ALDERSGATE COLLEGE
Solano, Nueva Vizcaya
COMPARATIVE SPIRITUALITY
Module 2: WHAT IS RELIGION
Instructor: Rev. Rosemarie D. Agonias
OVERVIEW Level: BSBA
This module is designed to help students understand what is religion. Allotted Time: Two Hours
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. define and explain further what is religion.
2. understand the nature of religion.
3. explain clearly the different dimensions and classifications of religion.
4. understand the four Functional Modes of Religion
5. know the classifications of religion.
5. know when did religion begin.
PRETEST: IDENTIFICATION
Direction: Identify the following terms/ personalities
1. It is not only a subject of historical interest and concern but also upon other areas of life and a factor to stimulate social, political
and economic reform.
2. He defined religion as “opium of the people.”
3. He defined religion as “spiritual beings.”
4. He formulated the four Functional Modes of Religion.
5. He said that religion is ,“man’s attempt to reach God through rituals, sacrifices and traditions or good works. After all, religion, is
defining and refining human destiny.”
LEARNING FOCUS
WHAT IS RELIGION?
Religion has different connotations for the adherents of different faiths. It is not only a subject of historical interest and concern but also
upon other areas of life. Religion is also a factor to stimulate social, political and economic reform. It is also a means to stop violence, war
and hatred when the religious bias is absent. It can provide racial equality, peace and harmony when the sole teaching of each religion is
put into practice which is love. Therefore, religion remains a vital part of human lives in more traditional ways in acts of charity and
learning, in pilgrimage and devotion and in proclamation.
THE NATURE OF RELIGION
The nature of religion is a universal phenomenon which manifested among people in every part of the world. Religious activities, rites and
languages were woven into a fabric of great civilizations, and the study of religion is part of any comprehensive attempt to understand
history and society. Religion also plays a vital part of private experiences in our sense of wonder and mystery, times of sorrow and
bereavement and moment of great joy. Universality of religion results in a great variety of beliefs and practices including social activities
and personal feelings. Because of its variety and vast understanding, Religion was defined as:
1. The feeling of absolute dependence upon God (Schleiermacher, 19th century Christian apologist).
2. What individual does with his/her solitariness in search of meaning of life and identity through meditation. (Alfred North
Whitehead, a Philosopher)
3. Belief in spiritual beings. (Edward Tyler)
4. It is a sigh of the oppressed creature. Religion is an opium of the people. (Karl Marx)
5. An expression of human longing, the basic elements of religion were the projection of human longings and fears on to an
imaginary transcendent place. The consciousness of God is thus nothing more than human self-consciousness. Religion is the
earliest and truly indirect form of human self-consciousness. (Ludwig Feuerbach)
6. It is man’s attempt to reach God through rituals, sacrifices and traditions or good works. After all, religion, is defining and refining
human destiny. (Dennis S. Maung, a Professor of Asian Religions and Mission, Union Theological Seminary, Philippines).
Ludwig concept of religion would have the church to explore the right faith on whether faith is on God or human. Ludwig highly
emphasized on human abilities and knowledge. By God you know the human, and by the human, you know God. The two are one
(means human and God are equal attribute). What God is to a person that too is the spirit, the soul, are to a person, that is God. God
is the revealed and explicit inner self of a human being.
How do human beings acknowledge the existence of God would be the answer as to why do people need certain religious beliefs. Is
religious faith God initiative or men? What is the central content of religion? Therefore, people really need revelation in order to
confirm that there is God who revealed himself to human that human will know there is God, then rites, rituals, worship and symbols
will follow.
NINIAN SMART’S SIX DIMENSIONS OF RELIGION
Experiential Ritual Myth
Personal Expressed in worship sacrifice, and Stories which Encapsulate
Spiritual other sacred acts Fundamental
Experiences Beliefs of a group
RELIGION
Institutional Moral Codes and Systematization of beliefs
Forms of religion guides to behaviors and experiences
Social Ethics Doctrine
ERIC SHARPE proposed additional two dimensions as Emotional and Legal dimensions.
Eric Sharpe’s Four Functional Modes of Religion
Existential Intellectual
Faith and Religious Experience Formal Statement of Belief
Institutional Ethical
Organizations containing and Transmitting Belief Teachings and beliefs relating to Conduct
R.C. GENERAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF RELIGION
Semitic or Prophetic Religion- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (The will of God is central emphasis for them)
Mystical Religion- Hinduism, Buddhism (Heightening a divine sense through meditation)
When did Religion begin?
As long as 100,000 years ago, creature known as Homo Neanderthalensis (Neander valley in Germany) used to bury the dead with
care and dignity in believing that death may not be the end of life. Therefore, burial in the early human demonstrates a belief in future
existence. In later eras such as Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic, people discovered and confirmed that the belief in resurrection
was found in the way of burial system. The dead were buried in different positions such as standing (up right), kneeling (praying
position), or lying down (sleeping position). All these systems portrayed that the belief in life and resurrection or spiritual life was with
the people in the beginning.
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. How does religion influence man’s way of thinking?
2. In your own observation, what is the real effect of religion in our present situation in terms of our social, political and economic
condition?
POST TEST: Enumeration:
Direction: Answer/enumerate what is asked in the following problems.
1-6. Name the dimensions of religion given by Ninian Smart.
7-8. General Classifications of Religion
9-10. Definition of Religion
REFERENCE:
Maung, Dennis S. (1999). Handbook of Asian Religions. Maung Computer and Page Making, Union Theological Seminary, Dasmarinas,
Cavite, Philippines