Topic 1 - Nature of Religion Flashcards
Culture
The accepted and traditionally patterned ways of behaving, and a set of common understandings shared by the members of a group or community.
Diaspora
The Jewish community outside Israel.
Divine
Of, or pertaining to a God, especially the supreme being.
Immanent Dimension
A world view that recognises a divine being or powers as a constant reality.
Transcendent Dimension
The belief in a divine being or powers whose existence goes beyond human limitations.
Aboriginal
From the Latin ‘ab origine’, meaning ‘from the beginning. It is always capitalised when referring to the Australian Aboriginals.
Indigenous
Those people whom are the original inhabitants of any country. It is always capitalised when referring to the Indigenous peoples of Australia.
Ancestral Beings
Those spirits who moved about forming the landscape and creating the plants, animals and peoples of the known world.
Dreaming
A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture that embraces the long ago creative era of the Ancestral beings as well as the present and the future.
Totem
An object such as an animal, a plant or a particular landmark through which a person is linked to the ancestral being responsible for their existence.
Elders
Key persons and keepers of various knowledge within the Aboriginal communities. They are chosen by their own communities as Elders in respect of:
A) kinship
B) Leaders of large extended families
C) Knowledge acquired or services given
Initiation
Formal admission into a society.
Rituals
Established or prescribed procedures and actions for a rite.
Rite
A formal or ceremonial act or procedure that is prescribed or is customary in a religious or other solemn use.
Myths
In a religious context, myths are stories that are passed on orally. Each myth has a beginning, middle and an end and narrates the deeds of superhuman beings or gods. Societies use myths to explain a ‘truth’ about how realities came to be.
