Erin Morrow
2-1 Questions
1/22/2017
1.) Define The Following Terms:
1. Profane-Before I read the chapters, I related the term profane with profanity; so people who are vulgar or unorthodox. However, I learned what the word is defined as in religious terms. After reading the text, I believe profane is simply reality. My understanding of the text was that profane means routine aspects of our daily existence; the opposite of sacred, which is extraordinary aspects. Driving around town or spending time with friends is viewed as a profane. Reading the bible is considered a sacred for christians just like reading the Quran is sacred too the islamic religion.
2. Sacred-The word sacred, to me is, something or someone who is of importance and connected spiritually to God. However, after I read the chapter, I grasped a deeper understanding of the term sacred. According to the book, sacred is defined as “ that which is ultimate of either a spiritual or a secular nature, and which orders reality for believers (Young, 2015). The book explains the sacred as both spiritual or secular. This means whatever is sacred could be a god or various activities that have no spiritual meaning at all. Now I view the term sacred as something that is ultimate, but that does not have to have a spiritual meaning.
3. Theism-“Theism is the belief in the existence of personal gods” (Young, 2015). The next few terms are like this one, however they have their own twist on how many gods there are or what can be viewed as god.
4. Monotheistic-“Monotheistic is the existence of one al-powerful God, to the exclusion of other gods”(Young, 2015). This is accepted by my religion. My personal belief is that there is one God; however I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; so does this mean it is not monotheistic?
5. Polytheistic-“Polytheistic is the belief in the existence of plurality of personal gods” (Young, 2015).
6. Animism-“Animism is the belief that all reality is infused with spirits or a spiritual force and is therefore alive” (Young, 2015). Indigenous peoples believe in this. They believe in no distinction between spiritual and material things. “Indigenous peoples understand that while humans are spirituals beings, so are birds, deer, trees, lakes and streams, the sky and the earth as a whole” (Young, 2015)
7. Transcendent idealism-Transcendent idealism was founded in the18th-century by German philosopher Immanuel Kant. “He held that the human self, or transcendental ego, constructs knowledge out of sense impressions and from universal concepts called categories that it imposes upon them” (Sellars). This type of idealism, to my understanding, what we think is reality, becomes real too us. However, if we do not perceive a thought, it is not reality.
8. Ancestors-Ancestors are those who came before yourself. In the book, it describes how indigenous religions following the beliefs and practices of their ancestors.
9. Ritual-“A ritual is a symbolic action...
