Download World Religions

World Religions
Categories
Universalizing
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Baha’i
Monotheistic
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Syncretic
or Ethnic
Judaism
Hinduism
Confucianism
Shintoism
or Polytheistic
Hinduism
Vodum (Voodoo)
or Orthodox
Universalizing
• Religions that
– claim applicability to all humans and
– that seek to transmit their beliefs
through missionary work and
conversions
– And who choose to make some sort of
symbolic commitment
Christianity
• Jesus
• Universalizing
• Spread through the Roman Empire
– Roads
– Military
• Expansion Diffusion
– Hierarchical Diffusion: Rome
– Contagious Diffusion
– 2 Billion followers
Christian Diffusion
Christian Branches
• Roman Catholic
• Eastern Orthodox – relocation
diffusion
– Russian, Armenian, Greek
– Coptic
• Protestant
– Denominations: Baptist, Lutheran,
Methodist, Presbyterians, Episcopal
– etc.
Islam
• 570 – 632 Muhammad
• 622 – The migration or journey
of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad and his followers
from Makkah (In Saudi Arabia)
to Madinah - Universalizing
• Expansion Diffusion
– Hierarchical along trade
routes
• Relocation Diffusion – 39
countries
• World’s fastest growing religion1.3 Billion followers
Branches of Islam
• Sunni
– The majority
– Supported caliphs that were not related to
Muhammad
• Shi’ite or Shi’a
– Concentrated in Iran
– Caliphs should be related to Muhammad
– Believe the imams are without sin & are infallible
• Sufis
– Primarily in Indonesia
– More mystic, less conservative
Islamic Diffusion
Buddhism
• Founded by Siddhartha Guatama – a Hindu priest – 6th cen.
BC
• Four Noble Truths
1. All of life is marked by suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire and attachment.
3. Suffering can be eliminated.
4. Suffering is eliminated by following the Noble
Eightfold Path
• Contagious Diffusion- Universalizing
• Was once state religion
of India – few followers
now- 360 Million worldwide
• The concept Buddha
was absorbed into
Hinduism
Buddhism
• Theravada (Vehicle of the Elders)
– Personal salvation
– Closer to original
• Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)
– “In the process of the proselytic spread,
particularly in China and Japan, Buddhism
fused with native ethnic religions such as
Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism to form
syncretic faiths that fall in the Mahayana
division of Buddhism” Human Mosaic 78.
• Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle)
– Dalai Lama
– Also called Tantrayana or Lamaism
– Tibet & Mongolia
Main 3 Schools of Buddhism
www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm
Baha’i
• Founded in Persia (Iran) in 1844
• Universalizing
• To overcome the disunity of religions and
establish a universal faith-emphasizes the
spiritual unity of humankind
• 8 mil. Primarily in Africa & Asia
• God is unknowable – except through
manifestations of prophets such as: Abraham,
Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus, Mohammed, the
Buddha, Krishna, * Bahá'u'lláh
Sikhism
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1500’s – attempt to unify Hindu & Islam
Universalizing
NW India region of Punjab
Never cut beard or hair, wear turbans
Militant
"A Sikh is any woman or man whose faith
consists of belief in one God, the ten
Gurus, the teachings of the Guru Granth
Sahib and of the ten Gurus, who has faith
in the amrit of the tenth Guru, and who
adheres to no other religion."
--Rahit Maryada (Religion Facts)
Sikhism
Sikh at the Golden Temple of Amritsar, Punjab.
http://www.religionfacts.com/sikhism/
Ethnic
• Religions that have
– strong territorial and
– cultural group identification,
– usually one become a member by birth
or
– by adoption of a complex lifestyle and
cultural identity,
– not merely by a statement of faith
(Fellman, 157)
Hinduism
• World’s oldest religion – 4000+ yrs
old
• Ethnic
• Hindus believe in karma, the law of
cause and effect by which each
individual creates his or her own
destiny by thoughts, words or deeds.
• Understanding Hindu Traditions
Hinduism
• 850 mil. – 1 bil. Followers
• Contagious Diffusion – India
– Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia,
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka
• Relocation
Diffusion
– Eastern Europe,
N. America
Judaism
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Original Abrahamic religion
Ethnic
4000 yrs. Old
Has territorial & political identity
13-14 million followers world wide
• Power of Place: Jerusalem
Judaism
• Branches
– Sephardim
• Iberian Pen. – expelled 15th cen.
• Ties to N. Africa & Babylonian Jews
– Ashkenazim
• Western & Central Europe
• Most came to US
Shinto
• “The Way of the
Gods”
• Traditional religion
of Japan-Ethnic
• Worship of nature
& ancestors
• Complex set of
deities – inc.
Emperor
CONFUCIANISM
• K’ung Fu-tzu
– Compiler of traditional wisdom
– Lived in time of Gautama Buddha
• No Churches or Clergy
• Ancestor Worship
• Ethnic
TAOISM (Daoism)
• First taught by Lao-tsu
in 6th c. B.C.
• Ethnic
• Tao – “The Way”
– Eternal happiness lies
in total identification
with nature
– Deploring Passion,
unnecessary invention,
unneeded knowledge,
and govt. interference
Tribal or Traditional
• Special form of ethnic religion
• Localized culture groups
• Close ties to nature
Tribal or Traditional
• Animism – belief that life exists in all
objects (rocks, trees, etc.) or that
such inanimate objects are the abode
of the dead, of spirits, and of gods
• Ethnic
Tribal or Traditional
• Shamanism – involves community
acceptance of a religious leader,
healer, or worker of magic, who,
through special powers, can
intercede w/ and interpret the spirit
world
orthodox
• Purity of faith
• accepting and closely following the
traditional beliefs and customs of a
religion.
• Christian, Jews, Hindu and Islam
Cultural Diffusion
• Culture hearth – religions spread
through relocation and expansion
diffusion (hierarchical or contagious)
• Diffusion of religions
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Cultural Interaction
• Religion & the Economy
– Demands for certain foods
• Wine for communion
• No pigs
– Pilgrimages
• Birthplaces, natural sites, settings for
miracles, administrative centers = nodes for
functional regions
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–
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Makkah & Madinah
Rome & Lourdes
Varanasi, India on the Ganges
Ise, the hearth of Shintoism
Cultural Interaction
• Religion vs. government policies
– Taliban
– Hinduism & the Caste system
Cultural Landscape
• Christian structures
– Roman Catholics – cathedral is literally
the house of God, so the focal point and
large
Protestant Structures
• Buildings are
merely a place
to assemble
Amish & Mennonite
Islamic Mosques
• Imposing, but not sanctified, a place
of gathering
Hinduism
• Usually
dedicated to one
deity
Goparum
•
•
Varanasi on the
Ganges River is the
holist city in Hinduism
and is over 3,000
years old. As the sun
rises each day
worshipers come to
the ghats (steps) to
perform rituals, such
as washing
themselves, drinking
the river water, and
making floating
offerings.
To die here is to be
released from the
cycle of life -- from
reincarnation and
reborn. If possible,
Hindus want to die
here, and then be
burned on one of two
funeral ghats -which are clearly
identified by the large
piles of firewood.
www.uwec.edu/.../India/India/Varanasi-ghats.htm
Baha’i
• Are building
temples around the
world to emphasize
the universality of
the religion
For the N. American
continent
India
Chile
Buddhism
• Not designed
for
congregational
worship
Todaiji Temple
Nara period, constructed 745
Shintoism
• Not designed
for
congregational
worship