Religious Studies
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Religious Studies is an academic discipline that explores the beliefs, practices, texts, and historical development of the world's major religious traditions. The course provides a comprehensive overview of religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, examining their origins, core teachings, rituals, and cultural impact. Students will engage with religious texts, rituals, and ethical systems, as well as analyze the role of religion in societies, politics, and individual lives. The course encourages critical thinking and respectful dialogue, fostering a deeper understanding of the global diversity of religious experiences and their influence on human history and contemporary issues.
Recommended Textbook
Anthropology of Religion Magic and Witchcraft The 3rd Edition by Rebecca Stein Philip L Stein
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11 Chapters
532 Verified Questions
532 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Anthropological Study of Religion
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60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Geographical areas wherein are found societies that share a great many characteristics are known as:
A)culture areas
B)ethnographic zones
C)ecological regions
D)societal areas
Answer: A
Q2) An example of an ethnography is:
A)Goodall's study of chimpanzee behavior
B)Herskovits's study of economic anthropology
C)Johanson's study of the fossil hominids from Hadar
D)Malinowski's study of the Trobriand Islanders
Answer: D
Q3) A study of a people's religious beliefs and rituals would be a part of the study of:
A)cultural anthropology
B)linguistics
C)archaeology
D)physical anthropology
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Mythology
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Myths differ from folktales in that:
A)myths are recounted in ritual and folktales are not
B)myths reflect the worldview and folktales do not
C)myths with the supernatural and folktales do not
D)all of the above
Answer: A
Q2) The story of Snow White is not a religious story because it does not involve the sacred supernatural and is not the basis of ritual.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The Snow White story is an example of a:
A)myth
B)folktale
C)legend
D)urban legend
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Religious Symbols
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) All languages have a similar set of basic color terms in terms of number and meaning.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) While English users distinguish 11 primary colors,the number of color terms found in the Yoruba language is:
A)3
B)7
C)10
D)14
Answer: A
Q3) The background of the sarcophagus cover at Palenque depicts the:
A)trials of the Otherworld
B)Cosmic Tree
C)founding of Palenque
D)life of the king
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Ritual
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58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A wedding is an example of a rite of passage.The celebra?tion or party following the religious or secular wedding ceremony is an example of that phase of a rite of passage known as:
A)transition
B)separation
C)peripheralization
D)incorporation
Q2) Types of modifications of the human body seen in human societies include:
A)modifying the shape of the skull by wrapping the child's skull with cord
B)piercing a part of the body,such as lips or earlobes,and stretching the separated part
C)cutting the foot and bending the foot back and binding it to create a very small foot
D)all of the above
Q3) Generally speaking protective rituals tend to be performed in situations that are dangerous and unpredictable.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Specialists
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41 Verified Questions
41 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The feeling of being at one with the universe or supernatural beings is called a(n): A)nirvana
B)sympathetic state
C)unitary state
D)entoptic phenomena
Q2) Any mental state that is different from one's usual mental state,including day dreaming,is an altered state of consciousness.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Dancing to heat up the energy known as n/um to enable healing characterized the: A)Yanomamö
B)Blessing Way
C)Sun Dance
D)San healing ritual
Q4) Characteristics of altered states of consciousness include disturbances in concentration,attention,memory,and judgment.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Religious Specialists
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42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A Korean shaman may be asked to:
A)guide the dead to the underworld
B)locate game for hunters
C)identify and remove layers of illness
D)travel along the Axis Mundi to the underworld
Q2) Examples of practices that can be labeled shamanism that are found in today's American society are:
A)Pentecostal healers
B)Neoshamans
C)clown doctors
D)all of the above
Q3) Handsome Lake and Ngundeng were:
A)diviners
B)prophets
C)herbalists
D)priests
Q4) Shamans can only be found in small-scale societies.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Magic and Divination
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deliberate inspirational forms of divination include:
A)mediums (psychics)
B)reading palms
C)Zande poison oracle
D)prophecy
Q2) Divination can be used to:
A)determine the cause of an illness
B)provide the result of an undertaking that is about to begin
C)locate game for hunters
D)all of the above
Q3) Image magic is an example of:
A)contagious magic
B)homeopathic magic
C)harmonious magic
D)representational magic
Q4) The Law of Sympathy was developed by:
A)Edward Tyler
B)Robert Marett
C)Branislaw Malinowski
D)James Frazer
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Chapter 8: Souls,ghosts,and Death
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54 Verified Questions
54 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The egungun are spirits that travel from the land of the lead to visit the living among the:
A)Hmong
B)Yoruba
C)Tana Toraja
D)Jivaro
Q2) In Roman Catholicism,souls travel to one of two places: Heaven or Hell.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The origins of Halloween can be found in a(n):
A)ancient Celtic festival called Samhain
B)Satanic celebration of the horned deity
C)new tradition for burials that began during the Civil War
D)U.S.department store attempt to sell more items in the Fall
Q4) From an etic perspective,the appearance of exhumed bodies thought to be vampires were actually the result of the:
A)acidic nature of the soil found in some eastern European cemeteries
B)natural process of decay
C)mutilation of bodies by people wanting the village to believe in vampires
D)real work of supernatural forces
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Gods and Spirits
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Sample Questions
Q1) Female demons are termed:
A)incubi
B)orisha
C)succubae
D)zairan
Q2) The goddess Ishtar was found in:
A)Mesopotamia
B)Egypt
C)Greece
D)India
Q3) Gods that are remote and uninterested in human affairs are otiose gods.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An all-knowing deity is one who is:
A)omniscient
B)omnipotent
C)otiose
D)monotheistic
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Chapter 10: Witchcraft
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36 Verified Questions
36 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A granary has collapsed seriously injuring a man who was working underneath it.An Azande would be most like to blame the injury upon sorcery.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Among the Azande,the diagnosis of an illness is confirmed by a medium through spirit possession.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The study of witchcraft among the Azande of southern Sudan was conducted in the 1920s by:
A)Bronislaw Malinowski
B)Edward Tylor
C)James Frazer
D)E.E.Evans-Pritchard
Q4) Among the Azande witchcraft is basically evil,but it is good when it is directed at enemies.
A)True
B)False
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Syncretism and Religious Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) Many religious groups develop by branching off of established mainstream religions.The groups that remain mainstream and differ the least from the origin religion are called:
A)cults
B)sects
C)denominations
D)movements
Q2) The Celtic revival in Ireland is an example of a:
A)revivalistic movement
B)millenarian movement
C)nativistic movement
D)messianic movement
Q3) The lwa of Vodou closely resemble the orisha of the Yoruba.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Modern Wiccan beliefs are based upon the works of:
A)E.E.Evans-Pritchard
B)Margaret Murray and Gerald Gardner
C)Edward Tylor and James Frazer
D)Bronislaw Malinowski and Claude Lévi-Straus
Page 13
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