Monotheism can be simply defined as the belief that there is only one god. While today’s largest religions, Christianity and Islam, are both monotheistic, it has not always the case that most people subscribed to a belief that there is only one god. Ancient men and women often believed in many gods, in some cases they had a god for just about anything that could happen, or not happen. A point of contention in religious debate is which religion is the oldest, or the original, monotheistic religion? Christianity lays claim to the title as it is an extension of Judaism, but Zoroastrianism claims the same title. The importance of this title is no small matter as the first monotheistic religion can state the later religions copied from them and are thus not the one true belief.
Around the twelfth century BCE, a man named Zoroaster lived in a small village in Persia. One day he received a vision from Ahura Mazda in which it was revealed to him that how the world was made, the true status of all the gods people worshipped and the true meaning, or form, of evil. Zoroaster went on to teach first his family, then his village, and ultimately his king, that all of the gods they worshipped were nothing but spiritual beings and demons. They were not in fact gods, the only true god was Ahura Mazda and his nemesis, though not a god, was Angra Mainyu (Dhalla).
Today Zoroastrianism is a modestly sized religion, counting fewer than 200,000 members with most of them living in India. In ancient times Zoroastrianism first gained significant prominence with the Persian king Darius during the fifth century BCE. Through the Persian empire, the religion spread across the middle east and up as far north as at least Macedonia and spread into parts of Chi...
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...rand ride through history. The time frames of how even just these three come together is so close, especially in the grand scheme of history, that it is inconceivable for them to have not influence one another. We can only know which one was first by believing in that particular religion. For those who believe in none of them, pick the one that intrigues you the most, for this mystery will not be solved by the living.
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Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God. There are three of the most influential monotheistic religions in world history today known as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions share both vast similarities and differences. One significant similarity they share is the belief in one deity. The belief of one God gave many people guidance and purpose in their lives. For this reason, these three religions gained many followers and believers who had faith in God. Through faithfulness in God, many were promised eternal paradise. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the similarities and differences between the rituals, holy scripts, and salvation that these religions shared.
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.
Unlike the Jewish people today, some Jews did not deny the existence of other gods from other cultur...
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.
Persia, like many other civilizations during its time, was a polytheistic society. The Zoroastrian religion was the main religious philosophy, which was founded by Zarathustra. This polytheistic religion heavily praised a main god known as Ahura Mazda, who was the creator of all good things and Angra
This spark of monotheism can be traced back to Akhenaten’s father Amenhotep III. During his reign, ideas about the uniqueness of the sun god Re were developed in some de-tail. Some Egyptian priests conceived the possibility that all gods were part of a unique god from which all life originated and based on their experiential knowledge of nature (at least as they perceived it in Egypt) the sun was a good candidate for this universal god.
Cole, Joshua, Judith G. Coffin, Carol Symes, and Robert Stacey. Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. Brief Third ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.
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Conflict in society has many purposes. It is seen as a means of social stability through inequality, and also as a means of interest groups seeking individual needs. This analysis will show the Zoroastrian faith through many conflict theories. These theories include conflict as a source of social disruption, Conflict as a source of integration, and Conflict as pervasive element in all social life.
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...
Dirks, Jerald. The Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam : similarities & contrasts. Beltsville, Md.: Amana Publications, 2004.