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Religious and Ethical Systems

Christianity

What are the principles of Christianity?

What does Christianity offer?

Embraced all people

Gave hope to the powerless

Offered a personal relationship with God

Promised eternal life after death

Indo-European Migration

Indo-Europeans: a group of nomadic peoples who came from the steppes

Steppes – dry grasslands that stretched north of the Caucasus

Indo-European Migrations

Hinduism

Where is Hinduism practiced today?

Hinduism

The Hindu Worldview

Religion is a way of liberating the soul from the illusions, disappointments, and mistakes of everyday existence

Soul?

Hinduism

Between 750 and 550 B.C.E., Hindu teachers attempted to interpret and explain the hidden meaning of the Vedic hymns.

Vedas are four collections of prayers, magical spells, and instructions for performing rituals

These interpretations of the Vedic hymns were known as the Upanishads

Hinduism

Upanishads are dialogues that explore how a person can achieve liberation from desires and suffering

Upanishads distinguish between the individual soul (atman) of a living being and the world soul (Brahman) that unites all atmans

Moksha is the perfect understanding of this relationship

Central Ideas of Hinduism

Reincarnation?

Reincarnation

When an individual soul or spirit is born again and again until Moksha achieved

Karma

Associations?

In popular culture/speech?

Karma

A soul’s good or bad deeds

Hinduism

Karma affects life circumstances:

Examples

- Karma strengthened the caste system (a system of social organization based on wealth)

Origins of Buddhism

Developed during the same period of religious questioning that shaped Hinduism

Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a noble who was destined (according to prophecy) to become a world ruler if he remained home.

Predictions?

Siddhartha

At 29, Siddhartha ventures outside the palace four times

He saw an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and finally a wandering holy man

He understands mortality

He comes to see religion as the only refuge from this inevitable suffering, spends his life searching for an end to life’s suffering

Beliefs

Siddhartha wandered through the forests of India seeking Enlightenment

Associations?

Buddhism

After 49 days of meditation, he became known as the ‘Buddha,’ meaning ‘the enlightened one.’

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life is filled with suffering and sorrow

2. The cause of all suffering is people’s selfish desire for the temporary pleasures of this world.

3. The way to end all suffering is to end all desires.

The way to overcome such desires and attain enlightenment is to follow the Eightfold Path (‘Middle Way’)

The Eightfold Path

A ‘Middle Way’ between desires and self-denial

By following the Eightfold Path, anyone could reach Nirvana: the release from selfishness and pain

Buddhism and Hinduism

1. Both religions believed in reincarnation

2. But, the Buddha rejected the many gods of Hinduism. Instead, he taught a way of enlightenment

3. He reacted against the privilege of the Brahmins priests (highest caste)