Download Christianity and Islam - pamelalewis

Christianity and Islam
Rise of Christianity
• Some Jews began to revolt against Roman rule,
resulting in all Jews being banned from Jerusalem
• Jesus of Nazareth
– Born in the town of Bethlehem
– All knowledge about Jesus comes from the
Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament
– Traveled around preaching people to repent their
sins and seek God’s forgiveness
• People needed to seek forgiveness for the
coming of Judgment Day
• People were to practice humility, mercy, and
charity
– As Jesus traveled, he gathered a small group
of disciples, or followers
• According to the Bible, Jesus performed
miracles and defended the poor
– Roman authorities feared a political uprising
and arrested Jesus and sentenced him to
death
• Jesus was crucified = nailed to a cross
– Some believed he rose from the dead and
spent another 40 days teaching his disciples
before ascending into heaven
– As a result, people began to call him Jesus
Christ, the Greek word for Messiah
• Spread of Christianity
– Jesus’ disciples began to teach that all
people could achieve salvation
• Salvation = forgiveness of sins and the
promise of everlasting life in heaven
– The Apostles – the 12 disciples that Jesus had
specifically chosen to carry out his message
• Were the earliest Christian missionaries
• Mostly only taught in Jewish communities
– Paul of Tarsus believed that God had sent him
to convert non-Jews
• Without him, Christianity might have
remained a branch of Judaism
• The Christian message of eternal life after
death appealed to many
• Roman religious toleration contributed to
the spread
• Persecution
– Some local officials and rulers, such as Nero,
saw Christians as a threat and arrested and
killed them
• Fed to the lions, made them martyrs
• Martyrs = people who die for their faith and
thus inspire others to believe
• Christianity survived and triumphed
• Imperial approval of Christianity
– Emperor Constantine became the first
Christian emperor after he converted after
winning a battle
• He issued the Edict of Milan, which made
Christianity legal within the empire and
declared official tolerance of Christianity
– Emperor Theodosius outlawed public nonChristian sacrifices and ceremonies
• As a result, Christianity was adopted as
the Roman religion and polytheism
began to disappear
• The Early Christian Church
– Development of ceremonies that inspired
people’s faith and made them feel closer to
Jesus
• Eucharist = held in memory of Jesus’ last
supper with his disciples
–Eat bread and drink wine in memory of
Jesus’ death and resurrection
• Baptism = people admitted into the
Christian faith
• Mass = religious ceremony
– Hierarchy
• Priests ran the ceremonies and instructed a
small local community
• Bishops = high-ranking church official who
oversees a group of churches in a particular
area
• Many Christians believed that Peter the Apostle
founded the Roman Church
– Peter had been the bishop of Rome, so later
bishops of Rome were seen as Peter’s
spiritual heir
– They took the name popes
– Popes were seen as the head of the entire
Christian church
Muhammad
• Muhammad was born in Mecca and had a
successful career as a merchant
• While traveling on business, Muhammad met
followers of Judaism and Christianity
– These faiths influenced his thinking
• Muhammad was a religious man who often left
his home to live in a cave for extended periods
– One of the times at the cave, Muhammad
awoke to find himself in the presence of an
angel, who commanded him to speak
messages from Allah
– Decides God has chosen him to be a prophet to
spread messages
• Allah was the one and only true God
• Instructions on how to live to please Allah and
live in paradise after death
– Begins to preach in public and gains a number of
followers
• Muhammad moves from Mecca to Yathrib, which came
to be called Medina, “the Prophet’s city”
– This journey came to be known as the hegira, or
hijra
– The year the hegira took place became year one on
the Islamic calendar (622)
• This new faith was called Islam, meaning “achieving
peace through submission to God”
– Followers were called Muslims, claim ancestry to
Basic Religious Teachings
• Monotheistic, the Qur’an is the sacred text of
Islam
– The Qur’an also lays out five basic acts that
are central to Islam
• The Five Pillars of Islam
– Belief – profession of faith
• “There is no god but God (Allah) and
Muhammad is the messenger of God”
– Prayer – perform five daily prayers, always facing
Mecca
– Giving of alms or charity
– Fasting = going without food or drink
• Do this from dawn to dusk during the month of
Ramadan, the month when Muhammad began to
report the messages
• Muslims believe that fasting is a way to show that
God is more important than one’s own body
– Pilgrimage, called the hajj, to Mecca
• Pilgrims gather by the thousands to pray in the
city’s large mosque
• Mosque = building in which Muslims worship
– Obeying Allah’s will means following the Five Pillars
• Guidelines for good behavior outlined in the
Qur’an
– Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol or
eat pork
– Must wash themselves before praying and
prohibits lying, stealing, and murder
– Jihad = “struggle for the faith”
• Struggle to defend Muslim communities
or to convert people to Islam
– Islam is a peaceful religion
• The Qur’an teaches that Allah is the same God
that the Jews and Christians worship
– Muhammad considered Abraham, Moses, and
Jesus to be messengers of God, but saw
himself as the last prophet
– Both the Jewish and Christian bibles came
from God, but the Qur’an was the final
message from God to humanity
– Muslims are to respect Jews and Christians as
“people of the book”
Judaism
Date est.
Christianity Islam
1500-2000 First
BC
century AD
Founded Hebrews Jesus/Paul
by
of Tarsus
Where
Israel /
Mid East
founded
mid East
Followers Jews
Christians
called
Main
Moses
Jesus
prophet
Claim
Abraham Abraham
ancestry
600s
Muhammad
Mid East
Muslims
Muhammad
Abraham
Judaism
Other
prophets
Text
Poly or
Mono
Building
worship
Feelings
violence
Pilgrimag
e
Christianity
Islam
Moses
Torah
Bible
Moses
Jesus
Quran
Mono
Mono
Mono
Synogogu
e
Antiviolence
Jerusalem
Church
Mosque
Antiviolence
Jerusalem
Antiviolence
Mecca