Reference no: EM133693013
Assignment:
Questions on - Metaphysics (Part 2)
Read pp. 190-202 and view the Ch 8 - Metaphysics.ppt for Part 2 as well.
1. What was happening in the 19th century in the U.S. with the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the advances in transportation? How did these big changes affect people?
2. One of the new movements which challenged traditional religion was Spiritualism. What did Andrew Jackson Davis claim to be able to do?
3. Why did spiritualism seem reasonable to its practitioners?
4. Please describe the two kinds of mediumship.
5. Theosophy was a movement that grew out of a desire to reform spiritualism because there were some people who put on performances to profit from the gullible. Name the three individuals who started this organization and what their purpose was.
6. What did Helena Blavatsky claim about how she came to write some of her books?
7. What was the three-fold purpose of the Theosophical Society?
8. What did Phineas P. Quimby do that got New Thought started? What was his theory of healing?
9. What did Warren Felt Evans (also healed by Quimby) contribute to the New Thought movement?
10. Who was William James? What did he write and what did he teach?
11. Who was Aldous Huxley? What did he write and what was his major interest?
12. By the last third of the 20th century, seekers who pursue mysticism and metaphysics can find a coherent tradition. How has Liberal Protestantism and urban life encouraged individuals towards metaphysical beliefs? (See page 200.)
13. In complete contrast, there are groups like neopagan covens and scientific-technological groups which unite their spiritual quests with a new sense of boundary definition. What does contemporary neopaganism teach?
14. As an example of scientific-technological groups, what is the goal of Scientology?
15. In the group called Heaven's Gate, how did they prepare themselves for the "Next Level"? What did they believe about Marshall Applewhite?
16. When Marshall Applewhite realized that they were not going to be able to travel to the next level with their current bodies, they made plans to commit suicide in 1997 to coincide with the Hale- Bopp comet which was to take them to the next level. His followers happily complied, even leaving farewell videos. What is the Biblical command that they were attempting to fulfill?