Midterm Exam (Christian Theism through Islamic Theism) Flashcards

Question

Naturalism - History

Answer 1

Construct; it only has meaning if we give it meaning We are part of evolution, but not its goal

Answer 2

Individuals decide for themselves what they will value Often Naturalists do community service

Answer 3

Places emphasis on the special-ness of humans, people are inherently good

Answer 4

Meant to benefit working class and give them economic control Division of labor leads to exploitation, leading to social classes The revolt of the proletariat (working class) leads to abolishment of social classes and equality of assets

Answer 5

God: vaguely personal, benefactor, Creator, arranges things to make us happy

Answer 6

God's orderly creation, open to human understanding through science

Answer 7

Created by God to be happy and nice People can choose their own beliefs

Answer 8

Good people go to heaven, and almost everyone is good (yay!)

Answer 9

God made us to think, science helps us, scripture can be special revelation (but it is not authoritative)

Answer 10

God wants us to be nice and get along with others (no requirement for righteousness)

Answer 11

The focus is on the present (the past and future don't matter that much)

Answer 12

To be happy

Answer 13

Negation of everything (knowledge, morality, beauty, reality) Loss of meaning You cannot trust even your own thinking Existence is without meaning or purpose

Answer 14

No God, matter exists eternally,

Answer 15

Matter, Cosmos are in normal (not fallen) state Objective world: material, cause and effect, without purpose Subjective world: mind, consciousness, freedom, stability within oneself

Answer 16

Complex machines, people determine who they are, value is found within oneself

Answer 17

Uniquely human, the authentic person must revolt against the absurdity of the world and create their own value "We can never choose evil. We always choose the good." - Satre There however is a recognizable center of subjectivity in the community

Answer 18

Extinction of personhood, considered the enemy, we must struggle against it

Answer 19

Through reason

Answer 20

Commitment is to yourself (prone to solipsism) Attempt to be a "saint without God" - Albert Camus, The Plague

Answer 21

God is triune, personal, and Creator ("neo-orthodoxy")

Answer 22

Humanity experienced the Fall, cosmos are created, objective world clashes with subjective world

Answer 23

Our own self-reflection of our place in the absurdity of the world leads us to "love that which we cannot understand," making us reliant on faith for knowledge

Answer 24

Heaven and Hell

Answer 25

The personal is the valuable Emphasizes disunity between the objective and subjective worlds "I/It" (objective) and "I/Thou" (subjective) - Martin Buber

Answer 26

Knowledge is subjective and reliant on faith, the whole truth is paradoxical

Answer 27

Focus: human nature and relationship to cosmos (not relationship to God as much)

Answer 28

Not a record of events, but a model/myth to be made present and passionately lived Jesus' death and resurrection became a symbol of "new life" of human sacrifice and serving others

Answer 29

"Atman is Brahman": the soul of each person is the soul of the cosmos (from Hindu Upanishads) Anything that does not appear to be God is an illusion (maya) Oneness gives us reality, not separation or uniqueness Oneness surpasses space and time, good and evil, and illusion and reality

Answer 30

One impersonal element is reality

Answer 31

Material world is "maya" (an illusion)

Answer 32

A spark of the divine, capable of being reunited with ultimate reality

Answer 33

End of personality, but Atman (the soul) is indestructible and it is the only valuable component of a person Reincarnation based on the way one has lived their previous life

Answer 34

Knowledge is part of external reality (maya), but being part of ultimate reality does not impart knowledge either

Answer 35

No distinction between good and evil

Answer 36

Time is maya, history is cyclical, the goal is to transcend history

Answer 37

Elimination of desire is necessary to achieve oneness Buddhism has the eightfold path: 1. Right view 2. Right intention 3. Right speech 4. Right action 5. Right livelihood 6. Right effort 7. Right mindfulness 8. Right consciousness

Answer 38

Monism: - Hinduism: Prime Reality is Brahman "the One" - Buddhism: Prime Reality is the Void, unnamable and unknowable Humans: - Hinduism: humans have a soul (Atman) - Buddhism: humans do not have a soul; we are aggregates of previous persons Religious Practices: - Hinduism: meditation, mantras; the goal is to ascend to godhood - Buddhism: mantras, emptying of mind; the goal is to reach a state of the realization of nonbeing

Answer 39

The self (we can become gods) We are on the verge of a radical change in human nature

Answer 40

The visible universe and the invisible universe (accessible through altered states of consciousness) Visible universe is not an illusion, but can be reordered by the self Doors of perception: drugs, meditation, trance, biofeedback, acupuncture, ritualized dance, types of music, etc.

Answer 41

"All and everything that we can imagine exists" - John Lilly We have untapped power

Answer 42

Physical death is not the end of the self; fear of death is removed from cosmic consciousness Death lets the self reunite with...whatever it is, the cosmic consciousness Some past-life recall

Answer 43

Cosmic consciousness allows for understanding of reality, though many New Age scholars also cite authority of religious texts

Answer 44

Evil is an illusion, there is no distinction between good and evil

Answer 45

Cosmic history ends with deification of humanity Great vision and hope Personal experience is the most important aspect of history (your own life history)

Answer 46

Realize your unity with the cosmos and your identity as a creator, enhance yourself

Answer 47

1. Occult - access to spiritual world through special objects or practices 2. Psychedelic - reality is self-generated, beings are projections of the conscious self 3. Conceptual Relativism - no model for reality is any "truer" than another, disjunction between objective reality and perceived reality, language shapes our understanding of concepts like time, "there is no direct awareness of reality at all" - Robert Masters

Answer 48

God is dead, incredulity toward metanarratives

Answer 49

Death of truth, we have useful tools like language that hold society together

Answer 50

There is no substantial self, language makes us who we are Stories give communities their cohesive character, language is power

Answer 51

Personal extinction is most probably, though no one really knows

Answer 52

Truth about reality is hidden, all we can do is tell stories The only truth is pragmatic truth (does it get you what you want?)

Answer 53

Metanarratives are oppressive Morality is a linguistic construct, social good is determined by society Radical ethical relativism (e.g. Foucault's defense of rape as a form of "self-expression" and "freedom")

Answer 54

Denial of fixity of past, historians create their own truth

Answer 55

New literary frontiers and theories are always in discussions "An endless stream of shifting 'whatevers'" - Sire

Answer 56

Allah - monotheistic, infinite, personal, transcendent, good

Answer 57

Allah created the universe ex nihilo, but the world is a closed system (no Fall), everything that happens is the will of Allah (doctrine known as Qadr), Allah created jinn and angels as well

Answer 58

Pinnacle of Allah's creation, responsibility to live up to Allah's standards, placed above jinn and angels

Answer 59

Paradise/Hell Burial based on purity, lying on right side facing Mecca "no Muslim, even the best among them, imagines that he is guaranteed Paradise" - Suzanne Haneef

Answer 60

Through reason and sense (given to us by Allah), we can understand Allah's revelation Human knowledge cannot always know Allah's sovereign decrees Allah keeps some people from understanding "We have thrown veils over their hearts" (6:25)

Answer 61

Right/wrong based on Qu'ran, amplified by hadith (words and actions of Muhammad) and interpreted by shari'a (law) Shari'a Law has Five Pillars: 1. Recite confession (there is no god but Allah) 2. Pray 5 times a day 3. Fast during month of Ramadan 4. Give annual contribution to the poor 5. Make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca

Answer 62

Demonstrates sovereignty of Allah, demonstrates peoples' submission to Allah Mandate to set up Islamic governments

Answer 63

Keep up multiple demands for righteousness, submission to Allah in all areas of life (Islam means Submission)

Midterm Exam (Christian Theism through Islamic Theism) Flashcards

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