Blog Post 22- Ancient Western Religions

Chapter Review Questions

1.     Zoroastrianism rose and flourished in ancient Iran or Persia near the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.

2.     After Persia was conquered by the Greeks Zoroastrianism spread. Islam also pushed Zoroastrianism to India.

3.     Around the age of thirty, Good Thought carried Zarathustra in the form of a disembodied soul to Ahura Mazda. After this event he realized and started preaching about monotheism.

4.     The sacred text is the Avesta and the Gathas are the oldest part of them. It was written by Zarathustra.

5.     Ahura Mazda is the one true God or Wise Lord. It is eternal and universal goodness.

6.     Ethical dualism is the belief in the forces of good and evil.

7.     The Lie is the evil force that his hostile spirit child took on.

8.     Humans must chose between the truth and the Lie or good verses evil.

9.     After death, humans undergo judgment the good enter paradise and the evil are cast to the abyss. It is the individual’s responsibility is they are to pass or fail judgment.

10.  The ethical demands include caring for livestock and fields, live a simple life and tell the truth and do what is right.

11. Parsis are the Zoroastrians that are still around and live in India.

12. The Bible of the ancient Greeks are the poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.

13.  The Greek gods had human characteristics.

14.  Aeschylus shows the gods as having great power but also enforcing moral principles. This can be shown in the play Agamemnon.

15.  An oracle was a sanctuary favored by a particular god who communicated with those who visited the site. The most famous was the one at Delphi.

16. The three basic aspects are individuals had to choose to become initiated and went through an initiation ritual. Initiates experienced a personal encounter with the deity, and initiates gained spiritual renewal through participation and hope for a better afterlife.

17.  The Eleusinian mysteries honored Demeter and Persephone.

18. Dionysus is the god or fertility vegetation and the vine. He is often depicted with vines and grapes.

19.  The goal is that the soul might eventually escape the body realize its divine nature.

20. Plato believed that we know things in this life because of what we experienced in previous lives.

21. Plato believed that the truth exist independently from the body.

22. Both were called Savior and the intimacy of the worshipers with them is similar.

23.  Numina is supernatural powers and they populated Roman homes, towns, and countrysides. They inhabited fields, streams, trees, doorways, altars, and shrines.

24.  Jupiter was the most powerful Roman god.

25.  Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn are gods and planets.

26. The official worship practices helped maintain the welfare of the state because the gods were at peace.

27.  Mithraism and the mystery religion that celebrated Isis were the two rivals to Christianity.

28. Osiris was married to Isis. Osiris was hacked into pieces by his brother and Isis searched for the body parts and mummified them. He came back to life and became god of the underworld.

29. Augustus encouraged the worship of the emperor’s genius or guardian spirit, which guarded the welfare of the entire state of Rome.

30.  Christian didn’t want to go against their belief in one God, and the Romans thought that if they didn’t accept emperor worship they didn’t support the state.

Judaism Questions

1.     The three functions of a synagogue are a House of Assembly, a House of Study, and a House of Prayer.

2.     Synagogues either have a curtain or divider called a mehitzah or an upstairs balcony to separate the men from the women. On the eastern wall is where you will find the ark. The ark is where the Torah scrolls are stored when not in use. They are decorated in many ways and are have many different shapes and sizes. The Torah scrolls are covered by cloth mantles. They are handwritten by a trained scribe on parchment made from a kosher animal. It must be written with no mistakes, the letters must be clear and the writing should not be faded. If there is a problem with the Torah it cannot be used until a scribe corrects it. The Ten Commandments are in the Torah.

3.     A rabbi is a teacher of Judaism qualified to render decisions in Jewish law. To become a rabbi is a long process. You have to go to college, know Hebrew and spend a year in Israel, graduate and start as an intern and have a small congregation. A rabbi is a clergyman in the since that he is a religious figure in the Jewish church. Rabbis are the spiritual leaders and teachers of the Law.

4.     The Shabbat is a day of joy where the Jews can set aside weekday concerns and devote themselves to higher pursuits. It is consider a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The Jewish Shabbat day is Saturday but it begins at sunset Friday until nightfall on Saturday.

5.     The Torah is the Old Testament in the eyes of a Christian, but the Torah could also be considered the five books of Moses. The Talmud is the Oral Torah. It is a tradition explaining what the scriptures mean and how to interpret them and apply the Laws.

6.     Orthodox: These Jews follow Jewish law exactly how it is laid down in the Torah and Talmud. They believe God gave Moses the whole Torah on Mt. Sinai and that it had not changed.                                                                                                              Reform: They believe that the Torah is valuable culturally and philosophically, but was not delivery by God all at once. Instead it was developed over centuries. They believe Judaism must continue to evolve and that each individual is free to decide what to believe. Worship services are said in contemporary languages instead of Hebrew.                                                 Conservative: This movement came from tension between the Orthodox and Reform Jews. They believe that the sacred Jewish writings did come from God, but humans also were apart of it. They also believe Jewish law must adapt and be obeyed.                                                                                                                Zionist: Are the people that are apart of the secular movement that called for Jews to resettle in their homeland, which was then called Palestine.    

7.     Hebrew is a member of the Canaanite group of Semitic languages. It was the language of the early Jews

8.     Yiddish was the primary language of Ashkenazic Jews. It is found throughout eastern and central Europe. It is one of the Germanic languages and is written in Hebrew characters.

9.     Mazal Tov- Congratulations;  Shalom- Hello, Peace, Goodbye;  Mitzvah- commandment or any good deed

10. Brit Milah: it is the ceremony of circumcision. On the eighth day of a boy’s life he is circumcised fulfilling the covenant with Abraham.                                            Bar/Bat Mitzvah: It is a coming of age ceremony when a child reaches the age of legal majority in the Jewish community. They have full responsibility for their deeds and upholding the commandments.                                                            Jewish Marriage: God pairing people. Marriage is considered natural and desirable because it provides companionship and security.

11. Rosh Hoshanah: it is known as the Jewish New Year                                                     Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement, or a day to atone for the sins of the past year       Hanukah: eighth day festival of rededication, or the festival of lights                   Passover: it represents the beginning of the harvest season in Israel and is also related to the Jews exodus from Egypt

12. The coming of age ceremony is called a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.

13. There are many different branches of Judaism.

14. I was circumcised when I was a baby.

15. Everyone can have and touch the Holy Bible. And it isn’t stored inside an ark.

Buddhism Questions

Buddhism Questions

1.     The man who later became the Buddha and founded Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama.

2.     The Four Passing Sights are a decrepit old man, a disease man, a corpse, and a religious ascetic. These sights showed the reality of suffering and impermanent nature of life’s pleasure.

3.     The Middle Way rejects a lifestyle of sensual indulgences and states that a healthy spiritual life begins with a healthy physical life. Happiness requires a happy body, spirit and mind.

4.     Gautama sat under a fig tree and was tempted by the god Mara. He had three watches. During the First Watch perceived his previous lifetimes. The Second Watch he acquired the divine eye and perceived all livings things deaths and rebirths. Finally during the Third Watch he discovered the Four Noble Truths.

5.     Sangha is the first Buddhist monastic community. It consists of men and women from all walks of life.

6.     The Three Jewels of Buddhism are The Buddha, Dharma, and The Sangha.

7.     Both religions regard time as cyclical and say the universe is eternal with periods of creation and destruction. The also believe in samsara or the wheel of rebirth and liberation from it to reach spiritual perfection.

8.     The Buddha rejected sacrificial rituals of devotion to gods. He also rejected the caste system.

9.     The Three Marks of Existence are anatta, anicca, and dukkha.  They all relate to each other because they all deal with life.

10. Anatta means no self. This means that there is no ultimate reality within you. Atman is different because it states that there is an eternal self.

11.  In Buddhism, rebirth is the transference of energy. Karma choses the state of conception due to what happened in a previous life.

12. Five Precepts: Don’t take life, don’t take what is not given, don’t engage in sensuous misconduct, don’t use false speech, and don’t drink intoxicants. Additional precepts for monks and nuns: don’t eat after noon, don’t watch dancing or shows, don’t use garland perfumes or ornaments, don’t use a high or soft bed, don’t accept gold or silver.

13. Dukkha means suffering, dislocation, or discomfort. Dukkha is the feeling of unhappiness or not satisfied.

14. Tanha is translated as desire, thirst or craving. It is because of tanha that people receive dukkha.

15. The Eight-fold path is right views, right intentions, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right mediation.

16. There is no difference. Everyone can be a Buddha but they look to Gautama the Buddha as a guide.

17. The arhat is the worthy one. They have become awakened and received a foretaste of nirvana.

18. Nirvana means blowing out. When nirvana is reached the life energy is blown out like a candle and is liberated from samsara.

19. The three divisions of Buddhism are Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

20. Theravada Buddhism is the way of the elders. It focuses and agrees with the earliest text and original teachings of the Buddha. It also focuses on meditation.

21. The literal meaning is the Great Vehicle and it is called this because it is the largest of the Buddhist sects.

22. Vajrayana Buddhists use the energy of desire to do good things instead of shutting it off.

23. The Dalai Lama is the leader of the hierarchy of clergy in Vajrayana. The successor is chosen through supernatural ways or noting that a child plays with things that the former Dalai Lama possessed.

24. Vajarayana Buddhists are found in Tibet. Theravada Buddhists are found in Cambodia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Mahayana Buddhists are found in China, Japan and Korea.