Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded in Iran by the Prophet Zoroaster 3,500 years ago. At one point in history it was an extremely powerful religion; it even held the title as the official religion of Persia from 600 BCE to 650 BCE. However, in recent times it has significantly shrunk in size, and is now considered one of the world’s smallest religions. Zoroastrianism has an extremely vast history. It is clear that other major monotheistic religions, particularly Abrahamic religions, have borrowed off of the very foundation of Zoroastrianism. Seeing as this is one of the oldest religions to have a single deity, as opposed to the tens of hundreds of gods that the Hindus and Greeks worship.
It is thought that Zoroastrianism is one of the first religions to use the idea of heaven and hell. It is also one of the first dogmas to use the concept that there is both good and evil throughout the world, and that they counterbalance one another. However, Angra Mainyu, the devil, is not on equal terms with God. He is merely a force that attacks the world and brings about all things we consider evil, such as: sickness and natural disasters. The term that is used to describe these two forces is coined as ‘cosmic dualism’. BBC Religions explains this notion as: “With cosmic dualism we have life and death, day and night, good and evil. One cannot be understood without the other. Life is a mixture of these two opposing forces. “Basically what this means is that we need both sides of the coin to keep the world in balance. The only big difference is that Zoroastrians believe that even death is brought about by Angra Mainyu. This is opposed to the three Abrahamic religions that believe tha...
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...religion to stay prominent throughout Persia, it also caused some problems with the relationship between the people and the church. Because it is centralized under a single church, the whole religion began to feel more oppressed, and more like a tool used to make money. As time went by they simply began demanding more and more out of the average Persian citizens. This is a very similar occurrence of the history of Abrahamic churches, most notably the Catholic Church. It is notable that the Catholic Church has always been a bit notorious in certain areas of history. Throughout the 15th century the Catholic Church was, without a doubt, was the biggest Christian church. However, there began some controversies when the church started selling indulges; for paying the church a certain amount to the church, they were basically forgiven of any sin they had committed.
The war for the Holy land and the fighting between the Abrahamic religions. Christians made series of war called Crusades. This made a huge negative and positive impact on the ones that was in the conflict which is mostly a huge hole that didn’t reach the goals. Doing all of this, this a negative relate. The reasons are fighting over a land that they try so hard to get, but instead many people die. They even split the church that they wanted to bring together.
Not only did the religious history play a large role in Iran’s beliefs but also foreign invaders have been imposing their power on the Iranian region for thousands of years. Iran...
Masuzawa analyzes the different characteristics of a religion that have influenced its placement in the national or universal religion categories. In order to be identified as a world religion, criteria such as “the naming of an extraordinary yet
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.
To illustrate, religion plays a huge role in Persepolis, it basically started the revolution. The shah told women they had to wear veils and that the girls could not learn in the same classroom as boys, so they separated them. Religion is first mentioned on pg. 6, when Marjane says that she was born into religion.
...did not die’. Islam belief in human nature is also different from Christianity; but the same in Judaism, that human nature has the equal ability to do good or evil. Means of salvation in Islam is closely the same to the other Abrahamic beliefs. In addition, good and bad afterlife beliefs are closely related as well. Interestingly, Christianity views Islam as a false religion and Islam views Judaism and Christianity as ultimately having wrong beliefs and ‘only partial revelation’. Ultimately, these Abrahamic religions are the most influential religions in the world. Their impact on the world is very deep and all trace their history to Abraham in the Hebrew Bible. The brief overview of the similarities and differences of the three monotheistic faiths enables people to enrich or at least receive a concrete vision of what can possibly come with death and the afterlife.
The belief systems of the Mongol and Persian Empire differed because of the main practices in each Empire. In the Mongol empire- during the reign of Ghenghis Khan- the dominant religions were Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. In the Early Persian Empire, the most practiced religion was Zoroastrianism- which was the first monotheistic religion. The Mongols practiced the religion of Christianity which originated from Israel, and became one of the largest widespread religions in the world. Christianity is centered around the teachings of Jesus Christ; a prophet from Bethlehem who was considered to be The Son of God. The religion Islam originated from the middle east and the followers worship the God “Allah” and share similar stories to those that are in the Old testament of the Bible.
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.
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...
Ultimately, European influence played a fundamental role in the shaping of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt during the 18th and early 19th century. It’s influence was most significant through government, economic, and military influence but its effects reverberated throughout society. Western influence was much less significant in Iran, primarily due to the fragmented nature of governorship in the region.
Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general Last Judgment, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body. These doctrines were to become familiar articles of faith to much of mankind, through borrowings by Judaism, Christianity and Islam; yet it is in Zoroastrianism itself that they have their fullest logical coherence..” - Mary Boyce, Op.... ... middle of paper ... ... With such a high status, these religions share many similarities and also differences that give them a dynamic of interest and curiosity.
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...
Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people. Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in the “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic values, law and tradition from the government to boost the country’s economy (White Revolution, 2010).... ...
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.
There are many religions today that people worship and adapt into their daily lives are their creed. Some may have a lot of gods, while some only have one god. But three of these religions are considered as the major religion practiced by most people in the world today. Although different in some senses in terms of history and other teachings, they all have things in common that most of their followers do not seem to realize. The similarities are very important to understand each religion better and be able to determine which parts they vary. In this paper, I like to discuss the similarities found in the three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.