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Zoroastrianism and Christianity differences
Zoroastrianism and Christianity differences
Zoroastrianism and christianity
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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... ... middle of paper ... ...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.
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.
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 religions do not accept the permanent power of God as a creator of the world, and they strongly oppose violent practices such as animal sacrifices.
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...
Renard, John. Islam and Christianity: theological themes in comparative perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Print.
To begin with, both religions offered benefits to the believer such as eternal life, fellowship, and belonging to a vast empire. While both religions united their empires, Christianity ...
b. Significance: Some elements of Zoroastrianism were incorporated into other religious traditions. Jews of the Persian Empire were influenced by Zoroastrian ideas of God vs Satan, last judgments, bodily resurrection, the final defeat of evil, the return and help of a savior, and the remaking of the world. These elements also were found Islam and Christianity.
Judaism and the Greco-Roman world had significant influences in early Christian communities. Each notably impacted the ways these communities defined themselves and related to the greater Greco-Roman culture in the earliest era of Christianity. As many authors and audiences in the New Testament were Jewish and lived in the Greco-Roman world, the connections between these communities and the earliest stages of Christianity are diverse and sometimes conflicting. The earliest Christian communities defined their identities in relation to Judaism and the larger Greco-Roman context in many and conflicting models, some of which include the relationship between Hebrew scriptures and the community, the inclusion of Gentiles based on faith, and accommodation
Identical to Muslims, Christians also believe that their God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. The Bible begins with the creation of the Earth by God in seven days. Another similarity between these two religions is their belief in life after death.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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.
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
Islam and Christianity have a vast amount of similarities as well as differences. Islam searches for guidance from the Qur’an and Christianity depends on faith in Jesus. Islamic faith believes in the God, Allah. Above anything else, all religious Muslims obey Allah and his commandments to obtain peace. On other hand, Christianity puts faith in Jesus who is the son of God. A major concept that separates both of the religions is the fact that the God of each faith has different qualities. This means Islam and Christianity don’t worship the same God. Islam and Christianity are two separate belief systems in which two separate Gods exist.
The stories are similar in many ways, but they are also very different. This can be related to the relationship between the two religions themselves.
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.
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.