What is Religion?
What religions have we covered so far?
Christianity and Judaism
What are some aspects in class that we've covered and that you've found interesting?
In Abraham and the Binding of Isaac, what did God command Abraham to do? What problem did this pose?
Kill his son Isaac.
Problem: God (ought not) commands anything that a free, well-informed human moral agent would, on reflection, disapprove.
According to the First Puzzle of Judaism, how many commandments are there?
10!
How many resurrections are in the Bible?
11+
Three primary ones referenced in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and eight primary ones featured in the New Testament (Christian Bible).
Define 1) Omnipotence and 2) Omnibenevolence
1) God is all-powerful/all-knowing.
2) possessing perfect goodness/is ultimately good.
What is the difference between the Sacred versus the Profane?
The Profane: antagonistic to that of the sacred, is described as the world that is our common reality, what we can access without special circumstance.
What is the difference between Monolatry versus Monotheism?
Monolatry: (Henotheism) is the worship of only one God.
Monotheism: is the belief in the existence of only one God.
True or False: Judaism is more of a religion that focuses on the strict laws of Judaic belief and does not emphasize forgiveness or atonement.
False!
YOM KIPPUR (DAY OF
ATONEMENT). SEPT. 24-25, 2023
Define what "soul-making" is according to the problem of evil.
"Evil" is soul-making. Meaning perhaps God is omnibenevolent, etc. and things only appear to be evil to us. God allows this "evil" to exist in order to cultivate our souls.
Name the three senses of the Torah.
1) Narrow sense: the first five books (Pentateuch) of the Hebrew Bible.
2) Wider Sense: the entire Hebrew Bible and the canonical written and oral commentaries upon it.
3)Widest Sense: a certain way of life marked by ritual and ethical behavior.
Name the four possibilities of what Religion could be.
1) A belief in God(s)
2) Religion is the ultimate source of Morality
3) Religion is a relic of ancient ignorance of modern science.
4) Religion is socially acceptable magic.
The Book of Enoch features the word of the Divine Council of Angels, stating...
“And God said, Let US make man in OUR image” (Genesis 1:26).
What problem did Kierkegaard's Teleological Suspension of the Ethical pose?
(In response to: 1. Obey God and kill person X. (Divine command/religious duty) versus 2. Obey God and don’t kill person X. (Noahic covenant/ethical duty).
Problem: conflict between a religious duty and an ethical duty that cannot both be satisfied at the same time in the same action, one suspends the attempt to comply with the ethical duty.
What are the two characteristics listed within Epicurus' problem of evil that perhaps do not exist?
1) The Omnibenevolent, Omniscient, and omnipotent god does not exist [or]
2) Evil does not exist.
Describe to the irony in God's omnipotence if morality is described as either;
1) God's creation
2) Not God's creation
1) If morality is God's creation, according to Judaism God's all-knowingness is then the basis of all moral distinction. Irony: we can kill in the name of God and it not be considered "wrong" necessarily.
2) If morality is not God's creation then why do we consider him omnipotent/omnibenevolent? It goes against the idea that we are made in God's image.
Name the four objections of what the four possibilities of Religion could be.
1) Buddhism - Siddhartha Gautama was not a "God" but a person.
2) There are non-religious examples of where morality comes from.
3) Religion does not show signs of fading even as science progresses.
4) Solitary v. Communal rites - Magic practiced in solitary was found often to be "witchcraft" etc.
What is the Greek word "epiphaneia" in reference to according to Christianity?
The outward manifestation of Jesus' divinity. (celebrated on January 6th).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1: 1, 14)
List the three senses of "Passover" (Pesach).
1. Literal: the Jewish holiday (March or April).
2. Historical: the passage over from Egypt to Israel.
3. Metaphorical: the passage from a band of individuals to a people.
What are the four objections of the claim that Evil is soul-making?
1) we can build our moral character through good encounters.
2) Evil can be self-deprecating, take away from the soul.
3) If this is correct, then we should avoid Good for the sake of better soul-making (requires that evil exists).
4) If we are made in God's image, we should not need to endure moral-based soul-making.
Name the original Noahic Commandments (Genesis 9).
1. No blasphemy.
2. No bloodshed.
3. No incest.
4. No theft.
5. No eating of live flesh.
6. Recognition of God.
7. No idolatry.
What is Religion?
Religion is (i) an intuition of the infinite, extraordinary powers located in sacred beings or artifacts or planes of existence, an intuition of the infinite that (ii) awakens a corresponding feeling of reverence.
The Kingdom of Judah was overrun by
Nebuchadnezzar II of the Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C.E. The First Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews entered into the “Babylonian Captivity.”
What two tribes are the Kingdom of Judah referring to?
The two tribes of the South.
Look back at the ten lost tribes of the North, known as the Kingdom of Israel, where the remaining two are the tribes of the South, the Kingdom of Judah.
What is the solution to the puzzles listed in the Golden Rule? What is the correlated concern?
There must be a guarantee that happiness is awarded in proportion to goodness.
Concern: There is no evidence of this in our current life, but what of the afterlife?
What are the two non-literal meanings of the word "Messiah"
1) Messiah as "earthly prince" referring to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke offering a speculative genealogy that purports to establish Jesus' descent from David and Solomon.
2) Messiah as "heavenly prince" or supernatural instrument who will lead us to salvation. Jesus de-emphasizes rituals, law abidance, and religious tradition to focus on remaking thyself from within.
Who were the Nephilim (The Fallen Angels)?
THE NEPHILIM: the offspring of the watcher angels who interbred with human women known as Giants.