OBJECTIVES:

BY THE END OF THE LESSON, STUDENTS WOULD BE ABLE

TO:
• Understand the belief system or worldview, Religion,
Spirituality, Philosophy of Religion, and Theology.
• Recognize the different types of religion and belief
systems from around the world
• Familiarize with the different theories on the origin of
religion
 UNLOCKING OF DIFFICULTIES

• UPBRINGING – treatment and instruction

received by a child from its parents.
• PERCEPTION – result to observation.
• SCRUPULOUS – careful
• PRIMITIVE - an early stage in the
evolutionary or historical development of
something
RELIGION
•It is an organized
system of beliefs,
ceremonies, and
rules used to
worship a god or a
group of gods
(MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY
2014)
RELIGION
•Derived from these
two Latin words:
• Religio – “something
done with overanxious
or scrupulous attention
to details” –
(Bowker 1997)
• Religare – “to tie
together”
RELIGION VS SPIRITUALITY
• RELIGION – The pursuit
of transformation
guided by a sacred
belief system
• SPIRITUALITY – Reflects
one’s integrative view
of life while affecting
the human soul.
 UNDERSTANDING BELIEFS AND
WORDLVIEWS
• Every individual sees and interprets the world
quite differently from one another.
• SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT and UPBRINGING are
critical in the development of a religious life.
These are the factors on how they affect
people’s beliefs and ideas and their
perception about the world around them.
 MONISTIC

MONOTHESTIC

RELIGION POLYTHESTIC

AGNOSTIC

AETHISTIC
 KINDS OF DESCRIPTION
BELIEF SYSTEM
MONISM There is no real distinction between
god and the universe
POLYTHEISM The belief and worship of many
gods
MONOTHEISM The doctrine or belief of one god
ATHEISM Disbelief in or denial of the
existence of a personal god
AGNOSTIC God cannot be known
 DIFFERENT VIEWS IN RELIGION BY
SEVERAL SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
1) EDWARD BURNETT
TAYLOR (1832-1917)
English anthropologist;
founding figure of the
science of social
anthropology.
View on Religion: belief in
spiritual beings
 DIFFERENT VIEWS IN RELIGION BY
SEVERAL SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
2) JAMES GEORGE FRAZER
(1854-1941)
Scottish social
anthropologist; one of the
founding figures of modern
anthropolgy
View on Religion: a
propritiation or conciliation of
powers superior to control
and direct the course of
nature and human life.
 DIFFERENT VIEWS IN RELIGION BY
SEVERAL SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
3) BRONISLAW KASPER
MALINOWSKI (1884-1942)
An eminent 20th – century
Polish anthropologist
View on Religion: a body of
self-contained acts being
themselves the fulfillment of
their purpose, an affair of all,
in which everyone takes an
active and equivalent part
 DIFFERENT VIEWS IN RELIGION BY
SEVERAL SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
4) DAVID EMILE DURKHEIM
(1858-1917)
French sociologist; father
of sociology
View on Religion: a unified
system or belief and
practice relative to sacred
things
 Belief in a
deity’s
relationship
with the world

Places and
people
Belief in a
diety
believed to
be holy and
CHARACTERISTICS
RELIGION
sacred IN MOST MAJOR
RELIGIONS

Rules
Ways to
followed as
worship a
a result of
deity
beliefs
 SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY…
• There are theories claiming the origins of
religion while looking at primitive societies for
ideas concerning the development of belief
systems – (Hendry 2009)
• According to archeologists, they have
discovered elements of religious belief were
practiced by Homo Sapiens almost 60,000
years ago.
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
ANIMISTIC THEORY EDWARD BURNETT • Primitive people
TAYLOR believe in souls or
anima found in
people (seen in
dreams) and In all
nature;
• Spirits could be
either harmful or
helpful;
• People should pray
to appease or
avoid them
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
ROBERT HENRY • Melanesian
CODRINGTON people believed
(1830-1922), in mana (a
Angelican priest mysterious force
and anthropologist that inhabited all
of nature)
• Destructiveness of
mana can be
avoided through
taboos (forbidden
act according to
one’s culture/
religious belief)
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
NATURE WORSHIP • Humans first
THEORY developed their
religion from their
observations of the
forces of nature.
• Primitive people
identified the
forces in nature,
personified them,
created myths,
and developed
religions around
them.
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
THEORY OF WILHELM SCHMIDT • Basic cultures in
ORIGINAL (1868-1954), Australia and Africa
MONOTHEISM Austrian had a common
belief that there had
anthropologist and
only been one great
ethnologist god above all
others; he may be
the creator of the
world or the father of
many lesser dieties.
• It’s difficult to
worship one god,
religion was
corrupted to
polytheism
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
MAGIC THEORY JAMES GEORGE 3 phases of
FRAZER Development
(1854-1941), Scottish concerning the spirit
world:
social
1. Primitive magic –
anthropologist people attempted
to control nature by
properly done
rituals
2. Religion – people
realize that nature
can’t be controlled
3. Science – rational
understanding of
nature is operative.
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
LUDWIG ANDREAS • There were no
VON FEUERBACH gods
(1804-1872), • Belief in gods
German philosopher
and anthropologist
was simply wish
fulfillments.
• People who
can’t cope with
difficulties in life
projected them
into gods and
religions.
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
WISH FULFILLMENT KARL HEINRICH • Religions are
THEORY MARX developed to
(1818-1883), control the masses
German philosopher and suppress
and sociologist revolution as a
continuing
struggle between
classes.
• Rulers and allied
priests controls
wealth by creating
a scheme of gods,
heavens and hell.
NAME OF THEORY PROPONENT EXPLANATION
SIGMUND FREUD • Religion originates
(1856-1939), from the guilt that
Austrian neurologist individuals
and founding father supposedly feel in
of psychoanalysis hating their fathers.
• A Great father
image projected in
the sky resulted to
this guilt – God, a
healthy mature
person can face
problems without
the need for
religions or beliefs.
EXPLORING SPIRITUALITY
• Spirituality – defined as
“relating or affecting
the human spirit or soul
as opposed to material
or physical things”
(Oxford Dictionaries
2014)
- derived from the
Latin word “spiritus”, its
verb root is “spirare”
meaning “to breathe”
• For thousands of years,
people have been
yearning and searching to
understand the mystery of
life and the universe
• “There may come a point
in time where an
individual realizes that life
is not entirely accidental
and meaningless”
(Parrinder 1971)
One can find inner
peace, satisfaction,
and contentment in
life that are truly
independent of
religious *dogmas
and **tenets.
* a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as
incontrovertibly true.
**a principle or belief especially one of the main principles of a
religion or philosophy