| Revision as of 22:03, 13 October 2005 editDwo (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers7,819 editsNo edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 22:20, 13 October 2005 edit undoDwo (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers7,819 edits Changed to reflect real usage of the term. Still need setion concerning Islam and possibly Bahá'í, but I believe Bahá'í to belong to neither Eastern or Western religion.Next edit → | ||
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| '''Western religion''' refers to religions that are based on Abrahamic ] and derive from the Middle Eastern milieu including ], ], and ]. | |||
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| ==Judaism== | |||
| The term Western Religion refers to those religions that originated in the ], such as as seen in ], ], etc. It is often opposed to ]. See ]. | |||
| ] is an ancient symbol of Judaism. It was used in the ].]] | |||
| ] is the ] ] of the ]ish people. It is one of the first recorded ] faiths and one of the oldest religious ] still practiced today. The tenets and history of Judaism are the major part of the foundation of other ]s, including ] and ]. For all of these reasons, Judaism has been a major force in shaping the world. | |||
| ==Rome== | |||
| Religion in ancient Rome combined several different ] practices and embraced more than a single set of beliefs. | |||
| Judaism does not easily fit into common ] categories, such as ], ], ], or ]. This is because ]s understand Judaism in terms of its 4,000-year history. During this time, Jews have experienced ], ] self-government, ] self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; they have been in contact, and have been influenced by ], ]ian, ], and ] cultures, as well as modern movements such as the ] (see ]) and the rise of ]. Thus, Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not ], not religious, but all of these, in ]al tension." | |||
| The ] originally followed a rural animistic tradition, in which many spirits (gods) were each responsible for specific, limited aspects of the cosmos and human activities.The early ] referred to these gods as '']''. For example, there were different '']'' for ploughing, for horses, and for cattle. See ]. The ] provided the context out of which Roman culture and religious beliefs evolved. See ]. | |||
| According to both traditional Jews and critical historical scholars, a number of qualities distinguish Judaism from the other religions that existed when it first emerged. The first characteristic is ]. This notion is derived directly from the ] (the ]) where ] makes it part of the ]: "...I am the Lord your God. Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land. Do not bow down to or worship them. I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship". | |||
| Another aspect of this animistic belief was ancestor worship, with each family honouring their own dead by their own rites. See ]. | |||
| The ] of this is that: | |||
| Early in the history of the ], foreign gods were imported, especially from ], which had a great cultural influence on the Romans after they conquered it. In addition, the Romans connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses. | |||
| #"I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." The belief in the existence of God, that God exists for all time, that God is the sole creator of all that exists, that God determines the course of events in this world. This is the foundation of Judaism. To turn from these beliefs is to deny God and the essence of Judaism. | |||
| {{Roman myth}} | |||
| #"You shall have no other gods besides Me...Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..." One is required to believe in God and God alone. This prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities, gods, ] or incarnations. To deny the uniqueness of God, is to deny all that is written in the ]. It is also a prohibition against making or possessing objects that one or other may bow down to or serve such as ]es, and any forms of paintings or artistic representations of God. One must not bow down to or serve any being or object but God. | |||
| Some important ones, with the Greek equivalents in parentheses, were ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), ] (= ]), and ] (= ])and Dionysus or Bacchus in Rome | |||
| The significance of this idea lies in that Judaism holds that an omniscient and omnipotent God created humankind as recorded in the ], in the ] starting with the very first verse of ]: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." While in ] religions, the gods are limited by the preoccupation of personal desires irrelevant to humankind, by limited powers, and by the interference of other powers, in Judaism, God is unlimited and fully available to care for Creation. | |||
| As the Roman Empire expanded, and included people from a variety of cultures, there were more and more gods. The legions brought home cults originating from Egypt, Britain, Iberia, Germany, and Persia. The cults of ] ] and ] were particularly important. | |||
| Second, the ] (i.e., The ]) specifies a number of laws, known as the ], to be followed by the ]. Other religions at the time were characterized by ] in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of Israel similarly had a ], a ] of ], and made ] — but these were not the sole means of worshiping God. | |||
| Along with this, the ancient Roman beliefs and practices continued, especially in and around Rome itself. This included the worship of the ] and ] (spirits specific to a family, with altars in the home), festivals such as the ] and ], and a complex system of lucky and unlucky days. | |||
| As a matter of practical worship (in comparison to other religions) Judaism seeks to elevate everyday life to the level of the ancient Temples' worship by worshipping God through the spectrum of daily activites and actions. It has traditionally maintained that this is how the individual would merit rewards in the afterlife, called ''gan eden'' (]: "]") or '']'' ("World to Come"). | |||
| Another important aspect of religion in Roman times was the divinity of the Emperor. More than just being the ] (the head of the Roman Religion), Roman Emperors endorsed the various popular cult religions. In an effort to enhance political loyalty among the populace, they often called subjects to participate in the cults and revere the emperors as gods. Examples of this include "The Achievements of the Divine Augustus", which are two large bronze pillars in Rome inscribed with the deeds of Augustus, roman coins where the Emperor is portrayed with a halo or divine glow, temple inscriptions such as "Divine Augustus Caesar, son of a god, imperator of land and sea..." (Roman Temple Inscription in Myra, Lycia). | |||
| ==Christianity== | |||
| Eventually, Christianity came to replace the older pantheon as the state religion. | |||
| ⚫ | {{Jesus}} | ||
| ] is a ] ] based on the life and teachings of ] as presented in the ] writings of his early followers. It is the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.1 billion followers, or about one-third of the world's population. | |||
| It shares with ] the books of the ] (all of which are incorporated in the ]), and for this reason is sometimes called an ]. | |||
| === Related topics === | |||
| *] | |||
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| Christianity encompasses numerous religious traditions that widely vary by culture, as well as many diverse beliefs and sects. It is usually represented as having divided into three main branches, over the past two millennia: | |||
| ==Nordic religion== | |||
| Nordic religion is a termed used to abbreviate the ] preferably amongst the ] living in ] under pre-Christian period that are supported by archaeology findings and early written materials. | |||
| #] (the largest coherent group, representing over one billion baptized members), | |||
| There are scholars (such as ]'s theory) suggesting structural similarities with the Norse religion and the whole ] region. | |||
| #] (including ] and ]), | |||
| #] (Many denominations and schools of thought, including ], ], ], ], ], and ]) | |||
| These three broad divisions do not represent equally uniform branches. On the contrary, in some cases they disguise vast disagreements, and in other cases minimize sympathies that exist. But this is the convenient standard overview of distinctions, especially as Christianity has been viewed in the ]. | |||
| === Archaeology === | |||
| There are many archaeology findings in Scandinavia. The eldest may be seen in ]s and are usually divided into two categories from its age: "hunting-glyphs" and "agricultural-glyphs". The ''huntingglyphs'' are the oldest (ca. 9,000 -- 6,000 B.C.) and dominate in Northern Scandinavia (], ] and ]) and describe an economy mainly based on hunting and fishing culture. These more real motifs are later (ca. 4,000 -- 2,000 B.C.) replaced with more zoological (or perhaps religious) glyphs. Animals are often illustrated from a x-ray viewpoint (strongly reminiscent of the ] petroglyphs), hence the term zoological. The most southern glyphs (]) are later complemented with younger ''agriculturalglyphs'' (ca. 2,300 -- 500 B.C.), which describe an economy based on agriculture. These are motifs of ships, shamans and worship in the sun, rain and geometrical figures. There is also a third, younger (ca. 900 -- 500 B.C.), glyphs showing a culture that have not been archaeologically supported other than these petroglyphs (containing a large part of sexual acts and feuds.) | |||
| A more comprehensive overview would categorize ] and the ] as branches distinct from the ] Christianity of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, and ] as a tradition separate from Protestantism, with which it has often been included. | |||
| It is only speculation that humans (such as ] or ]) were sacrificed in a religious context. | |||
| There is also one category of ] finding which has called into question the archeologies, and that is, the "]" (=grip-animal). The datings go back to the period 700 -- 900 A.D. Other younger objects include the well known ]s, written in ], sometimes indicating ones property, other times a secret ciphered message, or finally a memory of a brave person who has been killed in a foreign country. Even small runic notes written on wood have been found, containing diary-like messages. | |||
| ] (]), ] (]) and ] (]) are the oldest runestones currently known (2004). The ] originates from Southern Europe (ca. 1st century), but there have been (not yet satisfactory) attempts to connect them to Turkish or ]. The major part of Scandinavian runestones appear in the 11th century. | |||
| The society was certainly divided into an upper and lower class. Slaves were probably used as workers for the upper-class. Most archeology remains do certainly belong to the upper-class families, but also early ] graves in villages allow us to tell more about "ordinary" people. | |||
| === Texts === | |||
| The younger religion which is commonly termed ] was by the Christians (in a degrading purpose) frequently termed ''hedendom'' (]), ''Heidentum'' (]), '']'' (]) or '']us'' (], also a modern English term) due to the fact that the heathen or pagan people, i.e. people living on the country side (Lat. ''paganus''; also ''cf''. the English word '']''), professed these beliefs. The profession of Heathenry was on Iceland commonly termed '']'' and was seen as a crime from medieval till modern times. | |||
| ==], ] and ]== | |||
| ], ] and ] are ] which have become fairly successful in the ]. Many in the West, in fact, mistakenly suppose Judaism and Christianity to be Western. But they originated in the ] and are fundamentally opposed to ]. | |||
| == See also == | |||
| * ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| *]. | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
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Revision as of 22:20, 13 October 2005
Western religion refers to religions that are based on Abrahamic monotheism and derive from the Middle Eastern milieu including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Judaism
Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The tenets and history of Judaism are the major part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions, including Christianity and Islam. For all of these reasons, Judaism has been a major force in shaping the world.
Judaism does not easily fit into common western categories, such as religion, race, ethnicity, or culture. This is because Jews understand Judaism in terms of its 4,000-year history. During this time, Jews have experienced slavery, anarchic self-government, theocratic self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; they have been in contact, and have been influenced by ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the Enlightenment (see Haskalah) and the rise of nationalism. Thus, Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension."
According to both traditional Jews and critical historical scholars, a number of qualities distinguish Judaism from the other religions that existed when it first emerged. The first characteristic is monotheism. This notion is derived directly from the Torah (the Hebrew Bible) where God makes it part of the Ten Commandments: "...I am the Lord your God. Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land. Do not bow down to or worship them. I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship".
The Jewish understanding of this is that:
- "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." The belief in the existence of God, that God exists for all time, that God is the sole creator of all that exists, that God determines the course of events in this world. This is the foundation of Judaism. To turn from these beliefs is to deny God and the essence of Judaism.
- "You shall have no other gods besides Me...Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..." One is required to believe in God and God alone. This prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities, gods, spirits or incarnations. To deny the uniqueness of God, is to deny all that is written in the Torah. It is also a prohibition against making or possessing objects that one or other may bow down to or serve such as crucifixes, and any forms of paintings or artistic representations of God. One must not bow down to or serve any being or object but God.
The significance of this idea lies in that Judaism holds that an omniscient and omnipotent God created humankind as recorded in the Book of Genesis, in the Creation according to Genesis starting with the very first verse of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." While in polytheistic religions, the gods are limited by the preoccupation of personal desires irrelevant to humankind, by limited powers, and by the interference of other powers, in Judaism, God is unlimited and fully available to care for Creation.
Second, the Torah (i.e., The Hebrew Bible) specifies a number of laws, known as the 613 mitzvot, to be followed by the Children of Israel. Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of Israel similarly had a Temple in Jerusalem, a caste of priests, and made sacrifices — but these were not the sole means of worshiping God.
As a matter of practical worship (in comparison to other religions) Judaism seeks to elevate everyday life to the level of the ancient Temples' worship by worshipping God through the spectrum of daily activites and actions. It has traditionally maintained that this is how the individual would merit rewards in the afterlife, called gan eden (Hebrew: "Garden of Eden") or olam haba ("World to Come").
Christianity
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Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. It is the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.1 billion followers, or about one-third of the world's population.
It shares with Judaism the books of the Hebrew Bible (all of which are incorporated in the Old Testament), and for this reason is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion.
Christianity encompasses numerous religious traditions that widely vary by culture, as well as many diverse beliefs and sects. It is usually represented as having divided into three main branches, over the past two millennia:
- Roman Catholicism (the largest coherent group, representing over one billion baptized members),
- Orthodox Christianity (including Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy),
- Protestantism (Many denominations and schools of thought, including Anglicanism, Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism)
These three broad divisions do not represent equally uniform branches. On the contrary, in some cases they disguise vast disagreements, and in other cases minimize sympathies that exist. But this is the convenient standard overview of distinctions, especially as Christianity has been viewed in the Western world.
A more comprehensive overview would categorize Oriental Orthodoxy and the Assyrian Church of the East as branches distinct from the Chalecedonian Christianity of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, and Restorationism as a tradition separate from Protestantism, with which it has often been included.
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