click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
MyReligion Lab Ch1
Key Terms
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| absolutist | Believing in one's received traditions as completely and exclusively true. |
| agnosticism | Belief that if there is anything beyond this life it is impossible for humans to know it. |
| allegory | Narrative using symboles to convey abstract ideas. |
| atheism | Belief that there is no deity. |
| awakening | Full awareness of invisible Reality. |
| charisma | Magnetic attraction, a quality often ascribed to spiritual leaders. |
| comparative religion | A discipline that attempts to compare and understand patterns found in different religious traditions |
| Creationism | Belief that all life was created by God. |
| dogma | Doctrines proclaimed as absolutely true by religious institutions. |
| enlightenment | Wisdom that is though tot come from direct experience of Ultimate Reality. |
| exclusivism | Belief that one's own tradition is the only true religion and that others are invalid |
| fundamentalism | Insistence on what is perceived as the historical form of one's religion. |
| gnosis | Intuitive knowledge of spiritual values |
| heretic | One whose assertions about religion are considered false by his or her religious institution. |
| immanent | Present in the visible world. |
| incarnation | Physical embodiment of the divine. |
| intelligent design | Theory that scientific discoveries prove the existence of an all-encompassing Designer, since they reveal complexities that seem to be beyond chance or evolutionary process. |
| liberal | Taking a flexible, nondogmatic approach |
| metaphysics | Philosophy based on theories of subtle realities that transcend the physical world. |
| monotheism | Belief that there is only one true deity. |
| mysticism | The intuitive perception of spiritual truths beyond the limits of reason. |
| myth | A symbolic story expressing ideas about reality or spiritual theory. |