Unit 0 and 1 Religion Test Review

Vocabulary

• Teleology: Examines design or purpose in nature; a key concept in understanding religions.
• Cosmology: Explores the origin of life.
• Soteriology: The doctrine of salvation; outlines how individuals or creation achieve salvation.
• Epistemology: Investigates the origin of human knowledge, often linked to holy texts.
• Eschatology: Discusses the doctrine of end times and future states, including death and judgment.
• Theology: Studies God, His attributes, and His relationship to the universe.
• Anthropology: Focuses on humanity’s origins and cultures.
• Ecclesiology: Analyzes church organization and doctrine.
• Liturgy: Refers to the order of worship practices.
• Mass: A Roman Catholic service that includes communion.
• Bulletin: A printed program that outlines the order of service.
• Creed: A formal statement of faith or belief.
• Vestment: Religious garments worn by clergy.
• Ecclesiastical: Pertaining to the church.
• Orthodox: Conveys true belief within Christianity.
• Catholic: Denotes universality in the context of faith.
• Transubstantiation: The belief that substances change during communion.
• Cosubstantiation: The belief that substances coexist during communion.
• Sacrament: A means of grace, usually requiring Jesus’ command, forgiveness, and a physical element.
• Icon: Religious images, especially in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, often used for intercession.
• Intercession: The act of intervening on behalf of others, typically through prayer to saints in certain traditions.
• Iconostasis: A partition in Eastern Orthodox churches separating the altar from the congregation, adorned with icons.
• Venerate: To worship, which in Eastern Orthodoxy can involve kissing an icon.
• Pope: The head of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Infant Baptism: Initiates faith in Catholicism.
• Synod: An assembly of clergy within a denomination.
• Other names for communion: Includes Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, and Holy Communion.
• Catholic qualifications for sainthood: Include martyrdom, charity, faith promotion, miracle-working, and being deceased.

Unit 0 Notes

Philosophies of Truth

• Naturalism: Truth is found through senses and the scientific method.
• Pantheism: Emphasizes personal experiences that unify individuals with the universe.
• Animism: Involves seeking truth through spiritual guides like shamans.
• Postmodernism: Proposes that truth varies by culture and tolerance of different truth claims.
• Nihilism: Asserts that truth is meaningless and without purpose.
• Theism: Claims truth is revealed by God through both natural and supernatural means.

What Truth Is Not

• Not simply what's practical, understandable, or feels good.
• Not defined by majority opinion, relevance, or public proof.
• Not determined by belief, intention, or choice.

What Truth Is

• Reveals, unchanging, consequential, knowable, expressible.
• Corresponds with reality, limited, explanatory, confrontational.
• Represents freedom, is universal, exclusive, and absolute.

Questions Religion Answers

• Prime reality and what is ultimately real.
• The nature of the external world.
• Understanding human essence.
• Afterlife beliefs.
• Basis for knowledge.
• Ethics and morality inquiries.
• The meaning of history.
• Core commitments of a specific worldview.

Elements of Religion

• Belief systems, community, central myths, rituals, ethics.
• Emotional experiences, material expressions, sacredness.

Sacraments Across Traditions

• Roman Catholic: Baptism, Confirmation, Communion, Holy Orders, Marriage, Penance, Anointing the Sick.
• Eastern Orthodox: Similar sacraments but includes Confession and Holy Unction.
• Lutheran: Emphasizes Baptism and Communion/Eucharist.

Beliefs about Communion

• Catholics and Eastern Orthodox uphold transubstantiation; Lutherans believe in Real Presence.

Distinctions in Baptism Practices

• Roman Catholic: Infants using sprinkling.
• Eastern Orthodox: Full immersion for naked infants.
• Lutherans: Sprinkling for infants.

Controversial Beliefs

• Roman Catholic: Includes purgatory, Mary as Co-redemptrix, papal infallibility, and indulgences.
• Eastern Orthodox: Involves praying to saints and the Filioque controversy.

Marian Dogmas

• Mary as eternal virgin and sinless.
• Belief in her assumption into heaven.
• Co-redeemer status alongside Christ.

Leadership and Denominations

• Roman Catholic: Founded by Peter; led by Pope Francis.
• Eastern Orthodox: Founded by Peter and Paul; led by Archbishops.
• Lutheran: Founded by Martin Luther; LC-MS led by Rev. Matthew Harrison.

Lutheran Beliefs

• Justification by grace alone through faith in Jesus; Scripture is the ultimate source of authority, referenced in Ephesians 2:8-10.

Important Lutheran Synods

• ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).
• LC-MS (Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod).