1.
World Religions
Definition & Theories

2.
Definition of a World Religion
• Latin: “religio” meaning “fear” or “awe”
Criteria for Understanding Religions
• Usually deal in some way with peoples’ relationship
to the unseen world of spirits, gods, and demons.
• Usually have developed a system of myths (or
symbolic language) contained in sacred writings.
• Usually have developed an organization of
rituals, temples, and priests.

3.
Criteria for Understanding Religions
• Usually have some proposal for escaping the
problems generated in this life, proposals that may be
called salvation or enlightenment.
• Usually have some statement about life beyond
death, either as a survival in shadowy Hades, in
some version of death and hell, or through
reincarnation.

4.
Origins: Theories of Development
Animistic Theories: Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917)
• Religion derives from a basic instinct or response that
people have to the unknown.
• Experiences of death and dreams in primitive cultures led
people to believe that (1) all of nature was filled with spirits,
(2) there is life in everything, even stones and trees.
• Combination of these factors, plus the worship of
ancestors, produced a religion in which all things are
worshiped and feared.

5.
Origins:
Nature Worship: Max Muller (1823-1900)
• Alternative to animistic theories: religion arose out
of speculation about the forces of nature
• Primitives ascribed personalities to these forces
after noting the phenomena of their regularities and
irregularities
• Example: Greek myth of Apollo’s (sun) love for
Daphne (dawn). Apollo chased Daphne, who always
ran from him. This, then, became the Greek
explanation for why the sun chases away the dawn

6.
Origins:
Original Monotheism: Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954)
• Contended that hunter-gatherer societies (the
oldest societies about which we have knowledge)
held to belief in a distinct high god.
• Although mainly polytheistic and animistic, they
largely held to the view that there was one high
god who was both creator and originator of moral
codes.
• Believed monotheism was the basic view, but
because it was hard to maintain, cultures tended to
degenerate into polytheism.

7.
Origins:
Magic Theory: Sir James George Frazier (1854-1941)
• Agreed with Tylor that in religious perceptions the
human mind had evolved in linear, evolutionary
fashion.
• Believed in three phases of history relative to
religion:
(1) Magic era - attempts were made
to control the world through magic
(2) Religion era – when magic failed,
people turned to religion
(3) Science era - when religion failed
people turned to science

8.
Origins:
Projection of Human Need Theories
• Ludwig Feurbach (1804-1872)
Religions are basically the projections of the wishes and needs of
humanity. Man is not in the image of God but God is in the image
of man.
• Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Saw religion in terms of Feurbach’s views: “Man makes religion,
religion does not make man. It is the opium of the people.” He
believed religion was used by the ruling classes to oppose the
power classes.

9.
Origins:
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Gave Feurbach’s position a psychological basis. Believed that
religion originated as guilt that men felt for hating their fathers.
He said men love their mothers and hate their fathers, and that
religion is an attempt to get rid of the guilt.
• Friedrich Nietzsche
Claimed that we must wake up and realize that while earlier
societies had invented God, modern man had now killed the
ghost.

10.
Origins:
• Julius Wellhausen
Posited an evolution of religion from animism through polytheism
through henotheism to monotheism based on a Darwinian theory
of evolution.
It is more likely that monotheism was original, and
that it developed into other forms--especially
polytheism.

11.
T hr ee For ms of Religious
Expr ession
• Theoretical Expression
Has to do with the basic story (myth) and with ideology or
doctrine.
• Practical Expression
What is done in religion. Has to do with ritual, forms of dress,
manner of worship and celebration.
• Sociological Expressions
Church type: a comprehensive system allowing for individual
variations without extreme demands on participants
(denominations).
Withdrawal groups: commitment to the group is more important
than family ties.

12.
Four Types of Religions
(1) Basic or Primitive Religions
Applies to the religions of peoples in undeveloped areas of the
world and to the religion of prehistoric peoples: animism,
totemism, polytheism.
(2) Religions Originating in India
Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism
All but Sikism--which takes its belief in one god from Islam--basic
beliefs include:
 Belief in many gods
 One person may lead many lives through a series of
reincarnations or rebirths.
Ultimate concern: release from cycle of life, death,
rebirth, and achievement of none-life, or moksha.

13.
(3) Religions Originating in China and Japan
Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism
Each holds to:
 Belief in many gods
 The worship of nature
(4) Religions Originating in the Middle East
Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha’i
Believe in:
 one supreme creator God
 people live only once
 divine judgment of the world.