Page 2: What does Nye say the purpose of his book is? That is, what is he trying to do in this book, and why?

He seek to give some sense of how we can begin to understand the complexities of religious
tradiions.
Page 3: How does he define religion? (Hint: there are three components).

Religion is what people do on a day to day level. Religion is both set of ideas and beliefs that
people can engage with, and also the framework for their lived experiences and daily practices
Pages 4-5: Why is this not a theology book? What’s the difference between theology and the way Nye
defines religious studies?

In this book Nye is not trying to study Theology, but what hes doing is trying to understand
religious culturism.
Pages 5-6: Who was Freud, what was his theory about the origin of religion, and how does Nye critique that
theory?

He was famous thinkers who controversially proposed that religion is a misguided and unhealthy
outcome of the problems inherent in a young boy working through, individual basis. Nye critiqued
Freud theory by not all religion ideal fatherly figure as god, nor they even idolized god as figure.
Page 7: To understand a religion, you must also understand its___________

Pages 9-10: Why can’t we just talk about “religion,” singular?
Pages 10-12: What is wrong with the “world religions” approach? Or, put another way, what are the
limitations of Table 1.2, according to Nye?
Page 13: How is the “world religions” approach a “political activity”? You may have to draw a little bit on
your knowledge of Western colonialism here.
Pages 13-14: Why does it make sense to talk about “many different Hinduisms” or “Christianities”?
Page 16: Explain, in your own words, why the argument that religion can be found in “every culture” is
problematic, using Hinduism and “dharma” as an example.
Page 19: Given all the problems with the word “religion,” why does Nye decide to use them anyway?
Page 20: When Nye says “religion is studies as a human activity,” what does he mean?