Chapter 6 Summary: Religion
Geography 110 – 01; Chapter 6: Religion;
Religion is essential for geographers to understand how humans occupy Earth because it is an important element in culture, and leaves a strong imprint on the physical environment. Geographers stay focused on the elements of religion that are geographically significant (ie: migrants carry their religion with them to a new location).
Geographers distinguish religions into two categories:
Universalizing religion – a religion that attempts to appeal to all people, globally, not just those living in a particular location; precise hearths, based on the events in the life of an individual (the largest universalizing religions originated all in Asia); honor holy places associated with the founder’s life (ie: the holiest places in Islam are associated with the life of Prophet Muhammad)
Three with the largest adherents are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Sikhism and Baha’i are also considered universalizing. These can be subdivided into:
Branch - a large and fundamental division within religion
Denomination - a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body
Sects – a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination
Ethnic religion – a religion that appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place, has a relatively concentrated spatial distribution; unknown or unclear origins, and no tie to single historical individuals; honor calendar and beliefs on the origin of the universe that are grounded in the physical environment of a particular place (ie: Judaism follows major holidays based on events in agricultural calendar of the region’s homeland in present-day Israel)
Ethnic religions differ from universalizing religions in their understanding of relationships between human beings and nature.
Hinduism has the largest number of adherents. Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism and Animism (- the belief that objects or natural
Religion is essential for geographers to understand how humans occupy Earth because it is an important element in culture, and leaves a strong imprint on the physical environment. Geographers stay focused on the elements of religion that are geographically significant (ie: migrants carry their religion with them to a new location).
Geographers distinguish religions into two categories:
Universalizing religion – a religion that attempts to appeal to all people, globally, not just those living in a particular location; precise hearths, based on the events in the life of an individual (the largest universalizing religions originated all in Asia); honor holy places associated with the founder’s life (ie: the holiest places in Islam are associated with the life of Prophet Muhammad)
Three with the largest adherents are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Sikhism and Baha’i are also considered universalizing. These can be subdivided into:
Branch - a large and fundamental division within religion
Denomination - a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body
Sects – a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination
Ethnic religion – a religion that appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place, has a relatively concentrated spatial distribution; unknown or unclear origins, and no tie to single historical individuals; honor calendar and beliefs on the origin of the universe that are grounded in the physical environment of a particular place (ie: Judaism follows major holidays based on events in agricultural calendar of the region’s homeland in present-day Israel)
Ethnic religions differ from universalizing religions in their understanding of relationships between human beings and nature.
Hinduism has the largest number of adherents. Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism and Animism (- the belief that objects or natural