Most religions tend to be culturally specific, meaning that they only appeal to certain cultural profiles. These do not spread beyond their culture of origin. Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism are three world religions that became global. Christianity believes that Jesus is the Son of God and is our savior. Islam believes in Allah, which has Muhammad as his prophet. Buddhism is based on four truths; these truths include suffering being present in life and desire being the cause of suffering. The way you earn freedom from suffering can be achieved through nirvana. The faith of these three world religions was spread in four different ways: through war, trade and missionary activity
The Buddhism way is not of war but of peace. Nevertheless,
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The Silk Roads were very important during this time, allowing for soldiers, merchants and other dwellers of the time to be connected in a communication system different than any other seen before. The Silk Roads allowed for the spreading of culture and religion. Also, many works of art depicting religious traditions would be passed on. In contrast, Christianity was not as successful along the Silk Roads. Few Christians engaged in long-range trade, and the majority feared persecution from non-Christian rulers. Islam was the leader of all the trade running down the sea routes across the Sahara and Asia. As Muslim merchant communities detached they were able to find their own mosques, elect their choice of holy men, and often just attracted locals to join them. Although it was not spread far inland, Islam was most likely the most influential religion of the East African …show more content…
Christian missionaries often aimed to convert those in high positions, so that they would then convert those beneath them. Once Christianity began to obtain popularity, joining became an act of “hopping on the bandwagon”, or joining the growing common culture. But it wasn’t unusual for religious allegiances to sway with political alliances. Buddhist missionaries also showed a preference for royal and imperial disciples. Buddhism was favored by those who wanted to usurp the Chinese throne and legitimize their rule, and for monarchs in need of a propaganda machine. It was first introduced by Chinese refugees, which then led to the translation of the kings of Paekche and Silla. After that, a painting of Buddha was given to Japan by Korea, which was then followed by the notion that Buddhism would act as a menace to the imperial rites. The advances of Buddhism, however, were irresistible and rapid expansion occurred under royal patronage. In India Buddhism failed due to Hinduism taking over. Violence then became central to the Islamic culture: boys weren’t named until they first murdered, heroes were judged on their ability to plait their mustaches behind their heads, and even women were trained in war.
Although it wasn’t practiced much by Muslims during this time, one of the main strategies used to spread Christianity and Islam was the conversion of kings,
One such category is popularly referred to as "western religions", thereby differentiating the religions constituting it from "eastern religions." Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are of the three most popular religions that rest on the foundation of a single creator belief and are therefore called western religions. As these religions have the core conviction in common; the religious belief that this universe came into existence, as well as controlled and governed by one God.The significance and popularity of western religions can be determined from the fact that "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are monotheistic faiths practiced by about half of the world's population
Beliefs and religions ebbed and flowed through the Silk Roads that was “an artery that for nearly a thousand years was the primary commercial network linking East Asia and the Mediterranean world. This trade route extended over 5000 miles and took its name from the huge quantities of precious silk that passed along it.” Nomads, monks and traders survived on these open roads selling goods, services, and ideas to other people and traders to pass on. These people were wide and diverse since commerce went in between the “Mediterranean and South Asia reinforced frenetic rise in commercial activity within each region. Over land and across the seas, traders loaded textiles, spices, and precious metals onto the backs of camels and into the hold of oceangoing vessels destined for different markets. Trade thereby strengthened the political, intellectual, and spiritual shift.” Spirituality was an active invention as monks of all major beliefs (mostly Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism) spread the new ideas that were based in new religions and acts of missionary work was greatly encouraged. These groups should have been widely torn apart based on the challenging of each other’s beliefs but nomads had no desire to “undermine local cultural traditions” instead presentations of new cultural “ingredients” kept the peace especially the introduction of equestrianism trading along the road which creating having a horse a status symbol in the eyes of many foreign nations the pride at being from a horse tribe went so far as to despite the temperature it was a status symbol clans like the Kushans showed pride by wearing the clans trade mark clothing despite the climate. The Kushans made had such reverence to horses that became horses were a prestigious status symbol of the ruling elite.
As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
Religion reinforces the beliefs of individuals within a society. Additionally, religion has played a vital role in society since it influenced the way they lived and the rituals they may or may not have practiced. Different regions of the world during ancient time held a distinct set of beliefs, each based on different or similar principals. Deriving from the polytheistic set of beliefs, monotheism came in place of many Gods, holding just one god accountable for the creation and the existence of mankind. Christianity and Buddhism share similarities and differences, but most importantly the impact that each had on the culture is what is mostly referred to.
The most important historical fact of Christianity is the life of Jesus, the prophet that the faith of Christians is centered around. The historical Jesus grew up in Nazareth where John the Baptist baptized him, thus beginning his career as a teacher and healer of God. Little is known about where Jesus came from or what he looks like, only his personality through actions and words. Like most prophets, Jesus looked to the spiritual world to find answers to remove the suffering; John was the prophet to open Jesus’ eyes to heaven, leading him into a state solitude until he became empowered by the Spirit. The actions that speak for his personality are of power to heal sickness, cast away evil, and perform miracles, all that the prophets gave credit to Jesus, but this what not the focus of his ministry. What drew people into Jesus was his hope to heal humanity, not just people; he urged peace and loving of the enemies, which created ties with the Pharisees. However, the Pharisees did not see God as compassion, so they created categories of clean and unclean people. Christianity is originally created for the undesirables, so Jesus felt that the boundaries were not exemplifying His compassion, thus he set out to change the system. This did not sit well with the Pharisees, so Jesus began to compiled enemies of Rome, which would lead to his crucifixion. It was the death of Jesus that began the Christianity faith, but his words and deeds that empowered the people. Jesus had no new teachings that were different from those before him, but he had a weight of meaning to his words. Christ’s teachings were mostly in the forms of stories where lessons of the heart lay behind the message. Not only did he speak with authority, but he spoke out ag...
In today’s world, there are various religions that are worshipped by millions of devout followers every year. Of these religions, two of these include Buddhism and Christianity, which have dated back for thousands of years. According to. Experiencing the World 's Religions and The World’s Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions, both Buddhism and Christianity originated through a single enlightened leader and were known as each religion’s teachers: Buddha and Jesus Christ. Both of these prophets became what shaped their respective religions and had a large influence on being bringers of hope to the world and proclaiming peace among the nations.
In every religion there is always a teacher, a guide, a person who is sent by their God to lead them to their faith and God. These people are now considered to be truly holy to their faith and recognized as saviors. Many of these saviors left another person in charge so that they can continue the teachings of these saviors. For this essay religious figures will be discussed for three religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism and Islamic.
In today’s society, there are roughly around 4,200 religions that exist on this planet. Some define "religion" as a cultural system of behaviors and practices that help people make important decisions in life. Out of the many religions, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism have many similarities that connect them to one another. Themes of morality, justice, love are found through both the Buddha's teaching and the Hebrew and Christian Bible.
The products traded along the Silk Road played a crucial role in the patterns of interaction; the focus of the Silk Road. Ferghana war horses were the first products to be traded on the Silk Road. The leader of an expedition, Zhang Qian, brought these back with him and Central Asia struck up a trade with the Han. Central Asia received Chinese goods such as silk, jade, and other luxury goods in return. A myriad of new groups were drawn to this remunerative trade throughout the next four centuries. Asia, Europe, and India plunged into trade with one another and their goods included camels, horses, silver, gold, cotton, and spices. When Western Rome and the Han dynasty collapsed, trade ebbed to a dull roar however, but trade was restored in the 7th century when the Tang Empire rose and the trade routes were protected again. Paper, porcelain, and the stirrup appeared and these influenced both China and Europe, especially the stirrup. It gave way to knighthood and chivalry in the two continents. China was in decline under the Song dynasty by the 10th century and lost control over much of the trade route but with the arrival of the Mongol conquests around 1200 C.E., the merchants could be protected again and trade thrived. Mongols later took gunpowder from China and this is traded on the Silk Road. The Mongols controlled a lot of territory, and consequently the Silk Road flourished. A continuity through the whole of the Silk R...
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
Along with Muhammad’s influence on Islam, trade routes also provided a significant impact on the spread of Islam. The most important and remembered trade routes were the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean trade route. In these trade routes, along w...
The spread of Islam throughout the African continent was predominantly influenced by the trading routes in North and East Africa. While Islam was very influential in the political and economic sphere of these areas, many of the original practices and traditions of Africa remained. The dominant people who facilitated the spread of Islam throughout the continent were the elite of Africa, such as the kings, and the traders themselves. While the spread of religion is typically looked at as a spreading of faith or a way to exclude yourself from warring nations, Africa’s conversion to Islam was incredibly economical and political. Primary sources from the time period, like Meadows of Gold, serve to further highlight how the effects of trade and commerce were able to have so much impact on the spread of Islam throughout the continent.
Out of all the different beliefs in the world today, Hinduism is a religion that seems different and interesting. Hinduism is one of the oldest living religions in the world. The religion is over 4,000 years old. Hinduism was originated in India and the religion’s first known believers were known as the ancient people, the Aryans (Hinduism). Like most religions in the universe, Hinduism is unique in its own way. Hinduism is unique because it did not start off as a religion. Hinduism was actually a culture for people in India and then later turned into a religion (Hinduism on Fun Facts).
In Japan, they were really pleased with Buddhism, but with China, they liked Confucianism. There were those people throughout both of them who were Christian. Confucianism was big in Ming China. Wang Yang-Ming got a lot of followers for his new teachings, but he got heavily criticized for basically changing th...
It has been an outstanding five weeks. This was the course that I've been waiting to take since I started Capella back in April of 2004. Finally after weeks of reading World Religions by Huston Smith, I have developed an understanding of some of the world's religions. I can never be an expert in this field, and I don't want to, but at least I have an idea where these religions originated and have a general concept of the beliefs behind each religion. Each of the religions we covered have one thing in common that stick out, and that is promoting peace and harmony.