Western and Eastern Religions and Their History

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Western religions
Eastern religions
Works cited

Introduction

Religion has played an important responsibility in the traditional world as well as in the modern world. In order to complement religion, a number of societies for example Chinese, Romans and Greeks emulated rationalism. Modern world is the historic period when the European countries began to expand spreading imperialism in many parts of the world. On the other hand, traditional world is the period prior to the year1500.One of the major difference between the modern and the traditional world is that the former world is characterized with a change in economic, transportation and in the technological sectors while the latter is characterized by a strong believes in religion. Religion explained everything which occurred in the traditional world (Coogan and Metzger 76). Majority of the people in the traditional world shared a common culture and religion. A good example of a strong relationship between the societies and religion is indicated by the caste system which is emulated by Hinduism. A good example of a religion that united the traditional society is Bhagavad Gita (Chapple, 14). According to Roberts, 25 the Middle East countries and the Mediterranean civilizations which includes the Greeks, Egyptians and the Sumerians had a strong impact in the traditional world. Greco-Roman empire and Rome were some of the societies that emerged after the traditional world. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the histories of the Western religions and the Eastern religions.

Western religions

Western religions comprises of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On the other hand, Eastern religions encompass the Buddhism and Hinduism. Even though there are many religions in the world, the Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are the major ones. The western religion has a long history of more than 6,000 years when the religion of Judaism was established. There are common features that are associated with the three religions of the western group. First, they emulate monotheistic (Michael, 46). This implies that they have strong belief in one god. Even though there are other aspects which are not common in all the three religions, their belief in one god is highly significant. Also referred to as Abrahamic religions, western group has been emulated by many believers. It is worth to note that over 3.5 billion people follow the doctrines of Christianity, Islamic or Hinduism.

The religions that make up the western group were established many years back. This has been one of the major reasons as to why they have effectively been emulated by large group of people. For example, Judaism religion has a very long history of more than 3000 years. The Jews take Judaism as the covenant that binds together the people of Israel and God. According to the teachings of the Judaism, Mount Sinai is the location where God revealed the commandments and the rules to the Moses. These rules were in the form of written materials and Oral Toral. Being one of the oldest monotheistic religions, Judaism has greatly influenced other western religions including Christianity and Islam. Christianity maintains that there exists a holy trinity which comprises of God the father, Jesus Christ the son and the Holy Spirit.The aspect of holy trinity in one of differences which exists between the Christianity and the Judaism. Even though Judaism and Islam have continued to remain united, Christianity has continued to subdivide itself leading to establishment of other religions that includes Eastern Orthodox, Protestants and Roman Catholic Musil (Roberts, 31). The divinity of Jesus Christ is another aspect that differentiates Christianity from other groups in the Western religion. Christianity was established in the 1^st Century by Jews who resided in the Mediterranean. During its early stages, the twelve disciples who included Paul and Saint Peter undertook the leadership of the Catholic Church.

Even though Christians shared some aspects with the Jews, the Jews leaders persecuted early Christians based on the teachings by the disciples. However, the number of people who emulated the Christianity teachings has continued to increase leading to more than 2 billion followers worldwide. Islamic religion was established 1,500 years by prophet Muhammed (Roberts, 26). According to the Muslims, Jesus Christ who the Christians believe to posses divine powers was not the son of God. Even though the Muslims believe in one god just like the Jews and the Christians, they maintain that Jesus Christ was only a prophet. The Koran, that is the holy book for the Muslims comprises of the words that were spoken by the prophet Mohammed. On the other hand, the Christianity religion emulates the holy bible. The early Christians were responsible for writing the original version of the bible that was later redrafted by other Christians who were believed to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is therefore essential to note that Christians and Muslims share a common aspect of having holy books (Chapple, 42).

Eastern religions

As mentioned earlier, Eastern religion consists of Hinduism and Judaism. Hinduism was established around 4,000 years ago in India. Vedas are the values that were emulated by Hindus between 1500 to 500 BCE which led to the establishment of the Hinduism. One of the major differences between the Hinduism and the religions in the Western group is that Hindu believers did not have temples. The Hindus conducted their rituals in the centers such as Varuna and Indra. In addition, Hinduism has three aspects that make it different from other religions (Michael, 46). First, the Hindus believe in fixed social caste. This implies a person remains in the social class where one is born. Secondly, they believe in many goods. Thirdly, they believe in reincarnation. This implies that the believers are reborn in a different social class depending on how well they lived before they died. Reincarnation is a major difference that exists between Hinduism and all the other religions.

Buddhism religion was established 1,500 years ago by Siddhartha Gautama. According to him, there is no fixed social class system, which is a major aspect in the Hinduism religion. Buddhism belief in reincarnation and many gods just like Hinduism.

Works cited

Chapple, Christopher. The Bhagavad Gita. New York, State University of New York Press. 1984

Coogan Michael and Metzger Bruce. The Oxford companion to the Bible. London, Penguin Books.1998

Michael, Bruce. Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1993

Roberts, Musil. Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity. London, Prentice Hall, London. 2009

Roberts, Musil. The New Penguin History of the World. New York, Penguin Books Ltd.2004

Roberts, John. The New Penguin History of the World (fifth edition). New York, Penguin Books Ltd.2007

Information on the Western and Eastern religions. Web.

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Western and Eastern Religions and Their History

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