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1) After reading about Freud, do you think his secular reductionist views have helped or harmed our understanding of religion?Be sure to cite a few passages that demonstrate points you think have helped and those that have harmed our views?

2) Eliade’s writings on religion have informed much of what we examine in religious studies.Explain one of the concepts you encounter in the chapter, (for example: sacred and profane, hierophany, myth of the eternal return, axis mundi) and explore how this confirms your understanding of religion OR calls it into question.

Example: After reading about Freud, I personally believe that his secular reductionist views have harmed our understanding of religion, for the most part, religion is believing in higher power or a spirit, and Freud seems to challenge that by tracing a variety of different things to the unconscious, which according to the readings “is the crucial link between what is physical and what is mental in the human person.” Therefore, inferring to saying that there are no pure spirits in the human race physically here on earth, but that they rather exist in our heads, which from that that we can possibly try to conclude is that, Freud is either saying that religion is something that is idealistically in our heads, or that because it is something that cannot be seen, we have to make conclusion of what religion of a higher spiritual being, is like, all in our heads as well. However, Freud also brought up the process of evolution, which if we refer that to the world of religion, you either believe in it, or you do not, rather you would have your religion’s views of how the human race came about to be. In one of the passages, it actually says that “like Taylor and Frazer, he is certain that religious beliefs are superstitions.” Therefore, it is clear that Freud, wants to have a more logical approach to religion according to what is true here on earth, and according to what different religions teach and on what they have different beliefs on and about.

Eliade’s writings on religion have informed much of what we examine in religious studies, one of the concepts that is included in the chapter is “The Sacred and the Profane” which particularly caught my attention. We have the profane which is “the realm of the everyday business: of the ordinary, random, and largely unimportant…the sacred is just the opposite; it is the sphere of the supernatural, of things extraordinary, memorable, and momentous.” The profane seems to be the chaos that goes on in our everyday lives, and often just the bad of life, while the sacred is the sphere of “order and perfection.” I do believe that this confirms my understanding of religion overall, because religion deals with our everyday lives, our actions and our lows and highs. I think the separation and explanation of both the sacred and the profane make a lot of sense, in life you will have struggles, along with problems as well, and I think mixing that to how religion works is a great way to correlate that to many of those beliefs and explanations that have to do with a specific religion.

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