Download Key Issue 2: Why Do Religions Have Different

Key Issue 2:
Why Do Religions Have
Different Distributions?

Each can be traced to a man who lived
since the start of recorded history
◦ Buddhism
- Christianity
- Islam
Origin of Universalizing
Religions

Jesus

The four Gospels of the Christian Bible
◦
◦
◦
◦
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Origin of Christianity
Accept the teachings of the Bible as well
as the authority of the Church hierarchy
(the Pope)
 7 sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation,
Penance, Anointing the Sick, Matrimony,
Holy Orders, and the Eucharist)
 transubstantiation

Roman Catholics
Split from the Roman Catholic Church
 Patriarch of Constantinople
 Accept the 7 Sacraments, but reject
doctrines added by the Roman Catholics
after the 8th Century

Eastern Orthodoxy
Capernaum
St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow
The Reformation
 Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
 Individuals directly communicate with
God…don’t have to go through a
priest/Pope

Protestantism
Origin: similar narrative to Judaism and
Christianity; Adam – Abraham
 Hagar and Ishmael

◦ Second wife and son
◦ Banished
◦ Makkah/Mecca
Origin of Islam





Born about A.D. 570
The visions
Arabic and the Quran
The Hijra
Sunni and Shiite
Muslims
Muhammad

Siddhartha Gautama
◦ Born a prince in 563 B.C. in present day Nepal
◦ The Buddha,
“the Enlightened One”
◦ Spread the message in India
Origin of Buddhism
No specific founder
 Existed prior to recorded history
 Invasion of the Aryan tribes from Central
Asia into India (1400 B.C.)

◦ Religion mixed with the Dravidians (who
already lived there)
◦ This became Hinduism
Origin of Hinduism
Diffusion of Religions

Christianity diffused through all forms of
diffusion:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Relocation Diffusion
Contagious Diffusion
Hierarchical in the 4th Century
Since the year 1500, missionary activity by
Europeans extended Christianity to other
regions of the world
Diffusion of Christianity
Hierarchical diffusion: Muslim armies
 Relocation: missionaries to sub-Saharan
Africa and Southeast Asia

Diffusion of Islam
Most have limited diffusion
 They lack missionaries to go out and try
to convert
 Mingling of Ethnic and Universalizing
Religions:

◦ Africa: in some places Christianity is mixed
with the traditional religion
◦ Japan: Buddhism is mixed with Shintoism
Lack of Diffusion of Ethnic
Religions
Judaism is practiced in many countries
 Diaspora
 Ghettos
 Following the Holocaust

•
Judaism: An Exception
Ethnic Religion’s holy places derive from
the distinctive physical environment of
their hearths
 Universalizing Religions endow with
holiness cities and places associated with
their founders’ lives.

Holy Places

Eight locations of important events in
Buddha’s life
◦ Example: Bodh Gaya, where he reached
enlightenment
Buddhist Shrines

Holiest places: cities associated with
Muhammad
1. Makkah:
- the Ka’ba
- The Hajj
2. Medina
Holy Places in Islam
The
Darbar
Sahib, or
Golden
Temple
Holy Places in Sikhism
Closely tied to the physical geography in
India
 Natural features rank as holy: river banks
or coastlines
 A tirtha
 The Ganges

Holy Places in Hinduism
Cosmogony: a set of religious beliefs
concerning the origin of the universe
 Yin (earth, darkness, female, etc.)
 Yang (heaven, light, male, etc.)

Cosmogony in Ethnic Religions
A prominent feature is the celebration of
the seasons
 The Jewish Calendar

◦ agricultural
◦ Lunar calendar

The Solstice
◦ Pagan religions
◦ Stonehenge
The Calendar in Ethnic
Religions
Holidays: commemorate events in the
founder’s life
 Climate and agricultural cycle are not
central to the liturgy and rituals

The Calendar in Universalizing
Religions
So………
Why do different religions
have different distributions?