QCAA Study of Religion cheat sheet

Sacred texts divide into two broad types: closed canons (fixed and complete, e.g. the Qur'an, the Hebrew Bible) and open or semi-open corpora (ongoing or layered, e.g. Hindu sruti and smriti, Buddhist canons).

Sruti ('heard') denotes revealed Vedic texts; smriti ('remembered') denotes derived traditions such as the epics and Puranas - a distinction between revelation and transmitted tradition.

The Qur'an is understood by Muslims as the literal word of God revealed to Muhammad; the Hadith are separate reports of the Prophet's words and deeds used alongside it.

The Bible's two-testament structure (Old and New) reflects a covenant framework; genres include law, prophecy, wisdom, gospel, epistle and apocalyptic literature.

Exegesis is critical interpretation of a text's original meaning; hermeneutics is the theory of interpretation; eisegesis is reading meaning into a text rather than drawing it out.

A myth, in religious studies, is a sacred narrative conveying meaning about origins, identity or ultimate reality - not a synonym for falsehood.

Oral transmission precedes and coexists with written texts; memorisation lineages (e.g. Qur'anic huffaz, Vedic recitation) function as living transmission.

Interpretive authority varies: clerical hierarchies, scholarly consensus (ijma in Islam), and individual conscience produce different readings of the same text.

Rituals are patterned, repeated symbolic actions; they are typically distinguished from ordinary behaviour by formality, repetition, invariance and prescribed order.

A rite of passage (van Gennep) has three phases: separation, liminality (the threshold) and incorporation/reaggregation into the community.

Rites are commonly classified by function: calendar or seasonal rites, life-cycle rites, rites of affliction/healing, rites of purification, and rites of sacrifice or offering.

Sacrifice denotes making something sacred (sacrum facere); theories include gift-exchange, communion with the divine, and substitution or atonement.

Pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred centre; Turner's concept of communitas describes the temporary egalitarian bond among pilgrims during liminality.

Sacred time and sacred space are marked by ritual: calendars (liturgical years, festivals) and places (temples, shrines, pilgrimage sites) separate the holy from the everyday.

Prayer, meditation and fasting are embodied disciplines; their forms range from fixed liturgical recitation to spontaneous or contemplative practice.

Ritual efficacy is interpreted differently: ex opere operato (by the act performed) versus dependence on the participant's disposition and intention.

A worldview is a comprehensive framework of beliefs about reality, humanity, knowledge, ethics and purpose that shapes how adherents interpret experience.

Theism affirms a personal God; deism affirms a creator who does not intervene; pantheism equates God with the cosmos; agnosticism holds the question undecidable in principle.

Monotheism, polytheism, henotheism (worship of one among many) and monism (ultimate oneness) are distinct positions, not points on a single scale.

Cosmogony concerns origins of the universe; eschatology concerns final destiny; soteriology concerns salvation or liberation; anthropology concerns the nature of the human person.

Ninian Smart's seven dimensions - doctrinal, mythological, ethical, ritual, experiential, social/institutional, material - give a comparative framework for analysing traditions.

Transcendence and immanence describe God or ultimate reality as beyond the world versus present within it; traditions often combine both.

Values are expressed through virtues, duties, prohibitions and ideals; they are grounded in sources such as revelation, reason, natural law or tradition.

Belief and practice interact: orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice) are weighted differently across traditions.

Religions develop within historical and social settings; migration, trade, empire, conquest and colonisation are major drivers of diffusion and change.

Founder and formative figures (e.g. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, Guru Nanak) anchor narratives of origin and authority.

Schism and reform movements arise over doctrine, authority or practice - examples include the East-West split of 1054 and the Protestant Reformation from 1517.

Institutional structures vary: hierarchical episcopal models, conciliar or synodal models, congregational models, and decentralised scholarly or teacher lineages.

Colonialism reshaped religious landscapes through mission, translation, education and legal change, and also provoked revivalist and independence movements.

Globalisation produces both pluralisation (diaspora, interfaith contact) and homogenisation; local traditions adapt rather than disappear.

Secularisation theory (decline of religion's public role) is contested by rational choice and post-secular accounts noting religious persistence and revival.

Indigenous and minority traditions face specific pressures: land dispossession, language loss and legal recognition of sacred sites and practices.

Ethical theories relevant to religious ethics: deontology (duty/rules), consequentialism (outcomes), virtue ethics (character) and natural law (reason and created order).

Religious ethical sources include scripture, tradition, reason and experience; the weighting of these sources differs between and within traditions.

Bioethics debates (abortion, euthanasia, IVF, genetic technology) turn on definitions of personhood, the sanctity versus quality of life, and human stewardship.

Just war theory (jus ad bellum, jus in bello, jus post bellum) sets conditions such as legitimate authority, proportionality and non-combatant immunity; pacifism rejects war entirely.

Human rights debates engage tensions between universal claims and cultural or religious particularity, including religious freedom versus anti-discrimination law.

Environmental ethics draws on stewardship, creation care, ahimsa and kinship with land; critics contrast dominion readings with custodial readings of texts.

Economic and medical ethics issues include usury and interest, wealth distribution, organ donation, vaccination and conscientious objection.

Applied analysis should identify the issue, the relevant sources, competing interpretations, stakeholders and the consequences of each position.

Canon formation is a historical process of selection and authorisation; it produces inclusion and exclusion, and the boundary is socially maintained.

Translation is interpretation: the Qur'an's Arabic recitation is treated as the text itself, while translations are commonly labelled interpretations.

Narrative theology reads stories as carriers of doctrine; parable, allegory, midrash and tafsir are distinct interpretive genres.

Textual criticism reconstructs earlier versions from manuscript evidence; it is separate from devotional reading and from theological inspiration claims.

Ritual symbols are multivalent: a single symbol (water, fire, bread) carries several meanings that vary by context and tradition.

Purity rules mark boundaries between sacred and profane; purification rites often precede worship, and impurity is usually a ritual, not moral, category.

Festival calendars encode theology: Passover commemorates exodus, Easter the resurrection, Ramadan the first revelation, Diwali the victory of light.

Ritual failure and adaptation occur when practice is contested or reformed, e.g. changes to language, music or gender roles in worship.

The problem of evil challenges belief in an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God; responses include free will, soul-making, and dualism.

Revelation and reason are often paired as sources of knowledge; fideism privileges faith, while natural theology argues from reason and design.

Ultimate goals differ: salvation, liberation (moksha), enlightenment (nirvana), union with God, or right relationship with creation.

Worldview analysis asks what a tradition says about ultimate reality, human nature, the problem to be solved, and the path to resolve it.

Contextual adaptation includes inculturation and syncretism; the first denotes embedding a tradition in a culture, the second blending of traditions.

Persecution and martyrdom shape identity narratives; toleration and pluralism develop through legal settlements and political contest.

Reformers and revivalists typically call for return to a founding source (scripture, practice or community) against perceived institutional corruption.

Demographic change through conversion, fertility and migration alters the religious composition of societies and the public role of traditions.

Conscience and religious authority can conflict; casuistry resolves cases by applying principles, while situational ethics judges by context and love.

Medical ethics principles - autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice - interact with religious duties and communal obligations.

Media, technology and AI raise issues of truth-telling, privacy, surveillance and the ethics of religious speech and satire.

Ethical argument is assessed by clarity of claim, quality of evidence, consistency of reasoning and recognition of counter-positions.