The Body Complete Test Bank Chapter 13

1.

The earliest anthropologist to compare religious and spiritual beliefs around the world was E. B. Tylor. For him the heart of religious beliefs was the belief in

A)

spirits

B)

magic

C)

the sacred

D)

totems

2.

Stylized performances involving symbols that are associated with social, political, and religious activities are called

A)

rituals

B)

magic

C)

ceremonies

D)

witchcraft

3.

The core of Anthony F. C. Wallace's understanding of religion was belief in

A)

supernatural things

B)

the afterlife

C)

Jesus

D)

God

4.

Geertz's approach to religion is a style of analysis that looks at the underlying symbolic and cultural interconnections within a society; this is often referred to as

A)

structural-functionalism

B)

neo-evolutionism

C)

symbolic anthropology

D)

the interpretive approach

5.

A key feature of religious beliefs and behavior is that they are rooted in:

A)

social behavior and social action

B)

phenomena

C)

historical documents

D)

dogma

6.

Which of the following is an example of American totemism?

A)

the cross

B)

money

C)

beauty

D)

sports team mascots

7.

A voodoo doll is a good illustration of

A)

magic that follows the law of contagion

B)

magic that follows the law of similarity

C)

animism

D)

totemism

8.

In some Pentecostal and charismatic Christian religions adherents experience an ecstatic religious happening (often associated with shamanism), which is known as

A)

praying

B)

speaking in tongues

C)

pilgrimage

D)

meditation

9.

Anthropologist George Gmelch studied which sport where he found that players used a lot of magic?

A)

soccer

B)

basketball

C)

baseball

D)

hockey

10.

What is a life cycle ritual that marks a person's or group of persons' transition from one social state to another?

A)

magic

B)

animism

C)

totemism

D)

rite of passage

11.

What are people who belong to conservative religious movements that advocate a return to traditional principles called?

A)

believers

B)

practitioners

C)

faithful

D)

Fundamentalists

12.

Animism refers to the belief that inanimate objects such as trees, rocks, cliffs, hills, and rivers are animated by spiritual forces or beings.

13.

Mana can be understood as raw supernatural power that is not caused by a person or spirit.

14.

Buddhism is a major world religion that is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

15.

Religion is a symbolic system that is socially enacted through rituals and other aspects of social life.

16.

Totemism is the system of thought that associates particular social groups with specific animal or plant species.

17.

The religious leader who communicates the needs of the living with the spirit world, usually through some form of ritual trance or other altered state of consciousness, is called a shaman.

18.

For early anthropologists, primitive religions were based on a fundamental error in thinking.

A)

True

B)

False

19.

Beliefs get most of their power from being socially enacted repeatedly through rituals and other religious behaviors.

A)

True

B)

False

20.

Most anthropologists currently see the traditional religions of small-scale tribal societies as “primitive,” based on simpleminded ideas not linked to reality.

A)

True

B)

False

21.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam became state religions, whose religious message and ritual supported the government of the state.

A)

True

B)

False

22.

The prophet Mohammad had a Christian wife.

A)

True

B)

False

23.

A limitation of Wallace's definition of religion is that it is

A)

too flexible

B)

not ethnographically informed

C)

too static

D)

too variable

24.

Until the 1920s anthropologists interpreted totemism as evidence of a group's

A)

spiritual flexibility

B)

sophistication

C)

solidarity

D)

limited intellectual capacity

25.

Anthropologist Ralph Linton reported that Americans in the military during the First World War adopted a reverential attitude toward the rainbow emblem that represented their military units that resembled the ways tribal people revered their

A)

totems

B)

witchcraft

C)

bush spirits

D)

rites of passage

26.

A rise in fundamentalism is often seen when

A)

things are stable

B)

there are many changes in society

C)

there is peacetime

D)

people are in rural settings

27.

Which of the following is not true about how anthropology interprets how and why somebody would become a suicide bomber?

A)

the person is an evildoer

B)

the person is a member of a community with a particular model of and for reality

C)

there is a social support system that helps shape the person's attitudes

D)

there is ideological support for viewing self-sacrifice as virtuous

28.

A common element among fundamentalists is a

A)

desire to be violent

B)

disregard for the law and for science

C)

pervasive sense of belonging to their group

D)

superficial understanding of religious texts

29.

Hawaiians and other Polynesian islanders traditionally believed that mana, sacred or supernatural power, existed within certain objects, at sacred spaces, and in persons, including all of the following except

A)

the chief's shadow

B)

things the chief had touched

C)

the sites where rituals were performed

D)

the sun

30.

Which approach to religious beliefs and behaviors do the textbook authors feel is most effective at explaining why people engage in religious behaviors, especially behaviors that do not directly benefit the individual, such as the actions of Jonathan Daniels, Tom Coleman, or suicide bombers in the Middle East?

A)

the idea that religion began with a belief in spirits

B)

the notion that religion concerns beliefs and behaviors about the supernatural

C)

the idea that religion is a system of symbols

D)

the idea that religion is a system of social action

31.

Clifford Geertz proposed an interpretive approach to religion, arguing that religion was a system of symbols.

32.

The way a people conceptualizes the world provides a set of unquestioned assumptions about the world and how it works. Anthropologists call these conceptualizations a worldview.

33.

A good illustration of a rites of passage is a funeral, wedding, graduation, or initiation, in which an individual or group of individuals change social position.

34.

A central assertion of the secularization hypothesis is that religious thinking is gradually giving way to secular thought without relying on references to any form of supernatural power.

35.

Shamans usually act simultaneously as political leaders and healers in their communities.

A)

True

B)

False

36.

Nearly all of the ancient societies in the Middle East and the Mediterranean were monotheistic.

A)

True

B)

False

37.

Buddhism is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

A)

True

B)

False

38.

Secular rituals that celebrate the state or nation, particular occupations, or other identities may achieve many of the same ends as religious rituals.

A)

True

B)

False

39.

Religious ideas are typically associated with beliefs about the supernatural, but what argument can be used to explain the beliefs and worldviews of physicists or geneticists, who may consider themselves nonbelievers?

A)

most religions are really no more than a particular worldview

B)

it would be unfair to leave scientist out of the afterlife, even if they do not believe in it

C)

nonbelievers may not have a religion, but deep down they must believe in something

D)

we don't need to study physicists or geneticists because they are well educated and it would be better to learn from their experiences

40.

Which of the theories of totemism discussed in the text could help us understand the importance of mascots in American sports?

A)

mascots are not religious icons, so religious theories cannot help us understand them

B)

mascots are symbols of the team and celebrate team identity

C)

sports fans are so enthusiastic about their sports that they think that their mascots actually are spiritually connected with their teams

D)

mascots are organized on vertical poles as well

41.

Does Anthony F. C. Wallace's definition of religion as beliefs and behaviors with respect to the supernatural cause us to abandon E. B. Tylor's notion that the core of religion is the belief in spirits?

42.

Why would baseball players be particularly prone to using various kinds of personal magic, while football player tend not to do so?

43.

Most Americans associate the Arabic term jihad (which literally means “struggle”) with terrorists and suicide bombers, but for most Muslims the term jihad also refers to the personal struggle that good Muslims have following God's will. How can these two conflicting meanings help us achieve a better understanding of what motivates the groups currently fighting to overthrow the Syrian government?

44.

Religious rituals are powerful ways of creating the sense of belonging and being part of a special group. How are rituals enhanced by making them frequent events (such as a daily ritual), and how can the meaning of these rituals be made more powerful by having them be almost unique events (such as the pope's visit to Brazil)?

45.

Why do you think religious institutions have been historically associated with the arts? Why are the arts something that is good to “think” with?

46.

If you were working with administrators at your school to encourage college students to feel more connected to the academic goals of your college or university, what kind of ritual might you propose that might enhance the feeling of belonging?

47.

Is symbolic analysis restricted to analysis of religious behavior, or can it also be used to explain most human phenomena? Explain your answer and give one example.

48.

What ideas and theories discussed in this chapter can help us understand why people feel so strongly about their views on abortion, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty in America over the past forty years?

49.

If religious beliefs and practices are as diverse as they have been presented in this chapter, what is the justification for calling all of them religious beliefs and practices?

50.

How can we explain the rise of fundamentalism both in the Middle East and in the United States over the past four decades. In your answer identify the factors that are economic, political, and religious.