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The three most influential monotheistic religions in world history are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which began in the Middle East. Judaism dates from about 1200 B.C. The first Hebrews were nomads who settled in the land of Canaan near Egypt.
- The Origin of World Religions
- Why religions became global
- A closer look at Hinduism and Buddhism
By Anita Ravi
As people created more efficient systems of communication and more complex governments in early agrarian civilizations, they also developed what we now call religion.
One possibility is that by about 100 BCE, the population in Afro-Eurasia had climbed to over a million. As a result of increasing commercial and cultural interaction between people across this large area, religions were shared. The new religious systems provided foundations of cultural communication, moral expectation, and personal trust among people who were meeting, sharing ideas, and doing business with one another far beyond their local neighborhoods. The historians J.R. and William McNeil call this the development of “portable, congregational religions.” Common features of these religions are the following: there is usually a founding man who receives the word of God; there is a key text or set of texts that defines man’s relationship with God; there are recommended ways of living and worshipping; people come together regularly to have God’s word interpreted for them by an authority; and there is a path to self-trans-formation and eternal salvation in one way or another. In The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History, the McNeills argue that religion took hold during this time period for the following reasons:
In subsequent centuries, urban dwellers, and particularly poor, marginal persons, found that authoritative religious guidance, shared faith, and mutual support among congregations of believers could substitute for the tight-knit custom of village existence (within which the rural majority continued to live) and give meaning and value to ordinary lives, despite daily contact with uncaring strangers. Such religious congregations, in turn, helped to stabilize urban society by making its inherent inequality and insecurity more tolerable. (61)
So what they’re saying is that religion provided structure and meaning for large groups of people in ways that small, tight-knit village communities used to do. Religion, especially faiths that were shared by large groups of people, actually provided stability in cities. These religions were accepted by thousands of followers because they appealed to many different people from all social classes and occupations. If the texts and tenets of these faiths spoke to such a wide variety of people then the religious beliefs were more likely to spread along trade routes, unlike the earlier village-based religions.
While many people were drawn to these early religions, they are not all the same. Each faith has its own answers to questions about humanity and each one has different practices. All faiths, apart from Confucianism, which some scholars classify as an ethical system rather than a religion, offer eternal salvation in one form or another. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all monotheistic, with one omnipotent and omniscient deity. Hinduism allows for the worship of numerous, powerful gods and goddesses. Buddhism and Daoism also accept the existence of multiple divine beings in various forms and incarnations. All of these religions teach that human relations should be guided by kindness, selflessness, and decency. Confucianism, in particular, emphasizes public moral behavior, good government, and social responsibility.
So how did each belief system define these relationships with God, with society, and with other humans? First, I’m going to take a look at Hinduism. I learned through a few web searches and from several secondary sources that Hinduism is often called the “oldest religion” mainly because there is no single founder and because the main ideas of the religion appear in a variety of different texts written over time, starting around 4,000 years ago. What’s interesting about Hinduism is that it was developed by a group of people living in the Indus Valley who had a rigid hierarchical social structure called the caste system. Michelle Ferrer sums up the basic tenets of Hinduism in The Budding of Buddhism, which is quoted below.
The untouchables, the lowest members of society, dealt with human waste and the dead. This group did the jobs no one else wanted to do. They were regarded by the other groups as ritually impure and therefore outside the hierarchy of groups altogether. The Sudras had service jobs, and the Vaisya were herders, farmers, artisans, and merchants. The Ksatriyas, the second highest caste, were the warriors and rulers. At the top were the Brahmans, who were priests, scholars, and teachers. Because priests were part of this caste, the early religion is known as Brahmanism. Brahmanism evolved into the larger Hindu tradition.
The Hindus revered many gods. They believed that people had many lives (reincarnation). Also, they believed in karma. This meant that whatever a person did in this life would determine what he or she would be in the next life. Thus, reincarnation creates a cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. The cycle ends only when a person realizes that his or her soul and God’s soul are one. To help achieve this goal, the Hindus had several spiritual practices, some of which are done in the western world today, including meditation and yoga.
The Hindus also believed in the Purusharthas: Four Goals of Life. These goals motivated people in their lives:
1. dharma: living a virtuous life
2. kama: pleasure of the senses
Of the three great civilizations of western Eurasia and North Africa, that of Christian Europe began as the least developed in virtually all aspects of material and intellectual culture, well behind the Islamic states and Byzantium. By the end of the 13th century it had begun to pull even, and by the end of the 15th century it had surpassed both.
Christianity faced greater challenges when it encountered Islam and the religions of East Asia. When Islam was founded in the 7th century, it considered the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad to be superior to those of the Old and New Testaments .
Jun 20, 2019 · The Judaism religion is the religion which encompasses the cultural, philosophical, and religious beliefs of the Jewish people. Judaism has an estimated 17 million followers in the world making it the third largest Abrahamic religion behind Christianity and Islam.
- Joseph Kiprop
Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with 2.8 billion and 1.9 billion adherents, respectively. Both religions are considered as Abrahamic, and are monotheistic, originating in the Middle East. Christianity developed out of Second Temple Judaism in the 1st century CE.
Dec 15, 2014 · Advertisement. Jesus Christ is not just an important figure in Christianity. As a prophet, he also features in the Muslim faith - not to mention that he was Jewish. Here are seven lesser known...
