Religious Responses

Question 1

The expression of the divine in human form-king, child, goddess; a mythic image of a mysterious power that helps people relate to abstract Being through earthly images.

Answer 1

Anthropomorphism

Question 2

Carl Jung’s theory of a symbolic element of the collective unconscious-such as the hero, shadow evil, lover, or god-discovered in dreams and myths, whose stories shape the psyche and religions.

Answer 2

Archetypal image

Question 3

The absolute, the depth, the foundation of existence glimpsed in experience, paradox, and images, not just in cognition; symbolized in many ways - gods, nature, stars, compassion.

Answer 3

Being, the ground of Being

Question 4

The dynamic, heroic personality type set apart with superhuman qualities, positive or negative.

Answer 4

Charisma

Question 5

Confession of faith that identifies a religious group.

Answer 5

Creed

Question 6

The teachings of the Buddha.

Answer 6

Dharma

Question 7

A statement of beliefs considered authoritative or absolute.

Answer 7

Dogma

Question 8

The study of methodologies of interpretation; originally of religious scriptures, now of any principle of interpretation, such as literalism.

Answer 8

Hermeneutics

Question 9

The study of the historical dimension of religion - texts and timelines, for example - sometimes reducing it to sociocultural events.

Answer 9

History of religion

Question 10

A visual design, usually circular, symbolizing the divine.

Answer 10

Mandala

Question 11

Belief in one supreme god only, in contrast with polytheism.

Answer 11

Monotheism

Question 12

Symbolic narrative or a literary or religious event. In religious studies, not considered inherently untrue, but can reveal the depths of Being.

Answer 12

Myth

Question 13

From the Latin numen, the spiritual experience of awesome mystery.

Answer 13

Numinous

Question 14

The study of religious manifestations of Being that explore the general themes of spirituality, such as myth, ritual, initiation, compassion.

Answer 14

Phenomenology

Question 15

Belief in many gods, in contrast with monotheism.

Answer 15

Polytheism

Question 16

A wide-ranging critical approach to modern belief in the metaphysics of objective truth, technological progress, religious traditions, science, patriarchy, deconstructing cultural meta-narratives as social constructs, not rooted in absolute truth.

Answer 16

Postmodernism

Question 17

Opposite of sacred, literally “outside the temple,” whatever is considered as impure or rejected by a group’s sense of what is sacred.

Answer 17

Profane

Question 18

Theoretical concept of psychology; the externalization of unconscious material into the world, as in falling in love at first sight, or hating someone or something not really known. God in religious critique.

Answer 18

Projection

Question 19

The study of the role in psychology in religion, sometimes reducing it to a byproduct of psychology.

Answer 19

Psychology of religion

Question 20

A method of explaining one domain as a product of a lower domain, such as saying the Gods are projections of the psyche, as Sigmund Freud did. Basic to science, also applied to culture.

Answer 20

Reduction

Question 21

Symbolic actions, individual or group, crude or refined, such as a fight, a funeral, wedding, meditation, or worship.

Answer 21

Ritual

Question 22

Opposite of profane, the realm of ultimate reality, appearance of the infinite, Being.

Answer 22

Sacred

Question 23

The study of the role of religion in society, sometimes reducing it to a byproduct of society.

Answer 23

Sociology of religion

Question 24

Rising above common thought; exalted, mystical, ultimate.

Answer 24

Transcendent