Exam #1.
1. Describe the Yanomami and/or the Mekranoti as primitive cultures and
religion [we will suppose their beliefs and practices are indeed
religion for the sake of this exam] in such a way as not only to show
what is "primitive" about them but also to indicate what is not archaic
about their culture and religion. (Ch. 1)
2. Describe the differences among the following non-religious
explanations of the origin or nature of religion: psychological,
sociological, anthropological, and sociobiological. (Ch. 2) Describe how
Eliade responds to such non-religious approaches.
3. Explain what it means to say that an Ultimate Absolute transcends
even the categories that are used to describe a "merely perfect Person."
Use the readings from the Rig Veda and Upanishads as well as the brief
readings from the Tao Te Ching to help illustrate this. (Chs 3-4).
Briefly state how much "order" the universe is presumed to have because
of such an Ultimate.
4. Both the first chapter of Genesis and the Buddha’s "Sermon at Benares"
are products of the axial age, when many of the religious leaders
shifted from archaic style to historic style, not only in the content of
their beliefs but in the "mode of expression." Describe the new historic
mode of expression and how it differs from the main archaic mode, using
Gen. 1 and the Sermon to illustrate.
Exam #2
1. Gather ideas from chs 5 through 10 on primitive beliefs and practices
to create an overall view. (The topics are the 3 forms of salvation,
types of morality, religious leaders, and the use of symbols and/or
rituals.) Then explain why Berger’s means by claiming that this defends
the primitive people against anomy.
2. Gather ideas from chs 5 through10 on archaic beliefs and practices to
create an overall view. Identify archaic aspects of the selection from
Exodux and from the Book of Revelation (use the introductory materials
to these readings as guides).
3. Gather ideas from chs 5 through 10 on historic beliefs and practices
to create an overall view. Use Kohlberg’s categories to describe the two
kinds of morality found in historic cultures.
4. Summarize briefly the arguments by Anselm, Aquinas (‘proof’ #3), and
James. Explain why it can be said that Anselm does systematic theology,
Aquinas does philosophical or natural theology, and James position
represents “faith as a reasonable commitment.”
Exam #3 -- Final Exam
1. Ch. 12 describes the following: deism, naturalism, religious
humanism, religious tolerance, and secular evolutionary humanism.
Explain what each of these is, in such a way as to make clear the
various relations among them. A good answer will give specific examples
of each, both from the book and from the extra readings.
2. Ch. 13 argues that there is a link between a) science as a new way of
coming to understand reality and b) the new way of understanding the
self which stresses individual autonomy. Explain what a) and b) are and
what the link between them is, according to the text. Devise an
explanation of how American Pragmatism fits well with a) late modern
(non-dogmatic) science, and of how Sartre’s ideas are an extreme
expression of b).
3 Ch. 14. List the four modern challenges to traditional religion and
give at least one example of modern responses to each of these
challenges. Use specific theologians’ ideas to illustrate the examples.
4 Explain what postmodernism is, and how it has been used as a defense
against both secularism and science. Explain also the similarities among
a)postmodernism, b) late modern thought, and c) Fowler’s category of
“conjunctive” faith.
5. [Optional: you may choose to answer this, but it will not be selected
by lot.]
A segment of the Epilogue entitled “Stage Styles and Criteria for
Belief” (335+) refers back to the description of the first 4 stages in
Fowler’s theory (318-21). Describe what each stage is and its major
criterion for belief. Explain what Ricoeur means by “second naiveté, and
discuss how it may represent “the tension of the human quest” (345-46).
This page last changed Nov. 29, 2005