Elements of Religious Traditions

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World Religious Traditions

Danny Donahue

REL/133

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What are the Traditional Elements of Religion?

Individuals and groups around the world view religion as an essential part of life. Many individuals believe, learn, and/or form their own view when regarding the Bible and their own traditions. Many people seek comfort and peace from various aspects of religion, and some in the belief of a single deity. To understand and gain knowledge of religion its various aspects and traditions should be examined. I refer to such traditions as worshipping, rituals, pilgrimages, and of course prayers.

What does the religious tradition say?

I should make a distinction here between written traditions and oral traditions. Many religions, all over the world, have established oral traditions, holy scrolls or texts. Many of the more primitive religions have no written language. They only have an oral tradition that is passed down from generation to generation. For this reason, these religions are more difficult to study.

A critical issue is determining what a story or text is contributing to a religion. What a religion states is usually determines by whether it be a doctrine or mythical story. Most religions are expressed in one of two ways. One is by providing answer to the question of the origin of our creation. An example of this would be the story of the couple Izanami and Izanagi. Within the Shinto religion it speaks of the island of Japan

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being stirred up from the ocean floor by using a trident that came from the heavens, drops falling from the trident is what formed Japan’s island chains. The Japanese people consider themselves the descendants of those mythological...