REL 334 Death and Dying Midterm Study Guide PDF

**REL 334: Death and Dying\ Midterm Study Guide** *The midterm for REL 334 covers material from Weeks 1-4. It consists of (50) multiple choice questions. It will be available on Blackboard beginning on Thursday, @ 8AM of Week 4 and is due by no later than Sunday @ 11:59PM. Once started, the exam mu...

**REL 334: Death and Dying\ Midterm Study Guide** *The midterm for REL 334 covers material from Weeks 1-4. It consists of (50) multiple choice questions. It will be available on Blackboard beginning on Thursday, @ 8AM of Week 4 and is due by no later than Sunday @ 11:59PM. Once started, the exam must be completed in one sitting. It is a timed exam: you have 70 minutes to complete it. The following list of important terms, concepts, and dates are important for the exam---but are not exhaustive of what might appear. At the end, there are also sample questions related to some of the topics to help you study! These questions might not show up exactly like this on the exam, but if you can answer them, you can answer the exam questions!* **\ Ancient Conceptions:** - Mesopotamia - Epic of Gilgamesh (main themes around death and dying) - Enkidu - Etimmu - Utnapishtim - underworld (and what it was like!)   - Egyptian - ba - Field of Rushes - ka - relationship between the gods and pharaoh - Greco-Roman - Plato - Myth of Er (especially what it says about what happens to people after death and the overall goal of death/dying) - What is terror management theory? (it's not ancient, but what we talked about it in this section ) **Judaism:** - Sheol (where we find this idea, what it was like in Sheol) - Ezekiel's "Vision of Dry Bones" - rise of belief in resurrection/afterlife - Pharisees (and their view of resurrection) - Sadducees (and their view of resurrection) - possible destinations in rabbinic Judaism (Gehenna; World to Come) - modern Jewish beliefs on resurrection (big picture ideas here---see especially how Moreman talks about the diversity of ideas!) **Christianity:** - The story of Jesus' death and resurrection as found in the Gospels - Paul's ideas about bodily resurrection in 1 Corinthians - heaven - hell - resurrection - purgatory - Protestant Reformation (i.e., Martin Luther and others, especially around indulgences and purgatory) **Islam:** - ideas on resurrection - *barzakh* - Iblis - Quran and its descriptions of the afterlife - Islamic eschatology/importance of Day of Judgment **Hinduism:** - reincarnation - moksha, samsara, atman - Yama - Brahman - Vedas - Pitrloka/World of the Father **Buddhism:** - anatta - Bardo rebirth - Bodhisattva - Buddha - karma/kamma - nirvana **Chinese Religions:** - Confucius - Hsien - Tao - Pure Land - Yellow Springs - *Tao Te Ching* - Lao Tzu - Broad ideas about the relationship between Chinese religions and Buddhism **African Traditions:** - Role of the ancestors - Role of spirits - Ideas about reincarnation - Diversity of thought across traditions **Mediumship:** - Definition of mediumship - Types of mediumships (physical, mental) - Spiritualism (basic history of this movement and its beliefs) - Fox sisters - Ectoplasm - Cross-correspondences - Society for Psychical Research (history, purpose, etc.) **Apparitions and Hauntings:** - Definition of haunting - Doppelganger - Poltergeist - Spirit photography - Ouija Board - Ghosts across traditions (from the ancient world and beyond!) **Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences:** - Brain death - Clinical death - Deathbed visions - NDEs (especially common elements found across NDEs) - OBEs (especially common elements found across OBEs) **Past-Life Memories:** - cryptomnesia - déjà vu - hypnotic regression - the story of Bridey Murphy - children and past-life memories **SAMPLE QUESTIONS:** 1. In the Hebrew Bible/Tanak \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is a place without reward or punishment and the abode of the dead, although later in Judaism ideas about post-mortem reward and punishment develop. a. Sheol b. Gehenna c. Heaven d. Purgatory 2. Which of the following is **NOT **an argument that proponents of terror management theory (TMT) make? e. people deal with death anxiety by assuring themselves that they are part of an important group f. people deal with death anxiety by developing close relationships within their own cultural group in order to convince themselves that they will somehow live on after they die g. death anxiety can result in a heighted desire to start a family or a stronger belief in an afterlife h. most humans are willing to sit with and think about their own mortality in deep and meaningful ways 3. In most indigenous African religious traditions, the creator gods are believed to closely watch over the activities of the living. i. True j. False 4. Which of the following is TRUE about reincarnation in Hinduism? k. Every birth depends upon a person's actions in the previous life l. The way to escape the cycle of reincarnation is to live correctly m. The goal is to be reunited with Brahman n. All the above 5. In Islam, what is the name of the spiritual barrier that keeps the dead from returning to the living realm until the resurrection? o. Gehenna p. Sheol q. Barzakh r. Purgatory