Rels 205 Lecture 3.1Religious Traditions

Lecture Outline for Part One of Rels 205.01

Week 1Lecture 1 What is “Religion”?Lecture 2 Studying “Religion”Week 2Lecture 1 Ritual and the Study of ReligionLecture 2 Religious and Secular Traditions

Week 3Lecture 1 Religious TraditionsLecture 2 InstitutionsWeek 4Lecture 1 The Meaning of MythLecture 2 Sacred SentimentsWeek 5Lecture 1 Changing WorldviewsLecture 2 ReviewWeek 6 Reading WeekWeek 7Lecture 1 First in class test

Identified with a Tradition

Tradition

“Tradition: that which is handed down or passed on from the past as distinct from modern ideas and theories.”

Great and Little Traditions

Robert Redfield (1897-1958)

Little traditionsExperiential

Oral

Great traditionsIntellectual

Written

Great and Little Traditions II

Great traditionCatholicism

Little traditionAfrican religion

Christianity 520,000,000

Islam 205,000,000

Hinduism 210,000,000

Buddhism 50,000,000

African 157,000,000

Sikhism 10,000,000Judaism 10,000,000

Confucian 240,000,000

World Religions 1905

Christianity 2.1 billion

Buddhism 374,000,000

Chinese religions 394,000,000

Christianity 2.1 billion

Islam 1.2 billion

Sikhs 23,000,000

Jews 14,000,000Mormons 10,000,000

African 100,000,000

World Religions 2005

Hinduism 9.000,000

Major Religious Traditions

Primal Traditions

Yogic Traditions

Abramic Traditions

Primal Experiences

Primal experiences are fundamental spiritual experiences that shape our sense of the sacred

Ancestral Religions

Ancestral religions are religions that are directly based on primal experiences involving things like the ancestors and healing.

Primal Experiences and Ancestral Traditions

Primal Experiences

DreamsVisions

PropheciesHealings

RevelationsMiraclesVoicesGhosts

Primal Traditions

African ReligionsConfucianism

Native American TraditionsShamanism

New ReligionsRevitalization Movements

Yogic Religions

Yogic religions are spiritual traditions based on the practice of one of the many forms of yoga. Yogic doctrines include: karma, the wheel of existence, and some form of transmigration or reincarnation.

Yoga

In the West yoga is associated with physical exercises and particular postures used in meditation. Actually yoga is a Sanskrit term meaning “to yoke” and is used to describe various processes of spiritual discipline or harnessing of physical and mental powers to attain self-control and ultimate enlightenment.

Yogic Traditions

Jain Traditions

Hindu Traditions

Buddhist Traditions

Early Indianreligions andIndus valley

culture.

Major Yogic Traditions

H in du Ja in B u d dh ist

Y o ga

Hindu Traditions

Early Hindu religion

Religions of devotionBhakti

Philosophical Schools

Indus valley religion

Hara Krishna etc.Vedanta etc..

The Hindu Tradition

Buddhist Tradition

Early Buddhism

MahayanaHinayana

Pure Land Zen

Nicheren

Buddhism

Abramic Religions

Abramic religions trace their ancestry to the patriarch Abraham. The major religions in this grouping are Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Major Abramic Traditions

Hebrew Religion

Christianity

Islam

Judaism

Abramic Religious Tradition

ChristianityTRANSITION

Hebrew Religion

Judaism

African and other Judaisms

70-250

70+

CE

Islam

BC 70-250AD 250-700AD 1785

Modernity

Jewish Religious Traditions

TalmudicJudaism

TRANSITION

Hebrew Religion Classical

Judaism

Reformed

OrthodoxHasidic

Ethnic

African and other Judaisms

70-250

ZIONISM

C19 - Present

BC 70-25 250-900 900-1700 CE 1700-Present AD

Judaism

The Christian Tradition

EARLY

CHURCH

Coptic, Syriac, Indian, and other smaller traditions

Eastern Orthodoxy – Greek, Russian, etc.

Roman Catholicism

Protestantism

Charismatic Movement1520

1965

Nestorians etc.

African and other Christian Movements

0-400 1500 1965 AD

Christian Fundamentalism

Mainline Churches

Eastern Orthodoxies

The Islamic Tradition

Early IslamMuhammad

(571-632)

Sunni Islam – Egypt, Turkey

Shiite Islam – Iran -KhomeniQarmatins - Tunisia Egypt

Wahhabis Saudi Arabia

Ahamadiya India

Ismaili Shia Islam () Aga KahnDruzes 10th C Lebanon Israel

Kharijtes - Yemen and Oman

BM 571-632 700- 765 900 1750 1889 1967 AD

Islam

The Yogic-Islamic Traditions

Yogic Religions

Islamic Traditions

Bahai (1844) Iran

Sikhism (1500) Punjab, India

Subud (1933) Java

The Canadian Situation

Canadian Religious Affiliation 1881-2001

0

5000000

10000000

15000000

20000000

25000000

30000000

P C N E Y J M

P = PopulationC = Western ChristianN = Nones ?E = Eastern ChristianY = Yogic: Buddhist+Hindu+SikhM = Islam

Blue = 1991; Brown = 1981; Green = 1881

CND Religious Affiliation as % of Population 1991 &1891

0102030

405060708090

100

Christian None Other

1991

1891

Eastern Christian-Muslim Affiliation 1991

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Red = Eastern ChristianGreen = Muslim

Millennialism

Millennium = 1,000 years

Revelation 20, n.b. vs. 2

Millennialism defined

Any religious movement that hopes for salvation that is:

(a)collective, to be enjoyed by all the faithful as a group;

(b) terrestrial, to be realized on this earth;

(c) imminent, to come soon and suddenly;

(d) total, to transform life on earth completely;

(e) miraculous, to be brought about by, or with the help of, supernatural agencies.

A New Heaven and a New Earth

Paradise on Earth

Revelation 21:1-4

Restoration

Millennial Movements

Christian – “End of the world is nigh”

Buddhist – Maitraya

Islamic – Madhi

Millennial Types

Post-millennialism

A-millennialism

Pre-millennialism

Traditional Eschatology Post-Millenialism

Eschatology = study of the last things

Post-Millenialism = Christ returns after the millennium

Key Post- Millennial Ideas

1) Preach gospel of the Kingdom of God2) Establish the Kingdom3) World is getting better4) Christ returns at the end of time5) The Church is the new Israel

A- Millennialism

Key A-Millennial Ideas

1) All doctrines must be based on clear Biblical statements.

2) The Bible uses many different forms of languagee.g. poetic, historical, prophetic, prose, etc.

3) The Bible teaches Christ will return.

4) The Bible teaches Christians to live in the expectationof Christ’s return.

5) There are no clear teachings about when Christ willreturn or how this is going to take place.

Pre-Millennialism

Pre-Millennial = Christ returns before the Millennium

Key Pre-Millennial Ideas

1) Preach the gospel of salvation2) Save souls3) World is getting worse4) Christ’s return is imminent5) The State of Israel fulfils Biblical prophecy

Pre-millennialism - Origins

John Nelson Darby’s (1800-1882)

Plymouth Brethren

Dispensationalism

Judge C. I. Schofield (1843-1921)

Schofield Reference Bible (1909)

Dispensationalism

Schofield’s Scheme

Christian Zionism by Don Lewisand