RELI 448 FINAL EXAM SAMPLE QUESTIONS 2

RELI 448 FINAL EXAM SAMPLE QUESTIONS 2 Question 1 . Question : (TCO 1) The word religion literally means: Student Answer: to bind. meditate on. worship. rise above. Comments: Question 2.Question : (TCO 1) Belief in one God is called: Student Answer: monotheism. polytheism. atheism. agnosticism. Comments: Question 3 . Question : (TCO 2) Who was the German theologian who argued in The Idea of the Holy that religions emerge when people experience that aspect of reality which is essentially mysterious? Student Answer: William James Carl Gustav Jung Rudolf Otto E.B. Tylor Comments: Question 4 . Question : (TCO 4) The French thinker who developed the approach of structuralism when he first recognized extraordinary structural similarities in stories told by tribal peoples of the Americas was: Student Answer: Foucault. Durkheim. Derrida. LeviStrauss. Comments: Question 5.Question : (TCO 4) Name the American psychologist who viewed religion as positive way of fulfilling needs and praised its positive influence on the lives of individuals. Student Answer: James Frazer Carl Gustav Jung E.B. Tylor William James Comments: Question 6 . Question : (TCO 8) Vedic religion was: Student Answer: patriarchal and polytheistic. matriarchal and polytheistic. monotheistic. monistic. Comments: Question 7 . Question : (TCO 8) The power of a god is often symbolized by: Student Answer: lightening bolts. rings of fire. animals. many arms. Comments: Question 8 . Question : (TCO 9) Hinduism, as formulated in the Upanishads, Student Answer: encourages meditation to understand the essence of reality. says we must honor our social obligations and roles. rejected the authority of the Vedas in formulating new religious insights. advocates devotion to any of the many gods. Comments: Question 9.Question : (TCO 10) Both Jainism and Sikhism: Student Answer: practice vegetarianism. advocate ahimsa. are monotheistic. view the human being as composite of spirit and matter. Comments: Question 10 . Question : (TCO 8) The Buddha's name comes from a Sanscrit word meaning: Student Answer: spirit warrior. middle path. the enlightened one. to wake up. Comments: Question 11.Question : (TCO 8) Buddha was silent on questions about: Student Answer: suffering. greed. meditation. philosophy. Comments: Question 12.Question : (TCO 8) By his teachings, Confucius hoped to: Student Answer: counter the influx of Buddhism into China. produce virtuous people and create a harmonious society. make a break with the past and focus China on the future. draw people closer to Tian (Heaven). Comments: Question 13 . Question : (TCO 8) Confucius taught that people are: Student Answer: not born good but must be taught goodness. naturally good and should be left alone. individuals first and members of a society second. selfish and need strict laws to control them. Comments: Question 14 . Question : (TCO 9) Which is not a Daoist value? Student Answer: Simplicity Spontaneity Sensing movements of nature Formal education Comments: Question 15.Question : (TCO 9) Daoists view death as: Student Answer: a great evil. a predictable transformation of nature. an offering to the ancestors. necessary for one's next rebirth. Comments: Question 16 . Question : (TCO 5) All of the following ancient world religions are minor religions except: Student Answer: Shinto. Buddhism. Taoism. Jainism. Comments: Question 17 . Question : (TCO 11) Taoism does not have this element of a major world religion. Student Answer: An overall worldview of the universe Myths about the origin of the universe A shared religious community Specific rules of human behavior Comments: Question 18 . Question : (TCO 6) Someone inspired by God to speak for him was called a: Student Answer: priest. rabbi. prophet. king. Comments: Question 19.Question : (TCO 6) The sacred core of the Hebrew Bible is called the: Student Answer: Torah. Talmud. Writings. Prophets. Comments: Question 20.Question : (TCO 6) The Jewish Day of Atonement is: Student Answer: Hanukkah. Passover. Purim. Yom Kippur. Comments: Question 21.Question : (TCO 7) Jesus sometimes summed up his teachings in: Student Answer: ten commandments. one commandment. two commandments. five commandments. Comments: Question 22.Question : (TCO 7) Letters written in the New Testament to instruct, encourage, and solve problems are called: Student Answer: Gospels. Epistles. Acts. Revelations. Comments: Question 23.Question : (TCO 6) Muhammad's job before he became a prophet was as a: Student Answer: merchant. date grower. caravan driver. camel breeder. Comments: Question 24.Question : (TCO 6) The month of fasting, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is known as: Student Answer: Id alAdha. Kabah. Ramadan. Qur'an. Comments: Question 25.Question : (TCO 12) Established groups of Wiccans are called: Student Answer: witches. sisterhoods. covens. sects. Comments: 1. Question : (TCO 4) Compare and contrast Carl Gustav Jung's theory about the origin of religions with William James's theory. How do each of these psychologists view religion (positively or negatively)? Next, analyze how the insights of Jung or James might illuminate your religious tradition or the tradition with which you are the most familiar. How would Jung or James understand that tradition? Use specific examples to support your answer (e.g., a specific belief or ritual). Student Answer: Jung came up with his own theory based on the fact that humans are religious by nature. James' theory was based off the fact that our personalities evolve as we grow older. Jung didn't believe in the supernatural. He believed that our psyche played the role in religious experiences. James believed God was the biggest and deepest power in all our our universe. To be honest with myself and you, right now I agree more with Jung than I do with James. I am having a hard time not believing that our inner voice, sub-conscious is what most people refer to as God. I, as of this moment, agree with him in that Christ is our inner self. Comments: 50/50 Question 2.Question : (TCO 9) Identify and analyze the Four Noble Truths, in particular, the Noble Eightfold Path. What ideas from Hinduism did Buddhism essentially keep? Describe them. Include enough details to support your answer. Student Answer: The first noble truth is to live is to suffer. This means that from birth until death, we live in a very troubled and suffering world. Birth hurts. Death hurts. Our minds are troubled. To live is to suffer. The second truth is suffering comes from desire. This is all too common n our world today. We want what we can't have and we're not happy with what we actually have. The third truth is to end suffering, end desire. We should rid everything we desire. Monks do this by leaving their home, shaving their heads and wearing a common outfit to rid as much desire as possible. Accept what we have and be content with it. Remove the desire for more or better things. Once we can accept who we are and what we have, we can start to experience our world in a different light. The fourth truth is release from suffering is possible and can be attained by following the noble eightfold path. This is where we can obtain inner peace, or nirvana. In order to do this, we must follow the truths above and the eightfold path. This truth is said to end karma and rebirth. This is the ultimate of the truths because if we can make it here, we are at peace with ourselves, our life and our way of living. The eightfold path includes eight steps: Right Understanding, Intention, Speech, Action, work, effort, meditation and contemplation. In the eightfold path, we should make sure that we are taking these steps in the correct manner otherwise we are wasting our time. Comments: 40/50 Question 3 . Question : (TCO 3) Explain and evaluate Paley's Teleological Argument for the Existence of God: In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone and were asked how the stone came to be there, I might possibly answer that for anything I knew to the contrary it had lain there forever; nor would it, perhaps, be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think of the answer which I had before given, that for anything I knew the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for the stone? Why is it not as admissible in the second case as in the first? For this reason, and for no other, namely, that when we come to inspect the watch, we perceivewhat we could not discover in the stonethat its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose, e.g., that they are so formed and adjusted as to produce motion, and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the day; that if the different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, of a different size from what they are, or placed after any other manner or in any other order than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it. To reckon up a few of the plainest of these parts and of their offices, all tending to one result; we see a cylindrical box containing a coiled elastic spring, which, by its endeavor to relax itself, turns round the box. We next observe a flexible chainartificially wrought for the sake of flexurecommunicating the action of the spring from the box to the fusee. We then find a series of wheels, the teeth of which catch in and apply to each other, conducting the motion from the fusee to the balance and from the balance to the pointer, and at the same time, by the size and shape of those wheels, so regulating that motion as to terminate in causing an index, by an equable and measured progression, to pass over a given space in a given time. We take notice that the wheels are made of brass, in order to keep them from rust; the springs of steel, no other metal being so elastic; that over the face of the watch there is placed a glass, a material employed in no other part of the work, but in the room of which, if there had been any other than a transparent substance, the hour could not be seen without opening the case. This mechanism being observedit requires indeed an examination of the instrument, and perhaps some previous knowledge of the subject, to perceive and understand it; but being once, as we have said, observed and understoodthe inference we think is inevitable, that the watch must have had a makerthat there must have existed, at some time and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer..." Paley then argues that if a watch presumes there is a watchmaker then the existence of the universe must point to a God, who made the universe just as the watchmaker made the watch. Briefly explain and then evaluate this proof for the existence of God. Student Answer: This theory gives Paley's view of his proof that God exists. It's actually pretty simple as I look at the text. The explanation is in the text itself above. If something exists, it must have been created, therefore, God exists. This, to me, is not proof. While the text shows that there might be a God based on the fact that things exist, there's still another option. Why is it not okay to allow for chance? What are the odds that everything in our universe was perfectly alined to form as it did? Why does a God have to behind it? On the other side of the argument, it makes perfect sense. Everything in our world that we use, such as a watch is made by someone or something. If we as humans must make our food (grow), tools, buildings and amenities, then the world we live in must have been created by someone or something. For me though, proof means physical proof. Something we can feel or touch. Just because a watch is there, does not show proof that God exists. If you had a picture of God crushing our planet with other planets and comets to create the earth, then that would be actual proof. Why do we need proof though? Shouldn't we just have faith that God put the metals and liquids necessary on earth for us to make a watch? Comments: 40/50 Question 4 . Question : (TCO 11) Identify and analyze three basic patterns in indigeneous religions. Use examples from traditional Hawaiian religion to support your answer. Student Answer: The three basic patterns are: Human relationships with the natural world - We look to nature for guidance and meaning. In Hawaii, and example would be of the people cutting off fishing from certain parts of the sea so the fish could replenish. Framing sacred time and space - We must have sacred time with our ancestors, because this is where they live. We align our daily routines to align with certain events that are mythological to create sacred time. Sacred time is the center of the universe. The Puu Loa Petroglyphs can be considered a sacred space for Hawaiians. Respect for origins, gods, and ancestors The Hawaiians had their own gods, and they were sacred in that they had their own temples where Hawaiians can worship them. The people of Hawaii made a calendar that included 10 days of every lunar month that paid respect to the gods. Comments: 50/50