Religiously Literate

With so many religions in the world it can be hard to keep up with what everyone believes. Religiously Literate is here to help! Join Jay and Ryan on this episode as they discuss a religious movement started in Jamaica

In this episode, we discuss Rastafarianism, including an overview of history, general beliefs, if there is a black Jesus and Reggae’s connection to the movement.

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReigiousLitPod and Twitter: @ReligiousLitPod 

SHOW NOTES:

The Story of Jamaican Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv1Iy26qlLk 

Nyabinghi video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYP_hfjrGf8 

Edmonds, Ennis Barrington. Rastafari : A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Music used in this episode includes “City of Jewels” by Destiny & Time as well as “Palms” by Text Me Records

With so many religions in the world it can be hard to keep up with what everyone believes.  Religiously Literate is here to help!  Join Jay and Ryan on this episode as we discuss the wold's oldest religion, Hinduism. 

In this episode, we discuss what Hinduism which is actually an umbrella term for various religious, cultural, and artistic expressions mostly practiced in South Asia. We also discuss yoga, Hindu gods, and a few rituals and celebrations.

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReigiousLitPod and Twitter: @ReligiousLitPod 

SHOW NOTES:

Terminology

pancha mahabhuta - five elements in Hinduism (also Ayurvedic medicine); ether/space, air, fire, water, earth
atman - soul or self*
Brahman - the impersonal, all pervading spirit that is the universe yet transcends all space and time*
dharma - religious and moral duty or teaching*
karma - the universal principal that governs the characteristics and quality of each rebirth, or future life*
moksha - ultimate liberation from samsara*
samsara - one's cycle of repeated deaths and rebirths*
Bhagavad Gita - the most highly venerated and influential scriptures in Hinduism*
Vedas - foundational scriptures of Hinduism; Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva
caste system - the idealized social hierarchy of Indian society*
puja  - most central, widely-practiced for of Hindu devotion

*definitions taken from Vaughn, Lewis. Anthology of World Religions: Sacred Texts and Contemporary Perspectives. (2017)  Oxford University Press: New York.

Types of yoga:

• Bhakti: yoga of devotion (singing, dancing, praises of divine)
• Karma: yoga of service (selfless service, acknowledge divinity in everyone)
• Jnana: yoga of knowledge (meditation on scriptural teachings)
• Raja: yoga of cultivation of the mind (must train the mind before meditation)

Map of South Asia

History of Hinduism video

Indus River Valley Civilization video

Intro to Hinduism video

Caste System graphic

Hinduism (World Religions and Spirituality Project)

Map of Hindu Religious Sites

Ganges Pilgrimage (Kumbh Mela) video

Story of God: Hindu Creation video

Hindu Auspicious Days Calendar

What is Yoga? video

Yoga in America video

Music used in this episode is City of Jewels by Destiny & Time as well as from https://filmmusic.io, "Jalandhar" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

With so many religions in the world it can be hard to keep up with  what everyone believes. Religiously Literate is here to help! Join Jay  and Ryan on this episode as Jay shares some of his experiences in India  while visiting the holiest site in Sikhism. 

In this episode, we discuss Sikhism, including an overview of history, general beliefs, rituals, and Jay's visits to gurdwaras in India and the United States. 

SHOW NOTES:

Adi Granth (also known as Guru Granth Sahib) - The most sacred text of Sikh faith. Initially complied by Guru Arjan in 1604.

Five Ks - Markers of Sikh identity that include:

1.  Kesh - Uncut hair
2.  Kanga - Wooden comb for top knot
3.  Kirpan - Sword
4.  Kara - Iron bracelet
5.  Kaccha - Underwear

Gurdwara - The Sikh house of worship

Langar - The community kitchen and meal that is served to the community

Singh, Pashaura. “Sikhism: Practicing Tradition Today.” In South Asian Religions: Tradition and Today, edited by Karen Pechilis and Selva J. Raj. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013.

The 10 human Gurus with birth and death dates

Guru Nanak (1469-1539)
Guru Angad (1504-1552)
Guru Amar Das (1497-1574)
Guru Ram Das (1534-1581)
Guru Arjan (1563-1606)
Guru Hargobind (1595-1644)
Guru Har Rai (1630-1631)
Guru Harkrishan (1655-1664)
Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675)
Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708)

Sikh drivers are transforming U.S. trucking. Take a ride along the Punjabi American highway LA Times, 2019.

Punjab Region Map

Sikh Distribution Map

Things Not to Say to Sikh People video

Who Are the Sikhs video

Sikhism (World Religions and Spirituality Project)

Music used in this episode is City of Jewels by Destiny & Time

With so many religions in the world it can be hard to keep up with what everyone believes. Religiously Literate is here to help! Join Jay and Ryan on this episode as Ryan shares what he has learned from working with Lakota communities.

In this episode, we discuss Lakota Spirituality, including an overview of terms, history, the meaning of "all my relations," the White Buffalo Calf Woman story, as well as several key ceremonies.

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReigiousLitPod and Twitter: @ReligiousLitPod

SHOW NOTES:

American Indian: a person whose pre-Columbian ancestors are from what is now the lower 48 states of the US
Native American: a term used to refer to a person whose pre-Columbian ancestors are from the Americas – North, South, and Central
Alaska Native: a person whose pre-Columbian ancestors are from what is now Alaska
Native Hawaiian: a person whose pre-Columbian ancestors are from Hawaii
First Nations: the preferred term for people whose pre-Columbian ancestors are from what is now Canada
Indigenous: a term used to refer to any of the fourth world nations (people previously or currently living under colonialism)
Native: a generic term often used in the US if a tribal name is not known or is not necessary
Indian Nation: the proper term for an American Indian tribe

Očhéthi šakówíŋ Graphic: http://www.sintegleska.edu/lakota-word-of-the-week/oceti-sakowin 

Lakota Perspective Map: https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/lakota-territory/ 

Lakota Lands Over Time: https://decolonialatlas.wordpress.com/2015/04/08/bison-range-and-lakota-territory/ 

Očhéthi šakówíŋ Reservations Map: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Sioux01.png 

Lakota terminology:

Očhéthi šakówíŋ: Seven Council Fires
Mitákuye oyás’iŋ: All of my relations
Íŋyaŋ: stone
Aŋpétuwi: sun
Wakȟáŋ: spiritual power
Makȟa: earth
Mní wičhóni: Water is life
Čȟaŋšáša: Red willow bark, “tobacco”

Albert White Hat Lakota Origin Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-wM3XYIQ4c 

Lakota Pipe: https://newjerseyarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/ae2010-11-118-ab_1.jpg?w=768 

 Seven Lakota ceremonies:

Inípi: purification lodge
Haŋbléčheyapi: crying for vision
Wiwáŋyaŋg Wačhípi: Sun Dance
Huŋkalowaŋpi: making of relatives
Išnáthi Awíčhalowaŋpi: female puberty ceremony
Tȟápa Waŋkáyeyapi: throwing of the ball
Wanáǧi yuhápi: Soul keeping

Lakota Emergence Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyb1OkRAVUs&t=1s 

Ryan Goeckner. (2019, February 13). Lakota Religious Traditions. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia. Retrieved May 09, 2019, from http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69930

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Educational and Cultural Resources: http://sioux.org/images/files/Education_and_Cultural_Resources.pdf 

Music used in this episode is City of Jewels by Destiny & Time

With so many religions in the world it can be hard to keep up with what everyone believes.  Religiously Literate is here to help!  Join Jay and Ryan on this episode as we introduce the podcast and make listeners reflect on their own understandings of "religion."  

In this episode, we discuss what led us to start this podcast, some of our favorite definitions of religion, what it means to be "religiously literate," and what we hope listeners will gain from listening.

Connect with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ReigiousLitPod and Twitter: @ReligiousLitPod 

SHOW NOTES:

AIHREA website: www.aihrea.org 

Jay’s definition: Human behavior associated with the intentional differentiation between the sacred and the profane.
Bohanon, Jesse, “Rewriting the Written: An Analysis on Religious Studies,” December 14, 2009, 3.

James: ...the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude.
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, ed. Martin E. Marty, The Penguin American Library (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 1982), 31.

Durkheim: A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them." (b) [Religion is] "the self-validation of a society by means of myth and ritual.
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, ed. Mark Sydney Cladis, trans. Carol Cosman, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 46.

Geertz: (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.
Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 90.

KU Religious Studies website: http://religiousstudies.ku.edu/  

Prothero Talk at KU 2018: https://religiousstudies.ku.edu/2018-friends-department-religious-studies-speaker-stephen-prothero

Prothero website: http://stephenprothero.com/

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy What Every American Needs to Know, and Doesn’t. New York, N.Y: HarperOne, 2008.

Robert Orsi: https://orsi.northwestern.edu/

Harvard RLP: https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/

Music used in this episode is City of Jewels by Destiny & Time

Join us on a journey through the varieties of religious expression from around the world.  Religiously Literate is a podcast to help you learn about these traditions in an accessible and (hopefully!) entertaining way.  Welcome!