Religion 101 - or a countdown from 10 to 1

By David Kitchingman in All Sorts

"a peculiar blend of scripture, tradition, reason and experience, can still serve to capture the ultimate singularity of the religious impulse"

Religion 101 - or a countdown from 10 to 1

10. The Decalogue (The ten words). Judaism teaches that God gave the Jews 613 commandments, but the Ten Commandments can be considered part of the bedrock of not just Judaism but Christianity and Islam as well. But why ten? Probably reflecting our digital skeleton. A few decades ago the Decalogue was a part of our Communion liturgy. "Lord...incline our hearts to keep this law." Did something change?

9. "Nine theories of religion" (Daniel Pals, 2015). This is the title of a textbook on academic attempts since the 19th century to explain and understand religion. It includes controversial figures such as Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx who had a personal stance of antipathy towards religion. But it also adds William James to a previous edition titled "Eight theories..." which in turn expanded on the first edition, namely "Seven theories..." Of the making of theories there is no end, so what might lead to the next major theory? Pals suggests that it might come from advances in evolutionary biology and cognitive science. If it should be shown that "religion truly is coded into our genes, then the prophecies of secularization theorists about the death of God or the end of faith will appear to have been either decidedly premature or fundamentally mistaken about the nature of the human species."

8. The Eight-Fold Path of Buddhism. This is actually the fourth of the Four Noble Truths. (By now we can appreciate that religion is riddled with numbers!) Much is lost in translation, but here is one version of the Path:
1. Complete or Perfect Vision. 2. Perfected Emotion or Aspiration. 3. Perfected or Whole Speech. 4. Integral Action. 5. Proper Livelihood. 6. Complete or Full Effort, Energy or Vitality. 7. Complete or Thorough Awareness.8. Full, Integral or Holistic Samadhi (enlightenment or Buddhahood).

7. The Seven Dimensions of Religion (Ninian Smart, 1998). Smart is recognised as having helped to define the characteristics of religion generally. These dimensions vary in importance but are almost always present in a religion.
1. Ritual dimension: Forms and orders of ceremonies, public or private (often regarded as revealed from the supernatural realm).
2. Narrative and Mythological: Stories (often regarded as revealed) that work on several levels.
3. Experiential and emotional: dread, guilt, awe, mystery, devotion, liberation, ecstasy, inner peace and bliss.
4. Social and Institutional: Belief system is shared and attitudes practiced by a group. Often there are rules for identifying membership and participation.
5. Ethical and legal: Rules about human behaviour (often regarded as revealed).
6. Doctrinal and philosophical: systematic formulation of religious teachings in an intellectually coherent form.
7. Material dimension: ordinary objects or places that symbolize or manifest the sacred or supernatural.

6. Six stages of faith (James Fowler and others, 1980s-). This analysis seeks to understand religion at a personal level and correlates to some extent with the onset of developmental stages in life. The following descriptors are taken from a range of researchers:
1. (Early childhood +). The innocent stage. Magic. The recognition of God.
2. (Middle childhood). The literalist stage. Reality. Life of discipleship. 3. (Early adolescence). The loyalist stage. Dependence. Productive
life.
4. (Young adulthood). The critic. Independence. The journey inward.
5. (Early midlife +). The visionary. Interdependence. The journey
outward.
6. (Midlife +). The universalizing stage. Unity. Life of love.

5. The 'Five Pillars' of Islam. Along with six essential beliefs in Allah, his prophets, his scriptures, his angels, his decrees, and the final judgment, there are five practices that constitute the foundation of Muslim life.
1. The confession of faith in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad.
2. Establishment of the daily prayers.
3. Concern for and almsgiving to the needy.
4. Self-purification through fasting.
5. The Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able.

4. The Methodist Quadrilateral. This basis for theological reflection is credited to John Wesley, but the term itself was coined by an American scholar, Albert Outler. It posits four sources for doctrinal development:
• Scripture (the primary source). • Tradition. • Experience. • Reason.
The quadrilateral is well described by a line from the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline which states: "Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason."

3. The Trinity of Christianity. In the history of the Christian Church it would be hard to find a more contentious and pretentious dogma than the Trinity, yet it illustrates the interplay of the four criteria ascribed to Wesley. With its early roots in scripture and experience, it provided a field day for reason both for and against, and is now so enshrined in tradition as to be an almost indisputable marker of the faith.

2. The top two commandments. "This is the greatest and first commandment and a second is like it" (Mt 22: 38, 39, NRSV). By the time only two texts from the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures are left standing pre-eminently, the countdown to the essence of religion must surely be nigh, but Luke's Gospel offers an intriguing gloss on conversations Jesus had in this area. Which brings us down to:

1. "Only one thing is necessary" (Luke 10:41, CEV). Hard on the heels of the highly attested parable of the Samaritan, Luke added the story of Jesus visiting Mary and Martha, giving rise to the famous phrase "one thing is needful" (AV). There is nothing to match it among anything else attributed to Jesus, so it commands attention, yet its authenticity is much debated. Suffice to say that it takes only a smattering of knowledge of historical criticism to admit to the need for an open mind as to the historicity of this incident. This is not just a case of providing a refuge for male preachers addressing female roles as categorized by the Martha/Mary standoff. But it might well illustrate the contention that Jesus not only told great stories; his magnetism spawned them. It might also contribute to the argument as to whether Jesus was or ever could be a perfect human being. Leaving aside the question of whether he might have offered to help in the kitchen, there is the sheer implausibility of perfection. At every moment of life we do, say or think something but could conceivably be doing, saying or thinking any number of other things. None the less, this story, by a peculiar blend of scripture, tradition, reason and experience, can still serve to capture the ultimate singularity of the religious impulse, the more so because it hovers in indeterminacy. "There is need of only one thing" (NRSV). Dare we label it at all? If we must, might we call it open mindfulness?
Blast off.
David Kitchingman