Final exam

Comparative religion
Dr. Peter Borkowski

MIDDLE EAST
1. Describe what the religious environment in pre-Quranic Arabia was like.
=> Pre-Islamic Arabia, is the summum of many religions, including Iranian
religion, Judaism, Christianity, and ancient Semitic religions. However, in pre-
Quranic Arabia, Arabian polytheism was the dominant or, to put it another way,
the most prevalent religion, focusing on the devotion of deities and spirits. Before
the emergence of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was ruled by nomadic Bedouin
tribes. Furthermore, pre-Islamic Bedouins pursued, accompanied, and worked as
bodyguards for caravans in order to get luxury goods, cloth, gold, and women.
2. Who are the Yazidi people?
=> Yazidis are a Kurdish strict gathering that might be found in northern Iraq,
southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, the Caucasus, and segments of Iran.
Antiquated Iranian beliefs, just as Judaism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam, are
totally addressed in the Yazd religion. As per Yazd folklore, they were framed
separated from the remainder of mankind, plummeted from Adam however not
Eve, and accordingly, they want to keep themselves unmistakable from individuals
with whom they stay. It is prohibited to wed outside of the local area. The Yazd
conviction framework puts an extraordinary worth on strict immaculateness, thus
Yazds cling to an assortment of restrictions that control all components of day to
day existence. Blue clothing, just as a scope of food varieties, are restricted. The
name Shayn (Satan) isn't spoken, and different words with a phonetic
comparability are stayed away from too.
3. Who are the Druze people?
The Druze are an elusive ethnoreligious faction that began in Western Asia and
communicates in Arabic. They follow Druzism, an Abrahamic, monotheistic,
syncretic, and ethnic religion dependent on the lessons of Hamza ibn Ali ibn
Ahmad and al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the 6th Fatimid caliph, just as antiquated
Greek scholars like Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. The People
of Monotheism alludes to followers of the Druze confidence. They are a gathering
of Levantine and Near Eastern gatherings who live almost totally in the mountains
of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and whose 1000-year-old religion precludes blended
relationships and transformations. Regardless of developing interest in the
hereditary qualities of the Druze populace structure, little is known about their
past.
4. Why is the moon still used as a symbol of Islam?
=> The sickle moon and star have been images of Islam since the Ottomans, who
might have chosen them as a result of their relationship with the lunar months,
which decide Hajj, fasting, and zakat dates. Since the Ottoman Empire managed
the Muslim world for such a long time, the sign is perceived in for all intents and
purposes each Muslim country.

JUDAISM
1. What is the division of the Jewish Bible? --also called Old Testament, Old
Covenant
=> Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim
2. How do the Jewish believers understand "messiah"?
=> In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah is a rescuer and hero figure who should be
the Jewish individuals' future savior. Messianism has its underlying foundations in
Judaism, and a savior is a ruler or High Priest who is ordinarily blessed with sacred
blessing oil, as indicated by the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible alludes to Cyrus
the Great, ruler of Persia, as a savior for his decree to reestablish the Jerusalem
Temple.
3. What is the significance of praying at the Western Wall?
=> The holiness of the Western Wall in Judaism comes from its closeness to the
Temple Mount. The Wall is the holiest place where Jews are approved to implore
in light of Temple Mount entrance limitations, regardless of the way that the
Foundation Stone, the most holy site in the Jewish confidence, is situated behind it.
4. What are the Yiddish and the Ladino languages?
=> The language of Ashkenazi Jews is Yiddish, whereas Sephardic Jews use
Ladino.
5. What are the Jewish diet laws?
=> Land creatures are needed to have cloven (split) hooves and bite the cud, which
implies they should burn-through grass. Balances and scales are needed in fish. It
is prohibited to eat shellfish. Meat and dairy items can't be devoured together, as
the Torah states: "Don't cook a youngster in its mom's milk" (Exodus 23:19)
6. What are the holidays about: Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, Rosh Hashana,
Yom Kippur?
=> Hanukkah, regularly known as the Celebration of Lights, is a Jewish
celebration remembering the Maccabean rebellion against the Seleucid Empire in
the second century BCE, when Jerusalem was recovered, and the Second Temple
was rededicated.

Purim : commends the salvage of the Jewish individuals from Haman, an

authority of the Achaemenid Persian Empire who wanted to kill the domain's Jews
in general, as told in the Book of Esther. Lord Ahasuerus' illustrious vizier was
Haman.
Pesach : The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is honored on the fifteenth day of
the Hebrew month of Nisan, which is the primary month of Aviv, or spring.
Rosh Hashana : is the Jewish New Year. The scriptural name for this occasion is
Yom Teruah, in a real sense "day of yelling or impacting
Yom Kippur : In Judaism, this is the holiest day of the year. Amends and
atonement are significant points. This sacred day is normally set apart with a day-
long quick, admission, and extraordinary supplication, with the vast majority of the
day spent in place of worship administrations.

CHRISTIANITY
1. What do the words "gospel" and "christ" mean?
=> The term gospel is gotten from the Old English words god, which signifies
"great," and spel, which signifies "news, a story." The articulation "uplifting news"
in Christianity identifies with the story of Jesus Christ's introduction to the world,
passing, and revival.
The term Christ signify "the blessed one," or "the anointed one."
2. What is the basic teaching of Jesus? /various ways to answer
=> Love God is one of the key thoughts that Jesus lectured and that Christians later
acknowledged. However much you love yourself, you ought to likewise cherish
your neighbor. Other people who have hurt you ought to be pardoned.
3. Why do some people think that Jesus claimed to be God?
=> Since most recorded sources with respect to Jesus' life express that Jesus
professed to be God at least a few times, and individuals accept that Jesus
professed to be God dependent on these legitimate sources.

4. Describe the Christian belief about sin and salvation.

=> The demonstration of conveying (or keeping endlessly) from underhanded or
saving from transgression is known as salvation. Sin is characterized as an activity
that conflicts with God's will and is subsequently ethically unsuitable. There are
two kinds of transgression in Christianity: Personal sin/unique sin
By breaking God's guidance, they broke the best connection among God and
humankind.
5. What is significant about Martin Luther? /various ways to answer
=> Martin Luther, a sixteenth century priest and scholar, was one of Christianity's
most compelling people. His beliefs helped with the foundation of the Protestant
Reformation, which saw Protestantism arise as the third fundamental power in
Christendom, close by Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
6. What are the Christian views about fasting?
=> Fasting is a profound discipline that the Bible suggests. Fasting is something
Jesus anticipates that His disciples should do, and He guarantees that God acclaims
fasting. As per the Bible, fasting is characterized as deliberately diminishing or
killing food utilization for a specific period and reason.

MORMONISM
1. Who is the founder of Mormonism?
=> Joseph Smith
2. How did the religion begin? (gold plates)
=> Mormons are a strict and social gathering related with Mormonism, the
primary part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established by
Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. Following Smith's demise in
1844, the development broke into different groups, with the larger part following
Brigham Young and minor groups following Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and
James Strang. The greater part of these more modest orders later converged to turn
into the Community of Christ, and today, the name Mormon alludes to supporters
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which is
altogether bigger than the others. (Starting around 2018, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints has mentioned that its individuals be alluded to as "Modern
Saints.") Mormons can be freely strict, common, and non-rehearsing, or they can
be individuals from different religions.
3. What do Mormons believe about creation?
=> Not at all like some different religions, Mormons accept that God doesn't make
time and matter out of nowhere. All things being equal, he works with beforehand
existing matter and soul, organizing them into the made universe.
4. What are the Mormon dietary laws?
=> It prompts eating organic product in season, eating meat with some restraint,
and eating grain, especially wheat, which is alluded to as "the staff of life." The
Bible disallows the utilization of liquor, cigarettes, and "hot beverages" (coffee and
tea)
5. How would you describe this community -- a religion, a sect, a unique social
structure?
=> a sect

RASTAFARIANISM
1. From where does this word come?
=> Rastafarianism started in Jamaica and acquired prominence in Ethiopia when
Haile Selassie came to control in 1930
2. How did the movement start?
=> In 1930s Jamaica, Rastafari started among ruined and socially minimized Afro-
Jamaican populaces. Its Afrocentric perspective was generally a response to the
predominant British provincial culture in Jamaica at that point. Ethiopianism and
the Back-to-Africa development supported by dark patriot activists, for example,
Marcus Garvey affected it. After various Protestant Christian pastors, including
Leonard Howell, said that Haile Selassie's crowning ritual as Emperor of Ethiopia
in 1930 satisfied a Biblical prescience, the religion developed. Rastafari's
rebellious position had driven the development into conflict with standard
Jamaican culture by the 1950s, incorporating vicious battles with the police.
Through the accomplishment of Rasta-propelled reggae vocalists, most eminently
Bob Marley, it acquired greater agreeableness inside Jamaica and expanded
acknowledgment abroad during the 1960s and 1970s. Following the passings of
Haile Selassie and Bob Marley during the 1980s, Rastafari's prevalence wound
down, yet the development made due is as yet dynamic in numerous areas of the
world.
3. Why do they use cannabis?
=> The last option is viewed as a ceremony with recuperating capacities.
4. What is their dietary code like?
=> Rastafarians endeavor to make food "normally," burning-through ital, or
"regular" cooking. This is oftentimes developed locally and naturally. Most
Rastafarians follow the dietary forbiddances set down in the Book of Leviticus,
which precludes them from eating pork or scavangers. Different Rastafarians
follow vegetarianism, or veganism, because of their perusing of Leviticus. Many
individuals additionally try not to add added substances to their eating regimen,
like sugar and salt. Non-Rastas have taunted Rasta eating customs; in Ghana, for
instance, where meat is regularly plentiful, the Rastas' fixation on vegetables has
prompted the jest that they "eat like sheep and goats." Rastafarians have
popularized ital cooking in Jamaica, for instance, by selling organic product drinks
made by Rasta custom.
5. Why is Ethiopia important to Rastafarians?
=> Rastafarians see 'Ethiopia' as their country and accept they will ultimately
return
NEW AGE, ETC
1. What is "esotericism", the basic idea of it?
=> is a word utilized by scholastics to gather an assortment of inexactly connected
ideas and developments that arose in Western culture. Since they are considerably
isolated from both standard Judeo-Christian religion and Enlightenment sanity,
these ideas and flows are bound together. Elusiveness has impacted scholarly ideas
and mainstream society in various parts of Western way of thinking, religion,
pseudoscience, craftsmanship, writing, and music.
2. List five examples/kinds of New Age practices. /various answers are possible
=> yoga, meditation, tarot reading, astrology, natural healing
3. How does Islam generally consider the items on your list above?
=> natural healing used to be used eventually in Islam
4. Write your own personal opinion about these movements
=> This chase proceeded as long as humankind existed, as distant as I can see.
"Modern Age" infers a modernized and westernized sort of religion. In antiquated
Sufism, it is essentially suggested "in look of the Master." Another comes, in
guideline, the regular qualities of Modern Age improvement: otherworldly
existence, common characteristics, significant brain inquire about impacts,
Western significant realist (z, Tao) impacts, express concordance. Impacts of
advancement (eg planet / green advancement, flower child advancement), etc.