Transcript World Relgions

World Religions
Categories
Universalizing
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Baha’i
Monotheistic
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Syncretic
or Ethnic
Judaism
Hinduism
Confucianism
Shintoism
or Polytheistic
Hinduism
Vodum (Voodoo)
or Orthodox
Universalizing
• Religions that
– claim applicability to all humans and
– that seek to transmit their beliefs
through missionary work and
conversions
– And who choose to make some sort of
symbolic commitment (Fellman, 157)
Christianity
• Jesus
• Spread through the Roman Empire
– Roads
– Military
• Expansion Diffusion
– Hierarchical Diffusion: Rome
– Contagious Diffusion
Christian Diffusion
Christian Branches
• Roman Catholic
• Eastern Orthodox – relocation
diffusion
– Russian, Armenian, Greek
– Coptic
• Protestant
– Denominations: Baptist, Lutheran,
Methodist, Presbyterians, Episcopal
– etc.
Islam
• 570 – 632 Muhammad
• 622 - Hegira from Makkah
to Madinah
• Expansion Diffusion
– Hierarchical along trade
routes
• Relocation Diffusion – 39
countries
• World’s fastest growing
religion
Branches of Islam
• Sunni
– The majority
– Supported caliphs that were not related to
Muhammad
• Shi’ite or Shi’a
– Concentrated in Iran
– Caliphs should be related to Muhammad
– Believe the imams are without sin & are infallible
• Sufis
– Primarily in Indonesia
– More mystic, less conservative
Islamic Diffusion
Buddhism
• Founded by Siddhartha Guatama – a
Hindu priest – 6th cen. BC
• Four Noble Truths
• Contagious Diffusion
• Was once state religion
of India – few followers
now
• The concept Buddha
was absorbed into
Hinduism
Buddhism
• Theravada (Vehicle of the Elders)
– Personal salvation
– Closer to original
• Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)
– “In the process of the proselytic spread,
particularly in China and Japan, Buddhism
fused with native ethnic religions such as
Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism to form
syncretic faiths that fall in the Mahayana
division of Buddhism” Human Mosaic 78.
• Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle)
– Dalai Lama
– Also called Tantrayana or Lamaism
– Tibet & Mongolia
Main 3 Schools of Buddhism
www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm
Zoroastrianism
• followers of the prophet Zarathushtra
(known to the Greeks as Zoroaster)
• Ahura Mazda – source of good, creator;
Ahriman – the destructive principle
• the dominant world religion during the
Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AC)
• founded by Zarathushtra, probably
somewhere around 1200 BC
• Followers - around 140,000, largest
populations are in India and Iran
Baha’i
• Founded in Persia (Iran) in 1844
• To overcome the disunity of religions
and establish a universal faith
• 8 mil. Primarily in Africa & Asia
• God is unknowable – except through
manifestations of prophets such as:
Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus,
Mohammed, the Buddha, Krishna, *
Bahá'u'lláh
Sikhism
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1500’s – attempt to unify Hindu & Islam
NW India region of Punjab
Never cut beard or hair, wear turbans
Militant
"A Sikh is any woman or man whose faith
consists of belief in one God, the ten
Gurus, the teachings of the Guru Granth
Sahib and of the ten Gurus, who has faith
in the amrit of the tenth Guru, and who
adheres to no other religion."
--Rahit Maryada (Religion Facts)
Sikhism
Sikh at the Golden Temple of Amritsar, Punjab.
http://www.religionfacts.com/sikhism/
Ethnic
• Religions that have
– strong territorial and
– cultural group identification,
– usually one become a member by birth
or
– by adoption of a complex lifestyle and
cultural identity,
– not merely by a statement of faith
(Fellman, 157)
Hinduism
• World’s oldest religion – 4000+ yrs
old
• Effected social, economic, artistic,
philosophical elements in society
• Understanding Hindu Traditions
Hinduism
• 850 mil. – 1 bil. Followers
• Contagious Diffusion – India
– Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia,
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka
• Relocation
Diffusion
– Eastern Europe,
N. America
Judaism
• Original Abrahamic religion
• 4000 yrs. Old
• Has territorial & political identity
• Power of Place: Jerusalem
Judaism
• Branches
– Sephardim
• Iberian Pen. – expelled 15th cen.
• Ties to N. Africa & Babylonian Jews
– Ashkenazim
• Western & Central Europe
• Most came to US
Shinto
• “The Way of the
Gods”
• Traditional religion
of Japan
• Worship of nature
& ancestors
• Complex set of
deities – inc.
Emperor
CONFUCIANISM
• K’ung Fu-tzu
– Compiler of traditional wisdom
– Lived in time of Gautama Buddha
• No Churches or Clergy
• Ancestor Worship
TAOISM (Daoism)
• First taught by Lao-tsu
in 6th c. B.C.
• Tao – “The Way”
– Eternal happiness lies
in total identification
with nature
– Deploring Passion,
unnecessary invention,
unneeded knowledge,
and govt. interference
Tribal or Traditional
• Special form of ethnic religion
• Localized culture groups
• Close ties to nature
Tribal or Traditional
• Animism – belief that life exists in all
objects (rocks, trees, etc.) or that
such inanimate objects are the abode
of the dead, of spirits, and of gods
Tribal or Traditional
• Shamanism – involves community
acceptance of a religious leader,
healer, or worker of magic, who,
through special powers, can
intercede w/ and interpret the spirit
world
Syncretic
• Combine elements of different belief
systems
• Umbanda
– Practiced in Brazil
– Blends Catholicism w/a reverence for
souls of Indians, wise men, and
historical figures
• Caribbean & L. America often
combine European, African, and
indigenous beliefs
Elements of Blended
Christianity
• Early Christianity during the Roman
Empire
– The Latin paganus – root word of ???
And pagan b/c the rural people
continued to worship the local
agricultural religion
– Viliani – root of ??? Derived into villian
• Combined elements of pagan
worship with Christian holidays – like
their fertility ritual
orthodox
• Purity of faith
• Christian, Jews, Hindu and Islam
1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
All evangelical religions are also
local religions
universal religions
ethnic religions
polytheistic religions
2. The religious practices of some Native
American groups combine elements both
from their traditional religion and from
Christianity. This is an example of
a. a cultural confluence
b. A counter culture
c. a diametric culture
d. a cultural syncretism
Cultural Regions
3. The youngest major religion is
a. Hinduism
b. Judaism
c. Islam
d. Christianity
4. Sikhism is a religion that centers on the teachings
of Guru Nanak, but combines beliefs from
a. Christianity and Buddhism
b. Christianity and Islam
c. Hinduism and Buddhism
d. Islam and Hinduism
5. Modern-day Sh’ia Islam dominates a region
centered on
a. Pakistan
b. Armenia
c. Indonesia
d. Iran
Branches of
Christianity
By rows, explain the
spatial distribution of the
denominations.
Relocation Diffusion
Relocation Diffusion
Cultural Diffusion
• Culture hearth – religions spread
through relocation and expansion
diffusion (hierarchical or contagious)
• Diffusion of religions
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Diffusion
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Relocation
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Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Buddhism
Hinduism
Bahai
Abrahamic
• Christianity – hierarchical -Latin word
pagus “countryside” is root of pagan
and peasant – “suggesting the
ancient heathen connotation of
rurality” Human Mosaic 84
• Islam – hierarchical – trade routes &
Military
Hearths of …
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Taoism?
Shintoism?
Hinduism?
Buddhism?
Judaism?
Barriers &
Time-Distance Decay
• Christianity
– China – belief that humans are
inherently good, knowledge is prized
(fall from grace due to too much kn.),
• Hinduism
Cultural Interaction
• Religion & the Economy
– Demands for certain foods
• Wine for communion
• No pigs
– Pilgrimages
• Birthplaces, natural sites, settings for
miracles, administrative centers = nodes for
functional regions
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Makkah & Madinah
Rome & Lourdes
Varanasi, India on the Ganges
Ise, the hearth of Shintoism
Cultural Interaction
• Religion vs. government policies
– Taliban
– Hinduism & the Caste system
– Communist countries (Orthodox in
Russia, Buddhism in Vietnam)
– Blue Laws, marriage amendment Christianity
Cultural Interaction
• Religion vs. other Religions
– N. Ireland
– Middle East – Show PoP Jerusalem
– Christian missions
Cultural Landscape
• Christian structures
– Roman Catholics – cathedral is literally
the house of God, so the focal point and
large
Protestant Structures
• Buildings are
merely a place
to assemble
Amish & Mennonite
Islamic Mosques
• Imposing, but not sanctified, a place
of gathering
Hinduism
• Usually
dedicated to one
deity
Goparum
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Varanasi on the
Ganges River is the
holist city in Hinduism
and is over 3,000
years old. As the sun
rises each day
worshipers come to
the ghats (steps) to
perform rituals, such
as washing
themselves, drinking
the river water, and
making floating
offerings.
To die here is to be
released from the
cycle of life -- from
reincarnation and
reborn. If possible,
Hindus want to die
here, and then be
burned on one of two
funeral ghats -which are clearly
identified by the large
piles of firewood.
www.uwec.edu/.../India/India/Varanasi-ghats.htm
Baha’i
• Are building
temples around the
world to emphasize
the universality of
the religion
For the N. American
continent
India
Chile
Buddhism
• Not designed
for
congregational
worship
Todaiji Temple
Nara period, constructed 745
Shintoism
• Not designed
for
congregational
worship
The Nachi Shrine is a Shinto/Buddhist multiplex. Indigenous
practices of Shinto gradually incorporated imported
practices of Chinese Buddhism. The syncretic history of
Japanese religion can be seen in the evolving architecture
of sacred spaces
Treatment of the Dead
• Burial
– Christian
– Jewish
– Muslim
– Chinese
– Bali (Hindu, animism, ancestor worship
mix)
Treatment of the Dead
• Exposed
– Zoroastrians
• The body of a deceased person, believed to
be contaminated by nasu (decomposition),
must only be prepared and transported by
special people called nassesalars. The
corpse must be disposed of as quickly and
efficiently as possible, and preferably without
coming into contact with fire, water or the
earth.
• The preferred disposal method for
Zoroastrians is by exposure to sunlight and
birds of prey, but this method is only
permitted in India. In Iran, people are
sometimes buried in concrete-lined tombs,
and in Australia, most Zoroastrians are
cremated.
Treatment of the Dead
• Exposed
– Tibetan Buddhist
• or cremation
• If the body is exposed to the elements, then it is
taken to the cemetery, tied to a stake and undressed.
Corpse-cutters throw pieces of flesh to the vultures.
The bones may be buried or pounded up and mixed
with meal and fed to the vultures as well.
• Cremate
– cremation is forbidden by Orthodox Jews and
Muslims,
– it is the usual method of disposal for Sikhs,
Hindus and Buddhists.