The New Religious Map
A. End of classical period led to rise of major religions – unprecedented growth
a. Devastating plagues – provided solace for death
b. Growing political instability – Christianity > Mediterranean; Buddhism > Asia
i. Islam arose in 600 CE and became most dominant force
c. Common focus
i. Spiritual concerns beyond daily life
ii. Hope of better existence after death
d. Hundreds of thousands underwent conversion process
i. Syncretism – religions changed to incorporate features of civilization
e. Yet, remained different
B. Buddhism
a. Buddhism altered more than Hinduism as it expanded across Asia
i. Monks pushed conversion
ii. Two groups – minority who abandoned earthly life & others doing best
they could
b. bodhisattvas – attain nirvana through meditation
i. Could lead in prayer and advise on spiritual matters
c. Changed from religion based on ethics to emotional cult offering salvation
d. In China, issue of celestial afterlife
i. Mahayana – Greater Vehicle – east Asian form
1. Buddha as divine savior – statues, against earlier belief against
images
2. Boddhisattvas – souls could receive prayers and aid people after
death
ii. Southeast Asia – closer to original – meditation and ethics
e. Pushed forward new artistic interests – pagodas in Japan
f. Impact on women
i. women and men both had souls
ii. syncretism – Buddhist – husband “supports” wife > “controls”
iii. valued pious Buddhist wives – could help family reach salvation
1. keep wives busy, calm, out of mischief
g. Conflict
i. Focus on afterlife takes away focus on political interests
ii. holy life incompatible w/ family needs
iii. threat to distract loyalty to emperor
iv. Daoism reaction – practical benefits through magic
h. Never dominated culture, coexisted
i. response to changing conditions of troubled area
C. Christianity
a. Similarities to Buddhism
b. Spreading at same time – Buddhism east, Christianity west
c. Christianity initially less successful
d. Emphasis on salvation
e. Guidance of saints
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Differences
Placed more emphasis on organization, structure - borrowed from Roman Empire
Premium on conversion
Exclusive nature of truth, intolerant of competing beliefs - reason for success
Beginnings
Reaction to rigidities of Jewish priesthood
Cult/reaction movements started – promised afterlife for virtuous
i. Jesus of Nazareth – gentleness + charisma
ii. initially no desire to spread
iii. message
1. one God, virtuous life dedicated to God, fellowship among
believers, life of poverty better for holiness
2. Sacrifice for sins
3. Afterlife > belief, good works, discipline, perform rituals
iv. why did it spread?
1. Solace in negative world
2. Missionaries travel easily around Roman Empire
3. early leaders made adjustments to match needs
a. Bishop system matched provincial governments
4. attractive to rich/poor – promise of salvation – like Hinduism
5. women – souls equal, men and women worship together
v. Gradual growth
vi. Competed w/ eastern cults, persecuted
vii. Constantine converted only 10%
1. Theocracy in East – emperor strong
2. Provincial leaders more power in West – papa – Pope in Rome
viii. Beliefs
ix. Trinity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit
x. formal theology – writers – Augustine – mixed w/ classical philosophy
xi. Notion of free will
xii. state not first
xiii. worked against slavery – brotherhood more important – across class lines
xiv. respect for disciplined work
xv. Church building maintained Roman architecture
m. Syncretism – polytheistic traditions
i. Moved birth to winter solstice – December 22ish
n. Monasticism – Benedict
i. Benedictine Rule – disciplined life, prayer, study, piety
ii. Monasteries centers of learning – preserved classics
D. The World around 500 CE
E. World religion – durability, different kinds of people
a. cuts across cultures, wins converts, wide geographic area, diversity
b. animism decreases
F. Islam – initially surpasses Christianity, rival ever since
a. No new religion after Islam
b. Religious map doesn’t alter much after Islam
G. Changes to world
a. Showed importance of trade routes
b. Tendency toward single divinity – away from polytheism – but still existed
H. Set up themes for future
a. Response to collapse of former civilizations
b. Need to react to new religious map
c. Agricultural skill, and new contacts meant other civilizations would be catching
up
I. Global connections
a. dangerous land travel
b. new premium on shipping
c. borders became more porous – new exchanges – new connections for future
J. The Rise and Spread of Islam
a. Before 7th century – contacts, but not total control of ancient world under one
empire
i. Arabia – nomadic land on periphery of major civilizations
b. 7th century – followers of Islam “submission” – Muslims – Allah – one God
i. Began conquest and conversion
ii. Within decades, Muhammad had empire of Persia, Greece and Egypt
c. Later empire spread
i. Merchants, mystics, warriors
ii. Empire expanded
1. Africa, Asia, southern Europe
2. Across steppes to central Asia, western China, south Asia
3. Across ocean trade routes to southeast Asia and eastern Africa
4. Across overland trade routes, Sahara to western Africa
5. Across Asia Minor and into European heartland – rivals
Christianity
iii. Muslim merchants
1. Worked with traders from other regions
2. Prime agents for transfer of food crops, technology, and ideas
3. Muslim scholars studied, preserved and improved upon learning of
Ancient Civs
a. Eventually, Arabic – language of Qur’an would become
international language of the educated
iv. Would define Middle East and N. Africa until today
d. Desert and Town: The Arabian World and the Birth of Islam
e. Introduction
i. Geography – unlikely birth of religion – inhospitable desert
ii. Bedouin – nomadic culture dominant
1. Some towns – Mecca/Medina – merely extensions of Bedouin life
a. Safety of trade routes determined success of cities
b. People linked to kinship
c. Culture
i. Focus on clan and family
ii. language and religion
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2. Some coastal trading towns
The Life of Muhammad and the Genesis of Islam
Early life of Muhammad
i. Born into prominent clan of Quraysh tribe
1. Father and mother die, raised by uncle and prominent grandfather
2. Made caravan trips with Abu Talib – exposed to Christian/Jewish
faiths
ii. Early 20s worked as a trader for Khadijah – later wife
1. saw inequity of classes
2. saw class rivalries
3. saw tension between clans as some, Umayyads, got rich through
commerce
4. saw monotheistic religions
a. Many prophets during this time period pushed for
monotheism
iii. 610 – first revelation from Gabriel
1. Wrote Allah’s words in Qur-an
Arabs and Muslims
i. Why attractive to Arabs
1. Form of monotheism that belonged to no single tribe
2. Equal of other monotheistic faiths
3. Allowed no intermediaries, priests
4. End to vendettas, feuds – united
5. Single, supernatural authority
6. Turned violence against selves into violence against others
7. Ethical system to live lives
a. zakat – charity tax for poor
b. Wealthy forbidden from overtaxing poor
8. All aspects of life regulated to prepare for Judgement Day
Universal Elements in Islam
i. Why attractive to others outside of Arab world
1. uncompromising monotheism
2. highly developed legal codes
3. egalitarianism
4. strong sense of community
5. most aspects similar to that of Judaism and Christianity
a. Accepted older teachings, Muhammad just most recent
divine instructions
ii. Five Pillars
1. No god but Allah
2. Pray five times a day facing Mecca
3. fast during Ramadan
4. Zakat for those in need
5. Hajj - pilgrimage to Ka’ba to worship Allah
Sunnis vs Shi’a
i. Backers of Umayyads vs. backers of Ali
ii. Caliph goes through dominant clan vs. caliph goes through descendants of
Muhammad
iii. Saddam Hussein is a Sunni but the the Shi’as have more people in Iraq
today
k. Hinduism – origins in Vedic and Epic ages
l. Rig-Veda – Creation hymn
m. Different – no single founder – no central holy figure
i. Grew gradually, sometimes in reaction to other religions –
Buddhism/Islam
n. Religious approaches
i. Ritualistic ceremonies performed by brahmans
ii. mysticism – unite humans w/ divine
iii. encouraged political and economic goals (artha) and worldly pleasures
(karma)
iv. fluidity – adaptable – tolerant – many suitable paths of worship –
Christianity?
o. Brahmanism – Brahman leadership elaborate – called by scholars – dharma by
Hindus
i. gods of nature altered – represent abstract
1. Varuna – god of the sky to guardian of right and wrong
ii. Epic poems – gentle/generous behavior
p. Upanishads – shallowness of worldly concerns – wealth/health
q. each person’s soul part of universe
r. religion of rituals vs. religion of mystics
i. mystics – gurus and Brahmas agreed to
1. existence of divine essence – several gods – try to seek union w/
this soul
a. Vishnu – preserved/ Shiva – destroyer
b. takes many lifetimes – reincarnation
c. where soul goes depends on reincarnation
s. options for good life
i. meditation/self-discipline – yoga
ii. others wanted rituals – cremation, prayers, sacred cows, refrain from beef
iii. some believed in lesser nature gods
iv. symbolic sacrifices might assist in reincarnation
t. life obligations
i. serve family
ii. earn money
iii. serve in army when necessary
u. Bhagavad Gita – classic hymn – OK to kill family, duty, plus they’re reincarnated
v. but…doesn’t have strict ethical codes – aka Ten Commandments
w. Why did it spread?
i. satisfying rules of conduct for life
ii. incorporated previous religion
iii. caste system – better time in future life
K. Buddhism – 563 BCE – Siddhartha Gautama – Buddha – enlightened one
L.
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a. searched for truth, found it, accepted many elements of Hinduism, but..
i. disagreed with caste system
ii. all worldly desires hurt you
iii. if you destroy self, can reach nirvana – self-control – regulate life
iv. denied importance of rituals/priests
b. spread by group of monks – prayer/charity/piety helped spread message
i. Brahman opposition strong
c. Hinduism still attractive due to mysticism
Literature
a. Political theory sparse, but wrote about human life
b. “laws of love” – Kamasutra – male/female relationships
c. Recorded epics – lively stories
d. Romantic adventure – separated/returned – romantic/adventure
Science
a. Supported university – astronomy and medicine
i. Religion prevented dissection
ii. Bone setting, plastic surgery, sterilization – reached West much later
Mathematics – imported through Arabs – but Indian
a. Concept of zero – decimal system
b. negative numbers
c. square roots
d. pi
Art – lively, but much perished
a. Stupas – spherical shrines to Buddha
b. Not realistic like Greeks, but stylized
c. Appreciation of nature
d. Joy of life themes + celebrate religion
Tone – not rational like West, or concentration on Politics like China
Economy and Society
Caste system
a. Different punishments for different crimes – Brahman killed servant – same as
dog
b. Villagers rarely had contact with higher caste
Family life based on hierarchy
a. wife worship husband as god
b. women lost power as male power expanded – common of agricultural societies
c. question – could woman advance spiritually if not reincarnated as man?
d. Arranged marriages – solid economic links
e. Emphasis on loving relations/sexual pleasure
f. children indulged and then expected to work hard
g. clever-strong willed women as goddesses
Economy
a. Chemistry, strongest steel – better than West until recently
b. Textiles – cotton cloth, calico, cashmere
c. Emphasis on trade far greater than in China
i. Tamil traders – cotton, silks, dyes, drugs, gold, ivory
d. Most people lived subsistence lives