Chapter 1 Key Terms

Question 1

cosmology

Answer 1

the understanding of the nature of the universe

Question 2

mysticism

Answer 2

a category of religious experiences characterized by communing or uniting with the ultimate reality through inward contemplation

Question 3

revelation

Answer 3

the transmission of the divine will or knowledge to human beings

Question 4

empathy

Answer 4

the capacity for seeing things from another’s perspective

Question 5

myth

Answer 5

a story that tends to answer the questions of origins and serves as a source of sacred truth

Question 6

ritual

Answer 6

formal worship practice, often based on the reenactment of a myth

Question 7

ethics

Answer 7

a dimension of religion that deals with how we are to act while living in the world

Question 8

nontheistic

Answer 8

describes a belief system that holds that there is no divine being

Question 9

transtheistic

Answer 9

describes a religion that allows for belief in divine or semi divine beings without the belief in an essentially relevant god

Question 10

faith

Answer 10

experience of the divine or holy presence

Question 11

pantheism

Answer 11

the belief that the divine reality exists in everything

Question 12

transcendance

Answer 12

the overcoming of the normal limitations imposed by the human condition

Question 13

monotheism

Answer 13

the belief in only one god

Question 14

polytheism

Answer 14

the belief in many gods