History of Religion on Planet Earth - Report Example

History of Religion on planet Earth Table of Contents History of Religion on planet Earth Religion 3 Human religion beginning 3 The religion of early hunters 4 Archaic agriculture 5 Ancient empires 6 Religious founders and the great religions 7 Modern interpreters of religion 9 Reference 10 Wenner, Sara. “History of Christianity”. 2004. Minnesota State University · Mankato. June 12, 2009 http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/christianity/history.html 10 Religion The "Religion" comes the Latin word "religio." It means, "re-legging" or "re- running." Religion is, then, a "re-run." This mean re-legging what the great spiritual leaders has discovered and taught (Religions of the World, 2002). Religion is the association of belief held by human beings about the super natural power and activities, involving rituals and code of ethics. Many such beliefs developed naturally and many where influenced by the extra territorial influences. From the early stone age to the modern era, different religion developed on Earth at different time; but no single religion was able to predominate the entire human culture. These different religions have played an important role in the history of human civilization. Human religion : beginning The history of religion is as old as the human civilization. The ancient human evolved on Earth between 400,000 and 250,000 year ago. It is still unknown that when humans became religious or when did the religion develop on Earth, but there are several evidences about religion being followed by the ancient human, around 300,000 to 50,000 year ago. Symbolic evidences of religion have been retrieved from Africa which belongs to the Middle Stone Age. These evidences symbolize the Lion man, the Venus figurines and the elaborate ritual burial. According to both Dr. Frans de Wall and Barbara King, the origin of primitive human religion is from morality. Many other social animals like dolphins and whales do exhibit pre-moral sentiments. There are many theories provided on the origin of religion such as: Urreligion- The term means “proto religion” or “primitive religion”. It represents the oldest form of religion. This word contrasts with the organized religion which is theocracies of the ancient urban culture of the current world religion. The Oeconomische Encyclopädie of J. G. Krünitz (1773 - 1858) defines it as "the oldest natural religion of mankind, in particular the religion of Adam and Eve, which according to the dogmatists is supposed to have been reveald" . There are many other theories like “Animism” proposed by Edward burnett Tylor and Herbert Spencer, “Fetishism” by the very fomous biologyst John Lubbock and the theory of “naturalism”. Naturalism is also known as the “materialism”. This is a philosophical model which says that explanation of everything can be given through natural causes. As per this theory, physical matter is the only reality and it excludes the super natural agents or activities. The philosophers agree that God is the cause for universal moral conduct The religion of early hunters The early Stone Age Human lived in extended families called tribes. Their main activity was hunting to gather food and also fight with the fellow strange human to protect their food and family. There was no difference between the human and beast. They had no writer law or holy books to take guidance so rules where created through discussion. There where no preachers or priests but they had shamans which means witch doctors. It was believed that they could communicate with the spirits. The imaginative stories were also very famous which were passed from one generation to another. They had strong faith in these stories as they were narrated by their parents which talked about the world around them. These tribes use to pray not only for themselves but also for the wellbeing of the whole tribe; hence they performed these activities in groups. They believed that everything which is in motion is because of these spirits which they called as “God”. This was original polytheism, where they did not differentiate between spirit and materiality. They believed that everything like flying of bird, lightning, rain, thunder, tides, all is because of the magic of spirit. They tried to keep these spirits happy through prayer and through gifts. If something went wrong like sickness, death or any natural calamity, they use to believe that God is angry on them. Through their stories they narrated that male God of sky and the female God of Earth gave birth to the God of atmosphere and other phenomena. They believed God created this world as it is at present and will remain same forever. Archaic agriculture With the change in time, human turned from hunter to farmers. It is believed that cultivation was first started by the women in the hunting society as they where responsible for gathering food from plant. This lead to the development of agriculture and bought a vital change in their mode of life and the religion followed by them. The number of Gods worshiped by them reduced and they focused more in warfare, reproduction and fertility. Their rituals followed by were more dependent on the natural phenomena such as seasonal cycles, rainy season or the season of harvesting which where of greater importance for the farmers. They use to pray, sing songs and dance and carry out many rituals to keep their God happy. Many agrarian cultured flourished near to river and water bodies hence their rituals are more related to nature like Goddess of rain, Goddess of forest, Goddess of river. Many such evidences have been derived by archeologists near Nile in Egypt and Indus valley in India. Ancient empires Religion played a vital role in many ancient empires like ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The mighty nations in the Northern and Southern Egypt where joined and merged into a single large nation. These Egyptian Kings used to associate themselves with the God Horus. They believed that they are the reincarnation of Horus and they have the authority to rule the Earth. The Neo Babylonian Emperor highly relied on the strength of their Gods and they had the belief that their Gods have given them the authority to build a great empire. Many other empires perceived the same thought and while conquering the nation they took over the religion of the people residing there as well. Another very famous ancient empire is the Greek which was full of Gods & Goddess, Heroes and rituals. They always believed that God will guide them and their states. They followed many rituals, rites, ceremonies and sacrifices to please their God. They constructed many temples and statues to offer sacrifices, to God. They had faith that there is another life after death which is very much different from the real life. Greeks believed that God control natural and social forces and they were believed to reside on Mount Olympus. Religious founders and the great religions Basically there are four major religions which highly flourished throughout the world at different time and at different region of world. They are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Mohammedanism. Buddhism: The founder of Buddhism was Buddha. Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha Goutama in Kapilavasthu (presently near to India and Nepal border) on the Full Moon Day in 623 B.C. (Lorentz, Melissa, 2007). Buddhism first developed in India around 2500 year ago and then got spread to Eastern region. It is widely believed that Buddhism was first introduced in China in during the Han period (206 BC-220 AD). Mahayana Buddhism is the most prominent branch of Buddhism in China which made great effort to spread Buddhism in China. From there it went to the Far East. Buddhism follows four major truths, which are as follow: To Live means to Suffer in life. The basic cause of suffering is self focused desire and attachment. The only way get ride of these desire is through eliminating them, called Nirvana. The path of Nirvana or extinction is through the Eight Fold Path preached by Buddha. Christianity: Founder of Christianity is Jesus. Around 2000 year ago Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, Israel. The teachings of Jesus lead to foundation of Christianity. In spite of the serious bans, it continued to develop in the second and the third century. During the fourth century Roman Catholic got split and the Eastern Orthodox was formed. Orthodoxy is more common in Russia, Greece, Ukraine and in few more countries. The Protestant branch detached itself from the Roman Catholicism in sixteen and seventeen century which was challenging to the authority of Pope and it got popular in Scandinavia, England, and Netherlands (Wenner, Sara, 2004). Christianity believes that God is a person, but different from the normal Human. Jesus preached to accept God as a father. Hinduism: Hindu religion is among the most ancient religions of the Earth which still exists. It is believed that Hinduism developed around 2033 to 1500 B.C. in the form or Indus Valley Civilization. In 1500B.C. Indus Valley was invaded by Indo-European people called Aryans who introduced a new form of religion. They introduced cast system which divides the society into classes- priests (Brahmins), warriors, merchants, and servants. The Hindus used to worship different Gods and Goddess and follow wide varieties of rituals. As per the Vedas, an indiviual should have four basic goals in life which are- Dharm (virtue), Artha (success), Karma (pleasure) and Moksha (release). Mohammedanism: Mohammed was the prophet of Islam which mean “submission to God” and founded Mohammedanism. Mohammed was born at Mecca on August, 570 A.D. in the powerful tribe of Fihr or Quarish. The Mohammedanism believed that God is the supreme power and is it every where, they called it Allah. They follow the religion book called Quran. Modern interpreters of religion In the modern days, definition of religion has changed. Religion no longer remains bounded to rituals and rites. In present days religion mean moral thinking and freedom of thought. People try to mould the preaching of religion leaders to fit their modern life style. So it can be concluded that religion in modern era became more flexible to suite the lifestyle of people. Reference “Religions of the World”. 24 Aug. 2002. University of Minnesota. June 12, 2009 Lorentz, Melissa. “Buddhism”. 2007. Minnesota State University · Mankato. June 12, 2009. Wenner, Sara. “History of Christianity”. 2004. Minnesota State University · Mankato. June 12, 2009 http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/christianity/history.html Read More