...L. Babao November 8,2014 Christianity is an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and oral teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity is the world's largest religion, with nearly 2.4 billion adherents, known as Christians. Most Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine and fully human, and the savior of humanity whose coming was prophesied in the Old Testament. Originating from the Middle East, it quickly spread to Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Egypt. It grew in size and influence over a few centuries, and by the end of the 4th century had become the official state church of the Roman Empire, replacing other forms of religion practiced under Roman rule. During the Middle Ages, most of the remainder of Europe was Christianized. The Catholic Church, one of the most powerful organizations on the planet would never have existed, because of that King Henry VIII wouldn't have separated from the church. Protestants wouldn't exist if King Henry VIII didn’t separate, half of the revolutions that took place wouldn't have happened, and several other religions wouldn't exist. Most of the people would still be in polytheistic religions. Christianity is one of the biggest monotheistic religions all over the world; it has influenced almost every aspect of our daily lives. If Christianity didn’t spread, I could not imagine our life today. Some people say that without Christianity, our technology would be far...
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...Christianity is the world’s largest religion with 2.18 billion people as of 2010 (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life). The rise of Christianity went through many struggles, including persecution because they were portrayed as traitors. Emperor Constantine grew up a Christian and helped spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire through the creation of churches and he allowed Christianity within his empire. Jesus was born around 3 BCE in Palestine. Jesus grew up in a Jewish family and became a public speaker as he grew older. He traveled from place to place where he taught and prayed, spreading the beliefs of Christianity along with a group of his followers. He was arrested at around age 33 and was sentenced to death. The Roman officials said that he should be put to death for blasphemy because...
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...Buddhism and Christianity have their similarities and some differences of their early spreadings around the world. Both religions are offshoots of other religions. Christianity spread throughout the Roman empire after Jesus had died and the Jews wanted a messiah to help them. Buddhism spread through Southeast Asia because during the time of the fall of the Han Dynasty people went to Buddhism as a comfort religion. The two religions have different ways to reach salvation. In both religions, Jesus and Buddha never wrote down their teachings and the spread of their teaching was through their disciples and or missionaries. Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism and Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism. In Christianity, Jesus was born a Jew and lived as a Jew for many years of his life. Jesus followed and worshiped the Jewish law. Just like in Judaism, Jesus emphasized God’s love and teachings of the need of morality, justice, and do good work for others, but because Jesus claimed to be the messiah everything changed. Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism...
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...Unit 7 The Spread of Religions Section 1 Unit Materials Questions To Consider Question 1. How did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the world, and why are they practiced so far from their origins? Question 2. How did these three major world religions change and adapt to diverse cultural circumstances? Question 3. Why did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam emerge when and where they did? Question 4. How did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam interact with, provide justification for, and conflict with various states and empires in Afro-Eurasia? The Big Picture How is this topic related to Increasing Integration? As Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the borders and frontiers of Afro-Eurasia, they integrated diverse peoples by means of a common religion. How is this topic related to Proliferating Difference? The spread of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam introduced new beliefs and practices to a wide variety of peoples. These beliefs and practices were often quite different from indigenous religions. In addition, indigenous beliefs and practices often changed the new religions as they adapted to local conditions. These changes frequently resulted in the development of different sects within the new religions. Unit Purpose ß Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across borders and frontiers as a result of missionaries, pilgrims, and trade. Each of these three major world religions changed over time, and all served as elements of change in the societies...
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...Africa the Birthplace and Gateway Many have stated that Christianity was founded in what is today Israel and Palestine. Christianity is based on the person and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet. With Palestine being so close to Egypt, I can understand why Africa can be called the birthplace of Christianity. In the beginning, Christianity had spread throughout Egypt and North Africa. I believe that many people will not associate Christianity with Africa because Jesus was called Jesus of Nazareth. When many people think of Jesus, they think of Israel. Israel is not the only place that Jesus spread the word of God. Jesus’ family also spent time in Egypt. Many biblical events took place in Africa. When King Herod sought to kill Jesus, he was in Egypt for safekeeping. Before Paul's first European convert was made, God specifically called Philip to preach to a seeking Ethiopian, a servant from the royal court. The Ethiopian was converted and baptized that day and returned to his own country telling everybody what happened sharing his story. In Islam, The prophet Muhammad spent a lot of time in Egypt as well. The Muslims respect Mohammed as the greatest of prophets, yet Jesus clearly demonstrated greater authority, teaching, and miracles than Mohammed ever did. The Muslims in North and West Africa had no teachings but the Quran. The Quran guided Muslims after the death of Muhammad. Islam also began to expand in Egypt and North Africa. I believe that Africa was...
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...Religions influenced many regions different ways. Two of those religions we practice today is Christianity and Buddhism. Both of them managed to change the lives of people. They affected our lives each day. Buddhism and Christianity are still spreading and influencing regions today. There was a way Buddhism was differently spread than the others. Buddhism started in India and the Middle East. Today it’s mostly practiced in China. In document 7, it says that Buddhism was spread by monks going on trips around. They went around for the welfare of multitudes. There’s also a way Christianity spread to other places. Christianity originated from the Middle East. It spread to Mexico by an explorer named Cortes. In document...
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...influence of these religions on human behavior. Such map proves to be a significant tool to explain why a particular religion is associated with specific behaviors or actions. Religious beliefs are diverse across the globe. Although majority of people are of the belief in the presence of one supreme God (Monotheism) others believe that there are multiple gods. Another sect believes in no God at all (atheism). Owing to this diversity, setting up a global analytical map of faith proves to be a challenging task. Nevertheless, the three popular monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are a superb benchmark to set up the analytical map of faith. Three of the world's major religions -Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - were all conceived in the Middle East and are all inseparably connected to each other. Christianity was conceived from inside of the Jewish custom, and Islam created from both Christianity and Judaism. These three monotheistic religions all offer in like manner the conviction...
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...1. Buddhism, although originating from India, was a minor Indian religion as it made it was spread to many other parts of Asia to find believers. 2. As Buddhism evolved after the death of Buddha, doctrines like bodhisattvas explained about gaining nirvana through personal meditation or aid others as a saint through prayer. 3. Buddhism evolution transformed from a series of ethics to a way of finding salvation. 4. Buddhism greatly appealed the Chinese after the fall of the Han dynasty. 5. Religious outposts for Buddhism were predominantly in the Himalayas and in northern India. 6. From China, Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan. 7. The East Asian form of Buddhism was known as Mahayana which kept most of original Buddhist beliefs, but applied...
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...The Middle East had numerous religions that persisted and changed during the time period of 600 C.E. to 1450. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are some of the main religions that continued during that time period. Many of the Middle Eastern people’s beliefs in religion have not changed since 600 C.E. to 1450. The religion that is still continued and the majority of people practice is Islam. In early 600 C.E. the religion of Islam originated in the city of Mecca. Mecca was chosen as the holy city because of the Ka’ba, which is a holy shrine dedicated to Allah and Muhammad. Islam follows the teachings out of the holy book, called the Qur’an. The followers of Islam include the believed that there was a prophet and he was named was Muhammad. They believed in an afterlife and that angels are real. Islam was and continues to be a monotheistic religion, that worships one god, Allah. There are the Five Pillars of Islam which are rules that the practicing people must follow. The religion is based on the Five Pillars are testimony of faith, praying five times a day, giving a zakat, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The beliefs of the Islamic society did not change drastically between 600 C.E. to 1450. The Islamic world has changed over time as it has expanded beyond its cultural territories. The expanded Islamic world also improved their trade system and education system. The changes and continuities are largely due to its religion, trade system...
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...The religion known as Christianity began in Judea, which is present day Israel. After the religion began, it spread around the world mostly due to the Roman Empire and apostles such as Paul (Early Christians, n.d.). Holy sites in Christianity include Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ died and rose again on the cross and Bethlehem, which is the place where Jesus was born. Another holy site is Nazareth, which is where Jesus Christ grew up as a child and today where the largest Christian church in the Middle East is located. Rites of Passages/Rituals A confirmation in Christianity is where an already baptized person strengthens their relationship with God and becomes a full member of the Christian community. During this ceremony, the individual...
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...Today, Christianity is the world’s major religion representing approximately two billion believers. Christianity began as a small group of Judaism and is the major inspiration behind the rise of Islam the second largest religion. The Christian teachings are based on the life, teachings and death of Jesus Christ in the first AD century. The largest Christian groups include the Protestant churches, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches. There are numerous independent churches of Christians in the Eastern region such as Eastern Orthodoxy. Over the years, Christianity gained fame in Roman Empire after the introduction of Christian Roman emperors such as Constantine. The aim of this essay is to provide a description of the rise of Christianity during the Roman Empire. In the early centuries, the followers of Jesus spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. It is believed that Paul constructed a church in Rome. The majority of the first Christian groups were from the east, in Egypt, there was Alexandria as well as Jerusalem and Antioch. Due to Christianity teachings of the theology of love, caring for the orphans, widows, and sick, and stance against infanticide, abortion, and adultery it gained believers among...
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...people, followers began to quickly drift to different religions to seek a sense of security and trust. With the people questioning their government, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam became known as the three world religions. Each making a major impact on society, religion sometimes impacted the government in different ways. Religion took the power from the government which allowed them to blossom successfully, therefore, causing world religions to have a major impact on society everywhere. Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam all began when people felt as though they had no more guidance or...
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...THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTIANITY, HOW IT BEGAN AND HOW IT SPREAD Mary Kate Godwin Western Civilization Everette Lewis June 11, 2011 THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTIANITY, HOW IT BEGAN AND HOW IT SPREAD Christianity began as a break off from Judaism. The name “Christianity” comes from the word “Christ,” which means, “anointed one”. Christians believe that the anointed one was the Jesus of Nazareth. The word “Christian” was first mentioned in the Bible in the book of Acts. This type of faith was founded in the middle of the first century. The origination of Christianity was the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was born in 4 B.C. in Palestine, which was a province of the Roman Empire. Around the time of Jesus birth, there was political instability, diseases, poverty and famine. The emperor of Rome ruled in harsh ways. “Jesus was a Jew. He observed the Jewish faith and was well acquainted with the Jewish Law.”1 The Jews hated the Romans rule. Often times, Jews were punished by the Romans for their uprisings. Many Jews grew tired of this harsh punishment, and gave up. They began to conform to the Roman rule. Others even withdrew and went into the wilderness to study the laws. All of the Jews were frustrated and looking for the promised Messiah and for God to destroy their enemies. According to scripture, Jesus began teaching in his late twenties. Jesus began his ministry by traveling from village to village performing healings to those who were...
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...Christianity and Islam are the two most practiced faiths in the world. There are also many common misconceptions about both religions. Like with all religions, both have different believe systems, but there are more similarities than there are differences. For the most part their history, holy writings, featured leaders, and the way that they go about there everyday lives are more similar than most people think. The most surprising fact is that they both preach almost the same teachings! For example they both follow rules known as the ten commandments. Also, they believe that there is only one true God and that he is the keeper of the universe. Christianity is said to emerge in Levant (modern day Palestine and Israel) during the mid first century AD, initially it spread to places such as: Syria, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Jordan, and Egypt. By the middle ages Christianity had spread over all Europe, mostly because of Europe's Age of exploration. During this time, European explorers in search of new trading partners, new routes, and new goods to sell. There where also some explorers who ventured out to gain more geographical knowledge and to spread religions. Its widely thought that the nation of Islam began in the seventh to eighth century and it rapidly spread to the east and west in short time, due to Arab armies conquering many different place at once. This was made possible by the Persian empire practically collapsing , also allowing Islam to be spread...
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...The Rise and Spread of Islam •The Post Classical Period: Faith and Commerce - Spread of major world religions o Budhism o Christianity o Islam 1. Spread through preaching, trade routes - Development of Systematic o Boat trade 2. Indian Trade spread disease, religion, ideas - Three Big Ideas o Trans-regional communication and exchange networks o Forms of state organize. Diversify o All societies increased productive capacity • Pre-Islamic Arabia - Bedoin culture based on Kin/clan/tribal networks o Survival dependent on loyalty to clan o Magnified by harsh environment - Shayks- clan/tribal leaders o Conflict was frequent o Society was fragmented - Fierce inter clan rivalries and struggles for resources o Emphasis on revenge, “male honor” - Towns and long distance trade----Mecca and Medina o Medina (Yathrib) (established on oasis) o Mecca more important – Umayyad (ruling clan) – Quraysh; (Ka’ba) - Status of women varied by clan o More respect vs. less respect - Little art/architechture (no big civs) o Focus on poetry 1. Gives glimpse into daily life - Bedovin religions- blend of animism and polytheism o Animism- nature worship - The life of Myhammad and Genesis of Islam o Born around 570 CE – Merchant, married Khadijah ...
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