050830 0510 0605 0702 0704 F T Please report any errors, typographical or otherwise. D R A World Religions Notes prepared by the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, minister emeritus of CRES, www.cres.org Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171; Email:
[email protected] NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, OR QUOTATION WITHOUT PERMISSION. © copyright 2007, 2009 T ABLE OF CONTENTS Motto Primal faiths Monotheistic faiths he History of Religions is not 8 Ancient Mesopotamian religion 28 Abrahamic religions merely an historical discipline, 9 Ancient Egyptian religion 29 Zoroastrianism T 10 The Greek style, the Roman style 30 Judaism as for example, are archeology and 11 The Maya, the Inca 31 Christianity numismatics. It is equally a total 12 American Indian religions 35 Islam hermeneutics being called to decipher 13 Traditional African religions 38 Sikhism [local notes] and explicate every kind of encounter 14 Wicca 39 Bahá'í [local notes] with the sacred, from prehistory to Conclusions Asian faiths 39 A Pluralistic View our own day. —Mircea Eliade 16 Ancient Chinese religion 41 Comparisons and 17 Hinduism the future of religions Epitomizing texts 18 From the Gita 42 What is sacred? 2 Chief Seattle’s Letter 19 Buddhism in India Capsule summaries 3 The Heart Sutra 20 The enlightened no-self 43 Chart, final exam 4 Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 21 Buddhism in China 23 Buddhism in Japan / Zen stories History of religions theory 24 Buddhism in Tibet 5 Religion before history 25 Smokey the Bear Sutra 6 Wheat 26 Amitabha’s Vow 7 Myth, ritual, and religious style 27 Thirty-five Voidistic Quotations World religions can be classified many ways, none of which is without flaws and exceptions.