Religions are the doors or windows between conditioned and unconditioned reality.
Conditioned reality = reality as we ordinarily experience it, limited and constrained by space, time and the patterns of thought and feeling that shape our response to it.
Unconditioned Reality = reality in its absolute nature equally present in all times and places and not limited in any way.
perspectival = from a perspective; a position; one of many ways of regarding situations or topics
pluralism = many different options for belief and lifestyle exist together in the same society; religious pluralism suggests that if all religions address the same divine reality, then they must possess value and truth
Religion addresses sacred reality, set apart, special, out of the ordinary and can be felt, channeled and accessed through rites, symbols, meditation etc.
Sociologist of religion, Joachim Wach named three categories of religious expression:
theoretical practical sociological
Theoretical
What is said.
Myth and Doctrine.
Practical.
What is done.
Rituals,
worship practices, pilgrimages and prayers.
Sociological;
Social structures within a tradition, group life, leaderships, relationships with society at large.
Myth = stories expressed in narrative form the central values of the society and the way it views the world
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." 7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." 10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him. 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep,
