Anthropology 3160 Midterm 1 Study Guide Anthropology of Religion

1. According to the Shoshone, what was a water baby?

2. How did Taylor define religion?

3. According to Tylor, what is the main function of religion?

4. According to Emile Durkheim, what is the basis of religious ideas?

5. As defined by Robert Marett, animatism is _______________.

6. According to Marett and Rudolph Otto, from what did religion arise?

7. Why did Marett consider the idea of supernatural power to be more ancient than the idea of spirits?

8. Which anthropologist emphasized the role of awe at strange things as the basis of religion?

9. Mana is _______________.

10. In anthropological terms, the biblical story of Uzzah's death when he touched the Ark of the Covenant illustrates _______________.

11. Define taboo.

12. Emile Durkheim the essential distinction made by all religions is the distinction between _______________.

13. According to Bronislaw Malinowski, what is the psychological function of religion?

14. According to Bronislaw Malinowski, how do rituals benefit people?

15. According to Paul Tillich, religion is synonymous with ______________.

16. According to Roy Rappaport, what are the various functions of ritual in religion?

17. According to Roy Rappaport what are the relationships between rituals and the meanings they communicate?

18. According to Roy Rappaport, how does participation in religious rituals affect the breach of social obligations?

19. What are the defining characteristics of ritual?

20. According to Stewart Guthrie, what is the primary component of religion?

21. Define anthropomorphism.

CHP 2

22. In the Navajo creation myth, who is the deity who represents impulsiveness?

23. How were the Navajo gods organized?

24. The Akkadian creation myth involved a conflict between what two deities?

25. Who are the two most important deities in Shoshone religion?

26. Who were the two chief deities of the Great Basin Shoshone Indians?

27. Among the Great Basin Shoshone, the character called Coyote represented _______________.

28. How do myths differ from legends?

29. What are the defining characteristics of a Supreme Being

30. Define piety values. How do they differ from moral values?

31. What did Guy Swanson find about the belief in supernatural punishments for moral violations?.

32. Which rite of passage is least strongly associated with religion? Why?

33. According to Crapo, how are emotions part of the ritual experience? What social emotions are commonly elicited by religion? What kinds of environmental features may play a role in the experience of emotions in a religious setting?

34. According to Arnold Van Gennep, religious rituals are particularly common at what times in human life?

35. What are Anthony Wallace's thirteen minimal categories of religion?

36. What activities were part of Iroquois Midwinter Festivals?

37. Why, according to Crapo, is religious ideology is so extremely diverse in the cultures of the world?

CHP 3 (Psychology of Religion)

38. The lower chamber of the Sherpa temple symbolizes _______________.

39. What is catharsis and under what circumstances does it occur?

40.Worldwide, members of oppressed social groups tend to follow religions with what characteristics?

41. According to Bourguignon and Greenbaum, the practice of spirit possession would be most likely in societies that have what characteristics?

42. D'Andrade has shown that the use of dreams to contact and control the supernatural is most common in societies where what customs prevail?

43. According to Anthony Wallace, revitalization movements that culminate in new ideologies involve what kind of psychological process in the founder, and how may such a process be subjectively understood by the founder?

LECTURES:

44. According to a Gallup Poll, what percentage of Americans report having had an unusual experience on the verge of death?

45. How does Ring define a Near Death Experience?

46. According to Ramachandran, what is a common feature of temporal lobe epilepsy?

47. Newberg and D'Aquili found similarities in the brain functioning of what groups?

48. According to Crapo, what is the "orientation area" of the brain that makes the distinction between internal and external reality (the distinction that Leslie White saw as basic to religious thinking)?

49. According to Karl Jansen, what causes Near Death Experiences?

50. The brain area that creates visual imagery during Near Death Experiences is the __________.