Download The Rise of Monotheism: Zoroastrianism and Judaism WHAP/Napp

The Rise of Monotheism: Zoroastrianism and Judaism
WHAP/Napp
“The Jewish God was all-powerful and everlasting. Known as YHWH, or ‘The Eternal
One,’ his name was rarely spoken; such was the awe and majesty surrounding him. He
was eventually to be called ‘Jehovah’ by the Protestant reformers 2,000 years later.
Jehovah protected the Jews on condition that they obeyed his precepts, his commandments.
The first of the Ten Commandments proclaimed that there was only one god in the whole
world. At a time when the typical religion had many gods – the temples of the Middle East
were crowded with gods for each season and each purpose – the Jewish religion was
unusual. Its members were instructed to bow down before no other god. Their God
threatened to punish those people who were disloyal, even their children and
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but rewarded the loyal by showing ‘steadfast love
to the thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep my commandments.’
The Ten Commandments instructed the Jews how to conduct their lives. An underlying
rule was that they must respect their neighbors and show them sympathy. They were
commanded to honor their parents. They must not kill, they must not commit adultery.
They must not tell lies about their neighbor, and not even think of stealing the neighbor’s
ox and ass. It will be observed that the ox and ass, but not the sheep, were so mentioned.
Vital as beasts of burden and high in price, the ox and ass were widely used for ploughing
the fields and for carrying and hauling heavy loads.
The rigid practice of Jews was to work only six days in each week and to worship and rest
on the seventh day, which, according to their reckoning, was Saturday. One of the first
wide-ranging laws of social welfare in the world, the Sabbath day of rest extended not only
to householders but also to their servants, female and male. More than 20 centuries later
the most advanced of the world’s social democracies were to introduce, for many
employees, a working day limited to eight hours; but that recent experiment in social
welfare was less significant than the six-day working week religiously adhered to by these
children of Israel.” ~ A Short History of the World
1- What was unique about Judaism compared to other religions of the ancient world?
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2- Explain the covenant [agreement] between God and the Jewish people.
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3- Explain the significance of the first of the Ten Commandments.
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4- How did the Ten Commandments instruct the Jews to live [be specific]?
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5- What was the significance of the Sabbath?
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6- Compare Judaism and Hinduism [identify one difference/one similarity].
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7- Compare Judaism and Buddhism [identify one difference/one similarity].
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8- Identify two religions that Judaism strongly influenced?
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9- How did Judaism profoundly impact the history of the world? __________________
Notes:
I. Zoroastrianism
A. Arose during the height of the Persian Empire
B. A Persian prophet, Zarathustra (Zoroaster to the Greeks), in possibly the sixth or
seventh century BCE, preached a new religion
C. Ideas received state support during the Achaemenid dynasty (558-330 BCE)
D. Zarathustra had been appalled by the violence of recurring cattle raids
E. Beliefs
1. A single, unique god, Ahura Mazda, ruled the world and was the source of all truth,
light, and goodness
2. But Ahura Mazda was in a cosmic struggle with the forces of evil
3. Evil was embodied in the supernatural figure of Angra Mainyu
4. Ahura Mazda would eventually triumph when a final Savior would arrive and
restore the world to its earlier purity and peace
a) At the day of judgment, those who had joined with Ahura Mazda would be
granted new resurrected bodies and eternal life in Paradise
b) Those who sided with evil were condemned to everlasting punishment
F. After the Prophet
1. Zoroastrianism was accepted within the Persian heartland and found some
followers in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia
2. But never a missionary religion
3. The faith was weakened by Alexander the Great’s invasion of Persia but
flourished again during the Parthian (247 BCE-224 CE) and Sassanid (224-651
CE) dynasties
4. However, the arrival of Islam led to the final decline of Zoroastrianism in Persia
5. A few believers fled to India where they became known as Parsis (Persians) and
continue to practice their faith to the present times
6. Like Buddhism, Zoroastrianism vanished from its place of origin but unlike
Buddhism, it did not spread in a recognizable form
G. Contributions to World Religions
1. Conflict between good and evil
2. Idea of a last judgment and resurrected bodies
3. Belief in the final defeat of evil
4. The arrival of a savior (Messiah)
5. The remaking of the world at the end of time
II. Judaism
A. Developed among the Hebrews
1. According to Hebrew tradition, the prophet Abraham, led his people from
Mesopotamia to Palestine
2. Over time, a portion of the Hebrews moved to Egypt where they were
enslaved but then miraculously escaped to rejoin their kin in Palestine
3. By around 1000 BCE, the Hebrews established a small state that soon split
into a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern state of Judah
a) Israel was conquered by Assyria in 722 BCE and many of its inhabitants
were deported to other regions
b) In 586 BCE, the kingdom of Judah came under Babylonian control and its
elite class was shipped off to exile
1) In Babylon, these exiles, now calling themselves Jews, retained their
cultural identity and later were able to return to homeland
2) But identity lay in unique religious ideas
3) Through religion as opposed to empire-building, the Jewish people
influenced world history
B. Beliefs
1. The Jews had developed a distinctive conception of the divine
a) Divine was singular, transcendent, personal, separate from nature
b) Divine was engaged in history
c) Divine demanded social justice/moral righteousness above sacrifices/rituals
d) Ideas sustained a separate Jewish identity in both ancient and modern times
e) Provided the foundation on which both Christianity and Islam were built
Zoroastrianism
Judaism
Similarities:
Differences:
Strayer Question:
 What aspects of Zoroastrianism and Judaism subsequently found a place in
Christianity and Islam?
 What was distinctive about the Jewish religious tradition?
1. The best translation of Ahura Mazda
6. Judaism can best be defined as
is
(A) Both a religious and an ethnic
(A) God
group
(B) The Merciful One
(B) A religious group
(C) The Wise Lord
(C) An ethnic group
(D) The All Powerful
(D) A polytheistic group
2. Zoroastrianism teaches that evil:
(A) Does not exist
(B) Is the work of the Persian gods
(C) Emanates from Ahura Mazda
(D) Is eternal and invincible
3. Zoroastrianism teaches that humans:
(A) Can achieve perfection in this life
(B) Are free to choose between good
and evil
(C) Will be judged by Mithra when
they die
(D) All of these
4. According to Zoroastrianism what
will happen at the end of the world?
(A) The struggle between good and
evil will continue in a new
creation
(B) All traces of evil will be wiped out
(C) The angles will become the
guardians of humanity
(D) Evil people will be sent to hell
forever
5. At traditional Zoroastrian funerals
the bodies of the dead are:
(A) Buried in the earth
(B) Cremated in the sacred fire
(C) Consumed by vultures
7. According to Jewish beliefs, what is
the one essential commandment?
(A) To love God
(B) To love Creation
(C) To love oneself
(D) To love all humans
8. Jews in exile from their homeland
probably encountered Zoroastrians.
Some scholars believe that Jewish
belief in concepts such as
___________ may be Zoroastrian in
origin.
(A) Reward or punishment in an
afterlife
(B) An immortal soul
(C) Final resurrection of the body
(D) Any of these
9. Early prophets such as Elijah
focused on the sins of worshipping
other gods; later prophets
emphasized the impending disastrous
results of
(A) Temple sins
(B) Political sins
(C) Social and moral sins
(D) Any of these
Comparative Thesis Statement: Zoroastrianism and Judaism
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