Three Religions Christianity Islam Hindu
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Transcript Three Religions Christianity Islam Hindu
Three Religions
Christianity
Islam
Hindu
Christianity
One God who has one son, Jesus Christ
Those who practice it are Christians
Christ is born in Palestine, but we call the state
Israel
Teacher
Healer
Began practicing these works when he was
about 30 years old (about 33-34 C.E.)
Christianity
Initially was a counter-culture movement
Women and slaves found equal spiritual value
under its doctrines
Formed of people from three societies
Greeks, Romans, and Jews
Each of these was patriarchal
As the Church becomes institutionalized, various sects fight
for dominance
The Pauline sect (St. Paul, the Epistles) wins
Encourages a return to traditional values
Christ and Women
Gospels and Epistles will show that the messages they
communicate in regard to gender roles are very
different.
The Gospels have no negative statements about women
attributed to Jesus or his followers. They reject the
restrictive traditional roles of the time period.
The resurrection story of Jesus is especially
significant to gender studies because he appears to
two women: Mary, his mother, and Mary Magdalene.
Contradicts the Hebrew tradition which hold that women
cannot bear legal witness; they could not enter the
synagogue; they were not credible as witnesses.
It is not surprising that when the women went to the
apostles and disciples to tell them about the resurrection
that they were not believed.
Christ and Women
Jesus taught women the scriptures, which went
against Rabbinic law, and accepted them as followers.
Jesus did not treat women as sex objects, and that
during a time when women who transgressed
sexually could be put to death, he preached
forgiveness for these women.
Jesus rejected the blood taboo. Hebrew law held that
menstruating women were social outcasts, were
unclean, and were to be totally separated from
society. Jesus accepts and includes these women in
his teachings.
Early Demographics
Jo Ann McNamara notes in her essay “Matres
Patriae/Matres Ecclesiae: Women of the Roman
Empire” that women were in fact the largest
demographic follower of Christ’s teachings.
Whereas his male followers all tended to be humble and
slaves, McNamara shows, his female followers spanned
the entire social range, and it is because many of his
followers were wealthy females that his ideas were able to
be promoted and proliferated both before and after his
death. Without the influence, missionary work, political
work, and sometimes martyrdom of women, Christ’s ideas
might have died out or been eradicated.
Historical Context
Temple of Isis,
Pompeii
The Roman Empire was falling, there had been
many men lost in the wars and the remaining ruling
population consisted of mostly women
The Greeks and Jews, as the conquered, also lost
many men in this war period
Rome ruled with their polytheistic culture, and they
began to be infiltrated by Egyptian religions, as well
Temples of Isis
For 200 years Christians were persecuted until a measure
of tolerance was reached, and then finally, about 100 years
later, it became official religion.
Pauline Strategy
To set themselves apart from the other religions
To recruit members they needed to convince them that they
were different than the other cults.
They decided to advocate a greater respect for life;
They decided not to adorn themselves, as many of the materialistic
Roman culture did;
They would be more associated with home and family and being
peaceful, unlike the Romans who liked to socialize at parties and
sporting events.
They decided that their men and women would be sexually
restricted. Christians would not participate in orgies or homosexuality,
etc. They would be different.
As part of this strategy, they would return to traditional gender
roles; they would not liberate their women. Again, as a
strategy of survival, this would allow them to differentiate
themselves from the other religions, which were seen as too
liberal.
Christianity
Pauline Advice for Women’s Behavior
Women are to be sober and obedient, based on
Titus 2:4-5;
to submit to their husbands, as advised in
Colossians 3:18;
to accept men as their authority figures, in 1
Corinthians 11:3;
and to be silent in church, as described in 1
Corinthians 14:34-35
Cult = a new religion, sociologically
Christianity in the beginning was new, a small
group
Established by Jews
Christ = Jewish
Accepted many people pf many faiths as it grew
Sect = offshoot of an established religion
Doctrine
All people are alike in spirit
Ethnic group does not matter
Race does not matter
Religion does not matter
Christianity is monotheistic, like Judaism
Christianity challenges Roman polytheism
Text
Christians use the Bible
Old Testament
From Hebrew heritage and Judaism
Contains histories, songs, poetry and laws
New Testament
Represents the life and death of Christ
Gospels = story of Christ’s life
Epistles = establish Christianity and its policies
Christianity becomes institutionalized
eventually (losing its cult status)
th
11
Century
Christianity divides East and West, when East refuses to
recognize the Roman Pope as head of Church
East = Greek Orthodox
Constantinople was center
Istanbul, Turkey now
Fell to Islam in 1453, losing power
Moved north to Russia and south to Greece
West = Roman Catholic
1517, Religious wars
Crusades and Inquisition
The Reformations
Catholics and Lutherans split
Later Lutherans will split into other Protestant denominations
Colonialism
Converting natives of “third-world” countries
to Christianity by force, combining religion
with economics
Beginning in 15th century and extending
through the 18th and 19th centuries and still
today
Demographics Today
Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion, with 2
billion adherents
Christianity has many branches, including 1.1 billion Roman Catholics,
367 million Protestants in a number of traditions, 216 million Orthodox,
84 million Anglicans, 414 million Independents (unaffiliated with the
major streams of Christianity), and 31.7 million "marginals" (Jehovah's
Witnesses, Latter Day Saints (Mormons), etc.), these last being
denominations which describe themselves as Christian but are not
recognized as such by other denominations.
Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there
are massive missionary efforts under way, its overall rate of growth
is slower than that of some other faiths and of the world
population as a whole.
The population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, but
Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year.
By contrast, Islam is growing at 1.4% per year. The slow growth can be
attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations
where the birth rate is quite low.
Islam
Arabic word for “peace” and “surrender”
The peace that comes from the surrender to God
Practioners are Muslims
Younger religion
Dominates the Middle East and North Africa,
Pakistan and Bangladesh
1/5 people in the world are Muslims
Mohammed
Born in Mecca in 570 C.E., now Saudi Arabia
Islam is based on his teachings
He is not the son of God but God’s last prophet;
he is the last messenger of God
They recognize the Judaic prophets and Christ as God’s
prophets
Their text is the Koran; God is Allah
Allah revealed His will to Mohammed
Since Mohammed is last, his word is final, the seal
Therefore, Islam is the one true religion (according
to its followers)
Islam’s Split
After Mohammed’s death in 632 C.E., two religions
are formed:
Sunni
Dominant in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East
Any good man can become a prophet and a religious leader
Shiites
Dominant in Iran
Only male descendents of Mohammed can be religious leaders
Hussein killed 4,000 people in battle and was martyred: selfsacrifice is hero-ified; the highest you can go is to kill yourself for
your religion
Muslims
Are forbidden to drink or take drugs
Pray five times a day
Follow other requirements
Basic unit of social life = family
Husbands and fathers in total control
No public role for women
Polygamous
No separation between church and state, theocracy
The state is the law; Allah provides all legislation and
laws in the Koran
Demographics Today
Based on the percentages published in the 2003 CIA
Factbook, Islam is the second largest religion in the world.
Islam is growing faster numerically than any other religion;
this growth is attributed mainly to a higher birth rate than
other religions, and partly to a high conversion rate.
The Muslim population today comprises a total of 1.48
billion, 22.82% of the world's population.
The world population is growing at about 1.10% per year, but
the percentage of Muslim population is increasing by 1.4%
per year, mostly due to higher birth rate of African and Asian
countries. Birth rates in many Muslim countries have begun
to decline, although more slowly than in other nations, which
also may be a factor.
Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the oldest major world religions
faiths.
Hinduism is characterized by a diverse array of belief
systems, practices and scriptures.
It has its origin in the ancient Indo-European Vedic
culture at least as far back as 2000 BCE.
It is the third largest religion with approximately 940
million followers worldwide, 96% of whom live in the
Indian subcontinent.
In the US alone, 3 million people follow some form of
Hinduism.
After including Yoga followers, Hinduism has around 1.05
billion followers worldwide.
Hinduism
Common to all Hindus is belief in Dharma,
reincarnation, karma, and moksha (liberation) of
every soul through a variety of moral, actionbased, and meditative yogas.
More fundamental principles include ahimsa
(non-violence), the primacy of the Guru, the
Divine Word of OM and the power of mantras,
love of Truth in many manifestations as Gods and
Goddesses, and an understanding that the
essential spark of the Divine (Atman/Brahman) is
in every human and living being, thus allowing for
many spiritual paths leading to the One Unitary
Truth.
Bindis are worn by Hindu women on their forehead to symbolize the opening of
their spiritual third eye. Hindus across the board stress meditative insight, an
intuition beyond the mind and body, a trait that is often associated with the ascetic
god Shiva. Men, too, will bear on their foreheads the equivalent tilak mark, usually
on religious occasions, its shape often representing particular devotion to a certain
main deity.
Hinduism
Om, or Aum, is the
most sacred syllable
and quintessential
symbol of Hinduism,
representing the first
manifestation of the
unmanifest Brahman
Although Hinduism is very diverse, one of the
possible things that unites all Hindus is the quest for
enlightenment and to free oneself from the cycle of
rebirth.
Another major concept is the concept of Ahimsa,
which means "non-harm". Through this concept,
strict movements of vegetarianism and tolerance
grew. Hindus believe that everything in the world is
part of the universal spirit, and therefore everything
needs to be respected, preserved and protected.
Caste System
According to ancient Hindus, the four varnas (literally, 'colors')
or castes had equal standing in the society and were based upon
the duties to society and worked together towards the welfare of
the society. According to this understanding, discrimination by
caste is a perversion of dharma's true meaning.
Over a period of time the caste system has become rigid and
discriminatory. In spite of centuries of numerous reform movements,
notably within Vedanta, Bhatia Yoga and Hindu streams of Tantra, and
reformers, with recent stalwarts like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma
Gandhi, caste based discrimination is so deeply ensconced in the Indian
consciousness that even Christian converts have been known to separate
church meetings for different castes. A number of Muslim communities
have retained caste practices as well.
Caste still plays a significant role in Hindu society; however, post
Independence, caste is losing favor in India and caste-based
discrimination has been legitimized.
Hinduism
Castes
Brahmin, priests
Kshatriya, warriors
Vaisy, artisans and merchants
Sudra, peasants
Upward mobility through reincarnation is done by
being the best possible, making sacrifices, observing
religious rituals, having faith . . . leads to moksha.
Woman’s Role within Hinduism
The best a woman can hope for is to come back
as a man.
Purpose: To be a good wife to help her husband
attain moksha, and to be a good mother to her sons
Good wife treats husband as a god
Virtues: self-sacrifice, submission, patience
Sati means
virtuous
woman
Hindu Women
Sati was
banned in
1829
Are to behave as good women/wives, have little value
as daughters until marriage
When widowed were to follow help ensure their
husbands’ ascension by showing their devotion and
to provide their own families with generations of
good luck by killing themselves on the funeral pyre:
Sati
If not Sati, were to give up all their worldly
belongings and pray for their husbands’ success in
moksha while begging on the streets