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Origin of World Religion: (Lesson 2)

This document provides an overview of the origin and key concepts of major world religions. It discusses the patriarch Abraham and how he influenced the establishment of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also summarizes the origins and beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Shintoism and discusses common concepts like monotheism, the five pillars of Islam, and Dharma. Sacred sites and geographic influences on religions are also briefly covered.

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Yhel Lantion
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126 views5 pages

Origin of World Religion: (Lesson 2)

This document provides an overview of the origin and key concepts of major world religions. It discusses the patriarch Abraham and how he influenced the establishment of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also summarizes the origins and beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Shintoism and discusses common concepts like monotheism, the five pillars of Islam, and Dharma. Sacred sites and geographic influences on religions are also briefly covered.

Uploaded by

Yhel Lantion
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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QUEZON MEMORIAL ACADEMY

Progresso St., Poblacion West, Umingan, Pangasinan

MODULE 1 (Week 2)

Origin of World Religion


(lesson 2)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

In this module, the student should be able to:

 Understand the origin of religion;


 Explain the patriarch of Abraham, and
 Differentiate the beliefs and worldviews of religion.

TOPICS:

1. Origin of World Religion


2. Important Dates on the Origins of World Religion
3. The Patriarch of Abraham.

WORLD
RELIGIONS

WORLD WORLD
WORLD
RELIGIONS RELIGIONS
RELIGIONS
DATE (CIRCA) SIGNIFICANCE
c 2000 B.C.E. Time of Abraham, the patriarch of Israel
c. 1200 B.C.E. Time of Moses, the Hebrew leader of Exodus
c. 1100-500 B.C.E. Hindus compiled their holy texts, the vedas
c. 563-83 B.C.E. Time of the Buddha, founder of Buddhism
c. 551-479 B.C.E. Time of Confucius, founder of Confucianism
c. 200 B.C.E. The Hindu book, Bhagavad Gita was written
c. 2 to 4 B.C.E.-32 C.E. Time of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and founder of Christianity
c. 32 C.E The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ
c. 40-90 C.E. The new testament was written by the followers of Jesus Christ
C. 100 C.E. Beginnings of Shinto (no known founder)
c. 500-580 B.C.E. Time of Lao Tze, founder of Daoism
c. 570-632 C.E. Time of Muhammad, who recorded the Q’uran as the basis of Islam.

TABLE 2.1 IMPORTANT DATES ON THE ORIGIN OF WORLD RELIGIONS

The Patriarch of Abraham

The prophet and patriarch of Abraham played a major role in the establishment of the
three monotheistic religions: namely JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, and ISLAM, which account
for more than half of the world’s total population at present.

Derived from a common source, it is but natural that the three monotheistic religions
share some commonalities in their basic tenets. For one, they all worship one supreme being. The
ancient Hebrews call their god “Elohim” “Adonai”, or “Yahweh.” Present-day Judaism uses the
names “Lord” and “God.”

For the Muslims, they call their God as “Allah.” In addition, prophets and apostles play
major roles in these religions. Judaism has 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses. Early prophets
include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Joshua to name a few. In Christianity, the 12
apostles were the primary disciples of Jesus Christ, some of whom wrote parts of the new
testament. For the Muslims, they believed that Muhammad is the final prophet or the “Seal of the
prophets.”

The Genealogy of Abraham

Abraham

Hagar Sarah Keturah

Ishmael Isaac and Rebeccah

Ishmaelites Jacob Esau

Muhammad Israelites
Edumites

David

Solomon

Jesus

The Indian Mosaic


India is one of the oldest world’s oldest surviving civilizations. The many conquerors
that came to India were gradually absorbed into the native Indian religions. With great
movements of various people in the past came their customs, arts, languages, literature, beliefs,
and many more facets of their culture. Religion is an essential part of the Indian Tradition. Four
great religious originated in India- Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism- and a myriad of
minor cults and local sects. Hinduism perfectly reflects Indian heterogeneity with its eclectic,
diversified, and assorted ways of religious expressions that are quite confusing to outsiders. It
has no specific founder, no one sacred book, and with innumerable gods and goddesses that any
Hindu can venerate. Hinduism can be considered as a ‘museum of religions’. On the other hand,
whereas many religions focus on a worship of one god, many gods or celestial being, Buddhism
centers its attention on the figure of the Buddha. He was not a god but a human being who came
to discover how to terminate sufferings in order to escape the painful and continuous cycle of
rebirth.

The Way of the Dao

The writings of DAOISM centers on the concept of Dao as a way of or path


signifying appropriateness of one’s behavior to lead other people. Daoism means
road, path, or way in which one does something. The Confucian Dao principally
concerns human affairs while the Daoist Dao means the way the universe works.

Both Confucius and Lao-Tzu were followers of Dao. With regard to the art of
leadership, try to compare the following passages as lifted from the sacred texts of
the ANALECTS of Confucius and the Dao De Jing by Lao-tzu.

On the other hand, Shinto is a loosely organized local belief of Japan,


somewhat an ardent religious form of Japanese patriotism. Japanese people
believed that their emperors literally descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu.
The term Shinto was coined around the 16th century C.E. to distinguish native
beliefs system from the imported religions of China and Korea, including
Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. The term actually originated from the
Chinese words shen and tao roughly translated as the “way of the gods”. Of primal
importance were the kami that were often defined as gods but could also refer to
deities of heaven and earth, or even spirits in human beings, animals, trees, seas,
and mountains.

Holy Mountains Location Significance


Mount Ararat Eastern part of Turkey
Traditional landing place of
Noah’s Ark as narrated in the
book of Genesis
Mount Sinai Sinai Peninsula in The peak where Moses received
Egypt the Ten Commandments.
Mount Zion/mount Jerusalem Known as the city of David and
Moriah temple mount
Mount Tabor Israel Site of transfiguration of Jesus
Christ
Table 2.2 Sacred Mountains in the Judeo-Christian Tradition
THE GEOGRAPHY OF FAITH

1. The Western Frontier


2. The Indian Subcontinent
3. The Eastern End

THE CULTURAL MILIEU

1. On Monotheism and Universality


Monotheism or the belief in one God is an ancient idea that predated the
establishment of Abrahamic religions. From the 3 Abrahamic religions, however,
Christianity has somewhat differed based on its concept of the Trinitarian creed in
contrast to the Unitarian creed. While Judaism and Islam affirm the presence of one god,
Christianity acknowledges one God in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
The basic principles of Muslim faith are reflected in “The 5 pillars of Islam”. The first
pillar as the profession of the Muslim faith succinctly states that “there is no God but
Allah.” Simply put there are no gods, but only Allah. Allah is eternal, creator,
omnipotent, infinitely good, merciful but harsh on those who opposes his will. Muslims
are urged to worship Allah alone.
2. On the Concept of Dharma
In Hinduism, Dharma could mean duty, righteousness, and ethics. In all humanity,
this is common and evident in virtues such as peacefulness, empathy, and kindness.
Dharmic religion do not compel their adherents to profess their devotion to be a believer
or practitioner. For the followers of dharmic religion, meditational and yoga rituals lead
to right behavior and ultimate understanding of the universe. The final spiritual truth is
beyond all delusions of the physical world where pain and sufferings exist because of
extreme attachment to people and material things.
Though Hindus and Buddhist share some similarities on the basic tenets, there are
palpable differences between the two dharmic religion. Hindus believe in the trimurti or
the 3 forms of God. While Buddhist do not believe in the existence of any god.
3. On Nature and Ancestors
Prepared by: Loriele P. Lantion

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