RELIGIONS: EXPERIENCES AND SPIRITUALITY

Module 1 – The Nature of Religion

Lesson 1. Etymology (origin of the word) and definitions

a. Latin ligare, “to bind”; religare, “to bind again”; religio, “binding oneself again to a divine being”,
"respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods, sense of right, moral obligation,
sanctity”
b. Substantive definition (what religion itself is): the human recognition of superhuman
controlling power and especially of a personal God
c. Functional definition (what religion does for the individual and the social group): a system of
beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggles with the ultimate
problems of human life

Lesson 2. Definitions according to selected authors

a. Aristotle (384-322 B. C., Greece): a false sign that people are entitled to produce on their will or
by tradition, but also have a right to disregard; traditional religious practices can be useful
for rulers to keep the populace in line; religious beliefs need to pervade the polis so that
they can stimulate metaphysical reflection
b. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274, Italy): every action has an end (tinutungo, layunin); every action
has a principle (simulain, pinagmumulan, pinaghuhugutan); the first cause (dahilan, sanhi)
of a series of actions is the end (tinutungo, layunin); all actions lead to an ultimate end
(kahuli-hulihang tinutungo); there must be a first cause (unang dahilan/pinagmumulan ng
mga pagkilos), else if this principle (simulain, pinagmumulan, pinaghuhugutan) be
removed, desire would not be moved at all; all men, therefore, not only act for an end, but
act for the ultimate end, which is identified as God
c. Edward Tylor (1832-1917, U. K.): the belief in spiritual beings; belief in the human soul that
survives bodily death and belief in other spirits, including deities; a natural result of
attempts to explain such phenomena as dreams, trances, apparitions, visions, shadows,
reflections, loss of consciousness, and death; belief in spirits and deities was an outgrowth
of belief in souls
d. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917, France): a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred
things; the product of human activity, not divine intervention; sacred meant
extraordinary – something that inspired wonder and that seemed connected to the
concept of the divine; religion happens in society when there is a separation between the
profane (ordinary life) and the sacred (religious life); a rock, for example, isn’t sacred or
profane as it exists; if someone makes it into a tombstone, or another person uses it for
landscaping, it takes on different meaning – one sacred, one profane
e. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, Austria): the product of an unconscious anthropomorphic
construct, which is as a function of the underlying father complex operating in social
groups; the god of each of them is formed in the likeness of his father, that his personal
relation to God depends on his relation to his father in the flesh and oscillates and
changes along with that relation, and that at bottom God is nothing other than an exalted
father; an attempt to master the sensory world in which we are situated by means of the
wishful world which we have developed within us as a result of biological and
psychological necessities

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Lesson 2. Elements of religion

a. Beliefs: articles of faith that are thought by adherents to be true or evident; many beliefs that fit
together in a system to make sense of the universe and our place in it
b. Scared stories: comprise various literary forms such as legends, myths, parables, folklore, that
through imaginative details relate a believed held truth; stories that help explain the
beliefs of a group; these are told over and over again and sometimes performed by
members of the group; they may or may not be factual
c. Spaces, places, times and artifacts: the materials for creating the sacred experience of the other
aspects; religions use things to perform rituals or to express or represent beliefs, such as:
statues, paintings, music, flowers, incense, clothes, architecture, and specific sacred
locations
d. Texts: compilations of oral and written literature in which the essential parts of the religious
tradition are recorded
e. Rituals: a prescribed set of repeated actions that has symbolic meaning and is considered
sacred; beliefs are explained, taught, and made real through ceremonies
f. Symbols: sign, object, person, action, or place that represents or points to a deeper religious
meaning or power; religions see some things as sacred and some not sacred (or profane);
some objects, actions, people and places may share in the sacredness or express it
g. Social structures: an established social model to which society conforms, which often places
religious leadership at or near the top of society; the way a religious tradition is organized;
establish social model for the religious community; the belief system is shared, and its
ideals are practiced by a group
h. Ethics: visionary ideals of a perfect world from which come all morality, laws, norms and ideas
about what adherents ought to do; rules about how to behave; these rules are often
thought to have come from a deity or supernatural place, but they might also be seen as
guidelines created by the group over time
i. Spiritual experiences: life events that can be held in religious and non-religious contexts and to
which religious or spiritual meaning is attached by participants; certain sacred practices
that facilitate access to ultimate reality and affirm beliefs for adherents; most religions
share emotions such as awe, mystery, guilt, joy, devotion, conversion, inner peace, etc.