You should be making your way through the Introduction and In the Beginning... in A History of God and Points of Departure in The World's Religions. By Friday 8/28 you should have posted to this blog a minimum of 5 content questions and 5 discussion questions for each author.
Make sure that your discussion questions are open to debate and do not have direct, verfifiable answers from the text. Also, do not make your content questions too direct or simple. The should require not only fact retention but also some analysis. Here is an example:
1. Who are J, E, P, and D, what is the difference between J and E, and how are these biblical sources important to Armstrong's project/thesis?
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History of God:
ReplyDeleteContent Questions -
1.What made Yahweh more "appealing" than the Gods of Canaan?
2. What are some examples of factors that influence religion?
3. What was Buddha's concept of God?
4. Who was Yahweh and what influence did they have on the monotheistic interpretation of God?
5. What purpose does religion serve?
Discussion Questions -
1. Is Atheism a total rejection of God or just of the "current" God?
2. Why is there a "God-shaped hole" in people's conciousnesses?
3. Does the reading reveal man to be incapable of divinity, or the essence of divinity? How?
4. What are the different interpretations of Yahweh and how do they contribute to Armstrong's discussion?
World's Religions
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1.Who are Confucious, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammed and Socrates? How are they the "greatest benefactors... of mankind"?
2. Why is it impossible for one to understand a religion other than their own? How are all religions inevitably the same, regardless?
3. Why do all of the different peoples of the world rely on God? How does this contribute to Smith's argument?
Content -
1. Why does Smith not discuss every sect of every religion in his writing?
2. What do all religions have in common?
3. Why is it impossible to compare religions upon their "worth"?
4. Why must one have knowledge of the "common" religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. even when it is not their own?
5. How do tourist's guides on religions deviate from the true essence of those religions?
The World's Religions
ReplyDeleteContent:
1. What did the author think of the Yemenite Jews then and now?
2. In the third reason what two things are "intermittent and the net result is profoundly ambiguous"? and why?
3. What is the key to unqualifiedly good?
4. What is Smith trying to communicate in his book?
5. What are some considerations that Smith wants the readers to keep in mind (pg 3)? and why?
Discussion:
1. It mentions "a religion that enslaves you", do you think that there are certain religions like that or is every religion apt to do that?
2. Is science a big part of religion or does it contribute in a minor way?
3. In your opinion, is religion a matter of facts, maybe from the bible or is it of meaning?
4.Do you believe that no matter how diverse the religions are that there is a simple base to all religion, based off of the third consideration, universality?
5. Do you believe that there is a religion superior to others?
The World's Religions
ReplyDeleteContent:
1. Why was this book written?
2. Why is The World's Religions not a "balanced account" of religion?
3. What is Smith's concern when writing this book?
4. How does the author attempt to connect people? What is his reasoning?
5. What do things must we do in order to "succeed" when studying religion?
Discussion:
1. Smith claims that the time period we are in right now is "the time when the peoples of the world first came to take one another seriously." In your opinion, how correct is this statement? Is there another time that can be better defined in this way? If neither in the past nor now, will there ever be?
2. Smith claims that The World's Religions is about "religion alive." What did he mean by this?
3. What is the best way to study religion?
History of God
ReplyDeleteContent:
1. Who is the Great Mother and what does she do? And what else is she called?
2. Why is a scapegoat killed and what are these symbolic actions sacramental value?
3. What did Abraham have to do for the God?
4. Who did the people choose, Yahweh or the traditional gods? and why?
5. How did the new religions of Hinduism and Buddhism worship?
Disscusion:
1. Do you believe Armstrong when she says that atheism was the transitional state for Jews, Christians, and Muslims? Why or why not?
2. "God is the Supreme Spirit, Who alone exists of Himself and is infinite in all perfections". Do you think that God is perfect or do you think that he can also have imperfections?
3. What is your definition of faith and do you think that you are more like the faith like Abraham or the faith from the intellectual assent to a creed, like it is today?
4. After some actions that Abraham was about to do for God, the people accused God of being a "brutal partial and murderous god". Do you agree with them after the actions he did? Why or why not?
5. What is divine and in your opinion what is so important about it? And which religions do you incorporate in it?
A History of God
ReplyDeleteContent:
1. How much more powerful was the idea of a God or a supreme force in the early years of humanity compared to ours?
2. What was the original view of God?
3. How did that view of God or a supreme force shift throughout history?
4. Was the God Jacob interacted with more personal than the one Moses did?
5. What was Aristotle's theology?
Discussion:
1. Think about your own view of God. How does your God relate to the ones people used to believe in?
2. Why do you believe the view of God changed so much throughout human history?
3. How would the world be different today if the idea of God did not progress like it did?
4. Do you believe it is a possibility that all religions came from separate beginnings and ideas? Why or why not? Can you relate your own religion and to one completely opposite?
5. Does learning the history of God help you better understand your own beliefs?
The World's Religions:
ReplyDeleteContent Questions:
1. This book does not show a balanced view of religion. Why does it leave out certain information?
2. What makes this book different than if it was written by a Zen Buddhist, a Muslim Sufi, or a Polish Jew?
3. What are our desires and motives to understant world religions?
4. Why and how is religion alive?
5. Why is religion the only real motive force in the world?
Discussion Question:
1. Why should we learn about different religions based on numbers, the modern mind, and universality, when more pressing matters are factors, such as national wars?
2. What could this religion book teach you as a person?
3. Is your life worthless is you have not studied different religions?
A History of God:
ReplyDeleteContent Questions:
1. Identify J, E, D, and P's different visions as written in the five books of the Bible.
2. What kind of message/ test was God trying to show Abraham when he told him to kill his only son?
3. What is the myth of Exodus, what did it entail, and how did the myth depict God?
4. What made the Israelites change from polytheists to monotheists without hesitation after the Exodus?
5. Define Karma and identify how it affected peoples' lives.
Discussion Questions:
1. What is the meaning of the word "God"?
2. In the Enuma Elish, why did Marduk create humanity when the gods could have had earth all to themselves?
3. What makes a man priveleged enough to encounter the gods or God?
4. If God is supposed to be worshipped and inspirational, why is he depicted as harsh and brutal, especially in the Exodus?
5. What makes Yahweh better than other deities?
A History of God
ReplyDeleteContent Questions:
1) What reasons does Armstrong give for the creation of monotheism early in the chapter?
2)What aspect of society does Armstrong attribute as one of the reasons why religion seems irrelevant today?
3)Which ancient god marks the return/recreation of monotheism?
4)What was Abraham's role in the creation of the current monotheistic religions?
5)Describe Yahweh, and how he is different from the Mesopotamian pagan gods?
Discussion Questions:
1)How were gods perceived in ancient Mesopotamia in comparison to the first monotheistic religions?
2)How can you support the statement that "creativity was seen as divine" (pg.10)?
3)How did new religious systems reflect the changing economic and social conditions during the Axial Age?
4)Why was religion created? What do people seek in religion?
5) "The people had a choice between Yahweh(monotheistic God) and the traditional gods of Canaan..The people stood firm: they chose Yahweh alone as their elohim"
Have people throughout history stayed true to this "covenant" to love and worship unconditionally?
The World's Religions
ReplyDeleteContent Questions:
1) What are some different examples of religious customs for World-Wide Communion Sunday?
2) Why should every citizen be familiar with with the prominent faiths of the world?
3) Why does Smith claim that his book "is not a balanced account of its subject"?
4) What does Smith do to help his targeted Western audience embrace and understand other religions?
5) What is the only thing that is "unqualifiedly good" that one can strive for?
Discussion Questions:
1)"How does it sound from above? Like bedlam, or do the strains blend in strange, ethereal harmony?" (pg.2)
Considering religious interaction throughout history, How do you think it "sounds"?
2) What are some universal traits that all religions have?
3) On pg.5, Smith writes of a fable by Lincoln Steffens in which Satan claims "I'll tempt him [the man who seizes hold of the Truth] to institutionalize it".
What does Steffen's fable insinuate about the outcomes of institutionalizing religion?
4) What is the purpose and goal of The World's Religions?
5)Why will mankind ultimately fail at accepting religions other than their own?
The World's Religions
ReplyDeleteContent questions:
1. What was the purpose behind giving examples of different practices on World-Wide Communion Sunday?
2. How does Smith deal with the unavoidable Western bias of the book?
3. How is religion, in and of itself, alive and powerful in the world?
4. What is the reasoning behind the lists of things the book does and does not do?
5. Why should one avoid ignorance of other religions?
Discussion questions:
1. Smith states that now is the time when the peoples of the world are first coming to take one another seriously. Why did this not occur in the past, and why, and in what way, is in happening now?
2. All religions share universal traits, but none are identical. Why are Baptists seen as being closer related to Catholics than to Muslims or Buddists?
3. Institutionalizing religion has many benifits, but an equal number of detriments. What are some of each, and does one category outweigh the other?
World’s Religion
ReplyDeleteContent Question
1. What is common between Ramadan and World-Wide Communion Sunday?
2. What is the Purpose of this book?
3. What is a balance view of religion?
4. What is the difference between constitutions and institutions?
5. Can we truly understand religion?
Discussion Questions
1. What does Christianity mean to Christians?
2. Is religion a blessing or a curse?
3. If you are not cultured are you only half human?
4. What truly separates religion?
A History of God
ReplyDeleteContent questions:
1. Has the "personality" of God in the western tradition changed over time?
2. What are the differences between the Ultimate Reality of christianity, islam, and judaism and that of the eastern religions such as buddism?
3. How did the greco-roman tradition affect the development of christianity from judaism?
4. Why was monotheism more appealing to the ancient Hebrews than polytheism?
5. From different viewpoints, what is the underlying purpose of religion?
Discussion questions:
1. What is atheism? Why is it, in the traditional sense, a western phenomenon?
2. How has the shift from polytheism to monotheism shaped the modern world? If polytheism had remained dominant in the west, what would religion be today?
3. What gives humans the ability to recognise god, and choose between worship or rejection?
4. How did monotheism break the power of the Roman religion, even though it originated in a less sophisticated culture?
5. Are the similarities of different religions happenstance, or did a universal basis found all of them? And if they are universal, do the differences have any meaning?
A History of God
ReplyDeleteDiscussion Questions
1) The Christian Bible contains numerous contradictions. Why did the early church not adress these issues?
2) Is it immoral to sacrifice a child to a god if one truly believes the god exists?
3) Certain Christians still stresses a close relationship with god. How has the Christian god managed to keep from "going away"?
4) Is the founder of a religion capable of foreseeing the potential outcome of his/her actions?
5)If monotheism truly came before polytheism, why has it reemerged and how has it remained dominant in the west?
Content
1) What are getik and menok and what classical philosopher had a somewhat similar idea about the nature of reality?
2) Where did the Jewish god likely come from? How can this be seen today?
3) Why is it ironic that the Israelites built a golden calf to worship while Moses was receiving the commandments on Mount Sinai rather than some other idol?
4) What religion did the author follow in her youth and what organization did she join?
5)According to Schmidt, how did the transition from montheism to polytheism occur?
The World's Religions
ReplyDeleteContent Questions
1)Does this book give a rounded view of religions? Why or why not?
2)What are the benefits of being able to see the world through others eyes?
3)Are religious institutions beneficial? Why or why not?
4)What are the three main goals of this book and how does the author go about attempting to achieve them.
5)Will we understand the religions that are covered in this book, possibly excluding our own? Why or why not?
Dicussion Questions
1)Which is more important in a religion universal principles or local peculiarities?
2)Are the founders of the great world religions truly benefactors of mankind or have the evils caused by the religions they spawned caused far more harm than good?
3)Is it possible to do as the author asks and rid your mind of all, or even most, preconceptions about religions?
History of God
ReplyDeleteContent:
1. What did Armstrong think of humans after studying the history of religion?
2. What sparked Armstrong's interest to study religion?
3. Why didn't Armstrong continue to live a religious life?
Discussion:
1. If God is merciful, then why was he so destructive in the book of Exodus? What do you think about it?
2. Do you think God has favorites? Moses, Abraham, Pual, etc.
3. How do you see God? Do you think he is destructive, has uncondtional love for us, or just a figure we are "supposed" to worship?
World's Religion
Content:
1. How is the book different from "History of God"?
2. How does the author feel about religion?
3. Why did Smith write this book?
Discussion:
1. How do you feel about this book compared to "History of God"? (In Smith's point of view)
2. What do you think is your other half? Do you think you know or have yet to know?
3. Do you agree with Smith as what he describes what religion is?