QUIZ/EXAM QUESTIONS for CHAPTER 10

  1. Ernest Troeltsch’s definition of religion as “an underivable, purely positive, again and again experienced contact with the Deity” is most easily falsified by

A) Islam and Judaism

B) Confucianism and Buddhism

C) Zoroastrianism and Christianity

D) Hinduism and Jainism

  1. The scholar who does not try to define religion but instead discusses seven features found in many religious traditions, is

A) Clifford Geertz

B) Ninian Smart

C) John Hick

D) William James

  1. Who of the following IS NOT a contemporary atheist who has written a book attacking religion?

A) Leonardo Boff

B) Sam Harris

C) Christopher Hitchens

D) Daniel Dennett

  1. The scholar who originally held the Secularization Thesis but later said that “The world today is as furiously religious as it ever was” is

A) John Hick

B) Joseph Fletcher

C) Dietrich Bonhoeffer

D) Peter Berger

  1. The Secularization Thesis appears to be most defensible as applied to

A) North America

B) the Middle East

C) Europe

D) Africa

  1. One feature of most Islamic societies that helps explain the resurgence of Islam today is that

A) they reject modern science and technology

B) large Christian missionary campaigns in Muslim countries failed completely

C) they were colonies of European powers for a long time

D) Islam draws a clear distinction between religion and politics

  1. In the U.S., which of these churches has seen its membership decline significantly in the last fifty years?

A) the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

B) the United Methodist Church

C) the Evangelical Free Church of America

D) the Church of God in Christ

  1. The states in the U.S. that have the most megachurches are

A) New York and Massachusetts

B) California and Texas

C) Alaska and Hawaii

D) Illinois and Michigan

  1. The issue that has most divided Roman Catholics in the U.S. from the Pope is the Church’s position on

A) the Virgin Birth

B) papal infallibility

C) dialogue with Protestant churches

D) contraception

  1. The most secular of the following countries is

A) Italy

B) U.S.

C) Sweden

D) Brazil

  1. The scholar who made the provocative claim that “there is no data for religion. Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study. . . . Religion has no independent existence apart from the academy” is

A) Peter L. Berger

B) Robert Bellah

C) Jonathan Z. Smith

D) Mary Douglas

  1. One of the most famous places for miraculous cures is

A) Winchester, England

B) Lourdes, France

C) Lisbon, Portugal

D) Tubingen, Germany

  1. The system in the human body that is probably boosted the most by people’s religiosity, thus boosting health, is

A) the digestive system

B) the immune system

C) the reproductive system

D) the excretory system

  1. Studying the relation between religions and mental health got started only a few decades ago largely because

A) the CAT scan was invented only recently

B) there were no reliable statistics about people’s religiosity until recently

C) many religious leaders were reluctant to explain their beliefs to scientists

D) many early psychotherapists were hostile to religion

  1. Studies of people’s reported religiosity and their mental health show

A) mostly positive correlations

B) mostly negative correlations

C) an equal number of positive and negative correlations

D) no significant correlations

  1. One philanthropic institution that funds about $70 million of research each year into religion and spirituality is the

A) John Templeton Foundation

B) Alfred Nobel Foundation

C) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

D) Carnegie Foundation

  1. Neurological studies have shown that in people having mystical experiences, certain parts of the brain are less active or inactive. These DO NOT include the parts of the brain responsible for

A) distinguishing the self from what is not the self

B) fear

C) feeling positive emotions

D) creating a sense of time

  1. The American Academy of Religion has program units in which people may work with like-minded scholars on their specific research areas. The number of these program units is

A) 4

B) 15

C) 40

D) 138

  1. The consensus of scholars today is that religion

A) can be defined as “the belief in spiritual beings”

B) cannot be defined with necessary and sufficient conditions

C) is reducible to a form of social organization

D) is sui generis (its own unique kind of thing)

  1. In his book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins argues that

A) atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind

B) children should not be labeled by their parents’ religions

C) evolution and other scientific theories are superior to a “God hypothesis

D) all of these