1.
Comparative religion
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Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the worlds religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual, other religions that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted. The original belief in the One God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism, christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament prophecy and this signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, that also represents the predecessor of the Baháí Faith. Christianity and Judaism are two other Abrahamic religions that diverge in theology and practice, the historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it became the major religion closest to Judaism. There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions and these practices are known collectively as the Israiliyat. The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam, Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith - with some differences in interpretation - and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations. Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is and they include Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Ætsæg Din, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq, Zurvanism, Mandaeism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism. Indian religions refers to a number of religions that have originated on the Indian subcontinent and they encompass Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions, gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Prominent Hindu reformers such as Gandhi and Vivekananda acknowledge Buddhist influence, Gandhi, like Hindus, did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism, a Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao. This forms a group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shinto, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features, Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, the flow of Chi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao
2.
Neurotheology
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Neurotheology, also known as spiritual neuroscience, attempts to explain religious experience and behaviour in neuroscientific terms. It is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and this contrasts with the psychology of religion which studies mental, rather than neural, states. Proponents of neurotheology say there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious, the field has formed the basis of several popular science books, but has received criticism from psychologists. Neurotheology is a neologism that describes the study of the neural correlates of religious or spiritual beliefs. Other researchers prefer to use terms like spiritual neuroscience or neuroscience of religion, the discipline studies the cognitive neuroscience of religious experience and spirituality. The term is sometimes used in a less scientific context or a philosophical context. Some of these uses, according to the scientific community. Huxley used it mainly in a philosophical context, the use of the term neurotheology in published scientific work is currently uncommon. A search on the indexing service provided by Institute for Scientific Information returns five articles. Three of these are published in the journal Zygon, Journal of Religion & Science, work on the neural basis of spirituality has, however, occurred sporadically throughout the 20th century. According to McKinney, neurotheology sources the basis of inquiry in relatively recent developmental neurophysiology. According to McKinneys theory, pre-frontal development, in humans, creates an illusion of time as a fundamental part of normal adult cognition past the age of three. The experience of death as a regression into timelessness as the brain dies won praise from readers as varied as author Arthur C. Clarke, eminent theologian Harvey Cox, and the Dalai Lama, in other words, the sensation that Buddhists call oneness with the universe. However, it has also argued that neurotheology should be conceived and practiced within a theological framework. Various theories regarding the origin of religion and the evolutionary psychology of religion have been proposed. He was awarded the Templeton Prize before his death in 1985 and his successor David Hay suggested in God’s Biologist, A life of Alister Hardy that the RERC later dispersed as investigators turned to newer techniques of scientific investigation. This work has been criticised, though some researchers have published a replication of one God Helmet experiment, Granqvist et al. claimed that Persingers work was not double-blind
3.
Evolutionary origin of religions
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Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share an ancestor with humans who lived between six and eight million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor, Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of self, there is inconclusive evidence that Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of rituals is thought to be evidence of religious activity. Some evidence suggests that many species grieve death and loss, in this set of theories, the religious mind is one consequence of a brain that is large enough to formulate religious and philosophical ideas. During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago, much of the brains expansion took place in the neocortex. This part of the brain is involved in processing higher order cognitive functions that are connected with human religiosity, the neocortex is associated with self-consciousness, language and emotion. According to Dunbars theory, the relative size of any species correlates with the level of social complexity of the particular species. The neocortex size correlates with a number of variables that include social group size. In chimpanzees the neocortex occupies 50% of the brain, whereas in humans it occupies 80% of the brain. Robin Dunbar argues that the event in the evolution of the neocortex took place at the speciation of archaic homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. His study indicates that only after the event is the neocortex large enough to process complex social phenomena such as language. The study is based on an analysis of neocortex size plotted against a number of social behaviors of living. Lewis Wolpert argues that causal beliefs that emerged from tool use played a role in the evolution of belief. The manufacture of complex tools requires creating an image of an object which does not exist naturally before actually making the artifact. Furthermore, one must understand how the tool would be used, accordingly, the level of sophistication of stone tools is a useful indicator of causal beliefs. Wolpert contends use of tools composed of more than one component, such as axes, represents an ability to understand cause
4.
Psychology of religion
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Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to religious traditions, as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. It attempts to describe the details, origins, and uses of religious beliefs. Although the psychology of religion first arose as a discipline as recently as the late 19th century. In contrast to neurotheology, the psychology of religion studies only psychological rather than neural states, many areas of religion remain unexplored by psychology. While religion and spirituality play a role in many lives, it is uncertain how they lead to outcomes that are at times positive. The first, descriptive task naturally requires a clarification of ones terms, above all, the early psychologists of religion were fully aware of these difficulties, typically acknowledging that the definitions they were choosing to use were to some degree arbitrary. Factor analysis was brought into play by both psychologists and sociologists of religion, in an effort to establish a fixed core of dimensions. The justification and adequacy of these efforts, especially in the light of constructivist and other postmodern viewpoints, in fact, spirituality has likewise undergone an evolution in the West, from a time when it was essentially a synonym for religion in its original, subjective meaning. He proposes that religion can be considered the process of searching for meaning in relationship with the sacred, schnitker and Emmons theorized that the understanding of religion as a search for meaning makes implications in the three psychological areas of motivation, cognition and social relationships. The cognitive aspects relate to God and a sense of purpose, the ones to the need to control. American psychologist and philosopher William James is regarded by most psychologists of religion as the founder of the field and he served as president of the American Psychological Association, and wrote one of the first psychology textbooks. In the psychology of religion, James influence endures and his Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the classic work in the field, and references to James ideas are common at professional conferences. James distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion, institutional religion refers to the religious group or organization, and plays an important part in a societys culture. Personal religion, in which the individual has mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture, James was most interested in understanding personal religious experience. In studying personal religious experiences, James made a distinction between healthy-minded and sick-souled religiousness, individuals predisposed to healthy-mindedness tend to ignore the evil in the world and focus on the positive and the good. James used examples of Walt Whitman and the religious movement to illustrate healthy-mindedness in The Varieties of Religious Experience. In contrast, individuals predisposed to having a religion are unable to ignore evil and suffering. James included quotations from Leo Tolstoy and John Bunyan to illustrate the sick soul, William James hypothesis of pragmatism stems from the efficacy of religion
5.
Prehistoric religion
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Prehistoric religion is a general term for the religious beliefs and practices of prehistoric peoples. More specifically it encompasses Paleolithic religion, Mesolithic religion, Neolithic religion, a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced early forms of totemism or of animal worship. Emil Bächler in particular suggests that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear-cult existed, a claim that evidence was found for Middle Paleolithic animal worship c 70,000 BCE has been denied by the original investigators of the site. Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period, such as the bear cult, animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic intertwined with hunting rites. Jacques Cauvin suggested that the Neolithic Revolution was influenced by an important theme he termed the Revolution of the Symbols and he argued that Neolithic humans were influenced by a change in thinking as much as changes in the environment and noted a series of stages in this process. The structures known as Circular Enclosures built in Central Europe during the 5th millennium BCE have been interpreted as serving a cultic function, in the case of the Goseck circle, remains of human sacrifice were found. Many of these structures had openings aligned with sunset and/or sunrise at the solstices, the construction of Megalithic monuments in Europe also began in the 5th millennium, and continued throughout the Neolithic and in some areas well into the early Bronze Age. Marija Gimbutas, pioneer of feminist archaeology, put forward a notion of a woman-centered society surrounding goddess worship in Neolithic Europe, the Neolithic matristic cultures would have been replaced by patriarchy only with the arrival of the Bronze Age. Gimbutas views do not have widespread support today, the early Bronze Age Proto-Indo-European religion, and the attested early Semitic gods, are presumed continuations of certain traditions of the late Neolithic. There are scarce accounts of religious customs in the records of Hellenistic. These traditions were only first recorded in the context of Christianization. For these reasons, the interpretations and understanding of the Iron Age cult in Europe has to rely primarily on archaeological material, ^ Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, Women in the Stone Age, in the essay The Venus of Willendorf
6.
Religions of the ancient Near East
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The religions of the ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of primitive monolatry, Ashurism and Monism. Some scholars believe that the similarities between these religions indicate that the religions are related, a known as patternism. Many religions of the ancient near East and their offshoots can be traced to Proto-Semitic religion, other religions in the ancient Near East include Ancient Egyptian religion, the Luwian and Hittite religions of Asia Minor and the Sumerian religion of ancient Mesopotamia. Offshoots of Proto-Semitic religion include Assyro-Babylonian religion, Canaanite religion, judaism is a development of Canaanite religion, both Indo-European and Semitic religions influenced the ancient Greek religion, and Zoroastrianism was a product of ancient Indo-Iranian religion. The history of the ancient Near East spans more than two millennia, from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, in the now known as the Middle East. This article will attempt to outline the common traits of ancient Near Eastern religions,2500 BC, allow glimpses of Sumerian mythology and Egyptian religion. The early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, Ancient Greek religion was strongly influenced by ancient Near Eastern mythology, but is usually not included in the term. The Mystery religions of Hellenism were again consciously connected with Egyptian religion, there were also super-regional mythemes and deities, such as the God Tammuz and the descent to the underworld. The system represents a combination of two factors, one of popular origin, the other the outcome of speculation in the schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. Starting with this belief the Priests and Priestesses built up the theory of the correspondence between occurrences on earth and phenomena in the Heavens. Myths that symbolized changes in season or occurrences in nature were projected on the heavens and this factor appears to less advantage in the unfolding of the views concerning life after death. Occasionally a favoured individual was permitted to escape from this general fate, in Assyrian and Babylonian mythology the seven evil Demons were known as Shedu or Lamassu, meaning Storm-Demon. Ancient Iranian lands had a diversity of beliefs, and the religions included Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism, Manicheism, Yazdanism, Mandeanism. Thus it has proved by clear evidence and plain reasoning that a powerful monarch was established in Iran long before the Assyrian or Pishadi government. That it was in fact, a Hindu monarchy, though any may choose to call it Cusian, Casdean or Scythian, Ancient Mitanni is modern-day Kurdistan, and from excavations it was discovered to have a history of Vedic practices and the Hindu religion. The dominant religious rituals and beliefs of ancient Egypt merged and developed over time, as an example, during the New Kingdom, the Gods Ra and Amun were syncretized into a single God, Amun-Ra. Such syncretism should be distinguished from mere groupings, also referred to as such as Amun, Mut. Over time, Gods took part in multiple syncretic relationships, for instance, similarly, Ptah, Seker, and Osiris becamePtah-Seker-Osiris
7.
Ancient Egyptian religion
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Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians interaction with many deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, rituals such as prayers and offerings were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt and he acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe. The state dedicated enormous resources to Egyptian rituals and to the construction of the temples, individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for their help through prayer or compelling them to act through magic. These practices were distinct from, but closely linked with, the formal rituals, the popular religious tradition grew more prominent in the course of Egyptian history as the status of the Pharaoh declined. Another important aspect was the belief in the afterlife and funerary practices, the Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their souls after death, providing tombs, grave goods, and offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the deceased. The religion had its roots in Egypts prehistory and lasted for more than 3,000 years, the details of religious belief changed over time as the importance of particular gods rose and declined, and their intricate relationships shifted. At various times, certain gods became preeminent over the others, including the sun god Ra, the creator god Amun, for a brief period, in the theology promulgated by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a single god, the Aten, replaced the traditional pantheon. Ancient Egyptian religion and mythology left behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient, the beliefs and rituals now referred to as ancient Egyptian religion were integral within every aspect of Egyptian culture. Their language possessed no single term corresponding to the modern European concept of religion, the characteristics of the gods who populated the divine realm were inextricably linked to the Egyptians understanding of the properties of the world in which they lived. The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and these deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and their religious practices were efforts to sustain and placate these phenomena and turn them to human advantage. This polytheistic system was complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations. Conversely, many forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles in the universe to minor deities or demons with very limited or localized functions. It could include gods adopted from foreign cultures, and sometimes humans, deceased Pharaohs were believed to be divine, and occasionally, distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified. The depictions of the gods in art were not meant as representations of how the gods might appear if they were visible. Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each gods role in nature
8.
Proto-Indo-European religion
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The hypothesized reconstructions below are based on linguistic evidence using the comparative method. Archaeological evidence is difficult to match to any specific culture in the period of early Indo-European culture in the Chalcolithic, other approaches to Indo-European mythology are possible, such as the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil. Linguists are able to reconstruct the names of deities in the Proto-Indo-European language from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more accepted among scholars than others. The term for a god was *deiwos, reflected in Hittite, sius, Latin, deus, divus, Sanskrit, deva, Avestan, daeva, Welsh, duw, Irish, dia, Old Norse, tívurr, Lithuanian, Dievas, Latvian, Dievs. The supreme ruler of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon was the god *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr and he is believed to have been worshipped as the god of the daylit skies. He is, by far, the most well-attested of all the Proto-Indo-European deities, the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter, and the Illyrian god Dei-Pátrous all appear as the head gods of their respective pantheons. The Norse god Týr, however, seems to have been demoted to the role of a minor war-deity, *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr is also attested in the Rigveda as Dyáus Pitā, a minor ancestor figure mentioned in only a few hymns. The names of the Latvian god Dievs and the Hittite god Attas Isanus do not preserve the exact translation of the name *Dyḗus Pḥɑtḗr. *Hɑéusōs has been reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn, derivatives of her found throughout various Indo-European mythologies include the Greek goddess Eos, the Roman goddess Aurōra, the Vedic goddess Uṣás, and the Lithuanian goddess Auštrine. The form Arap Ushas appears in Albanian folklore, but as a name for the Moon, an extension of the name may have been *H2eustro, but see also the form *as-t-r, with intrusive -t- in northern dialects. *Seh2ul and *Meh1not are reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European goddess of the Sun, *Meh1not is reconstructed based off the Norse god Máni, the Hittite god Myesyats, and the Lithuanian god *Meno, or Mėnuo. They are often seen as the children of various deities. The usual scheme is one of these celestial deities is male. The original Indo-European lunar deity appears to have masculine, with feminine lunar deities like Selene, Minerva. Even in these traditions, remnants of male deities, like Menelaus. The word *prihxeha-, meaning wife has been reconstructed based off the Sanskrit word priyā, meaning wife, the Old Norse word frī, meaning beloved, and the Old English word frēo, meaning woman. The name of the Norse goddess Frigg is derived from this root, Analysis of different Indo-European tales indicate the Proto-Indo-Europeans believed there were two progenitors of mankind, *Manu- and *Yemo-, his twin brother
9.
Historical Vedic religion
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The religion of the Vedic period was the religion of the Indo-Aryans of northern India. It is a predecessor of modern Hinduism, though significantly different from it. The Vedic liturgy is conserved in the portion of the four Vedas. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites, the complex Vedic rituals of Śrauta continue in coastal Andhra. The commonly proposed period of earlier Vedic age is dated back to 2nd millennium BCE, the Vedic religion was the religion of the Indo-Aryans, and existed in northern India from c.1750 to 500 BCE. The Indo-Aryans were a branch of the Indo-European language family, which originated in the Kurgan culture of the Central Asian steppes, the Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the zone between the Zeravshan River and Iran. It was a mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra, Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug probably borrowed from the BMAC religion and his rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers. The oldest inscriptions in Old Indic, the language of the Rig Veda, are not in northwestern India and Pakistan, but in northern Syria. The Mitanni kings took Old Indic throne names, and Old Indic technical terms were used for horse-riding and chariot-driving, the Old Indic term rta, meaning cosmic order and truth, the central concept of the Rig Veda, was also employed in the Mitanni kingdom. Old Indic gods, including Indra, were known in the Mitanni kingdom. David Gordon White cites three other scholars who have emphatically demonstrated that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilizations. Texts dating to the Vedic period, composed in Vedic Sanskrit, are mainly the four Vedic Samhitas, the Vedas record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. According to traditional views, the hymns of the Rigveda and other Vedic hymns were divinely revealed to the rishis, in addition the Vedas are said to be apauraṣaya, a Sanskrit word meaning uncreated by man and which further reveals their eternal non-changing status. The mode of worship was worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of gods like Indra, chanting of hymns. The priests performed the rituals for the noblemen and wealthy commoners Vaishyas
10.
Religion in ancient Greece
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Ancient Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology originating in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or cults in the plural, many ancient Greeks recognized the twelve major gods and goddesses, although philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used language that seems to assume a single transcendent deity. Different cities often worshiped the deities, sometimes with epithets that distinguished them. Greek religion was tempered by Etruscan cult and belief to form much of the later ancient Roman religion, while there were few concepts universal to all the Greek peoples, there were common beliefs shared by many. Ancient Greek theology was polytheistic, based on the assumption there were many gods. There was a hierarchy of deities, with Zeus, the king of the gods, having a level of control all the others. Some deities had dominion over aspects of nature. Other deities ruled over abstract concepts, for instance Aphrodite controlled love, while being immortal, the gods were certainly not all-good or even all-powerful. They had to obey fate, known to Greek mythology as the Moirai, which overrode any of their divine powers or wills. For instance, in mythology, it was Odysseus fate to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, and the gods could only lengthen his journey and make it harder for him, the gods acted like humans, and had human vices. They would interact with humans, sometimes even spawning children with them, at times certain gods would be opposed to others, and they would try to outdo each other. In the Iliad, Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo support the Trojan side in the Trojan War, while Hera, Athena, some gods were specifically associated with a certain city. Athena was associated with the city of Athens, Apollo with Delphi and Delos, Zeus with Olympia, other deities were associated with nations outside of Greece, Poseidon was associated with Ethiopia and Troy, and Ares with Thrace. The Greeks believed in an underworld where the spirits of the dead went after death, one of the most widespread areas of this underworld was ruled over by Hades, a brother of Zeus, and was known as Hades. Other well known realms are Tartarus, a place of torment for the damned, and Elysium, in the early Mycenean religion all the dead went to Hades, but the rise of mystery cults in the Archaic age led to the development of places such as Tartarus and Elysium. Such beliefs are found in the most ancient of Greek sources, such as Homer and this belief remained strong even into the Christian era. For most people at the moment of death there was, however, no hope of anything, some Greeks, such as the philosophers Pythagoras and Plato, also embraced the idea of reincarnation, though this was only accepted by a few. Epicurus taught that the soul was simply atoms which dissolved at death, Greek religion had an extensive mythology
11.
Religion in ancient Rome
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. According to legends, most of Romes religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome, who negotiated directly with the gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, the way of the ancestors or simply tradition, as Rome came into contact with foreign cultures, and conquered them, foreign religions increasingly attracted devotees among Romans, who increasingly had ancestry from elsewhere in the Empire. The emperors promoted the Imperial cult around the empire, and this, ultimately, Roman polytheism was brought to an end with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes, there was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic, the men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives, Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus before he was elected consul. The augurs read the will of the gods and supervised the marking of boundaries as a reflection of universal order, Roman religion was thus practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, I give that you might give. Even the most skeptical among Romes intellectual elite such as Cicero, for ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a shrine at which prayers and libations to the familys domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances, women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. The Romans are known for the number of deities they honored. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature, etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of magic, conspiratorial, or subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity, one way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the worship of local and Roman deities. Because Romans had never been obligated to one god or one cult only
12.
Celtic polytheism
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Celtic polytheism was one of a larger group of Iron Age polytheistic religions of the Indo-European family. The Celtic pantheon consists of numerous recorded theonyms, both from Greco-Roman ethnography and from epigraphy, among the most prominent ones are Teutatis, Taranis and Lugus. Figures from medieval Irish mythology have also been adduced by comparative mythology, the most salient feature of Celtic religion as reflected in Roman historiography is their extensive practice of human sacrifice. In the later 5th and the 6th centuries, the Celtic region was Christianized, comparatively little is known about Celtic polytheism because the evidence for it is fragmentary, due largely to the fact that the Celts who practiced it wrote nothing down about their religion. Therefore, all we have to study their religion from is the literature from the early Christian period, commentaries from classical Greek and Roman scholars, the archaeologist Barry Cunliffe summarised the sources for Celtic religion as fertile chaos, borrowing the term from the Irish scholar Proinsias MacCana. Cunliffe went on to note there is more, varied. The only problem is to assemble it in a form which does not too greatly oversimplify the intricate texture of its detail. The archaeological evidence does not contain the bias inherent in the literary sources, nonetheless, the interpretation of this evidence can be colored by the 21st century mindset. Various archaeological discoveries have aided understanding of the religion of the Celts and these include the coins of the Roman provinces in the Celtic lands of Gaul, Raetia, Noricum, and Britannia, and another is the sculptures, monuments, and inscriptions associated with the Celts. The evidence from Ireland has been recognised as better than that from Wales, because they were written in a very Christian context, these sources must be scrutinised with even more rigor than the classical sources in assessing their validity as evidence for Celtic religion. Various Greek and Roman writers of the ancient world commented on the Celts, however, the key problem with the use of these sources is that they were often biased against the Celts, whom the classical peoples viewed as barbarians. The names of two hundred of these deities have survived to us today, although it is possible that some of these names were different titles or epithets used for the same deity. Some Celtic theonyms can be established as Pan-Celtic by comparing Continental with Insular Celtic evidence, an example of this is Gaulish Lugus, whose name is cognate with Irish Lugh and Welsh Lleu. Another example is Gaulish Brigantia, cognate with Irish Brigid and this latter theonym can even be reconstructed as a Proto-Indo-European epithet of the dawn goddess, as *bhr̥ghntī the one on high. He declared that the most widely venerated god in Gaul was Mercury, the Roman god of trade, several of these deities, including Lugus and Matrones, were triple deities. Brighid, probably were indeed once regarded as divine, the warriors who are the main protagonists of the stories have the same status as those in the Greek myths, standing between the human and divine orders. To regard characters such as Cú Chulainn, Fergus Mac Roich or Conall Cernach as former gods turned into humans by a storyteller is to misunderstand their literary. Cú Chulainn is no more a god than Superman is
13.
Germanic paganism
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Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period. Germanic paganism took various forms in different areas of the Germanic world, the best documented version was that of 10th and 11th century Norse religion, although other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic sources. Scattered references are found in the earliest writings of other Germanic peoples. The information can be supplemented with archaeological finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in later folklore, Germanic paganism was polytheistic, with similarities to other Indo-European religions. The Common Germanic period begins with the European Iron Age, contemporary to the Celtic La Tene culture to the south, early Germanic history remains in the prehistoric period until the earliest descriptions in Roman ethnography in the 1st century BC. The earliest forms of the Germanic religion can only be speculated on based on archaeological evidence, the first written description is in Julius Caesars Commentarii de Bello Gallico. He contrasts the religious custom of the Gauls with the simpler Germanic traditions. A much more detailed description of Germanic religion is Tacituss Germania, Tacitus describes both animal and human sacrifice. He identifies the chief Germanic god with the Roman Mercury, who on certain days receives human sacrifices, while gods identified by Tacitus with Hercules and Mars receive animal sacrifice. The largest Germanic tribe, Suebians, also sacrifices, allegedly of captured Roman soldiers. Nerthus is revered by Reudignians, Aviones, Angles, Varinians, Nerthus is believed to directly interpose in human affairs. Her sanctuary is on an island, specifically in a wood called Castum, a chariot covered with a curtain is dedicated to the goddess, and only the high priest may touch it. The priest is capable of seeing the goddess enter the chariot, drawn by cows, the chariot travels through the countryside, and wherever the goddess visits, a great feast is held. During the travel of the goddess, the Germanic tribes cease all hostilities, when the priest declares that the goddess is tired of conversation with mortals, the chariot returns and is washed, together with the curtains, in a secret lake. The slaves who administer this purification are afterwards thrown into the lake, according to Tacitus, the Germanic tribes think of temples as unsuitable habitations for gods, and they do not represent them as idols in human shape. Instead of temples, they consecrate woods or groves to individual gods, divination and augury was very popular, To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. Their method of divining by lots is exceedingly simple, from a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces. These they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them at random and without order upon a white garment
14.
Axial Age
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The concept was introduced in his book Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, published in 1949. Jaspers claimed that the Axial Age should be viewed as an empirical fact of history. He identified a number of key thinkers as having had a influence on future philosophies and religions. Jaspers held up this age as unique, and one to which the rest of the history of thought might be compared. Jaspers approach to the culture of the middle of the first millennium BC has been adopted by scholars and academics. Everything implied by these names developed during these few centuries almost simultaneously in China, India, Jaspers described the Axial Age as an interregnum between two ages of great empire, a pause for liberty, a deep breath bringing the most lucid consciousness. It has also suggested that the Axial Age was a historically liminal period. Jaspers had a particular interest in the similarities in circumstance and thought of its figures, similarities included an engagement in the quest for human meaning and the rise of a new elite class of religious leaders and thinkers in China, India and the Occident. The three regions all gave birth to, and then institutionalized, a tradition of travelling scholars, after the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, Taoism and Confucianism emerged in China. Jaspers argues that the characteristics appeared under similar circumstances, China, India. Jaspers argued that during the Axial Age, the foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently in China, India, Persia, Judea. And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today, the foundations were laid by individual thinkers within a framework of a changing social environment. Eisenstadt analyses economic circumstances relating to the coming of the Axial Age in Greece, many of the cultures of the axial age were considered second-generation societies because they were built on the societies that preceded them. Parshvanatha and Mahavira, known as the fordmakers of Jainism lived during this age and they propagated the religion of sramanas and influenced Indian philosophy by propounding the principles of ahimsa, karma, samsara and asceticism. In China, the Hundred Schools of Thought were in contention and Confucianism and Taoism arose during this era, Zoroastrianism, another of Jaspers examples, is one of the first monotheistic religions and it greatly influenced modern Abrahamic religions with such conceptions as the devil and Heaven/Hell. The exact date of Zarathustras life is debated by scholars, with some, such as Mary Boyce, others, such as William W Malandra and RC Zaehner, suggest that he may indeed have been an early contemporary of Cyrus living around 600 BC. Thinkers and teachers like the Buddha, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, David Christian notes that the first universal religions appeared in the age of the first universal empires and of the first all-encompassing trading networks. Anthropologist David Graeber has pointed out that the period of Jaspers Axial age corresponds almost exactly to the period in which coinage was invented
15.
Vedanta
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Vedanta or Uttara Mīmāṃsā is one of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy. It represents the divergent philosophical views of more than 10 schools—all developed on the basis of a textual connection called the Prasthanatrayi. The Prasthanatrayi is a term for the Principal Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras. Vedanta does not stand for one comprehensive or unifying doctrine, over time, Vedanta adopted ideas from other orthodox schools like Yoga and Nyaya, and, through this syncretism, became the most prominent school of Hinduism. Many extant forms of Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism have been shaped and influenced by the doctrines of different schools of Vedanta. The word Vedanta literally means the end of the Vedas and originally referred to the Upanishads, Vedanta was concerned with the jñānakāṇḍa or Vedic knowledge part called the Upanishads. The denotation of Vedanta subsequently widened to include the philosophical traditions based on to the Prasthanatrayi. The Upanishads may be regarded as the end of Vedas in different senses and these mark the culmination of Vedic thought. These were taught and debated last, in the Brahmacharya stage, Vedanta is one of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy. It is also called Uttara Mīmāṃsā, the latter enquiry or higher enquiry, and is contrasted with Pūrva Mīmāṃsā. Pūrva Mīmāṃsā deals with the karmakāṇḍa or rituals part in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita and the Brahma Sutras constitute the basis of Vedanta. All schools of Vedanta propound their philosophy by interpreting these texts, collectively called the Prasthanatrayi, literally, the Upanishads, or Śruti prasthāna, considered the Sruti foundation of Vedanta. The Brahma Sutras, or Nyaya prasthana / Yukti prasthana, considered the foundation of Vedanta. The Bhagavad Gita, or Smriti prasthāna, considered the Smriti foundation of Vedanta, the Brahma Sutras attempted to synthesize the teachings of the Upanishads. The diversity in the teaching of the Upanishads necessitated the systematization of these teachings and this was likely done in many ways in ancient India, but the only surviving version of this synthesis is the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana. The Bhagavad Gita, due to its syncretism of Samkhya, Yoga, the Upanishads do not present a rigorous philosophical inquiry in the form of identifying various doctrines and then presenting arguments for or against them. They form the basic texts and Vedanta interprets them through rigorous philosophical exegesis, varying interpretations of the Upanishads and their synthesis, the Brahma Sutras, led to the development of different schools of Vedanta over time of which three, four, five or six are prominent. Some scholars are inclined to consider it as a rather than a school of Vedanta
16.
Shramana
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Śramaṇa means seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic. The term refers to several Indian religious movements parallel to but separate from the historical Vedic religion, the Śramaṇa tradition includes Jainism of 9th-century BCE, Buddhism of 6th-century BCE, and others such as Ājīvika, Ajñana and Cārvāka. One of the earliest recorded use of the word Śramaṇa, in the sense of a mendicant, is in verse 4.3.22 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad composed by about the 8th century BCE. The concept of renunciation and monk-like lifestyle is found in Vedic literature, with such as yatis, rishis. The Vedic literature from pre-1000 BCE era, mentions Muni, rig Veda, for example, in Book 10 Chapter 136, mentions mendicants as those with Kesin and Mala clothes engaged in the affairs of Mananat. The hymn uses the term vatarazana which means girdled with wind, some scholars have interpreted this to mean sky clad, naked monk and therefore a synonym for Digambara. However, other state that this could not be the correct interpretation because it is inconsistent with the words that immediately follow. The context likely means that the poet is describing the munis as moving like the wind, according to Olivelle, it is unlikely that the vatarazana implies a class within the vedic context. The earliest known use of the term Śramaṇa is found in section 2.7 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka. It mentions sramana Rishis and celibate Rishis, Buddhist commentaries associate the words etymology with the quieting of evil as in the following phrase from the 3rd century BCE Dhammapada, verse 265, samitattā pāpānaŋ ʻsamaṇoʼ ti pavuccati. The word śramaṇa is postulated to be derived from the verbal root śram, meaning to exert effort, the history of wandering monks in ancient India is partly untraceable. The term parivrajaka was perhaps applicable to all the monks of India. The śramaṇa refers to a variety of renunciate ascetic traditions from the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, the Shramanas were individual, experiential and free-form traditions. The term Śramaṇas is used sometimes to contrast them with Brahmins in terms of their religious models, several śramaṇa movements are known to have existed in India before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. These traditions drew upon already established Brahmanical concepts, states Wiltshire, according to the Jain Agamas and the Buddhist Pāli Canon, there were other śramaṇa leaders at the time of Buddha. The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, a śramaṇa named Subhadda mentions, govind Chandra Pande, a professor of Indian history, states in his 1957 study on the origins of Buddhism, that Sramana was a distinct and separate cultural and religious tradition than the Vedic. He writes, Sramana in that context obviously means a person who is in the habit of performing srama, far from separating these seers from the vedic ritual tradition, therefore, sramana places them right at the center of that tradition. Those who see them as non-Brahmanical, anti-Brahmanical, or even non-Aryan precursors of later sectarian ascetics are drawing conclusions that far outstrip the available evidence, according to Olivelle, and other scholars such as Edward Crangle, the concept of Sramana exists in the early Brahmanical literature
17.
Dharma
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Dharma is a key concept with multiple meanings in the Indian religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. There is no single word translation for dharma in western languages, in Buddhism dharma means cosmic law and order, but is also applied to the teachings of the Buddha. In Buddhist philosophy, dhamma/dharma is also the term for phenomena, Dharma in Jainism refers to the teachings of tirthankara and the body of doctrine pertaining to the purification and moral transformation of human beings. For Sikhs, the word means the path of righteousness. The Classical Sanskrit noun dharma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, the word dharma was already in use in the historical Vedic religion, and its meaning and conceptual scope has evolved over several millennia. The antonym of dharma is adharma, the Classical Sanskrit noun dharma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, which means to hold, maintain, keep, and takes a meaning of what is established or firm, and hence law. It is derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman-, with a meaning of bearer, supporter. In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, figuratively, it means sustainer and supporter. It is semantically similar to the Greek Ethos, in Classical Sanskrit, the noun becomes thematic, dharma-. The word dharma derives from Proto-Indo-European root *dʰer-, which in Sanskrit is reflected as class-1 root √dhṛ, etymologically it is related to Avestan √dar-, Latin firmus, Lithuanian derė́ti, Lithuanian dermė and darna and Old Church Slavonic drъžati. Classical Sanskrit word dharmas would formally match with Latin o-stem firmus from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-s holding, were it not for its development from earlier Rigvedic n-stem. In Classical Sanskrit, and in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Atharvaveda, in Pāli, it is rendered dhamma. In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects it occurs as dharm. Dharma is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion and it has multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is difficult to provide a concise definition for dharma, as the word has a long and varied history and straddles a complex set of meanings. There is no equivalent single word translation for dharma in western languages, there have been numerous, conflicting attempts to translate ancient Sanskrit literature with the word dharma into German, English and French. The concept, claims Paul Horsch, has caused difficulties for modern commentators and translators. Dharma root is dhri, which means ‘to support, hold and it is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant
18.
Tao
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Tao or Dao is a Chinese word signifying way, path, route, key or sometimes more loosely doctrine or principle. The Tao differs from conventional ontology in that it is an active and holistic practice of the order of Nature and its universal awakening. The Tao is eternally nameless” and to be distinguished from the countless named things which are considered to be its manifestations, the Tao lends its name to the religious tradition and philosophical tradition that are both referred to in English with the single term Taoism. The word Tao has a variety of meanings in ancient and modern Chinese language. Aside from its purely prosaic use to mean road, channel, path, principle, or similar, the Tao can be roughly thought of as the flow of the Universe, or as some essence or pattern behind the natural world that keeps the Universe balanced and ordered. It is related to the idea of qi, the energy of action. The Tao is a non-dualistic principle – it is the whole from which all the individual elements of the Universe derive. The Tao is more expressed in the relationship between wu and yinyang, leading to its central principle of wu wei. The Tao is usually described in terms of elements of nature, like water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous. Much of Taoist philosophy centers on the continuity of the natural world. In all its uses, the Tao is considered to have qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words. It can, however, be known or experienced, and its principles can be followed or practiced, much of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of the Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so. The Tao was shared with Confucianism, Chán and Zen Buddhism and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general. In Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to one with the Tao or to harmonise ones will with Nature in order to achieve effortless action. This involves meditative and moral practices, important in this respect is the Taoist concept of De. De is the generally used to refer to proper adherence to the Tao. Particular things that manifest from the Tao have their own nature that they follow, in accordance with the Tao. Historically, the concept of De differed significantly between Taoists and Confucianists and this led to some philosophical and political conflicts between Taoists and Confucianisms
19.
Monism
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Monism is the view that attributes oneness or singleness to a concept. Substance monism is the view that a variety of existing things can be explained in terms of a single reality or substance. Another definition states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them and this is often termed priority monism, and is the view that only one thing is ontologically basic or prior to everything else. Another distinction is the difference between substance and existence monism, or stuff monism and thing monism, substance monism posits that only one kind of stuff exists, although many things may be made out of this stuff. Existence monism posits that, strictly speaking, there only a single thing. The restricted definition, this not only unity of origin. Although the term monism is derived from Western philosophy to typify positions in the mind–body problem, in modern Hinduism, the term absolute monism is being used for Advaita Vedanta. The mind–body problem in philosophy examines the relationship between mind and matter, and in particular the relationship between consciousness and the brain and it was later also applied to the theory of absolute identity set forth by Hegel and Schelling. Thereafter the term was more used, for any theory postulating a unifying principle. The opponent thesis of dualism also was broadened, to include pluralism, according to Urmson, as a result of this extended use, the term is systematically ambiguous. According to Jonathan Schaffer, monism lost popularity due to the emergence of Analytic philosophy in the twentieth century. Carnap and Ayer, who were proponents of positivism, ridiculed the whole question as incoherent mysticism. Monism is also relevant to the philosophy of mind, where various positions are defended. g. Metaphysical nihilism, negates any of the above categories, eliminative Materialism, according to which everything is physical and mental things do not exist b. Moreover, they do not define the meaning of real, while the lack of information makes it difficult in some cases to be sure of the details, the following pre-Socratic philosophers thought in monistic terms, Thales, Water. Reality is some, one thing, but we know what. Parmenides argued that Being or Reality is a perfect sphere, unchanging. Neopythagorians such as Apollonius of Tyana centered their cosmologies on the Monad or One, Stoics taught that there is only one substance, identified as God
20.
Dualism
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Dualism denotes the state of two parts. Moral dualism is the belief of the complement of or conflict between the benevolent and the malevolent. It simply implies that there are two moral opposites at work, independent of any interpretation of what might be moral and independent of how these may be represented. Moral opposites might, for example, exist in a worldview which has one god, more than one god, by contrast, ditheism or bitheism implies two gods. While bitheism implies harmony, ditheism implies rivalry and opposition, such as good and evil, or light and dark, or summer and winter. For example, a system would be one in which one god is a creator. Alternatively, in ontological dualism, the world is divided into two overarching categories, moral dualism is the belief of the great complement or conflict between the benevolent and the malevolent. Like ditheism/bitheism, moral dualism does not imply the absence of monist or monotheistic principles, for example, Mazdaism is both dualistic and monotheistic since in that philosophy God—the Creator—is purely good, and the antithesis—which is also uncreated—is an absolute one. This is also true for the lesser-known Christian gnostic religions, such as Bogomils, Catharism, duality with pluralism is considered a logical fallacy. Moral dualism began as a theological belief, Dualism was first seen implicitly in Egyptian Religious beliefs by the contrast of the gods Set and Osiris. The first explicit conception of dualism came from the Ancient Persian Religion of Zoroastrianism around the mid-fifth century BC, Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion that believes that Ahura Mazda is the eternal creator of all good things. Any violations of Ahura Mazdas order arise from druj, which is everything uncreated, from this comes a significant choice for humans to make. Either they fully participate in life for Ahura Mazda or they do not. Personal dualism is more distinct in the beliefs of later religions. The religious dualism of Christianity between good and evil is not a perfect dualism as God will inevitably destroy Satan, early Christian Dualism is largely based on Platonic Dualism. There is also a personal dualism in Christianity with a distinction based on the idea of an immaterial Christian Soul. In theology, dualism may refer to duotheism, bitheism, or ditheism, although ditheism/bitheism imply moral dualism, they are not equivalent, ditheism/bitheism implies two gods, while moral dualism does not imply any -theism whatsoever. Dualism can also refer to the relationship between God and creation, a dualism of God and creation exists in some traditions of Christianity, like Paulicianism, Catharism, and Gnosticism
21.
Monotheism
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Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is all-powerful and interferes in the world. Another, more broad definition of monotheism, is the belief in one god, a distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform monotheism which, while recognising various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. There are also monotheistic parody religions, such as Pastafarianism, the word monotheism comes from the Greek μόνος meaning single and θεός meaning god. The English term was first used by Henry More, according to Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity. Scholars of religion largely abandoned that view in the 19th century in favour of a progression from animism via polytheism to monotheism. Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt had postulated an Urmonotheismus, original or primitive monotheism in the 1910s and it was objected that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism. Some writers believe that the concept of monotheism sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism and monolatrism, quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenatens Great Hymn to the Aten. A possible inclination towards monotheism emerged during the Vedic period in Iron-Age South Asia, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, in particular, in the comparatively late tenth book, dated to the early Iron Age, e. g. in the Nasadiya sukta. While all adherents of the Abrahamic religions consider themselves to be monotheists, Judaism does not consider Christianity to be monotheistic, Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic, a one, indivisible. The Babylonian Talmud references other, foreign gods as non-existent entities to whom humans mistakenly ascribe reality, One of the best-known statements of Rabbinical Judaism on monotheism is the Second of Maimonides 13 Principles of faith, God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species, nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity. Judaism and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism, Judaism uses the term shituf to refer to the worship of God in a manner which Judaism does not deem to be monotheistic. During the 8th century BCE, the worship of YHWH in Israel was in competition with other cults. Some scholars hypothesize that Judaism was originally a form of monolatrism or henotheism, in this hypothesis both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah had YHWH as their state god, while also acknowledging the existence of other gods. Shema Yisrael are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the service in Judaism. It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, despite at least one earlier local synod rejecting the claim of Arius, this Christological issue was to be one of the items addressed at the First Council of Nicaea
22.
Protestant Reformation
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The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
23.
Relationship between religion and science
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The relationship between religion and science has been a subject of study since classical antiquity, addressed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. Both science and religion are social and cultural endeavors that vary across cultures and have changed over time. Most scientific and technical innovations prior to the revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions. Elements of the method were pioneered by ancient pagan, Islamic. During the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham. Roger Bacon, who is credited with formalizing the scientific method, was a Franciscan friar. Hinduism has historically embraced reason and empiricism, holding that science brings legitimate, confucian thought has held different views of science over time. Most Buddhists today view science as complementary to their beliefs and this thesis is held by some contemporary scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Steven Weinberg and Carl Sagan, and some creationists. While the conflict thesis remains popular for the public, it has lost favor among most contemporary historians of science. Many scientists, philosophers, and theologians throughout history, such as Francisco Ayala, Kenneth R. Miller, public acceptance of scientific facts may be influenced by religion, many in the United States reject the idea of evolution by natural selection, especially regarding human beings. It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, the term scientist was first coined by the naturalist-theologian William Whewell in 1834 and it was applied to those who sought knowledge and understanding of nature. From the ancient world, starting with Aristotle, to the 19th century, even in the 19th century, a treatise by Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Taits, which helped define much of modern physics, was titled Treatise on Natural Philosophy. In the 19th century, Max Müller noted that what is called ancient religion today, for example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities. The Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, also means law or duty, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. This typology is similar to ones used by theologians Ian Barbour, more typologies that categorize this relationship can be found among the works of other science and religion scholars such as theologian and biochemist Arthur Peacocke. According to Lawrence Krauss, compatibility or incompatibility is a theological concern, because of this both are incompatible as currently practiced and the debate of compatibility or incompatibility will be eternal. Philosopher and physicist Victor J. Richard Dawkins is hostile to fundamentalist religion because it actively debauches the scientific enterprise, according to Dawkins, religion subverts science and saps the intellect
24.
New religious movement
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NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the world by embracing individualism whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia, most have only a few members, some have thousands, and only very few have more than one million members. New religions have often faced a hostile reception from established religious organisations, in Western nations, a secular anti-cult movement and a Christian countercult movement emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to oppose emergent groups. In the 1970s, the field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion. There are now several organisations and peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject. Scholars continue to try to reach definitions and define boundaries, there is no singular, agreed upon criteria for defining a new religious movement. However, the term usually requires that the group be both of recent origin and different from existing religions, there is debate as to what the term new should designate in this context. According to him, NRMs constituted those religious groups that have found, from the perspective of the dominant religious community, to be not just different. This definition would mean that which religions were regarded as NRMs would differ from country to country and would be open to change, as noted by scholars of religion Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, new religions are just young religions. Melton has stated that those NRMs which were offshoots of older religious groups, tended to resemble their parent group far more than each other. One question that faces scholars of religion is when a new religious movement ceases to be new, some NRMs are strongly counter-cultural and alternative in the society they appear in, while others are far more similar to a societys established traditional religions. There are also problems in the use of religion within the new religious movements. Since at least the early 2000s, most sociologists of religion have used the new religious movement to avoid the pejorative undertones of terms like cult. These are words that have used in different ways by different groups. For instance, from the nineteenth century onward a number of sociologists used the terms cult, the term cult is used in reference to devotion or dedication to a particular person or place. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church devotion to Mary and it is also used in non-religious contexts to refer to fandoms devoted to television shows like The Prisoner, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the United States, the term began to be used in a pejorative manner to refer to Spiritualism
25.
Great Awakening
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The term Great Awakening can refer to several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century, the Awakenings all resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal guilt and of their need of salvation by Christ. It brought Christianity to African-American slaves and was an event in New England that challenged established authority. It had little impact on Anglicans, and Quakers, unlike the Second Great Awakening, which began about 1800 and reached out to the unchurched, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members. It changed their rituals, their piety, and their self-awareness, edwardss congregation was involved in a revival later called the Frontier Revivals in the mid-1730s, though this was on the wane by 1737. But as American religious historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom noted, the Great Awakening was still to come, ushered in by the Grand Itinerant, the great British Evangelist George Whitefield. Whitefield arrived in Georgia in 1738, and returned in 1739 for a visit of the Colonies, making a triumphant campaign north from Philadelphia to New York. In 1740, he visited New England, and at every place he visited, ministers from various evangelical Protestant denominations supported the Great Awakening. In the middle colonies, he influenced not only the British churches, additionally, pastoral styles began to change. In the late period, most pastors read their sermons. Nathan Hatch argues that the movement of the 1740s played a key role in the development of democratic thought. As well as the belief of the press and the belief that information should be shared. These concepts ushered in the period of the American Revolution and this contributed to create a demand for religious freedom. The Great Awakening represented the first time African Americans embraced Christianity in large numbers, the Second Great Awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the United States beginning in the late eighteenth century and lasting until the middle of the nineteenth century. While it occurred in all parts of the United States, it was strong in the Northeast. This awakening was unique in that it moved beyond the elite of New England to those who were less wealthy. The center of revivalism was the so-called Burned-over district in western New York, named for its overabundance of hellfire-and-damnation preaching, the region produced dozens of new denominations, communal societies, and reform. Closely related to the Second Great Awakening were other reform movements such as temperance, abolition, the temperance movement encouraged people to abstain from consuming alcoholic drinks in order to preserve family order
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New Age
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The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual and rarely use the term New Age themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. Although the exact origins of the phenomenon remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s and it expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States. By the start of the 21st century, the term New Age was increasingly rejected within this milieu, despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age have been identified. Theologically, the New Age typically adopts a belief in a form of divinity which imbues all of the universe. There is thus a strong emphasis on the authority of the self. This is accompanied by a belief in a wide variety of semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate. There is also a focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine. Those involved in the New Age have been primarily from middle, the New Age has generated criticism from established Christian organisations as well as modern Pagan and indigenous communities. From the 1990s onward, the New Age became the subject of research by scholars of religious studies. The New Age phenomenon has proved difficult to define, with much scholarly disagreement as to its scope, the scholars Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus have even suggested that it remains among the most disputed of categories in the study of religion. According to Hammer, this New Age was a fluid and fuzzy cultic milieu and he thus argued against the idea that the New Age could be considered a unified ideology or Weltanschauung, although he believed that it could be considered a more of less unified movement. Conversely, various scholars have suggested that the New Age is insufficiently homogenous to be regarded as a singular movement. There is no authority within the New Age phenomenon that can determine what counts as New Age. Many of those groups and individuals who could analytically be categorised as part of the New Age reject the term New Age in reference to themselves, some even express active hostility to the term. Rather than terming themselves New Agers, those involved in this milieu commonly describe themselves as spiritual seekers, other figures have argued that the sheer diversity of the New Age renders it too problematic for such use. In discussing the New Age, academics have varyingly referred to New Age spirituality and those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be religion—negatively associating that term solely with organized religion—and instead describe their practices as spirituality
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Deconstruction and religion
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This article discusses those who apply deconstruction, developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, to religion. Those who take an approach to religion identify closely with the work of Derrida. Theologian John D. Caputo describes Derridas work in the 1970s as a Nietzschean free play of signifiers while he describes Derridas work in the 1990s as a religion without religion. However, Martin Hagglund argues against claims that deconstruction is a religious discourse seeking transcendence, and shows that the mortal, a vital feature of Derridas work later in life is the notion of undeconstructibility. In Derridas thought, deconstruction exists in the interval between constructions and undeconstructibility, the primary exemplar of this relationship is the relationship between the law, deconstruction, and justice. Derrida summarizes the relationship by saying that justice is the condition that makes deconstruction possible. However, the referred to by Derrida is indeterminate and not a transcendent ideal. The law is made up of human constructions while justice is the undeconstructible call to make laws. The law belongs to the realm of the present, possible, and calculable, while justice belongs to the realm of the absent, impossible, Deconstruction bridges the gap between the law and justice as the experience of applying the law in a just manner. Justice demands that a singular occurrence be responded to with a new, thus, a deconstructive reading of the law is a leap from calculability towards incalculability. In deconstruction, justice takes on the structure of a promise that absence and impossibility can be made present, insofar as deconstruction is motivated by such a promise, it escapes the traditional presence/absence binary because a promise is neither present nor absent. Therefore, a reading will never definitively achieve justice. Deconstruction-and-religion understands religion in terms of what is shared among the Abrahamic faiths, in Derridas work, there is a suggestive notion of a quasi-religion locatable in the cluster of concepts surrounding the affirmation of that which is experienced as undeconstructible. Derridas acts of affirmation go by such as the unconditional without sovereignty, the weak force of the undeconstructible. Derrida sometimes suggested that such acts of affirmation can be used to describe God, Derrida saw the God of negative theology as a crude precursor to deconstructions central concept of différance. However, the God of negative theology is qualitatively different than the idea of différance because the God of negative theology functions as an ultimate, Derrida in the middle-phase of his career re-visits negative theology in his Comment ne pas parler - Dénégations. Robert Magliola explains at length the several ways—most of them adapted from Talmudic tactics—that Dénégations uses to disrupt or confound possible structural solidarity with negative theology, via many examples from Derridas text, Magliola demonstrates how these Derridean tactics work. That neither mean nor do not mean what they meant in his earlier oeuvres, central to deconstruction is the idea of différance
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Abrahamic religions
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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the phrase, Abrahamic religion, may mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a father in faith, there is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim, indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. Jewish tradition claims descent from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and it is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abrahams son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Báb, regarded by Baháís as a predecessor to Baháulláh, was a Sayyid, or a descendant of Muhammad. Tradition also holds that Baháulláh is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, while there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, there are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity, and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháí Faith not shared by Judaism. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob and it has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion—Christianity—with distinctive beliefs, Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be God the Son, one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches, dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones. Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Quran to be the authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices of a central. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam through the messenger to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two branches, each of which now have a number of denominations
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Jewish history
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Jewish history is the history of the Jews, and their religion and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. The Jewish diaspora began with the Assyrian conquest and continued on a larger scale with the Babylonian conquest. Jews were also widespread throughout the Roman Empire, and this carried on to an extent in the period of Byzantine rule in the central. In 638 CE the Byzantine Empire lost control of the Levant, the Arab Islamic Empire under Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem and the lands of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, during that time, Jews were generally accepted in society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed. During the Classical Ottoman period, the Jews, together with most other communities of the empire, in the 17th century, there were many significant Jewish populations in Western Europe. During the period of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, significant changes occurred within the Jewish community, Jews began in the 18th century to campaign for emancipation from restrictive laws and integration into the wider European society. During the 1870s and 1880s the Jewish population in Europe began to actively discuss immigration back to Israel. The Zionist movement was founded officially in 1884, meanwhile, the Jews of Europe and the United States gained success in the fields of science, culture and the economy. Among those generally considered the most famous were scientist Albert Einstein, a large number of Nobel Prize winners at this time were Jewish, as is still the case. In 1933, with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, economic crises, racial anti-Semitic laws, and a fear of an upcoming war led many Jews to flee from Europe to Palestine, to the United States and to the Soviet Union. In 1939 World War II began and until 1941 Hitler occupied almost all of Europe and this genocide, in which approximately six million Jews were methodically exterminated, is known as The Holocaust or Shoah. In Poland, three million Jews were killed in gas chambers in all concentration camps combined, with one million at the Auschwitz concentration camp alone, in 1945 the Jewish resistance organizations in Palestine unified and established the Jewish Resistance Movement. The movement began attacking the British authority, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed on May 14,1948, the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel to be known as the State of Israel. Immediately afterwards all neighbouring Arab states attacked, yet the newly formed IDF resisted, in 1949 the war ended and the state of Israel started building the state and absorbing massive waves of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world. Today, Israel is a democracy with a population of over 8 million people. The largest Jewish communities are in Israel and the United States, with communities in France, Argentina, Russia, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada. For statistics related to modern Jewish demographics see Jewish population, the history of the early Jews, and their neighbors, centers on the Fertile Crescent and east coast of the Mediterranean Sea
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History of Christianity
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The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christendom, and the Church with its various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread to all of Europe in the Middle Ages, Christianity expanded throughout the world during Europes Age of Exploration from the Renaissance onwards, becoming the worlds largest religion. Today there are more than two billion Christians worldwide, during its early history, Christianity grew from a 1st-century Jewish following to a religion that existed across the entire Greco-Roman world and beyond. The Roman persecution of Christians ended in AD313 when Constantine the Great decreed tolerance for the religion and he then called the First Council of Nicaea in AD325, beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils. The Apostolic Church was the community led by the apostles, and to some degree, in his Great Commission, the resurrected Jesus commanded that his teachings be spread to all the world. While the historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles is disputed by critics, Acts gives a history of the Church from this commission in 1, 3–11 to the spread of the religion among the Gentiles and the eastern Mediterranean by Paul and others. The first Christians were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes, in other words, Jesus preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples, see for example Matthew 10. Circumcision in particular was considered repulsive by Greeks and Hellenists while circumcision advocates were labelled Judaisers, related issues are still debated today. The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities and this eventually led to their expulsion from the synagogues, according to one theory of the Council of Jamnia. Acts records the martyrdom of the Christian leaders, Stephen and James of Zebedee, the name Christian was first applied to the disciples in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11,26. Some contend that the term Christian was first coined as a term, meaning little Christs, and was meant as a mockery. The sources for the beliefs of the community include the Gospels. According to a recorded by Eusebius and Epiphanius, the Jerusalem church fled to Pella at the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War. The post-apostolic period concerns the time after the death of the apostles until persecutions ended with the legalisation of Christian worship under Emperors Constantine the Great, according to the New Testament, Christians were subject to various persecutions from the beginning. This involved even death for Christians such as Stephen and James, according to Church tradition, it was under Neros persecution that Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome. Similarly, several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and stress endurance through them, the last and most severe persecution organised by the imperial authorities was the Diocletianic Persecution,303 -311. In spite of these sometimes intense persecutions, the Christian religion continued its spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin, There is no agreement on how Christianity managed to spread so successfully prior to the Edict of Milan and the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. In The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark argues that Christianity triumphed over paganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways
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Muslim history
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The history of Islam concerns the political, economic, social, and cultural developments of the Islamic civilization. Despite concerns about reliability of sources, most historians believe that Islam originated in Mecca. A century later, the Islamic empire extended from Iberia in the west to the Indus river in the east, polities such as those ruled by the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, and Mamluks were among the most influential powers in the world. The Islamic civilization gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable astronomers, mathematicians, during the 19th and early 20th centuries most parts of the Muslim world fell under influence or direct control of European Great Powers. Their efforts to win independence and build modern nation states over the course of the last two centuries continue to reverberate to the present day, the following timeline can serve as a rough visual guide to the most important polities in the Islamic world prior to the First World War. It covers major historical centers of power and culture, including Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Levant, Egypt, Maghreb, al-Andalus, Transoxania, Hindustan, dates are approximate, consult particular articles for details. The study of the earliest periods in Islamic history is difficult by a lack of sources. For example, the most important historiographical source for the origins of Islam is the work of al-Tabari, while al-Tabari was an excellent historian by the standards of his time and place, use of his work as a source is problematic for two reasons. For one, his style of historical writing permitted liberal use of mythical, legendary, stereotyped, distorted, Second, al-Tabaris descriptions of the beginning of Islam post-date the events by a large amount of time, al-Tabari having died in 923 CE. Differing views about how to deal with the sources has led to the development of four different approaches to the history of early Islam. All four methods have some level of support today, the descriptive method uses the outlines of Islamic traditions, while being adjusted for the stories of miracles and faith-centred claims within those sources. Edward Gibbon and Gustav Weil represent some of the first historians following the descriptive method, on the source critical method, a comparison of all the sources is sought in order to identify which informants to the sources are weak and thereby distinguish spurious material. The work of William Montgomery Watt and that of Wilferd Madelung are two source critical examples, on the tradition critical method, the sources are believed to be based on oral traditions with unclear origins and transmission history, and so are treated very cautiously. Ignaz Goldziher was the pioneer of the critical method. The skeptical method doubts nearly all of the material in the traditional sources, an early example of the skeptical method was the work of John Wansbrough. Nowadays, the popularity of the different methods employed varies on the scope of the works under consideration, for overview treatments of the history of early Islam, the descriptive approach is more popular. For scholars who look at the beginnings of Islam in depth, after the 8th century CE, the quality of sources improves. For the time prior to the beginning of Islam—in the 6th century CE—sources are superior as well, Islam arose within the context of Late Antiquity
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Indian religions
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These religions are also classified as Eastern religions. Although Indian religions are connected through the history of India, they constitute a wide range of religious communities, evidence attesting to prehistoric religion in the Indian subcontinent derives from scattered Mesolithic rock paintings. The Harappan people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which lasted from 3300 to 1300 BCE, had an early urbanised culture which predates the Vedic religion. The documented history of Indian religions begins with the historical Vedic religion, the practices of the early Indo-Iranians. The period of the composition, redaction and commentary of these texts is known as the Vedic period, the Reform or Shramanic Period between 800–200 BCE marks a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions. This period also saw the writing of the Upanishads and the rise of Vedanta, the early Islamic period also gave rise to new movements. Sikhism was founded in the 15th century on the teachings of Guru Nanak, the vast majority of its adherents originate in the Punjab region. With the colonial dominance of the British a reinterpretation and synthesis of Hinduism arose, james Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations. This periodisation has been criticised, for the misconceptions it has given rise to, another periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, although this periodization has also received criticism. The division in Ancient-Medieval-Modern overlooks the fact that the Muslim-conquests took place between the eight and the century, while the south was never completely conquered. According to Thapar, a periodisation could also be based on significant social and economic changes, smart and Michaels seem to follow Mills periodisation, while Flood and Muesse follow the ancient, classical, mediaeval and modern periods periodisation. Evidence attesting to prehistoric religion in the Indian subcontinent derives from scattered Mesolithic rock paintings such as at Bhimbetka, depicting dances, neolithic agriculturalists inhabiting the Indus River Valley buried their dead in a manner suggestive of spiritual practices that incorporated notions of an afterlife and belief in magic. Marshalls interpretations have been debated, and sometimes disputed over the following decades. One Indus valley seal shows a seated, possibly ithyphallic and tricephalic, figure with a horned headdress, surrounded by animals. Marshall identified the figure as a form of the Hindu god Shiva, who is associated with asceticism, yoga, and linga, regarded as a lord of animals. The seal has hence come to be known as the Pashupati Seal, after Pashupati, while Marshalls work has earned some support, many critics and even supporters have raised several objections. Doris Srinivasan has argued that the figure does not have three faces, or yogic posture, and that in Vedic literature Rudra was not a protector of wild animals. Despite the criticisms of Marshalls association of the seal with a proto-Shiva icon, historians like Heinrich Zimmer, Thomas McEvilley are of the opinion that there exists some link between first Jain Tirthankara Rishabha & Indus Valley civilisation
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History of Hinduism
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History of Hinduism denotes a wide variety of related Hindu denominations native to the Indian Subcontinent, most of whom live in modern-day Nepal and India. Its history overlaps or coincides with the development of Indian religions since Iron Age India and it has thus been called the oldest living religion in the world. Scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots, the history of Hinduism is often divided into periods of development, with the first period being that of the historical Vedic religion dated from about 1900 BCE to 1400 BCE. The subsequent period, between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, is a point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions, and a formative period for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Epic and Early Puranic period, from c.200 BCE to 500 CE, saw the classical Golden Age of Hinduism (, in this period the six branches of Hindu philosophy evolved, namely Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta. Monotheistic sects like Shaivism and Vaishnavism developed during this period through the Bhakti movement. Hinduism under both Hindu and Islamic rulers from c.1200 to 1750 CE, saw the prominence of the Bhakti movement. The colonial period saw the emergence of various Hindu reform movements partly inspired by movements, such as Unitarianism. The Partition of India in 1947 was along religious lines, with the Republic of India emerging with a Hindu majority. During the 20th century, due to the Indian diaspora, Hindu minorities have formed in all continents, with the largest communities in absolute numbers in the United States, Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions. After the Vedic period, between 500-200 BCE and c.300 CE, at the beginning of the Epic and Puranic c. q. Preclassical period, the Hindu synthesis emerged, which incorporated śramaṇic and Buddhist influences and this synthesis emerged under the pressure of the success of Buddhism and Jainism. During the Gupta reign the first Puranas were written, which were used to disseminate mainstream religious ideology amongst pre-literate, the resulting Puranic Hinduism differed markedly from the earlier Brahmanism of the Dharmaśāstras and the smritis. Hinduism co-existed for several centuries with Buddhism, to gain the upper hand at all levels in the 8th century. From northern India this Hindu synthesis, and its divisions, spread to southern India. This process of assimilation explains the diversity of local cultures in India half shrouded in a taddered cloak of conceptual unity. James Mill, in his The History of British India, distinguished three phases in the history of India, namely Hindu, Muslim and British civilisations and this periodisation has been criticised, for the misconceptions it has given rise to. Another periodisation is the division into ancient, classical, medieval and modern periods, the division in Ancient-Medieval-Modern overlooks the fact that the Muslim-conquests took place between the eight and the fourteenth century, while the south was never completely conquered
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History of Buddhism
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This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. The religion evolved as it spread from the region of the Indian subcontinent through Central, East. At one time or another, it influenced most of the Asian continent, siddhārtha Gautama was the historical founder of Buddhism. He was born a Kshatriya warrior prince in Lumbini, Shakya Republic, the dates of his birth and death are still a point of controversy but most scholars suggested that the Buddha died within approximately a few decades on either side of 400 B. C. His particular family of Sakya Kshatriyas may have made claims of belonging to a Brahmin lineage, as indicated by the family name Gautama, 19th-century scholars, such as Eitel, connected it to the Brahmin Rishi Gautama. While some Buddhist texts, use the epthet, Angirasa, which refers to the Brahmin Sage Angirasa, siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment sitting under a peepal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India. Gautama, from then on, was known as The Enlightened One, Buddha found patronage in the ruler of Magadha, emperor Bimbisāra. The emperor accepted Buddhism as his faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist vihāras. This eventually led to the renaming of the region as Bihār. At the Deer Park near Vārāṇasī in northern India, Buddha set in motion Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to a group of five companions with whom he had previously sought enlightenment. Together with the Buddha they formed the first Saṅgha According to the scriptures, later, after an initial reluctance, fully ordained Buddhist nuns are called bhikkhunis. Mahapajapati Gotami, the aunt and foster mother of Buddha, was the first bhikkhuni, for the remaining years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain of Northeastern India and other regions. Buddha attained parinirvāṇa in the jungles of Kuśināra. Just before Buddha died, he told his followers that thereafter the Dharma would be their leader. The early arhants considered Gautamas words the source of Dharma and Vinaya. Nonetheless, no ungarnished collection of his sayings has survived, the versions of the canon preserved in Pāli, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan are sectarian variants of a corpus that grew and crystallized during three centuries of oral transmission. Early Buddhism remained centered on the Ganges valley, spreading gradually from its ancient heartland, the canonical sources record two councils, where the monastic Sangha established the textual collections based on the Buddhas teachings and settled certain disciplinary problems within the community. The objective of the council was to all of Buddhas teachings into the doctrinal teachings and Abhidhamma
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Timeline of Jainism
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Jainism is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. It prescribes ahimsa towards all living beings to the most possible extent, the three main teachings of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada, aparigraha. Followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, monks follow them completely whereas śrāvakas observe them partially. Self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism,584, 979–574,979 BCE, Naminatha, 21st Tirthankara Neminatha, 22nd Tirthankara, According to Jain beliefs, he lived 84,650 years before the 23rd Tirthankara, Parshvanatha. He existed in the Mahabharata era and was the brother of Krishna. 877–777 BCE, Parshva, 23rd Tirthankar of Jainism and he is the earliest Jain leader who can be reliably dated. 599–527 BCE, Mahavira, 24th and last Tirthankar of this era, 5th century BCE, Siddhasen Diwakar d.507 BCE, Ganahar Sudharma Swami d.357 BCE, Acharya Bhadrabahu d.162 BCE, Hathigumpha inscription mentions the Navkar Mantra and Jain monarch Kharvela. The Tirumalai complex in Tamil Nadu is established, 10th century Ancient Jain temple of Gurjiwada, Cudnem, Bicholim, Goa was constructed. 17th century 1664, Digambar Terapanth 1658, Digambara Jain Lal Mandir temple in Delhi built, carving work began in 1966 under the sculptor Rejala Gopalkrishna Shenoy of Karkala. 1976, In Arya Samaj Education Trust, Delhi & Others v,2006, the Supreme Court opined that Jain Religion is indisputably not a part of the Hindu religion 2008, Delhi city government declares Jain community as a minority as per the Supreme Court Orders. 2014, Jain community is notified as minority at national level, Buddhism and Jainism History of Jainism Jain philosophy Shramana Timeline of Buddhism Kerkar, Rajendra, TNN, Jain heritage dwindles as govt sits pretty, The Times of India Bedrij, Orest. The Greatest Achievement, Miracle after Miracle the Easy Way, exodus III, Great Joy and Glory to the Most High as You. Framing the Jina, Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History, shah, Natubhai, Jainism, The World of Conquerors,1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1938-2 Sangave, Dr. Vilas Adinath. Facets of Jainology, Selected Research Papers on Jain Society, Religion, and Culture
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History of Sikhism
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The history of Sikhism started with Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru in the fifteenth century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. The religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699, the latter baptised five persons from different social backgrounds to form Khalsa. The first five, Pure Ones, then baptised Gobind Singh into the Khalsa fold and this gives the order of Khalsa, a history of around 300 years. The history of Sikhism is closely associated with the history of Punjab, during the Mughal rule of India, Sikhism was in conflict with the Islamic administration, while it cherished saints from Hinduism and Islam. Prominent Sikh Gurus were killed by Islamic rulers for refusing to convert to Islam, subsequently, Sikhism militarised to oppose Mughal hegemony. The establishment of the Sikh Empire is commonly considered the zenith of Sikhism at political level, during this time the Sikh Empire came to include Kashmir, Ladakh, and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the Commander-in-chief of the Sikh army along the North West Frontier, the Empires secular administration integrated innovative military, economic and governmental reforms. Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, was born to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta, in a Hindu family in the village of Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore. His father, a Hindu named Mehta Kalu, was a Patwari, Nanaks mother was Mata Tripta, and he had one older sister, Bibi Nanki. From early childhood, Bibi Nanki saw in her brother the Light of God and she is known as the first disciple of Guru Nanak. Even as a boy, Nanak was fascinated by Hindu religion and it was during this period that Nanak was said to have met Kabir and Ravidass, saints revered by many. Nanak married Sulakhni, daughter of Moolchand Chona, a trader from Batala and his brother-in-law, Jai Ram, the husband of his sister Nanki, obtained a job for him in Sultanpur as the manager of the government granary. One morning, when he was twenty-eight, Guru Nanak Dev went as usual down to the river to bathe and it was said that he was gone for three days. When he reappeared, it is said he was filled with the spirit of God and his first words after his re-emergence were, There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim. With this secular principle he began his missionary work and he made four distinct major journeys, in the four different directions, which are called Udasis, spanning many thousands of kilometres, preaching the message of God. Guru Nanak spent the years of his life in Kartarpur where Langar free blessed food was available. The food would be partaken of by Hindus, rich, poor, Guru Nanak worked in the fields and earned his livelihood. After appointing Bhai Lehna as the new Sikh Guru, on 22 September 1539, aged 70, in 1538, Guru Nanak chose Lehna, his disciple, as a successor to the Guruship rather than one of his sons
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East Asian religions
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In the study of comparative religion, the East Asian religions form a subset of the Eastern religions. This group includes Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, and elements of Mahayana Buddhism, as well as new movements such as I-Kuan Tao, Chen Tao, Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo, Chondogyo. These traditions or religious focus on the East Asian concept of Tao 道. The place of East Asian religions among major religious groups is comparable to the Abrahamic religions, East Asian religions are dominant in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other countries within the East Asian cultural sphere. Early Chinese philosophies defined Tao and advocated cultivating Te in that Tao, some ancient schools have merged into traditions with different names or are no longer active, such as Mohism, while some such as Taoism persist to the modern day. East Asian beliefs include polytheism, nontheism, henotheism, monotheism, pantheism, panentheism and agnosticism, East Asian religions have many Western adherents, though their interpretations may differ significantly from traditional East Asian thought and culture. Despite a wide variety of terms, the described as Far Eastern religions. Syncretism is a feature of East Asian religions, often making it difficult to recognize individual faiths. Further complications arise from the inconsistent use of many terms, Tao religion is often used for Taoism itself, especially Tao chiao, as well as being used as an identifying term for Tao-based new religious movements. The term Far Eastern religion can be used to only to faiths incorporating Tao, may include Chan and Japanese Buddhism. These problems in distinguishing religious practices and with inconsistency in terminology can make discussion of East Asian religions difficult, Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. Believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered, Tao is associated with nature, the flow of qi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao. Similar to the theology of Western scholars, Tao is compared to what it is not. It is often considered to be the source of existence and non-existence. Tao is often associated with proper attitude, morality and lifestyle, in practice, the exact meaning of proper varies among the East Asian faiths and their branches. This is intimately tied to the concept of Te. Te is the expression of Tao. Generally, those closer to Taoism express Te as integrity or wholeness
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History of Taoism
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The history of Taoism stretches throughout Chinese history. Originating in prehistoric China, it has exerted an influence over Chinese culture throughout the ages. Taoism evolved in response to changing times, with its doctrine, the acceptance of Taoism by the ruling class has waxed and waned, alternately enjoying periods of favor and rejection. Most recently, Taoism has emerged from a period of suppression and is undergoing a revival in China, Laozi is traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoist religion and is closely associated in this context with original, or primordial, Taoism. Whether he actually existed is disputed, however, the attributed to him - the Daodejing - is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC. However, Taoism clearly predates Laozi as he refers to The Tao masters of antiquity in Chapter 15 of the Daodejing, moreover, the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi Is often associated with origin of the Tao. Sinologist Isabelle Robinet identifies four components in the emergence of Taoism, Philosophical Taoism, in particular, many Taoist practices drew from the Warring-States-era phenomena of the Wu and the Fangshi, even though later Taoists insisted that this was not the case. Both terms were used to designate individuals dedicated to, methods of longevity and to ecstatic wanderings as well as exorcism, in the case of the wu, shamans or sorcerers is often used as a translation. The fangshi were philosophically close to the School of Yin-Yang, the term Daojia was coined during the Han Dynasty. In Sima Qians history it refers to immortals, in Liu Xiang it refers to Laozi and Zhuangzi, the earliest commentary on the Dao De Jing is that of Heshang Gong, a legendary figure depicted as a teacher to the Han emperor. In the early Han Dynasty, the Tao came to be associated with or conflated with the Xian Di Emperor, a major text from the Huang-Lao movement would be the Huainanzi, which interprets earlier works of the Taoist canon in light of the quest for immortality. The Tianshi school was recognized by ruler Cao Cao in 215. Laozi received imperial recognition as a divinity in the mid-2nd century, the Celestial Masters activities did hasten the downfall of the Han Dynasty, largely because Zhangs grandson set up a theocratic state into what is now Sichuan province. The same could be said of their contemporaries, the Taoist-leaning Yellow Turban sect, during the Three Kingdoms Period, the Xuanxue school, including Wang Bi, focused on the texts of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Many of the members, including Wang Bi himself, were not religious in any sense. Wang Bi mostly focused on reconciling Confucian thought with Taoist thought, in addition, his commentary was compatible with Confucian ideas and Buddhist ideas that later entered China. This compatibility ensured Taoism would remain an important aspect of Chinese culture, Taoist alchemist Ge Hong, also known as Baopuzi was active in the third and fourth centuries and had great influence on later Taoism. Major scriptures were produced during this period, including The Shangqing
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Confucianism
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Confucianism, also known as Ruism, is described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or simply a way of life. In the Han dynasty, Confucian approaches edged out the proto-Taoist Huang-Lao, the disintegration of the Han political order in the second century CE opened the way for the doctrines of Buddhism and Neo-Taoism, which offered spiritual explanations lacking in Confucianism. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty of 618-907, in the late Tang, Confucianism developed in response to Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This reinvigorated form was adopted as the basis of the imperial exams, the abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the twentieth century blamed Confucianism for Chinas weaknesses. In the late twentieth century Confucian work ethic has been credited with the rise of the East Asian economy, with particular emphasis on the importance of the family and social harmony, rather than on an otherworldly source of spiritual values, the core of Confucianism is humanistic. While Tiān has some characteristics that overlap the category of deity, it is primarily an impersonal absolute principle, Confucianism focuses on the practical order that is given by a this-worldly awareness of the Tiān. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rén, yì, and lǐ, and zhì. Rén is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion and it is the virtue-form of Heaven. Yì is the upholding of righteousness and the disposition to do good. Lǐ is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life according to the law of Heaven. Zhì is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rén and yì. In the 20th century Confucianisms influence diminished greatly, in the last decades there have been talks of a Confucian Revival in the academic and the scholarly community and there has been a grassroots proliferation of various types of Confucian churches. In late 2015 many Confucian personalities formally established a national Holy Confucian Church in China to unify the many Confucian congregations, strictly speaking, there is no term in Chinese which directly corresponds to Confucianism. In the Chinese language, the character rú 儒 meaning scholar or learned man is used both in the past and the present to refer to things related to Confucianism. The character rú in ancient China has diverse meanings, Some examples include, weak, soft, to tame, to comfort and to educate or to refine. Rújiā contains the character jiā, which means family. Rújiào and Kǒngjiào contain the Chinese character jiào, the teaching or transmission, used in such terms as education
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Shinto
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Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified Shinto religion, practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods. The word Shinto was adopted, originally as Jindō or Shindō, from the written Chinese Shendao, the oldest recorded usage of the word Shindo is from the second half of the 6th century. Kami are defined in English as spirits, essences or gods, Kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity. Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, Shinto has 81,000 shrines and 85,000 priests in the country. According to Inoue, In modern scholarship, the term is used with reference to kami worship and related theologies, rituals. In these contexts, Shinto takes on the meaning of Japans traditional religion, as opposed to religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam. Shinto religious expressions have been distinguished by scholars into a series of categories, Shrine Shinto and it consists in taking part in worship practices and events at local shrines. Before the Meiji Restoration, shrines were disorganized institutions usually attached to Buddhist temples, the current successor to the imperial organization system, the Association of Shinto Shrines, oversees about 80,000 shrines nationwide. Folk Shinto includes the folk beliefs in deities and spirits. Practices include divination, spirit possession, and shamanic healing, some of their practices come from Buddhism, Taoism or Confucianism, but most come from ancient local traditions. Sect Shinto is a designation originally created in the 1890s to separate government-owned shrines from local organised religious communities. These communities originated especially in the Edo period, the basic difference between Shrine Shinto and Sect Shinto is that sects are a later development and grew self-consciously. They can identify a founder, a set of teachings. Sect Shinto groups are thirteen, and usually classified under five headings, pure Shinto sects, Confucian sects, mountain worship sects, purification sects, and faith-healing sects. Koshintō, literally Old Shinto, is a reconstructed Shinto from before the time of Buddhism, today based on Ainu religion and it continues the restoration movement begun by Hirata Atsutane. Many other sects and schools can be distinguished, Kami or shin is defined in English as god, spirit, spiritual essence, all these terms meaning the energy generating a thing. Since the Japanese language does not distinguish between singular and plural, kami refers to the divinity, or sacred essence, that manifests in multiple forms, rocks, trees, rivers, animals, places, and even people can be said to possess the nature of kami
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