“Windows To Spirituality”
Progressive Reconstructionism Progressive Reconstructionism is a loosely-knit interfaith community found primarily in the developed world. It comprises activist adherents of Reconstructionist Judaism (and of some other Jewish traditions), the Christian left, progressive Hindus, Buddhists. Muslims, left-leaning Neopagans, Wiccans, and members of other faiths. This community also includes progressives who follow a spiritual practice but...
Hellenism Hellenism (the Hellenic ethnic religion, also commonly known as Hellenismos, Hellenic Polytheism, Dodekatheism, or Olympianism, comprises various religious movements which revive or reconstruct ancient Greek religious practices, and which have publicly emerged since the 1990s. The Hellenic religion builds on traditional religion and on a traditional way of life, revolving around the Greek Gods,...
Hades Hades refers to both the ancient Greek underworld and to the deity that presided over the spirits of the deceased. This dual use was, however, a relatively late development in classical writing, as the term originally referred only to the god—as attested to in the writings of Homer. In these sources, the only...
Ancient Greek Religion Ancient Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology originating in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or “cults” in the plural, though most...
Greek Mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and the nature of the world, the lives and activities of deities, heroes, and mythological creatures, and the origins and significance of the...
Nontheism Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in a God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of God and differs from an antithetical, explicit atheism. Nontheism does not necessarily describe atheism or disbelief in God; it...
Process Theology Process theology is a type of theology developed from Alfred North Whitehead‘s (1861–1947) process philosophy, most notably by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) and John B. Cobb (b. 1925). Process theology and process philosophy are collectively referred to as “process thought”. For both Whitehead and Hartshorne, it is an essential attribute of God to affect and be...
Missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to promote their faith or perform ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development. The word “mission” originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem (nom. missio), meaning “act of sending” or mittere, meaning “to send”. The word was used...
Indigenous Religions Indigenous religions or Nature Religions consist of the traditional customs and beliefs (Paganism, Animism, Totemism, Shamanism) of particular ethnic groups, refined and expanded upon for thousands of years, often lacking formal doctrine. Indigenous religions, formerly found on every continent, but now marginalized by the major organized faiths. Despite...
Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in the United States in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky to advance Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments, currently has several successors. Following the death of Blavatsky, competition within the Society between factions emerged, particularly among founding members and the organisation split...
Axial Age Axial Age (also Axis Age) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers in the sense of a “pivotal age”, characterizing the period of ancient history from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE. Karl Jaspers (1883 – 1969) pioneered the idea of the Axial Age. According to Jaspers, the period between 800 to 200 B.C.E....
Religions There are a number of models regarding the ways in which religions come into being and develop. The term religion (from Latin: religio meaning “bind, connect”) denotes a set of common beliefs and practices pertaining to the supernatural (and its relationship to humanity and the cosmos), which are often codified into prayer, ritual,...
Origin Of life The origin of life, in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences, is the process by which life originated on Earth from non-living matter. It addresses questions of how, when, and what, and includes a variety of hypotheses regarding this development. Abiogenesis (Greek a-bio-genesis, “non biological origins”) is, in its...
World Religions World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate the five—and in some cases six—largest and most internationally widespread religious movements. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism are always included in the list, being known as the “Big Five”. Some scholars also include another religion, such as Taoism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, or the...
The Necessity Of Interfaith Dialogue This article covers the importance and necessity of interfaith dialogue. People are talking about peace, contentment, ecology, justice, tolerance, and dialogue. Unfortunately, the prevailing materialist worldview disturbs the balance between humanity and nature and within individuals. This harmony and peace only occurs when the material...
Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives or stories that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. The main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans. Stories of everyday human beings, although often of leaders of some type,...
Australian Aboriginal Religion And Mythology Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology are the beliefs represented in the stories performed by Aboriginal Australians within each of the language groups across Australia in their ceremonies. Aboriginal spirituality includes Dreamtime (the Dreaming), songlines, and Aboriginal oral literature. Aboriginal spirituality often conveys descriptions of each group’s local cultural landscape, adding meaning to...
Serer Religion The Serer religion, or a ƭat Roog (“the way of the Divine”), is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people of Senegal in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog (or Rog). In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox (or Kooh), Kopé...
African Divination African divination is divination practiced by cultures of Africa. Divination is an attempt to form, and possess, an understanding of reality in the present and additionally, to predict events and reality of a future time. Cultures of Africa to the year circa C.E. 1991 were still performing and using divination, both within the urban...
Traditional African Religions The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. The role of humanity is...
