Zoroastrianism's Role in Christianity's Development
Christianity is one of the most popular religions of the early 21st century. Through the course of Christianity's first millennia it was able to rise from its original twelve followers to become the state religion of Rome and the mighty empire which it held. However, unbeknownst to many, the concepts that exist in Christianity and Judaism (the religion from which Christianity spawned) were initially conceived by the nearly dead religion of Zoroaster. Christianity is closely modeled after the Zoroastrain's beliefs in the afterlife, redemption, judgment, duality of deities, apocalypse and messiahs. Whether Christianity adopted or coincidentally shared the beliefs of the Zoroastrians is up for debate. Regardless, the similarities are staggering.
Both Christians and Zoroastrians believe that there will be an apocalypse. When this apocalypse occurs it is believed that the world will be cleansed of non-believers and evil. This apocalypse will occur after a Messiah has arrived on earth. The Christians believe that Messiah will be Jesus, whereas the Zoroastrians believe that the messiah to spur the apocalypse will be the third Saoshyant.
Both religions also share a critical component of their individual apocalyptic views. Zoroastrians and Christians both initially believed that the apocalypse would come quickly after the death of their founders. Obviously, that apocalypse never came and strangely enough, both religions adapted to this issue in the same way. They both took up a belief in millennialism. The Christians claimed that 1000A.D. would be the end. Of course that never happened, so they moved on to believe that 2000A.D. would be the date of the apocalypse, no...
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...hierarchy which included many levels of command. The Zoroastrians on the other hand lacked this level of cohesiveness. This is probably due to their followers being mostly nomadic peoples, whereas the Christians had the benefit of a more static form of life.
The similarities between these two religions are uncanny. It is truly shocking when one first compares the two, it is simply amazing that a religion that out dates Christianity by fifteen hundred years could be so similar. This amazement continues when one ponders why the similarities are rarely, if ever, discussed when the topic of Judaism or Christianity come up in an academic setting. It would seem as if the shared beliefs between the two are not simply a product of chance, it is quite the contrary. It is clear that Zoroastrian theology had an enormous effect on the formation and rise of Christianity.
It is very evident to see that even though the original text of the Gathas was most probably inaccessible to the Jews, the teachings of Zarathushtra were part of the religious culture of the Persian people among whom many Jews lived. Zoroastrianism, from the beginning, has taught that time and God's creation has a beginning, a middle, and an end-time in which all souls will be judged. This is the basis of what the Christian belief is based upon and it is easy to draw the conclusion that Zoroastrianism had a great influence on Christianity and on the Bible.
Between 200 B.C.E and 800 C.E., there was a large development and spread of Universal Religions. The definition of a universal religion is a religion that has these characteristics: believes in one God, promises a type of salvation or after life, and a religion that is open to all people no matter what social class, race, or gender. Two of the large universal religions, Christianity and Buddhism were spread because of Syncretism. Syncretism is the adaptation to a religion by the religious leaders so that their beliefs are close to those of the local population. Although Syncretism is arguably the most important factor for the spread of these universal religions, there were other key reasons as to why these religions spread.
Zoroastrianism and Judaism share distinct qualities that make them similar. Throughout thousands of centuries these religions have been around. They were the starting points of monotheistic thought. And the beginning of a religious revolution that took place in the ancient world that is still practiced today.
Both Christianity and Judaism are religions that have some relationship between them as much as they also have differences. Judaism and Christianity developed on the basis obeying God, on adherence to his rules and fulfillment of God’s will is a duty of a Jewish or Christian person, both religions fall into the rule deontological category.
Both Christians and Jews believe that a savior will come. Although the Jews do not believe in Jesus as the messiah, they do believe a savior will come. Jews believe that this messiah figure will emerge as a great king after the style of David. The monarch would usher in a new era of peach and justice, in which all other nation would be united. Christians also believe that their savior Christ will return again, on the final Day of Judgment.
It is difficult to discuss how Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, without looking at the relationship between Jews and Christians. Christianity is rooted in Judaism. Judaism is defined as the monotheistic religion of the Jews” (Duiker and Spielvogel 142). It is a
Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that is the first religion to develop a monotheistic belief system. Zoroastrianism is heavily influential in the formation of the many religions, but more specifically, Christianity. For example, both religions believe in dualism, which is the concept that there are two original spirits: good and evil. In Zoroastrianism the good god is Ahura Mazda with the evil god being Angra Mainyu (Oxtoby, 5). In Christianity the good god is just referred to as God or Lord while the evil god is simply referred to as the Devil. In class we learned about the founder of Zoroastrianism, Zoroaster who was born into the warrior class who travels from his hometown to convince King Vishtaspa of his message who then converts his kingdom to Zoroastrianism. Mirroring this in Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, known as Christ is the founder of Christianity spreading his message of resurrection and monotheism (Oxtoby, 143). Additionally, both religions believe that Ahura Mazda and God were the creators of the world, respectively, and how it came to be and also sharing the monotheistic belief that these two gods are the only ones to worship. Both religions have an emphasis on morality and good ethics, with Zoroastrianism having five particular points while Christianity stemmed from this which also has a moral code which is known as the Ten Commandments (Oxtoby, 5). While both religious share the importance of death and reincarnation the two differ on burial rites. In Zoroastrianism the belief is that the dead should be disposed of in the “towers of silence” so that birds of prey can eat their remains (Oxtoby, 5). In Christianity, the belief is to give the person a proper burial ceremony and then to bury the body in a gra...
Most Christians (or those religions that follow the basic principles of the Bible) believe in the stories told in the Bible. In fact, these stories are usually regarded not only as mere stories, but also as actual historical accounts of important people, events, and concepts of the Christian faith. However, stories of Greek and Roman mythology are typically regarded as nothing more than fictional, fantasy stories. The idea that Ancient Greeks viewed these stories to be their religion seems insane to many people of Biblical Faith. This idea seems to cast a stigma of irrationality, almost ignorance, upon the Ancient Greeks. Although placing this stigmatism on a long-dead culture may seem to be unimportant in much of the contemporary world, it is important because this long-dead culture represents the history of a large portion of the world (the Ancient Greek empire was much more vast than modern-day Greece). Just as many Americans would find it offensive to have their history as irrational and ignorant, it seems logical that Greeks might as well. Therefore, it is necessary to try and understand that both Ancient Greeks and Ancient Christians may have held similar beliefs about the world they were living in. The fact is that Greek myths contain unrealistic and unbelievable characters, events, and other elements, but upon comparison of Greek mythology stories with different Biblical accounts, it is apparent that some parallels between the two do exist, and that the Ancient Greeks view of the events of the early world are very similar to the views of both ancient and contemporary Christians.
Due to the different types of religions, it is clear that there can be similarities between Christianity and other religions. In fact, C.S Lewis notes that “it is to be expected” within her work of “Is Theology Poetry?”. Lewis talks about how theology could be seen as “mere poetry” and her main reason being that it contains elements that are similar to those that we find in many early, and eve, savage, religions. These early religions may now be seen to us today as poetical. Reading Lewis’ work gave insight on the different ways that Christianity can be seen in other religions that have different gods and ways of viewing, or living
Christianity is one of the largest ancient religion in the world. It was a small part of the Judaism at the beginning, and it grew up very quickly in the later hundreds of years.
Both Christianity and Judaism are monotheistic, which means they believe in only one god. They also both hold the belief that you only live one life, and that you then proceed to either heaven or hell when you die. The Ten Commandments are followed in both religions and use parts of the bible. Christianity and Judaism both originated in ancient Palestine.
There are many similarities and differences between Judaism and Christianity. Some of these are their religious beliefs, Jesus, heaven and hell, original sin, the trinity. This therefore leads the two religions to follow different paths of worship even if they worship the same god.
Christianity and Islam are two religions that grew from the same central idea of one divine being; they also originate from Jerusalem. However, the two religions bear great disparity but they also hold a few similarities. Both Islam and Christianity believe in Abraham as the forefather of both religions; they believe Him to be the founder of the two religions. The two religions have a holy book; Islam uses the Quran while Christians use the bible. Even though the two books do not bear the same teachings they are considered sacred in both religions. However, Christianity and Islam share a great deal of differences starting from the holy books, their beliefs, and the information contained in the respective holy book (Kavanaugh, 5).
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 are 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.
The peoples of the Silk Road in its early decades followed many different religions. In the Middle East, many people worshiped the gods and goddesses of the Greco-Roman pagan pantheon. Others were followers of the old religion of Egypt, especially the cult of Isis and Osiris. Jewish merchants and other settlers had spread beyond the borders of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judea and had established their own places of worship in towns and cities throughout the region. Elsewhere in the Middle East, and especially in Persia and Central Asia, many people were adherents of Zoroastrianism, a religion founded by the Persian sage Zoroaster in the 6th century BCE. It posited a struggle between good and evil, light and darkness; its use of fire as the symbol of the purifying power of good was probably borrowed from the Brahmanic religion of ancient India. The Greek colonies of Central Asia that had been left behind after the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great had, by the 1st century BCE, largely converted from Greco-Roman paganism to Buddhism, a religion that would soon use the Silk Road to spread far and wide. In India, on side routes of the Silk Road that crossed the passes to the Indus Valley and beyond, the older religion of Brahmanism had given way to Hinduism and Buddhism; the former never spread far beyond India and Southeast Asia, while the latter eventually became worldwide in extent.