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Introduction
According to the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams - they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do - they all contain truths” (Ali). All the religions in this text-book express some truth about human nature. Some of them have in common, that they are polytheistic, have oral traditions or follow certain rituals. This paper will go in-depth and speak about the challenges of explaining polytheism to monotheist, the significance of oral traditions in a few different religions and the significance and meanings behind some rituals (questions 1, 12, and 5).
Polytheism to Monotheist
First, monotheistic means the worshipping of one God. It would be hard to look at and explain
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According to page 8 of World Religions Today, “Instead you are treating it as an adjective, describing an attitude towards the human condition- a way of seeing, acting and experiencing all things. In most times and places throughout history, religion and culture were like two sides of the same coin. Therefore people did not think of their practices as “a religion”, a separate reality they had to choose over and against another” (Esposito, Fasching& Lewis, 2012). Like the quote says, it was not just worshipping a lot of gods, it was part of people’s cultures and how they usually lived, so they saw nothing different about it. In today’s culture, people tend to choose which god they want to worship because there are so many choices, but it has not always been this way. At one point in time, government and religion were so intertwined, that everyone worshipped the same gods, so people never worried about having to praise and worship a specific one. Second, according to page 489, “Thus, the diffuse religion found …show more content…
Christianity, Judaism and Indigenous religions, all have something in common, that they followed oral traditions before actually having a set book or guidelines. This increases the importance of oral tradition because people followed these traditions and created certain ways of living around them. The first religion to be explained is Judaism. According to page 96 of World Religions Today, “The Pharisees took these demands and made them the content for the priestly rituals of holiness, working out their application in all the details of everyday life [,] according to the best insights of the oral tradition” (Esposito, Fasching& Lewis, 2012). The writings came from the Prophets and further more shaped the way the Jewish people lived. Next, is Christianity. According to page 158, “Taking advantage of historical and archeological findings that shed additional light on the biblical period, modern scholars do not believe any Gospel had a single author. Rather each one began in shared oral traditions as told in different communities of believers after Jesus’s death on the cross and attested resurrection” (Esposito, et al., 2012). This means, Christian beliefs are actually passed down from generation to generation. Christianity is thus based on oral tradition. Finally, there is Indigenous religions. According to pages 39 through 40, “consequently these societies had oral cultures in
Between 600 BCE and 600 CE, religion played an important role in the social order of the Middle East. The introduction of monotheistic religions challenged earlier polytheistic religions and caused people to have faith in in one almighty god. Social order was affected by these new understandings because people began to believe that those who sided with God would be granted everlasting life while those who were on the side of evil were sentenced to eternal punishment.
Catherine L. Albanese defines religion as a “system of symbols by means of which people orient themselves in the world with references to both ordinary and extraordinary powers, meanings, and values” (America: Religions and Religion). Albanese’s definition may seem vague, but when comparing religions from all over the world, the less detailed the definitions is the better it suits every religion. Religions such as Hopi and Hinduism challenge the idea of religion in western culture and therefore do not necessarily fit into the same box that one might put Christianity and Islam; yet they are still religions. With this being said, Albanese’s definition best incorporates the religions of the world by focusing on the social (community), the material
Campo, J. E. (2009). Encyclopedia of Religion. In J. E. Campo, Encyclopedia of Religion (pp. 48-49, 623-627). New York: Checkmark Books.
Another great example of the Trinity is Athaniusus’ psychological analogy. He suggests that human beings are the only creation that can reflect God because we were made in His image. He uses the concepts of memory, understanding, and free will in humans as an analogy to the Trinity. One person has all three of those distinct parts and they all work
Fundamentally, monotheism refers to the notion that there is only one Supreme Being, who is known as God. Monotheism, which is derived from Greek, can be broken down into “monos” which means “one” and “theos” meaning “God”. This particular theism is continually contrasted with the other common word referred to as polytheism. Essentially, polytheism refers to the belief in a numerous amount of gods, which again is common in many eastern religions. By doing some research, there seems to be a slight difference in the historical inception of the term monotheism. There were a few sources that referred to monotheism beginning back in ancient Egyptian times. It was stated that the notion of believing in one God was mentioned in the Egyptian Book of the Dead ; however, other sources referred to monotheism beginning with the tribal people known as the Hebrews. It was said that Abraham began to believe that the universe was created by only one higher being and decided to teach this notion to others. The story behind Abraham is much more in depth ...
The word religion can be defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. As far back as 570-478 BCE religions have been apart of our lives which people choose to follow various ideas which they believe in. They have power in their countries affecting, politics, money, and the people. Religions have been a huge part of our world since the beginning changing how people think and feel toward different views of the world. They’ve played a huge part in history changing it for the better or worse. Many religions fall under this rule but varying their beliefs and ideas of what they follow or believe in. Most religions follow god or gods that express ideas or rules to follow in their everyday life. Like Confucianism and Buddhism these religions both follow gods or people who express a certain set of ideas for their people to believe in. While they may have many similarities they also express many differences. They are also very different follow different beliefs and set of ideas set up by the two religions. they both encourage
For the layman, familiarity with the major religions stems from the stories that are associated with them. Using the narratives that are derived from the sacred texts is the most prominent way in which our society identifies the Western religions. The Jewish tradition is best correlated to stories like the Exodus and the parting of the Red Seas, for example, as are the many tales of the miracles of Jesus connected to Christianity. This essay will present narratives as an easy method of providing the basic groundwork for the Western religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because of their simplicity and easily transmittable nature. Furthermore, narratives impart many of the rules, laws, and moral fundamentals for these faiths, and are used by religious writers as a novel method of initiating discussion or providing a parallel for other narratives.
Max Weber stated, “Polytheism entails a good deal more than worshipping many gods instead of only one. The most fundamental characteristic of polytheistic religions is that the gods do not...
Monotheism means belief in the existence of one supreme God. Some of the earliest monotheistic religions include Judaism, Zoroastrianism,Christianity and some quasi monotheistic thought in ancient Chinese religion. They are so many reasons given for the emergency of monism one of them being, multiple gods were fighting for supremacy so if they is to be one supreme God they will not be fighting and also prophets sent by a supreme god to tell people to only worship him and abandon worship of multiple gods . Monolatrism is considered a stage in the development of monotheism.
At the first glance, Islam and Christianity appear to have nothing in common, however; as you go beyond the surface, they appear to have many similarities such as their beliefs of God, their beliefs of life after death, their holy scriptures, and their prayers. These religions, although two entirely different beliefs, share a similar origin. Like many other religions, they both claim to be the one and only true way to God. In order to truly see and understand their similarities, one must date back to the rise and birth of Christianity and Islam. Throughout the course of this essay, I will compare the many facets that show the alikeness between these two growing religions.
There are many similarities and differences between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are also many differences that separate the three major religions of the world. This paper will delve into all three of them.
The first circumstance of the presentation of an unconventional monotheistic belief system was the first factor that contributed to how what would later become Islam took shape and managed to establish a singular identity for a burgeoning movement that proved to be unorthodox for domestic religions at the time. The setting that Islam’s precursor
Each religion has its own set of ‘rules’ or teachings that the followers practice. In Christianity, there are the Ten Commandments. The Buddhist religion has the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths. Muslims of the Islamic religion follow the Five Pillars of Islam. These religions have religious teachings, but there is one ‘religion’ that has a great deal of controve...
...three monotheistic religions are different in terms of their teachings the word of God and the virtues that one must live their lives in; their similarities binds them together in the aspect of teaching the true nature of life and how it must be lived. Their differences separate them from one another but if one looks closely, they are not so different. The similarities and differences would also enable each believer to understand what the other religion is stating and easily understand what makes them different. Knowing all these facts would allow one to keep in mind their reservations regarding a particular issue if debating with someone who believe s in another religion. This would also help one another to co-exist and respect those who believe in another religion and not cause any strife with them just because of varying beliefs over their selected religion.
Tradition is often thought of as something that people pass down throughout the generations such as practices within families or communities. However, religion, too many is defined as the belief in a God or higher power or existence. Religion tend to differs too many people. Although religion is key factor in many people lives and culture around the world, there are many people who do not have religious beliefs. There are several different views on religion, God, Gods, and what figure or being represents religion around the world and in many different cultures. As I think about religion, I think about the different view on how people worship and what is often considered sacred to the various religious groups and practices. In this paper, I will discuss all the essentials that play a role in the each religious practices, the belief of each religion, and the commonalities that each religion share as well as the issues persons or cultures tend to deal with regarding their beliefs.