Download - Classical belief systems
CLASSICAL BELIEF
SYSTEMSIn CONTEXT
Religious Diversity in Today’s World
Religions in Asia
Belief systems in CONTEXT Historians view religion in the context
of time and place. For example: Buddhists in India in the 300s ce were
not the same as Buddhists in Southeast Asia in the 1800s c.e. though some of the core beliefs remained unchanged.
Historians view religions as an influence ON culture AND influenced BY culture. For example: Christianity changed Roman culture
and the Renaissance in Europe influenced Christianity.
Belief systems as a study topic
Historians view religions as a part of human experience For example: Hinduism is not judged as
right or wrong in its beliefs or practices, but interpreted in how it influenced human history as it started in South Asia and spread elsewhere.
Confucianism is not judged as good or bad, but understood in the ways it influenced Chinese social classes, etc.
Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Greek Rationalism, Daoism
& Christianity
Belief Systems of the Classical Period
Hinduism-India
Buddhism-India to China
Zoroastrianism-Persia
Judaism-Mesopotamia
Christianity-Roman Empire
Foundations There is no recorded founder of
Hinduism – it is the oldest institutional religion of the early belief systems.
Judaism began in the Middle East around the 1200s bce when it had its own political empire.
First monotheistic religion-Based on the belief that God is active in the lives of humans
Foundations Daoism emerged in East Asia in the
600s to 300s BCE from the teachings of Laozi and later Zhuangzi
Zoroastrianism arose in Persia in the 500s BCE from the teachings of Zarathustra-Ideas about one god influence Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Foundations Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha),
the founder of Buddhism, was originally a Hindu in the upperclass.
Buddhism emerged in South Asia out of Hinduism starting in the 500s bce.
Foundations Jesus of Nazareth, the founder of
Christianity, was a lower-class Jew living in Roman controlled Middle East.
The Jesus movement became Christianity with non-Jewish converts based on the teachings of the Apostle Paul.
Existence after Death
Hinduism and Buddhism – Existence is cyclical until one breaks from the cycle and becomes eternally spirit.
Judaism (some forms), Zoroastrianism, & Christianity – Existence is linear; one lives and then becomes eternally spirit.
Spread
Groups within Buddhism and Christianity supported missionaries – men and women who purposely took the message of a religion into different regions.
Religions also spread through conquest, along trade routes, and through migrations.
Spread of Hinduism-Trade and Migration
Spread
Buddhism spread from South Asia into East and SE Asia.
Buddhism by the 500s ce was stronger in areas where it spread than where it originated.
How does this compare to Zoroastrianism? How does this compare with Hinduism?
Spread
Judaism spread after the Romans exiled Jews to new territories in Europe
Christianity spread into the Roman Empire, into North and East Africa, and beyond.
Christianity by the 1200s was stronger in areas where it had spread than in where it originated.
Spread
Spread & CHANGE
As religions spread and new interpretations arose – there were changes, splits into different sects (or groups), and new influences
Texts The founders of Buddhism and
Christianity did not record their own statements or life story.
Which belief systems are connected to these texts?
Vedas and Upanishads
Torah
Gospels & Epistles
Analects
Sutras
Challenges to Society
Both Buddhism and Christianity, more than the other belief systems, challenged the social class system and women’s status.
Especially in the early centuries, these religions appealed to lower classes and women.
Greek Rationalism…What’s up with that???
Greece-polytheism remained Intellectuals abandoned mythology Natural laws govern world Humans can understand those laws Power of Human Reason! KEY ELEMENT-the way questions are asked
(argument, logic, questioning of received wisdom)
Greek Rationalism…What’s up with that???
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Constant questioning of assumptions Applied rationalism to understanding human
behavior..Herodotus-the first historian (why did the Persians and Greeks fight each other?)
Influenced later Western Civs-knowledge preserved by Byzantines and Islam