View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is dharma?

2. What is the irony of Buddhism and India?

3. What is the idea of the spirit in Hinduism?

4. What was the subject matter of the Buddha's first sermon?

5. How does Sri Ramakrishna illustrate the experience all the great world religions?

Short Essay Questions

1. Tell how one word came to epitomize Buddhism.

2. What is the inherent problem with perceiving the natural world according to Hinduism?

3. What is the gist of Philosophical Taoism?

4. Describe the last stage of spiritual awareness in Hinduism called sannyasin.

5. Why is there so much emphasis on self-examination in Buddhism?

6. Why is Zen Buddhism so difficult to define in words?

7. Explain something about the Atman.

8. Explain how Huston Smith compares his book to other survey studies.

9. Describe briefly the character of Confucius.

10. Describe in one sentence the basic tenet of Hinduism.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on the ultimate goal of all religions. In your essay mention the different concepts of heaven or nirvana as held by different religious thought. Contrast the ideas of achieving perfection and the ideas of a place.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay comparing Buddhism and Protestantism as movements to reform ecclesiastical excesses. In the essay contrast the methods used to bring about the reforms.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the religion you found most fascinating during the study of The World's Religions. Include whether the study changed some misconceptions about the religion you might have held previously.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 689 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample