Established by 1000 C.E.
Polytheism: origins
•Earliest religions across all
cultural regions
•Sumerian, Shang, Greek,
Roman, Germanic, Mayan,
Aztec, and African
Polytheism: Tenets
•Belief in many gods/ spirits
•Gods as personification of
nature
•animism
Hinduism: Origin & Spread
• Began with the Aryan invaders
– vedas
• 1700-1500 B.C.E.
• Later groups added to ideas
• Spread thru Indian Subcontinent
Hinduism: Major Tenets
• One ultimate reality: Brahma
• Rebirth for spiritual progress, determined
by karma
• Release for cycle of rebirth (moshka)
• Dharma, duties and rules of conduct to
be followed to achieve release from
reincarnation
Hinduism: Significance
• No founder, no specific date
• Tolerant of other religions
• Adaptable; offers both meditation
and ritual
• Varna, division of people into 4
classes, beginnings of caste, as a
measure of one’s spiritual progress
Judaism:
Origins/Spread
• Hebrews, ancient Israelites
• First writings between 1000 and 800
B.C.E.
• Began in ancient Palestine spread
into land of Canaan to Egypt
(Exodus) and back to Canaan.
• 130s C.E. into the Middle East, North
Africa, and Europe
Judaism: Tenets
• Monotheistic
• Chosen people through a special
relationship with God (covenant)
• Messiah to come
• Beliefs set forth in the Torah and the
Talmud (collection of oral laws)
Judaism: Significance
• First monotheistic religion
• Greatly influenced both Christianity
and Islam
• No widespread hierarchical
structure
• No missionary movement
• Grew from protest of Brahman
(highest caste) practices
• Siddhartha Gautama 500s B.C.E.
• Spread from Northern India, Asia
and Southeast Asia as far as Japan
by the 700s C.E.
Buddhism: origins and
spread
• Siddhartha Gautama- 500 BCE
• Buddha is not a god (allows for
spirits)
• Northern India- Nepal
• Spread along trade and travel
routes into China, Japan, Southeast
Asia
Buddhism: Tenets
• Four Noble truths
–
–
–
–
Universality of Suffering
Desire causes suffering
Nirvana is the cessation of desire
Eightfold path is guide to entering
Nirvana
Rightness of : Knowledge, thought,
speech, conduct, livelihood, effort,
mind, and meditation
Buddhism: Significance
• Strong monastic tradition; monks
helped to spread
• Revival of Hinduism and Islamic
invasions wipe out of India by 1000
ce
• Different forms emerge– Theraveda: oldest (Southeast Asia()
– Mahyaha: emphasis on the
bodhisattva
Confucianism: Origins
• Confucius began teaching in
500s BCE
• Developed an ethical
philosophy
• Never spread from China or
regions dominated by China
(Japan, Korea, Taiwan)
Confucianism: Tenets
• Based on five basic relationships; ruler
and subject, father and son, husband
and wife, brothers, and friends
• Filial piety(honor to one’s elders/betters);
family as the extension of the state
• Superior man; only the educated should
govern
Confucianism: Significance
• Philosophical and ethical system of
conduct
• Dominant in government, education, and
scholarship for 2000 years
• Basis for civil service
• Conservative influence: status quo
• Mandate from heaven
• Ancestor worship
Daoism: Origin/spread
• Attributed to Lao-tzu 400s and
300s BCE
• Spread through China has
become popular in some
Western thought
• 2nd most influential thought
system
Lao Tze
Daoism: Tenets
• Tao “The Way”
• Live in accord with one’s nature
• Balance
• Oneness with everything thru
the tao, meditation
• Yin and yang; passive and
active principles
• Borrowed Buddhist practices
Daoism: Significance
• Social conventions such as
Confucian rituals are unnatural
• Mixed with peasant belief in spirits
(animism)
• Interest in nature greatly influenced
Chinese arts
Christianity: Origins/Spread
• Originated with the teachings of Jesus 30s
CE
• Spread from Palestine throughout the
Roman world, including the Byzantine
Empire and northern Europe
• Three major sects: Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant found in
all continents
Christianity: Tenets
• Monotheism; Jesus as the Messiah
• Thru God’s grace and the gift of
faith people are “saved”
• Gospels as main source of early
teachings of Jesus
• Large body of later writings
developed to interpret and build on
original teachings
Christianity: Significance
• Legalized by Constantine in the late 300s
• Monastic element preserved much of
Greek and Roman learning after Roman
Empire
• Missionary outreach
• Strong, universal hierarchial structure and
discipline
• As RCC, papacy rivaled that of European
emperors and kings
Islam: origins/Spread
• Muhammad, Early 600s CE
• From Arabian peninsula through middle
East to Western India, Western China, subSaharan Africa, and Moorish enclaves in
Spain
• Easy to learn and practice and teaches
equality.
• Non-Muslims, who were “Peoples of
the Book,” were allowed religious
freedom, but paid additional taxes.
Islam: Tenets
• One God, Allah
• Muhammad as the Seal of the
Prophets
• 5 pillars
– No god but Allah, Muhammad is his
prophet
– Prayer facing Mecca five times a day
– Charity
– Fasting during Ramadan
– pilgrimage
The Ka’ba
Islam: Significance
• Split into sects: argued over who
would lead the faith after the death
of the prophet
– Sunni: modern majority originally
adherents of the Umayyad
– Shi’is: originally followers of Ali
• Developed the Sharia, a legal code
for many Islamic Nations