Problem
I. Durkheim
1) What was Durkheim sacred and profane
2) What are Durkheim three kinds of cause for religion
3) What is Durkheim totem
II. Marx
1) What is "alienation" in Marx's thought
2) What did Marx mean about the role of religion in addressing alienation
3) What is Marx's idea of the end of religion?
III. Freud
1) "alienation" in Freud's thought: how does he define it?
2) illusion and delusion: how are these terms different?
3) What is Freud's idea of the end of religion?
IV. Turner
1) What was Turner three stages of ritual: separation, liminal, and return to society.
V. Geertz
1) How did Greertz describe religion as a system of symbols
2) What is Geertz thick description
3) What is Geertz moods and motivations in religion: how are they created, what is their function?
VI. Luhrmann
Be able to define or explain the use of technical terms that Luhrmann uses in her research in How God Becomes Real
1) heuristic and analytic thinking
2) faith frame
3) paracosm
4) religious narrative v. fiction
Question I
Herling discusses four orders of meaning on pages 48-49. His purpose is to show you how a researcher in religion can overcome the problem of "insider-outsider" perspectives. In your essay, discuss these four orders of meaning. How do you think they can be used to address the problems of research?
Question II
Researchers of religion must describe what they observe. How do the following perspectives help the researcher accurately describe religious phenomena? Choose two to discuss in your essay:
1) Geertz's method of "deep description."
2) Ninian Smart's method of "seven dimensions of religion".
3) The two skills of "defamiliarization" and "empathy" explained by Herling.