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Five Major World Religions Culture and Society Judaism Symbol Represents the 6 days of creation Location Middle East (Modern day Iraq) Structure Synagogue (attended on Saturday) Figure Abraham Holy Book Tanakh Torah (1st 5 books of the Bible), Nevi’im (prophets), and Ketuvim (rabbi’s teachings) Beliefs One God (Yahweh)/Waiting for the Messiah Obey the laws in the Tanakh Believe in Heaven and Hell “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.” (John Adams, 2nd president of the United States) Is it really possible that our moral values do not originate in one of the great civilizations but have been bequeathed to us by a small, otherwise insignificant nation inhabiting a tiny piece of real estate in the Middle East? I venture to say that the ancient Hebrews (who later came to be known as the Israelites and still later as the Jews) would have disagreed with the statements of Adams above. They would have insisted that they had nothing personally to do with inventing the values which ran against the grain of the world around them, and indeed were totally unknown to other peoples. They would have insisted that these values came from God, and they were merely the people chosen to disseminate them worldwide. This was the story they told from the time they appeared on the world scene around 1300 BCE, hundreds of years before the ascent of the Greek civilization. Back then, they were still a newly emerging nation that functioned more like a large extended family, all family members tracing their ancestry to a man named Abraham who had lived somewhere around 1,800 BCE. They were a strange people with an even stranger religion: They believed in only one God—all-powerful, infinite, and invisible—who had created everything known to man, a notion totally foreign to every ancient people that preceded them. They claimed that all of them—some 600,000 men and untold number of women and children—had miraculously escaped from slavery in Egypt, then the mightiest empire on earth, through the miraculous intervention of their God. They claimed that after their great escape, they reached a mountain in the wilderness, Mt. Sinai, where they all had an encounter with God; during that encounter, and through the person of their leader Moses, they supposedly received a code of behavior—compiled in a holy book known as the “Torah”— which they scrupulously followed. It was a story bound to raise more than a few eyebrows in the ancient world. Of course, the ancient people believed all sorts of wild things about divine relationships with human beings, so the Jews’ story was not in itself all that outlandish. Nor was a society governed by laws so strange, after all, previous law codes, the Code of Hammurabi being the most famous, set forth rules governing property rights and the like. What the ancient world couldn’t fathom was this particular code. Indeed, it was a code that to the ancient mind seemed irrational. “The Jews are distinguished from the rest of mankind in practically every detail of life,” wrote Roman philosopher Deo Cassius, expressing his disapproval. “In particular ... they do not honor any of the usual gods, but show extreme reverence to only one God.” Part of that “extreme” reverence translated into following that God’s law, a law which could not be altered as was convenient. It was an absolute, God-given standard, and by that fact alone it stood apart from any law of any other society. But there was more about the Jews that was strange, besides their God and their law. The Torah—or the Biblos as the Greeks would call it—was like no holy book of any people before or since, in yet another way. It made the Jews look bad. In it, they are shown as shirkers and complainers, often sinning against their own God and His law. And yet they insisted that they needed to carry around with them the history of their failures as well as their successes in order never to lose sight of their mission to elevate humanity. Christianity Symbol The cross on which Jesus died. Largest religion in the world with approximately 2 billion followers Location Middle East Structure Church or Cathedral (attended on Sunday) Figure Jesus Holy Book Bible Beliefs One God (Yahweh) Jesus, his son, died and rose again for the sins of mankind ISLAM Symbol Ottoman Empire 2nd largest religion in the world with approximately 1.3 billion followers Location Saudi Arabia (A country in the Middle East) Structure Mosque (attended on Friday) Figure Muhammad Holy Book Koran (Also spelled Qur'an) Beliefs One God (Allah) Good is weighed against the Bad to go to Paradise JUDAISM CHRISTIANITY ISLAM Symbol Location Middle East Middle East Saudi Arabia Structure Synagogue Church or Cathedral Mosque Figure Abraham Jesus Muhammad Holy Book Tanakh Bible Koran (A country in the Middle East) (Also spelled Qur'an) Torah Prophets Writings Beliefs One God (Yahweh) Waiting for the Messiah Follow the Laws of the Tanakh One God (Yahweh) Jesus, his son, died and rose again for the sins of man One God (Allah) Good is weighed against the Bad Hinduism Symbol Universal Symbol Location India Structure Hindu Temple or Home Shrine Figure Brahman is The Great Power Thousands of gods that represent the characteristics of Brahman Holy Book Vedas, Upanishads, Sutras, Bhagavad Gita Beliefs Karma – One’s moral actions have effects on future reincarnation (You can break out of the cycle and live in a spirit realm temporarily until your Karma has been used up.) Buddhism 8 Fold Path Symbol Location India Structure Buddhist Temple/Stupas Figure Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) Holy Book Pali and Sanskrit Canon Beliefs Reincarnation in the hopes of Nirvana (permanent paradise) Life’s purpose is to end suffering HINDUISM BUDDHISM Symbol Location India Structure Hindu Temple or Home Buddhist Temple Shrine Stupa Figure Brahman is The Great Power Thousands of gods/goddesses Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) Holy Book Vedas Upanishads Four Noble Truths Eightfold Path Beliefs Reincarnation Karma Dharma Reincarnation Nirvana (This religion is very much part of their caste system.) India (Spread to China through the Silk Road) Resources • http://www.religionfacts.com/ • http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_cha rts/islam_judaism_christianity.htm • CCMS Library – Religions of the World • • • • • Buddhism Christianity Hinduism Islam Judaism