Religion Exam Review

Unit One: To Be Human Is

Human- a person of or characteristics of a person or persons, having the nature or
form of a person; akin to homo, a man, and humus soil.
Person- men, women, and children, healthy or infirm, are persons.
Anthropology- the science that studies the origin, development, and customs of
human beings.
Freedom- the power, rooted in reason and will, act or not to act, to do this or that.
It is the power to act deliberately on our own responsibility.
Creation- an exchange of goodness. God is good and declares and creature good.
Culture-deals with the social development, practices and beliefs of human beings.
Catechism of the Catholic Church- the official teaching of the catholic church. The
catechism deals with four main subjects: the professions of faith, the celebration of
the Christian mystery, life in Christ, and Christian prayer.
Community- a group of persons bound together by a sense of unity that goes
beyond each one of them.
Communion- the to and fro of love. It is the trust that comes from the intuitive
knowledge that we are safe in the hands of another and that we can be open and
vulnerable, one to another.
Solidarity- the need for help and support from one another. We also need other so
that we can develop our ability to work together and interact socially. Above all,
solidarity is about being loved and giving love. It calls us to come together.
Trinity- the divine community of persons
Vocation- our call. The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of god.
Talents- certain things that enrich a persons identity and something they must
develop
Encyclical- an official pastoral letter written by the Pope for the entire people of
God. They give advice or shed light on issues that need to be better understood in
the light of the teachings of the church.
Goodness- the result of being connected with God.
Sin- the breach of the relationship that God established with creation.
Disorder- a fault that maims the work of God.
The Seven Traits of Human Beings:
1) Humans are created in the image and likeness of God (both gender)
2) Humans are called to happiness and holiness. True happiness comes from
God (long term) God=Happiness.
3) Humans are national and free. By free will, we can direct ourselves to our
true good. Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to
act, to do this or that.
4) Humans are moral beings. We choose to do good or evil. But for an act to be
good, we have to choose to do what is good, our reasons for doing it must be
good, and the circumstances of the act must be good.
5) Humans have passions and feelings. In themselves, feelings are neither
morally good nor morally evil. It is what we choose to do about our feelings
that may be good or evil. Humans have many passions; the highest is love.
6) Humans are blessed with a conscience. Moral conscience is present at the
heart of every person. It is like a voice that tells us, at the appropriate
moment, to do right and avoid evil. It is your duty to follow your conscience
more than law.
7) Humans are able to sin. Sin is an offense against reason, truth and right
conscience. Sin is a violation of relationship with God, the people around you
and you.
What the Bible says about humans:
1) Humans are a creation of God.
2) Humans are a mixture of earth and divine breath.
3) Humans are good.
4) Humans are male and female
- The one thing that separates humans from other animals is freedom.
Humans have free will to act on their own accord.
5 Principles of Humanity:
1) All humans have value and are sacred.
2) We are always changing. Our past decisions affect our future lives.
3) Maturity comes through working with others, through dialogue and through a
sense of belonging and a searching together.
4) Encouragement is needed for success.
5) When making decisions, we must reflect in order to make the right decisions.


Unit Two: Who Has Culture?
Tradition- ways of doing things we inherited from our ancestors.
Institutions- a way of doing things linked together to form a system of doing things.
Identity- the way we do things.
Culture- the set of meanings, beliefs, values, and rules for living shared by groups
and societies as the source of their identity.
Sign- an object or gestures that expressess one specific message or meaning.
Symbol- means thrown together. When you put something non-tangible and
attach it to something tangible. (ex. Rose=love)
Habit- a pattern we do everyday.
Ritual-the things we do every day, we do in a certain way. Its like a habit but more
sacred.
Religion- a system of symbols and rituals
Religious rituals- have the power to open up new ways of living and communication
with a cover and energy that is higher and deeper than our own.
Liturgy- the churchs official act of worship.
Transcendence-religious experience has to do with our relationship with a god,
whom we cannot see, hear, taste, smell, or touch. That is, God is beyond or
transcends, our usual physical experience.
Religious symbols- includes things like the stars, earth, cedar branches, smoke, oil,
and water. We use these things to represent immensity, power, growth, birth,
cleansing, communication, and so on.
Secular- worldly, not religious or sacred; living in the world.
Understanding the Components of Culture:
1) Culture has to do with Human Actions (eating, praying,working)
2) Culture is a set of meanings, beliefs, values, and practices of a society.
3) Culture identifies me as belongings to a particular group.
The Seven Topics of Culture:
1) Humans create culture-only humans have the ability to create culture.
2) Culture consists of ways of doing things-culture is not just about the fact that
we do things, but how we do them.
3) Culture is public-culture is not about how I do things; it is about how we as a
group or a community or a people do things.
4) Culture arises from tradition-many of our ways of doing things we inherited
from our parents or ancestors.
5) Culture is made up of rule-governed actions- because so many of these ways
of doing things come from tradition, we feel that we have a certain duty to
keep them
6) Culture becomes established in institutions- these ways of doing things
become established in society and we reach a consensus. We begin to see
that these ways of doing things link together to form a system or institutions.
7) Culture gives us our identity- the way we do things are the source of our
cultural identity.
The 4 Major Types of Symbols:
1) Religious Symbols (crosses, water, dove)
2) Cultural Symbols (flags)
3) Global Symbols (peace signs, twitter bird)
4) Personal Symbols
Traits of Rituals (MR BEW PCP):
Movement
Repeated
Break from Ordinary
Events
Words
Past
Communal
Participation

The Churchs Symbolic Actions (see page 45 in textbook; memorize chart)
- Every society is religious for TWO reasons:
1) We are always looking for the bigger picture; why things happen.
2) People have a desire for salvation.
- The price of privatization on institutions is a feeling of isolation and a loss
of a sense of belonging.
- Religion plays an ESSENTIAL role in culture.



Unit Three: The God Question

Chosen People- the Hebrews. They were to be the light of the nations. They were
to live the revelation of God to their ancestors for the entire world to see and hear.
Prophets- were holy persons in Israel who were spokesperson for God. Because
they were close to God through their prayer, they could communicate Gods word
through oracles, visions, judgements, and symbolic actions.
Revelation- God communicates Gods self to humankind in stages: through creation
itself, through covenants, and through the prophets. This revelation is passed on to
all generations through the sacred Scriptures and apostolic tradition.
The Law (Torah)- is the heart of the Old Testament. Torah is translated as law. It
is Gods instructions about the covenant: how to live in the mutually agreed-open
relationship with God. The Ten Commandments are at the heart of the Torah.
Covenant- is used in the scriptures to express the relationship between God and the
Chosen People. A covenant is like an adoption agreement in which God agrees to
love, feed, care for, and protect the Chosen People.
Kingdom of God- is a symbol used by Jesus to speak about God and Gods actions
among us. Jesus said the kingdom is among us.
Metaphor- figure of speech used in poetic language.
Incarnation- means that God became human and dwelt personally-in the flesh-
among us in Jesus of Nazareth.
Parable- is a story that compares something we dont know with something we do
know. A parable usually has a surprised twist that helps us see things in a new way.
New Covenant- in the new covenant, God personally enters into human culture in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Church- is the community that was founded when God sent the Holy Spirit to Jesus
disciples at Pentecost. It is in this community that we can meet the risen Christ.
Kingdom of God as Gift- Gods relationship with creation is characterized by
generosity. At its heart, the relationship is not about laws and rules, but is a pure
gift of generous goodness.
Grace- describes Gods kind, merciful, an absolutely generous love for us.
Moses:
- Means son of in Egyptian but in Hebrew means drawn out.
- Moses learns the holy Name of God at Midian.
- The name is so sacred that we are only given the four consonants: YHWH
- This name is forever linked with a place, a person, and an event.
Place: Mount Sinai
Person: Moses
Event: liberation of the enslaved Hebrews in Egypt
- The name means, I am who I am
What does a covenant look like?
1) The Israelites became a prophet of the covenant
2) The Israelites received a code of the covenant
3) The Israelites had prophets as part of their leadership
4) The Israelites celebrated the actions and events of the Lord.
What is a covenant?
1) A covenant is like a treaty or an alliance
2) A covenant has conditions
3) A covenant is sealed with a ceremony
4) A covenant is celebrated with both parties present
What is a parable?
1) A parable is a story
2) A parable is a comparison to the kingdom of God.
3) A parable contains a crisis
4) A parable has an ending
5) A parable is a story about Gods kingdom that is to say, gods way of acting
among us.
How does Jesus act?
1) Through people
2) Through people who freely choose to be in communion with him
3) Through scripture
4) Through the liturgy
5) Through the weekend of people.
Unit Four: Who Am I?
Individualism- another name for the isolation of the self in Western Culture.
Self-Understanding- the ability to identify yourself through importance factors in
life.
Self-esteem- an awareness of ones own self-worth
Atheism-people that believe there is no God.
Agnosticism- people that seem unsure if God exits
Love of Self- in simple words, loving yourself goes hand in hand with loving thy
neighbour.
The Seven Tendencies of Individualism:
1) I am free
2) I have rights
3) I am equal
4) Only reason binds me
5) I am isolated from everything
6) I am master of the Earth
7) I am godless
The Five Proclamation of Jesus:
1) Jesus wants me to call God Abba
2) My relationship with God is my freedom
3) The earth is good and is a gift of god
4) Other people are as important-perhaps even more important-than myself
5) Before god, all are equal

Unit Five: Relation to the Other
Reciprocity- the expectation that if I do something for someone else, this person
will at some point do something in return.
The other- your neighbour
Golden Rule- do to others as you would have them do to you
Intimacy- the close bond that exists between human beings, whether as friends or
as associates.
Body- an image of god in human flesh. It is not an object, but a temple.
Sexuality- the force and energy to be creative in response to life.
Marriage- god uniting two people in such a way by forming one flesh they can
transmits human life.
Charity- agape love
Institutions- systems of meanings, beliefs, and values that become stabilized and
take on a lasting form in a social structures.
Remember: the betting your soul story is called Faust.
The Five Kinds of Love:
1) Hetaireia ( companionship;classmate)
2) Eros ( sexual love; husband/wife)
3) Storage( family love)
4) Philia( friendship)
5) Agape(charity love)
4 Reasons for Decline in Community Participation
1) Time and money
2) Urban sprawl
3) T.v and internet
4) Generational change
Institutions are like Covenants:
1) Help us to become free people
2) Need rules and a commitment
3) Powerful and require prophetic leaders
4) Need participation and celebration
Unit Six: Living Together in Solidarity
Christian Time- celebrates the focal point of human time; the story of god with us
Time-a measurement of movement or events
Sunday- the day of the lord, the day that Jesus rose from the dead
Justice- the virtue that gives each person his or her due in the distribution of goods.
Rights- those things in society to which we are entitled
Distributive Justice- the equitable and fair distribution of the goods of society.
Judicial Justice- is justice in the form of courts and the legal system
Common good- refers to all the social conditions that allows us to reach us to reach
our fulfilments.
Peace- the absence of war or conflict
Violence- the aggressive or unjust use of power or force to hurt others.
State- one of many institutions that wield power in society.
Service- is using our power for the benefits and well-beings of others.
Time In Our Culture:
1) We experience loss of culture
2) We experience confusion about the importance of our elders, traditions, and
history
3) We have no clear expectations for the future
4) We lose sight of the larger picture
Reasons For Violence:
1) When people want to find a way out of a situation
2) We have to compete
3) Abuse of power
4) Envy and jealousy
5) Acts of violence are historical ( cain and abel)
6) Violence fascinates people
Duties of the Government:
1) Respect dignity of the person
2) Accept the rule of law
3) Promote the common good
4) Protect the family
5) Safeguard the right to life of every innocent person
6) Be responsible for the economy
7) Give access to work and a just wage
8) Ensure religious freedom
9) Look after the health of citizen
10) Defend country
Duties of Catholics to the State:
1) Obey civil authority
2) Vote
3) Participate in public life
4) Pay taxes
5) Welcome immigrants and refugees
6) Defend our country
*IMAGES OF THE CHURCH* (possible essay question)
1) Institution
2) Community
3) Advocate
4) Servant
5) Transformer
6) Teacher
Five Steps to Effective Social Action: (possible essay question)
1) Be present to the poor
2) Understand the causes of human suffering
3) Judge in the light of the gospel and church teachings
4) Think creatively, guided by the vision of the kingdom of God
5) Act together to transform unjust situations.