Page 254 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

religion—overview 1555

When and Where
World Religions Began

4000–2500 bce Hinduism South Asia
Central and South America, scholars deduce that people 1300–1200 bce Judaism West Asia
observed the heavens for signs of divine will. They paid 500–400 bce Buddhism South Asia
attention to the seasons of the year and the movement of Confucianism China
sun and moon and stars, calculating some of their bear-
Zoroastrianism West Asia
ings from these. Many ancients worshiped sun-gods or
Jainism South Asia
moon-gods. Such observance has lived on in moderated
ways within literate cultures, where Judaism, Christianity, 400–221 bce Daoism China
and Islam, among others, thrived.Their sacred texts pre- 1st century ce Christianity West Asia,
scribed certain ceremonial days in the light of the phases Europe
of the moon.
3rd century ce Manichaeism West Asia
6th century ce Shinto Japan
Literate Cultures and
Ancient Storytellers 7th century ce Islam West Asia
Just as they looked up to the heavens, these religious folks 11th century Orthodoxy West Asia
also looked backward and ahead, as their texts reveal: 15th–16th Sikhism South Asia
They wanted to account for how the world came into
century
being and what its future, often a future ending in destruc-
16th century Protestantism Europe
tion, would be. Their stylized stories of beginnings, or
19th century Latter-day Saints North
myths of origin, provided guidance for daily living.Their
America
altars and relics also signal that they were concerned
about weather and the gods or forces who control it, Babi and Baha’i West Asia
since it had so much impact on their survival and possi- 19th–20th Pentecostalism North
ble prosperity.They danced, prayed, and made offerings century America
to deities associated with agriculture and hunting.

The Rise of (Confucius) in 551 BCE that texts appeared which pro-
“World Religions” vide access to the spiritual world of China.Whether Con-
Knowledge of what religion meant in ancient lives fucius should be thought of as a religious founder or a
becomes more sure when historians can deal with texts philosopher is a point of debate, but students of Chinese
in which priests and scribes recorded their presumed religion characteristically study his writings. These
transactions with the divine or in which they prescribed became influential in China and have remained so thou-
ceremonies. Many of those have left rich heritages where sands of years later. He taught followers to be humble
they appeared around the Mediterranean Sea and espe- and generous, respectful of their ancestors, and devoted
cially in the Middle East. In the fifth century BCE Athens to civic life.
was a bustling city, whose architects produced temples Even before Confucius died, China saw the emer-
such as the Parthenon, where the statue of Athena by gence of another philosophy, a this-worldly faith, Dao-
Phidias dominated. Readers of the literature of ancient ism, which paid little attention to a life to come, as most
Greece become familiar with large companies of gods, other religions have done. Attractive especially to poor
whom citizens always tried to understand, often to pacify, farmers, to peasant classes, it taught reverence for the nat-
and sometimes to emulate. ural world, the landscape, in the face of which people
While a thousand years before that, around 1500 BCE, were to learn to be serene but never weak.
Chinese peoples gave signs that they were preoccupied More vital and influential through the centuries have
with the sacred, it was with the birth of K’ung Ch’iu been religions that emerged in the subcontinent of Asia,