the best of old and new Judaism:

Conservative Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

Reform Judaism

Rabbinical Judaism

Question 3 This form of Judaism developed after the destruction of the Second Temple:

Conservative Judaism

Orthodox Judaism

Reform Judaism

Rabbinical Judaism

Question 4 The destruction of European Judaism, also known as Shoah (“extermination”), is called:

Diaspora

Holocaust

Exodus

Passover

Question 5 This term means “ritually correct” and refers mainly to the preparation and consumption of food:

Kosher

Midrash

Tallit

Bar (Bat) Mitzvah

Question 6 True or False: Moses Maimonides argued that Judaism was a rational religion and that faith and reason were complimentary.

True

False

Question 7 Jewish history is divided into two major periods, which are then each divided into two additional periods. The event that marks the transition from the first major period to the second is:

The Holocaust

The Babylonian Exile

The destruction of the Second Temple

The establishment of the State of Israel following the Second World War

Question 8 The Babylonian Exile:

Lasted nearly 20 years

Lead to the development of the synagogue

Ended in a bloody rebellion

May have provided the catalyst for some of the early Jewish conceptions of Satan

Question 9 The belief that the world will soon come to an end is called:

Destructionism

Evangelism

Apocalypticis

Fundamentalism

Question 10 The preparatory period of penance, preceding Easter and lasting 40 days, is called:

Passover

Lent

Advent

Pentecost

Question 11 The 95 Theses were a set of demands for change and reformation that were made by:

John Calvin

Martin Luther

Henry VIII

Huldrych Zwingli

Question 12 The latest of the four gospels is the gospel of:

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Question 13 True or False: The Book of Revelation is written in symbolic language that would have been clear to early Christians, but would have obscured the meaning of the text from others.

True

False

Question 14 Dialogue between Christian denominations is called:

Evangelism

Ecumenism

Sectarianism

Orthodoxy

Question 15 Our text defines all of the following forms of Christianity as “non-traditional” except:

Egyptian Coptic Christianity

Mormonism

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Unitarian

RELI448 Comparative Religions

Week 8 Final Exam

Question 1Belief in many gods is called:

polytheism.

monotheism.

agnosticism.

atheism.

Question 2Belief in one God is called:

monotheism.

polytheism.

atheism.

agnosticism.

Question 3Who was the American psychologist who viewed religion as a positive way of fulfilling needs and praised its positive influence on the lives of individuals?

James Frazer

Carl Gustav Jung

Sigmund Freud

William James

Question 4The French thinker who developed the approach of structuralism when he first recognized extraordinary structural similarities in stories told by tribal peoples of the Americas was:

Foucault.

Durkheim.

Derrida.

Levi-Strauss.

Question 5What is the name of the Austrian ethnographer and philologist who argued that all humankind once believed in a single High God and that to this simple monotheism later beliefs in lesser gods and spirits were added?

James Frazer

William James

Wilhelm Schmidt

Carl Gustav Jung

Question 6The second-ranking caste consisted of:

priests.

merchants.

nobles and warriors.

artisans.

Question 7(TCO 8) “Liberation” from personal limitation, egotism, and rebirth is:

satyagraha.

ahimsa.

may.

moksha.

Question 8In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna counsels Arjuna to:

meditate to experience moksha.

work unselfishly for others.

adhere to one’s duty (dharma) in this life.

engage in nonviolent resistance.

Question 9The highest caste in traditional Hinduism is:

Brahmin

Kshatriya

vaishya

dalit

Question 10The Buddha’s name comes from a Sanskrit word meaning:

Spirit warrior

Middle path

To wake up

The teacher

Question 11The Buddhist term for sorrow or suffering is:

dukkha.

tanha.

anatta.

anichcha.

Question 12By his teachings, Confucius hoped to:

counter the influx of Buddhism into China.

produce virtuous people and create a harmonious society.

make a break with the past and focus China on the future.

draw people closer to Tian (Heaven).

Question 13Confucius taught that people are:

not born good but must be taught goodness.

naturally good and should be left alone.

individuals first and members of a society second.

selfish and need strict laws to control them.

Question 14According to the traditional story, Laozi (Lao tzu) wrote down his teachings only because:

a border guard would not let him pass until he did so.

his students and disciples begged him.

a request came from Confucius.

he needed money.

Question 15In Zhuangzi’s (Chuang Tzu’s) famous dream, he was not certain that he was not:

Confucius.

an ox.

a butterfly.

a Daoist.

Question 16All of the following ancient world religions are major world religions except:

Buddhism.

Hinduism.

Shinto.

Confucianism.

Question 17Taoism does not have this element of a major world religion.

An overall worldview of the universe

Myths about the origin of the universe

A shared religious community

Specific rules of human behavior

Question 18A contract between the Hebrews and their God was called a:

mitzvah.

covenant.

yarmulke.

commandment.

Question 19The first King of Israel was:

Daniel.

Moses.

David.

Saul.

Question 20God first appeared to Moses in:

an Egyptian slave.

a cloud on Mt. Sinai.

a burning bush.

the Red Sea.

Question 21The view that God’s imminent divine judgment and the end of the world is near is:

messianism.

apocalypticism.

redemption.

schism.

Question 22Letters written in the New Testament to instruct, encourage, and solve problems are called:

Gospels.

Epistles.

Acts.

Revelations.

Question 23Muslims believe in:

resurrection of the body.

a final judgment.

neither a resurrection of the body nor a final judgment.

both a resurrection of the body and a final judgment.

Question 24What is the word for a pilgrimage to Mecca?

Hajj

Dhikr

Hadith

Sura

Question 25The name Qur’an means “___________.”

successor

recitation

the book

the writings

Question 26Identify and analyze the Four Noble Truths, in particular, the Noble Eightfold Path. What ideas from Hinduism did Buddhism essentially keep? Describe them. Include enough details to support your answer.

Question 27Compare and contrast Sigmund Freud’s theory about the origin of religions with William James’s theory. How does each of these psychologists view religion (positively or negatively)? Now analyze how the insights of Freud or James might illuminate your religious tradition or the tradition with which you are the most familiar. How would Freud or James understand that tradition? Use specific examples to support your answer (e.g., a specific belief or ritual).