Belief Systems in World Civilizations

The Classical Period (1000 B.C.E.-500C.E.)

Belief System Origin/Date Spread Tenets Significance
Polytheism

Earliest Religion
across all culture
regions.
Continued in areas that
had not been evangelized
by Christianity and Islam.
Belief in many gods/spirits.
Gods personifications of nature
Animism
Examples: Sumerian, Shang,
Greek, Roman, Germanic, Mayan,
Aztec, and African Religions
Modern Religion: Hinduism
Rise of a Priest Caste that
controlled people.
Zoroastrianism Zoroaster aka
Zarathustra
500s BCE
Persia
Teachings written in the
Avestas.

Worship Ahura Mazda and later
add his son Mithras
Struggle between good and evil
that mans actions add to one side
or the other.
Good will eventually triumph over
Evil
Good go to Heaven, Evil to Hell.
Remained in Persia, however did
influence Judaism and in turn
Christianity.
Still remains today, though in small
numbers, Parsis.
J udaism Hebrews, Ancient
Israelites
First writings
between 1000 and
800 BCE
Land of Canaan, Ancient
Israel, Babylon during the
captivity; Diaspora 130s
CE by the Romans,
Middle East, North
Africa, and Europe
One God
Chosen people through a special
relationship with God.
Covenant with Abraham
Messiah to come
Beliefs set forth in Torah, Mosaic
Law, and Talmud, collection of
oral laws
Patriarchal
Promote the ethics of the prophets
First monotheistic religion
Greatly influenced Christianity and
Islam
No widespread hierarchical
structure


Slavery, Moses, Exodus, J oshua
Ruled by J udges, then Kings
Christianity Teachings of Jesus,
30s CE
Spread to Non-J ews
by Paul
From Palestine
throughout the Roman
world including
Byzantine Empire and
northern Europe
One God
J esus as Messiah
Through Gods grace people are
saved through gift of faith in J esus
Christ.
Through this faith, sins are
forgiven and receive eternal life.
Gospels as main source of
teachings of J esus.
Large body of later writings
develop to interpret and build on
original teachings (Paul, Church
Fathers)
Share message with unconverted.
Persecuted by the Romans.
All souls equal before God
appealed to low class and women
who helped spread faith.
Legalized by Constantine in late
300s
o Established Bible, nature
of Christ and the trinity.
Strong monastic element, monks
preserve Greek and Roman
learning after fall of Rome.
Strong missionary outreach.
Strong universal hierarchical
structure and discipline.
Exclusive religion.

As Roman Catholic Church power
of the papacy came to rival
European emperors and kings.
Schism 1054, split over leadership
and some tenets

Islam Muhammad, early
600s CE
From Arabian peninsula
throughout Middle East to
w. India, w. China, sub-
Saharan Africa, and
Moorish enclaves in
Spain.
One God, Allah.
Muhammad ordered to recite the
words of God by angel Gabriel.
Muhammad as the Seal of the
Prophets (Abraham, J esus,
Muhammad)
5 Pillars of Islam
There is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is his prophet.
Pray 5x a day facing Kaaba in
Mecca.
Charity
Fasting during Ramadan
Pilgrimage to Mecca once in
lifetime.
Original teachings recorded in
Quran
Split into Sunni and Shia sects
Sunni=modern majority, originally
adherents to Umayyad family.
Shiites originally followers of Ali
Development of Sharia, law code
for many Islamic nations
Lack of hierarchical structure.
Muhammad was political leader
and religious leader rather than
Christianitys rise to leadership
after 200 years.
Confucianism China, Confucius
500s BCE (Analects)
and Mencius 300s
BCE
China Based on jen, quality that relates
all people to one another,
sympathy
Humaneness
Filial Piety; family as the teacher
of social roles, family as extension
of the state; 5 relationships
Ruler/subject, Parent/Child,
Husband/Wife, Older/Younger
Brother, Friend/Friend.
Belief people are inherently good.
Created tight communities.
Philosophical and ethical system of
conduct, not a religion
Dominant influence in Chinese
government, education and
scholarship for 2,000 years
Knowledge of Confucianism the
basis for civil service
Conservative influence, accepted
status quo
Mandate of heaven
Ancestor worship
Created order
Compatible with other religions
Evolved within Chinese culture, so
does not spread very far beyond
China
Legalism Qin China,
Han Feizi
Within China as an
alternative to
Confucianism and
Daoism
Peace/order only through
centralized, tightly governed state
Human nature bad, harsh
punishments must be used to
coerce people to follow laws
Focus on practical, sustaining of
society-2 worthy impressions
farmer and soldier
United China quickly
Censorship, great deal of books
lost.
Massive projects completed, Great
Wall, roads, canals
Led to wider acceptance of Daoism
Daoism Traditionally Lao
Tzu, 400s-300 BCE

Tao te Ching
China, second most
influential system after
Confucianism
Tao means the Way indefinable
but like nature, naturalness
Live in accord with ones nature
Oneness with everything through
Tao, meditation
Interaction of Yin/Yang, passive
and active principles, as influences
on everything that happens
Water is soft and yielding but can
wear down stone.
A pot on a potters wheel, the hole
is nothing but without it, the pot is
no longer a pot, the hole serves the
function.
Social conventions such as
Confucian rituals unnatural.
Became mixed with peasant belief
in spirits and over time became
polytheistic religion.
Interest in nature greatly influenced
Chinese arts.
Ambition and activism =chaos so
separate from it.
Counteracts Confucian activism
Because it encourages harmony
with nature, inspired advances in
Botany and Astronomy.
Hinduism Origins with Aryan
invaders between
1700 and 1500BCE,
later groups added
ideas.
Spread through India and
Modern day Pakistan

Vedas, Upanishads,
Ramayana, and
Mahabharata (90,000
stanza epic)
One ultimate reality, Brahma,
formless and nameless.
Rebirth (reincarnation) determined
by Karma
Release from cycle of rebirth
(moksha) of the soul(Atman)
through oneness with the ultimate
reality
4 stages of life: student,
householder, anchorite, sannyasi
(holy one)
Dharma, duties and rules of
conduct to be followed to achieve
salvation.
No founder or date of founding
Tolerant of other religions
Little in the way of formal beliefs
Adaptable, offers meditation and
ritual.
Varna, division of people into 4
classes which leads to caste
system, as a measure of spiritual
progress
Religion and social system closely
connected to Indian culture
hindering Hinduisms spread.
Women, subservient, sati
Buddhism Grew out of protest
of practices of
Brahmans, Hindu
priests
Siddartha Gautama
(Buddha) 500s BCE
From Northern India
throughout Asia and SE
Asia as far as Japan in
700s CE

Ashoka converts aiding
the spread of religion
4 Noble Truths
Universality of suffering
Desire is the cause of suffering
Nirvana is the cessation of desire
Eightfold path as a guide to
entering Nirvana
Rightness of :
o Knowledge of the cause
and end of suffering
o Thought
o Speech
o Conduct
o Livelihood
o Effort
o Mind, and
o Meditation
Caste system is unnecessary for
Nirvana, anyone can reach it.
Appeals to low rank people.
Strong monastic tradition
Monks carried Buddhism beyond
India
Revival of Hinduism and Islamic
invasions wiped out Buddhism
from India by 1000 CE
In 1
st
century split into Mahayana
and Theravada
Mahayana: delay entrance into
Nirvana to help others find
enlightenment, use additional texts.
o Buddha=god-like deity
o Raised the importance o
priests and complex
rituals that Buddha had
tried to remove from
Hinduism
Theravada: emphasis on seeking
individual enlightenment, based
more closely on the teachings of
Buddha
Zen Buddhism 700s in China and
by 1200s in J apan, sudden
enlightenment through meditation.