The document provides an outline for a PowerPoint presentation on the nature of religion. It begins by instructing viewers how to view the presentation in full screen mode. It then outlines several key topics that will be covered in the presentation, including definitions of religion, approaches to studying religion, typical components of religious systems, why people turn to religion, and religion in the contemporary age. The presentation is a work in progress that aims to provide an overview of the required reading "Notes on the Nature of Religion."

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1/30/09

2. The Nature of Religion*
What is religion?
Various definitions
Approaches to the study of religion
Typical components of a religious system
Why do people turn to religion?
Religion in the contemporary age
*Based on “Notes on the Nature of Religion,” by G. Cronk

3. Note: This presentation is in the
process of being developed. At this
time, it is just a brief overview
outline of our first required reading,
“Notes on the Nature of Religion.”
The presentation will be expanded in
the future.

4. What is religion?
♦ Religion as a “binding together” (Latin, religio, from the
verb religare = “to bind together”).
♦ Religion is a relationship between the religious devotee
and that which is the object of religious devotion (the
gods, God, the Tao, the Holy, etc.), a relationship that
binds the two together.
♦ Religion is also a binding together of all those who share
the same or similar religious attitudes. In this way, religion
gives rise to a community of devotees, a collectivity
(church, synagogue, brotherhood, sisterhood, etc.) that is
itself related to and bound together with the object of its
devotion (the gods, etc.).

5. Religion
the here and now "The Beyond"
the human the superhuman
the natural the supernatural
the immanent the transcendent
the secular and the profane the holy, the sacred, the divine
the finite the infinite
the temporal the eternal
the mutable, the transient the immutable, the permanent
the contingent the necessary
Through religion, devotees are bound together with one another, forming a
community of devotion; and they are, even more importantly, bound together with
the supreme reality to which they are devoted. The “here and now” is joined to “The
Beyond;” the human to the superhuman; the natural to the supernatural; the
immanent to the transcendent; the secular and profane to the holy, the sacred, the
divine; the finite to the infinite; the temporal to the eternal; the mutable and the
transient to the immutable and the permanent; the contingent to the necessary.

6. In the “Notes,”
♦ there is a list of
definitions of religion
by numerous authors.
♦ Which of these
definitions do you find
most informative or
meaningful? Why?
♦Which of the definitions do
you find least informative or
meaningful? Why?

7. Approaches to the study of religion
♦ The historical approach
♦ The phenomenological approach
♦ The social scientific approach
What are the basic characteristics of
these approaches?

8. Typical components of a religious
belief system (world-view)
♦ A vision of reality (metaphysics)
– Cosmology – questions about the origins and nature of
the universe (Greek, kosmos)
– Theology – Supreme Reality and the idea of the Holy
– Anthropology – human nature, human existence, the
human condition
♦ A doctrine of salvation, deliverance, or liberation
♦ A doctrine of right conduct – in ethics and in ritual
♦ A theory of the ultimate destiny or final
culmination of all things
♦ A definition of the nature and membership of the
religious community

9. Why do people turn to religion?
Religion as a response to “the human condition”.
♦ The pursuit of happiness
vs.
♦ The human condition
– Alienation of self and other
vs. the need for a
meaningful and harmonious
relationship between self ♦ The promise of religion:
and other. transcendence of the
– The insufficiency of human human condition.
existence vs. the quest for
fulfillment.
– Guilt, meaninglessness, and
death vs. the search for
righteousness, meaning, and
immortality.

10. Religion in the contemporary age
♦ The process of modernization
♦ Modernization and change
♦ Modern thought
– The attitude of scientific reason
– The doctrine of philosophical naturalism
– The philosophy of secular humanism
♦ Science and technology in the modern world
♦ The problem of meaning in modern culture

11. To be continued . . . .