Sacred Space and Time - Assignment Example

RELIGION AND THEOLOGY RELIGION AND THEOLOGY Chapter 6 (Sacred Space and Time) Vocabulary Sacred; Refers to anything that is related to God, god or devoted to a religious purpose and as a result deserves reverence. For example, sacred music, books etc. Profane; anything that is not devoted to religious purpose but it considered secular or heathen such as natural laws and scientific beliefs. Axis mundi; is a point of connection between heaven and earth particularly where the four compass directions meet. This is made evident by the peak of the high mountains such as the Himalayas and Kilimanjaro. Mundane; is something that is not heavenly or spiritual in nature but is related to the world. For example natural scientific laws. Primordial; something that has been in existence since time immemorial i.e. prehistoric in nature Linear time; is the portrayal of time as being absolute in physical reality in the sense that time does not depend on our consciousness. Time is not guided by how we feel or think. Cyclical time; is the belief in the operations of linear time which takes people from one day into another. Samsara; is the cycle of death as well as rebirth upon which life in the material world is bound. This is a common belief among Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Taoism and Yârsân religions. Natural sacred spaces; this relates to natural features which can be on land, water or in free space designated for spiritual purposes by a given community or society (Chidester,1995). Constructed sacred spaces; refers to places of great spiritual significance and have been made by men such as shrines and temples. Sacred times; arises when a given community’s sense of the sacred causes interruption to the ordinary experience of time. Examples include the Holy month of Ramathan that is observed by the Muslims, Easter festival marked by Christians and Diwali among the Hindu religion (Coster, W., & Spicer, A. 2005). Boundaries (between sacred and profane spaces/times); is the gap between what is believed to be sacred and that which is secular or heathen. Vertical sacred space; refers to the sacred space located between the sky and earth. Horizontal sacred space; refers to sacred space existing along the earth surface. The “now and not yet” of sacred times; relates to the timings within the sacred time. Iconoclastic; refers to opposition to commonly accepted beliefs and practices. Sacramental principle; is a description of beliefs of a church that the presence of God and his grace are manifested through symbols. Prophetic principle; relates to the common laws to be observed in interpreting prophecies. Shrines; refers to a place that is regarded as a holy ground due to its association with divinity. A key example is the shrine of St. James Temples; refers to a building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence e.g. the Temple in Jerusalem that was built by King Solomon. Congregational structures; structures where people meet for worship purposes. Examples include church, mosques etc. Answers to the question of Chapter 6: Sacred Space and Time Axis mundi refers to the meeting point of heaven and earth and it particularly relates to where the four compass directions meet and is connected to the sacred space and time in the sense that they both convey some aspect of divinity. Sacred time the duration devoted to religious activities while profane relates to time devoted to secularity. Sacred space is an area devoted to sacred purposes such as shrines and temples while profane space is an area devoted to secular activities such as discos and brothels. Boundaries help us to transit between sacred and profane time and space since they provide enough time for the necessary adjustments and they are important in the sense that they assist us in defining our selves in relation to what we sacred and profane. Music and dancing are both especially to religious tunes are forms of expressing worship and praise during sacred times in the sacred spaces. Iconoclastic refers to opposition to commonly accepted beliefs and practices and it is connected to transcendent and immanent understandings of the sacred due to the fact that it determines the extent of ones beliefs (Chidester,1995). Sacramental principles refers to a description of beliefs of a church that the presence of God and his grace are manifested through symbols and it is closely connected to transcendent and immanent owing to the definition of the symbols that are accepted as religious. Prophetic principle is relates to the common laws to be observed in interpreting prophecies and it is connected to transcendent and immanent understanding of the sacred in the sense that it defines the future happenings in a particular religion thus stipulation what is within the scope of the religion or out of its scope (Schrempp, G. A., & Hansen, W. F. 2002). The three main types of sacred architecture include Byzantine architecture, Classical architecture and Ancient architecture. Mount Kilimanjaro illustrates axis mundi by the fact that from its view, one can see its peak as if its reaching to the sky hence it show a point joining the sky and the earth surface. This illustrates sacred time and space by providing a clear work of nature which has been made by the deity. It legitimate gender roles and culture by giving them religious attributes (Cormack, 2013). Chapter 4 ( Myth as Sacred Story): Vocabulary: myth/mythos; is a widely held but false or wrongful idea. worldview; relates to a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world. literal understandings of myth; taking a particular widely accepted view as it is without considering the deeper meaning. symbolic understandings of myth; is to consider the deeper meaning of a myth. cosmogonic; is a branch of astronomy that deals with the origin as well as history and dynamics of the universe. cosmological; relates to a branch of philosophy that deals with the elements and the laws especially the characteristics of the entire universe such as space and time. etiological; it is something that relates to the philosophical study of causation. eschatological; something that relates to the ultimate destiny of mankind as well as the entire world. incarnation; refers to a person who embodies in the flesh a deity, spirit, or abstract quality. manifest; is to display or show a given quality or feeling by ones acts or appearance i.e. demonstrate. latent; something that is existing but not yet developed or manifested thus remain hidden orconcealed. hierophanic; is the manifestation of something that is sacred in nature. numinous; is to have a strong religious or spiritual quality which indicates or suggests the presence of a divinity ritualistic; adherence to ritualism or attracted to a ritualistic society. phenomenological; is related to a philosophical doctrine that was proposed by Edmund Husserl based on the study of human experience in which considerations of objective reality are not taken into account Enuma Elish; is the Babylonian creation mythos which was recovered by Austen Henry Layard in 1849 in the ruined Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, and published by George Smith in 1876. Answers to the questions of chapter 4: Myth as Sacred Story To say a myth is not false but it is sacred means that it cannot be understood clearly or explained through normal reasoning unless given a religious view. Myths reveal peoples’ profound sense of mystery since it allows them to understand their behavior pattern based on their past which they tend to believe in firmly. Literal meaning of myth is achieved through its direct interpretation while symbolic meaning is achieved through consideration of it deeper meaning. Metaphors and analogies are connected to symbolic understanding of myths in the sense that they all have deeper meanings and should never be understood literary. Different types of myths include Myths of origin which explains the origin of nature, Myths of eschatology and destruction which explains the end of the world, Messianic and millenarian myths which talks about the Messiah, Myths of culture heroes and soteriological myths which talks about key figure in the religious cycle and their contributions and finally the Myths of time and eternity which related sacred times and the life after death (Scott, 2005). Functions of myths include explanation, justification or validation, description and to offer healing, renewal, and inspiration to mankind. There are basically four theories of myths. Rational myth theory argues that myths were made to better understand natural events and forces that occurred in the everyday lives of people. This theory also explains that the gods and goddesses controlled all of these happenings of nature. The second theory is the Functional myth theory which explains how myths were used to educate morality and social behavior. It further says that myths were used to tell different type of things that should take place and those that should not take place in the society. It outlined the consequences for those who committed wrongful acts in the society as well ensuring social control and stability in the society. The third theory was Structural myth theory which related to myths that were based on human emotions and that they portrayed two sides of the human mind which is both the good and the bad side. Such theories explain the duality nature of the human life. The final myth theory is psychological myth theory which states how myths are founded on human emotions which originates from the subconscious mind (Taves, 2009).The different approaches to understanding the relationship between religion and science is through a look into the conflict, dialogue, independence and the integration of the two disciples. These attributes creates an understanding of the two disciples through an in-depth analysis and discussion of key facts and figures that have been established over a long period of time. The Babylonian myth talks about the creation of the entire universe as well as the triumph of Marduk over Tiamat which is followed by him declaring himself as king of the gods. The epic talks of two gods namely Apsu representing fresh water and Tiamat representing the ocean as well as several other created gods. The small gods were making a lot of noise which angered Apsu and Tiamat at the point of wanting to destroy them. Apsu intends to destroy all of them but Tiamat disagrees who intervenes by asking the chief god among them known as Ea to kill Apsu and then proceeds to become the chief god. His son Marduk uses wind to cause havoc to Tiamat. Tiamat is persuaded to revenge by the gods residing in it. She gains a lot of strength but in the end she is destroyed by the much stronger Marduk who rips her corpes into two halves through which he forms the earth and the skies. He then proceeds to create a calendar, organizes the heavenly bodies and controls the moon, sun and the weather. The myth falls under the myths of origin which explains the origin of nature and rational myth theory. In the Genesis story of creation, God first separates light from darkness then He created the Heavens and the oceans. On the third day, He separated the oceans and dry land and on the fourth day ordered the lights in the sky, the stars, sun and the moon. On day five, He made sea and air creatures, land creatures followed next on the sixth day as well as man. He finally rested on the seventh day after He was through with the entire creation. The Genesis creation story belongs to myths of origin which explains the origin of nature and rational myth theory. Both the Babylonian and the Genesis story of creation seen to address the same thing only that Enuma Elis is short in its explanations. It is evident that the Genesis creation story supersedes other creation story in the sense that it addresses all of them including Enuma Elis. Santeria belief system merges the Yoruba religion and Roman Catholicism as well as Amerindian traditional beliefs. It is a sacred story that gives meaning to the why behind sacred actions, sacred spaces, sacred times, sacred persons, sacred objects through the use of trance for communicating with their ancestors and deities, animal sacrifice and sacred drumming and dance. The Santeria video is an illustration that some religious actions can be categorized under more than one category since it encompasses several religious practices that have been drawn from varied cultural beliefs. Chapter 7 (Experiencing The Sacred) Vocabulary: Emissary; refers to a person who has been sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative such as ambassadors sent to other countries. Exemplary; something that serves as a desirable model to be followed by others. Nabi; a name used to refer to a messenger of God like a prophet. Revelational; something meant to expose something. Ecstatic; is a feeling or expressing overwhelming happiness or joyful excitement. Being cheerful or extremely happy. Finitude; is the state of having limits or bounds in ones life. Numinous; is to have a strong religious or spiritual quality. Mystical; is an inspiring a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination. hmung; people living traditionally in isolated mountain villages throughout Southeast Asia. Muhammad; the prophet believed by Muslims to be the channel for the final unfolding of Gods revelation to mankind. He is popularly regarded as the founder of Islam Mysterium tremendum et fascinans; is a situation in which the dreadful, fearful, and overwhelming aspect of the numinous appears. Friedrich schleiermacher; German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant Christianity. Rudolph otto; eminent German Lutheran theologian and scholar of comparative religion. Ninian smart; Scottish writer and university educator. He was a pioneer in the field of secular religious studies. Answers to question in chapter 7: Experiencing The Sacred According to Joachim Wach, practical form of religious expression is evident through worship, prayer, pilgrimage, meditation and rituals as it seeks to portray what people do. Theoretical form lays emphasis on doctrines and myths as it aims at explaining what people say. Sociological aspect of religious expression is characterized by leadership, groups, relation to larger community as it seeks to establish how people organize themselves. These three broad aspects of religious expression form the central experience. Ones religious experience is influenced by their social location owing to the fact that they learn religion aspect based in their social context since religion includes a system of social relations as well as functions. The response of an individual towards the presence of the sacred is both formal and spontaneous form of worship in the sense that people develop certain patterns of worship which are very specific as well as formal and they can change at specific times thus becoming spontaneous. Examples include use of hymn books during worship services in churches and private prayers practices (Skelton, J., & James, N. P. 2005). Profound religious experience occurs when one experience intense and instant religious transformation while gradual religious experience refers to a step by step religious transformation which may take a long period of time. Christians exemplify profound religious experience since the growth in the faith is a step by step process while cultic organizations recruit their members over a short period of time and they do not take long before they rise to higher ranks which are an evident of profound religious experience (Walbridge, 1996). Emissary prophet is one who confronts the established powers as one who is sent by God to proclaim a message while exemplary prophet one who challenges the status quo by living a kind of life that exemplifies a dramatically antiestablishment set of meanings and values. This can be connected to Wach’s sociological characteristic of religious experience since they are based on social contexts in which the prophets exist. The religious experiences of Moses, Muhammad, Gautama and/or the Hmong shaman illustrate each of the types of religious experiences. There religious experiences were practical in nature through pilgrimage, prayers and acts of worship. They were sociological in the sense that they attracted people and each of them had followers and finally they were theoretical through doctrines that they executed. Schleiermacher, Otto and Smart helped in building the understanding of religious experience their studies that were geared towards establishing deeper truths about religious experiences (MacNamara, 2006). Chapter 8 (Explaining Evil): Vocabulary: Theodicy; refers to the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil. Karma; is the sum of a persons actions in this and previous states of existence which is viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Eschatological; this relates to the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world. dualistic; refers to the philosophical doctrine of dualism. Recompense; to make or amend for loss or harm suffered such as compensate. Evolutionary; something relating to or produced by the process of evolution. Natural evil; discussions of the problem of evil and theodicy that refers to states of affairs which are those that are part of the natural world, and so are independent of the intervention of a human agent. Moral evil; is the result of any morally negative event caused by the intentional action or inaction of an agent, such as a person. An example of a moral evil might be murder, or any other evil event for which someone can be held responsible or culpable. Holocaust; refers to a Jewish sacrificial offering that is burned completely on an altar. Nomos; is the daemon of laws, statutes, and ordinances. Anomie; acts of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group. Chaos; is the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe. samsara; is the cycle of death as well as rebirth upon which life in the material world is bound. This is a common belief among Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Taoism and Yârsân religions. Dharma; refers to the principle of cosmic order in Hinduism. Purgatory; a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. Theological theodicy; the branch of theology concerned with defending the attributes of God against objections resulting from physical and moral evil. Transcendence; is the existence or experience beyond the normal or physical level. Immanence; is the state of being within or not going beyond a given domain. Answers to questions of chapter 8: Explaining Evil The main purpose of theodicy is to offer defense to the specific attributes of God against objections that may arise from evils in the society. Natural evil refers to suffering caused by events that have nothing to do with humans, and which are to do with the way the world is, eg, natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, floods or earthquakes while moral evil relates to suffering caused by humans acting in a way that is considered morally wrong eg, bullying, murder, rape, theft or terrorism. There exists four basic types of theodicies and they include soul making theodicy which argues that God uses evil to create pear as witnessed in Judaism. Greater good theodicy which assumes that God has a cunning plan that can never fail therefore people need to have faith in Him which is manifested by Islamic religion. The third theodicy is the natural law God cannot do something good without creating a bad thing alongside it which is evident in the Christian science religion. The final theodicy is the free will theodicy which argues that God intends that all His creatures should love Him freely so that He can give them power to experience both evil and good as evident in Christianity (Griffin, 2004). This-worldly theodicy refers to the Utopian age that will be realized in this world while other-worldly theodicy considers a recompense for evil and suffering in a life after death. Limited dualism is a form of theodicies that is only relevant to a given religion while absolute dualism theodicies cut across several religions. Theological theodicy is the branch of theology concerned with defending the attributes of God against objections resulting from physical and moral evil and it is a problem to monotheistic religions because it shows absolute defense to God. Different kinds of theological theodicies biblical theodicy, Augustinian theodicy, Irenaean theodicy and Origenian theodicy (Parmentier, 1987). References Chidester, D. (1995). American sacred space. Bloomington [u.a.: Indiana Univ. Press. Cormack, M. (2013). Muslims and others in sacred space. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coster, W., & Spicer, A. (2005). Sacred space in early modern Europe. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. Griffin, D. R. (2004). God, power, and evil: A process theodicy. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press. MacNamara, P. H. (2006). The psychology of religious experience. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Praeger. Parmentier, R. J. (1987). The sacred remains: Myth, history, and polity in Belau. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Schrempp, G. A., & Hansen, W. F. (2002). Myth: A new symposium. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Scott, J. M. (2005). On earth as in heaven: The restoration of sacred time and sacred space in the Book of Jubilees. Leiden: Brill. Skelton, J., & James, N. P. (2005). Axis mundi. London: Cv Publications. Taves, A. (2009). Religious experience reconsidered: A building block approach to the study of religion and other special things. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Walbridge, J. (1996). Sacred acts, sacred space, sacred time. Oxford: G. Ronald. Read More