chapter 1 key terms

Question 1

agnosticism

Answer 1

a position asserting that the existence of God cannot be proven.

Question 2

animism

Answer 2

“anima” meaning spirit, common among oral religions, sees all elements of nature being filled with spirit.

Question 3

atheism

Answer 3

position asserting there’s no god

Question 4

deconstruction

Answer 4

a technique that sets aside ordinary categories of analysis and makes use instead of unexpected perspectives on cultural elements.

Question 5

dualism

Answer 5

good and evil

Question 6

immanent

Answer 6

operating or existing within nature

Question 7

monotheism

Answer 7

belief in a single god or deity

Question 8

polytheism

Answer 8

multiple deities

Question 9

nontheism

Answer 9

a position unconcerned with the divine

Question 10

pantheism

Answer 10

the belief that everything in the universe is divine

Question 11

transcendent

Answer 11

“climbing beyond” beyond time and space

Question 12

structuralism

Answer 12

analytical approach that looks for universal structures that underline language, mental process, kinship, and religions.

Question 13

post-structuralism

Answer 13

doesn’t seek to find universal structures, focuses on individual elements in cultural phenomena