Study of Religion Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct pairs are William James with The Varieties of Religious Experience (b), James Frazer with The Golden Bough (a), Emile Durkheim with The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (d) and E.B. Tylor with Primitive Culture (c). The code is b, a, d, c.

James's 1902 book studies religion as personal experience; Frazer's work on magic and religion is The Golden Bough; Durkheim's 1912 study treats religion as a social fact; and Tylor's Primitive Culture (1871) introduced animism. Options B, C and D each interchange at least two of these authors and titles.

Answer: B

The chronological order is Rigveda (about 1500 to 1200 BC), Ishopanishad (an early Upanishad, in the Shukla Yajurveda), Srimad Bhagavad Gita (about the third to second century BC, inside the Mahabharata) and the Quran (revealed in the seventh century AD). The code is i, iv, iii, ii.

Options A and D put the Gita before the Ishopanishad, but the Upanishad is the earlier. Options C and D put the Quran before the Gita, which is wrong because the Gita is centuries older. Only option B is in the correct order.

Answer: A

E.B. Tylor (Edward Burnett Tylor) was an anthropologist, regarded as the founder of cultural anthropology in Britain. His Primitive Culture (1871) defined culture and put forward animism as the earliest form of religion.

He was not a psychologist, a theologian or a magician. His work was cultural and comparative, and he held the first post in anthropology at Oxford.

Answer: C

The official key credits E.B. Tylor with first using the concept of the sacred. Tylor, in Primitive Culture (1871), is the earliest of the four scholars listed and is the founder of the study of religion as an evolutionary and cultural phenomenon, whereas Durkheim built his theory on the sacred and profane only in 1912. Mircea Eliade wrote on the sacred and the profane in the twentieth century, building on earlier thinkers, and Paul Ricoeur is a philosopher known for his work on symbol and interpretation, so neither is the originator. Many students would expect Durkheim here because the sacred-profane division is central to his work, but the keyed answer is C. A reviewer may wish to check this key.

Answer: C

Rudolf Otto wrote The Idea of the Holy (2), Paul Tillich wrote The Dynamics of Faith (3), William James wrote The Varieties of Religious Experience (1), and E.B. Tylor wrote Primitive Culture (4). That gives a-2, b-3, c-1, d-4, option C. Option A swaps Otto with Tylor's book and James with Tillich's, so it fails on a and c. Option B gives Otto the book by James and James the book by Tillich, and option D pairs Otto with Tylor's work, so each of these fails on at least two pairs.

Answer: A

Theology is the study of religion, specifically the systematic study of God and of the doctrines of a faith as held by its own believers, so the key gives A. The phrase science of religion (B) refers to the later, non-confessional discipline of religious studies, and philosophy of religion (C) is the critical examination of religious claims by reason. The comparative study of religion (D) sets different religions side by side, which is a different undertaking from theology within one tradition. Among the options, only A states the general meaning of the term.

Answer: D

The statement that is not true is that religion is against human life (D). Religion is normally treated in this field as a need of social life, because it supports values, solidarity and a shared moral order (A). It is spoken of as the essence of life by believers (B) and it is said to be useful for human life as it gives meaning, comfort and discipline (C). Since A, B and C are the accepted views, the one claiming that religion works against human life is the untrue one.

Answer: D

The statement that religion is an ultimate concern of man is by Paul Tillich, the Protestant theologian, who developed it in works such as The Dynamics of Faith, where faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. Mircea Eliade is known for the sacred and the profane and for the history of religions, Paul Ricoeur for the philosophy of symbol and interpretation, and Max Weber for the sociology of religion, including the Protestant ethic. Hence the answer is D.

Answer: B

Hinduism is linked with the Vedas (1), Sikhism with the Guru Granth Sahib (2), Judaism with the Hebrew text, that is the Hebrew Bible (4), and Christianity with the New Testament (3). So the combination is a-1, b-2, c-4, d-3, option B. Option A interchanges the Hebrew text and the New Testament, giving Judaism the New Testament, which is wrong. Option C pairs Hinduism with the Hebrew text, and option D pairs Hinduism with the New Testament and Christianity with the Vedas, so both fail on a and d.

Answer: C

The Idea of the Holy was written by Rudolf Otto, so statement 1 is correct. The Varieties of Religious Experience was written by William James, so statement 2 is correct. Primitive Culture was written by E.B. Tylor, not by Emile Durkheim, so statement 3 is wrong. Therefore the correct choice is both 1 and 2, option C. Option A is wrong because it omits statement 2, option B names a wrong statement alone and option D includes the wrong statement 3.