Essays on Monotheism

Christianity, Islam and, Judaism are often called the three Abrahamic faiths since all three religions "trace their history to the ancient figure of Abraham," according to ReligionFacts (2016). Even so, Christianity, with about 2 billion adherents, and Islam, with about 1.3 billion adherents, are by far bigger than Judaism, which only has about 14 million followers around the world. What can be seen when comparing Christianity and Islam is that, while there are similarities, there are glaring differences that actually overshadow whatever the two great religious traditions have in common.

Part 1: Similarity

Christians and Muslims both believe in the concept of ...

Introduction

As we look at the significance of the Mhabodhi Temple as a sacred site in India, we must consider the impact of the Buddhist faith on this land. To begin, let me give a definition of each of the four noble truths, as given to us by Buddha, and provide a short explanation of each. The First Noble Truth is Dukkha (Suffering). Simply put, life on earth is ripe with suffering. It is all around us and cannot be avoided. Throughout life, there will sickness, poverty, disease, issues with growing old, and eventually death. Buddha also teaches that we ...

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The Ancient world was a time when humans were still attempting to figure out how the earth worked, why that natural world worked the way it did, and how to communicate effectively. The ancient world is one way to define that time period before the middle ages after Christianity began to take over most of Europe, North Africa, and parts of China. The ancient world is a time in the history of humanity that is viewed through many different lenses, depending on who is viewing it and for what purpose. Christianity is certainly a pivot point between the ...

Religion is an integral component of human history at different stages of its development. The Muslim Reformation fundamentally different from the Catholic Reformation. “As religious regimes both, Catholicism and Islam, preceded and are likely to outlast the modern world system of nation-states” (Casanova 2). The difference lies in fact that these processes occur at different times and in various specific historical conditions. The Muslim Reformation expressed primarily in the revision (or attempt to revise) religious motivations of the various aspects of social life and only marginally affected the proper theological questions. In Islam church and clergy similar to a ...

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Introduction This perennial question about the existence of God has always been the favorite topic in many debates. It seems that this issue has never been laid to rest yet. This time, the debate was hosted by Birmingham University, in October 2011, and the protagonists were Professors William Lane Craig, who defended the issue on the existence of God, against Professors Peter Millican, a skeptic and atheist himself, who believes that God does not exist. Both were top calibers in their own field of expertise and they presented their position thoroughly well. I agree with Professor William ...

Introduction: Depiction of the ‘divine’ in religion

The depiction of the divine in a religion often indicates the true belief and rationale that the religion wants to propagate to its followers and other believers. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and has a stringent affinity towards the preservation and conservation of ecological and environmental elements. This notion is also evident in the depiction of the divine in all the texts and visuals related to the Hinduism. The fundamental principle on which the depiction of divinity in Hinduism depends upon is that the divine prevails in all the aspects of nature and in ...

The religion of the Hebrew provides us with monotheism; it offers us the concept of the rule of law this is according to Genesis 17:18 (1900 BC). It provided us with the thought of the divine works for human history of the events of people. It establishes the concept of agreement which describes that God has a unique relationship with the community of man. In the Middle East, in the West, and in Asia and Africa the Hebrew legacy permeates everything that is observable since it highly influences the human culture. The development and history of the Hebrew monotheism ...

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Indian philosophy is unique for its valuable interpretation of life, soul and rebirth. Doctrines of Bhagavad Gita to a great extent reflect the spiritual insight of Indian philosophy. Gita is also known as Gitopanisad, which is one of the several books of Mahabharata, the great Indian epic. The setting of the Bhagavad Gita is that when Kurukshetra begins (the great battle between Pandavas and Kauravas), the great Pandava warrior Arjuna gets confused with the ethic of fighting against his cousins and relatives. Lord Krishna, his friend and charioteer, clarifies this point to him. Notable one among ...

The term worldview involves the all-round comprehension of the world from a certain point of view. In turn, Christian worldview appears to be the all-round comprehension of the world from the Christian point of view. Our worldview represents the big image, the harmony comprising all worldly notions and concepts. Worldview is a means of understanding the reality. Moreover, it serves as the basis for daily decisions, and therefore appears to be of great importance. In this way, a worldview is a philosophical system that aims at explaining the interconnection and interplay of the facts permeating the surrounding world. As ...

Introduction

Islam, though one of the youngest religions in the world, is one of the fastest growing and the second in terms of adherents. Statistics from the Pew Research Center show that out of the 200 countries under consideration, the religion had 1.6 billion followers which represented 23.2% of the estimated world population of 6.8 billion people as of 2010. The statistics reveal that as of 2050, more than 29% of the world’s population will be made up of Muslims. As such, one in every four people is likely to be a Muslim going by these statistics and this ...

Culture has had an influence in the emergence of deities as explained by the author. The social and political stratifications of a particular culture and the hierarchy therein, that determines the powers held leads to the emergence of deities. The power is held to benefit those who approach the divinities for help. Those who are inclined toward monotheism have a culture of a single male divinity while those who are inclined toward polytheism have cultures with many divinities. This is true considering the distribution of the religious affiliations of the western and the eastern parts of the world including the Middles East.

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Abstract

This paper explores the establishment of the religion in North America. It suggests short statistics of religion in this region and gives short description of each of them. As a result, it was founded that the most widespread religion in North America is Christianity. Others include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Baptism, Atheism etc.

Key-words: religion, North America, Christianity

Pending the European Colonization, native peoples of America worshiped totems and believed in magic. First religion appeared here with the arrival of British colonists in the XV century. It was Christianity in form of Catholicism in the Middle and South America. Along with it in North ...

Interrelation of Jerusalem and Mecca and of the Temple and the Ka‘ba in medieval Islam

Jerusalem and Mecca are two most renowned holy cities worldwide. Conspicuously, an enormous quantity of writing and scholarly treaties has been written about both cities. However, there is very little that has been done in a comparative study. Arguably, the majority of comparisons that has been done between Jerusalem and Mecca are the link of the holiness of Jerusalem among Islam to that of Mecca in Islam. This paper seeks to analyze the interrelation of Jerusalem and Mecca and of the Temple and the Ka‘ba in medieval Islam.

The similarities between Jerusalem and Mecca, Jews and Muslims are ...

Huston Smith wrote: "What lifted the Jews from obscurity to permanent religious greatness was their passion for meaning." In the follow essay, please write a brief paragraph each on 4 of the following themes: (CHOOSE FOUR)

Meaning in God

In explaining the meaning in God, Smith endeavors to bring to light the fact that the Jews were in serious resistance of the prosaic. They did this through personification of the “other”. Further, smith explains that the ultimate reality, which was at the core of Judaism, is more of a person than an item. Additionally, Judaism lay emphasis on unity and opposed chaos. ...

It is the mindset of the religious community that creates the inhumanity so prevalent around the globe. Although many religious groups will claim the divinity of their God and his suggested path as the only truth of the Universe; however it is this belief that is the problem creating a false reality that has been taken much too seriously by the majority of humans throughout the world. The two primary structures in religion are monotheism, which believes in only one God whose gender is always male, and then there is polytheism that has various ‘entities’ that are believed to be “ ...

There are religions that place emphasis on the importance of salvation and the intermediacy of heavenly saviors. These religions include Mahayana, Buddhist sect, Bhakti, and Christianity. Bhakti, a Hindu sect promoted the ideology of unconditional devotion through paths of God-focused action and selfless in which an individual can win the release of the rebirth cycle. The religion appealed to individuals who lack the temperament and leisure to accomplish the release from the shackles of matter through asceticism, meditation and study of sacred scripture. They stressed in the worship of Shiva and Vishnu and did not deny the existence of other ...

Monotheism is seen by many people to be the belief in one Supreme Being who controls all activities in the universe. In the Ancient European context, the predominant view was that there were many gods and many spirits that ruled and controlled affairs in different parts of the universe. The Ancient Greeks had numerous gods for various events in the natural cycle – a god of thunder, a god of rain and others. The Romans also had various approaches to spirituality, where the Greek gods were renamed with a twist of more spirituality and consultations with deities and spiritual powers. The idea of a ...

Religious equality is the provision of an inclusive environment that promotes values, diversity and maintains a proper environment for all the religious denominations. In any religion there are beliefs however not universal. These values, practices and beliefs have to be respected and taken to be equal before all the other religions. Relevant bodies like the governments and several organizations are called upon to help in the promotion of religious equality by educating the public, exercising equality in public functions and disposal of management tasks (Michael, 61). Such bodies can as well assist by providing goods, services and facilities to the ...

The essay will discuss the death and burial narratives that associate with Adam, the first human being in the Islamic religious literature called Qisas al-ambiya or Stories of the Biblical prophets (Boeschoten and Vandamme 107). The stories relate to the discursive religious communities that articulate political identities. The author examines the reburials of political figures in Eastern Europe preceding the collapse of Russian Empire. The paper provides an argument concerning Islamic narratives on the death and burial of Biblical figures such as Adam that redefine and reinstitutes boundaries to identify and distinguish Muslims and other religious sects. The paper ...

Comparing religion in India and China it is worth noting that they had a big impact on society. All religions have influenced the culture of the society, scientific progress, economy, etc. It is also should be stated that those religions which originated outside India and China have harmoniously taken its place among other religions in these countries and differs from their original forms. These religions have changed themselves and changing societies of the two countries. Thus, it should be stated that the history of the relationship and influence of religions in these countries is very similar. So let’s analyze ...

The philosopher Hubert Dreyfus and Dorrance Kelly have a great story to tell. However, to the majority of scholars and analysts, the story is not quite pretty for us the modern people. Ours is the era of nihilism whose meaning isn’t that we have nothing to believe in, but we don’t have a choice on what to commit ourselves to. In this book, Hubert and Dorrance carry out incisive analysis on how we got into this mess. The duo continues to offer varied solutions on how we can come out of this mess; “the viewer and the reader to ...

It’s late in the evening, Michael a scholar, Jayden an old pastor and Jane (Michael’s younger sister) are seated in their hotel facing the beach front. The sun is painting the lobby below them golden. As the evening progresses an interesting conversation comes up. It goes on like this

Jayden: Michael, I understand you are interested in studying people and philosophy?

Michael: Of course, I enjoy especially people beliefs fascinate me. Like now imagine there people, who believe that now the sun has gone down one god is resting.

Jayden: they are entitled, you are not bringing back the monotheism and polytheism debate back?

Jane: you two will not do this here, right? Not without explaining what you mean with such medical terms. They ...

- Statue of Akhenatem B. Stele of Akhenaten Nefertiti and Three Daughters The first statue depicts an artistic impression of Akhenaton, who was a famous Egyptian king or Pharaoh from the 18th dynasty. Akhenaten is also referred to as Amenhotep IV. He ruled Egypt for about 17 years and died around 1334 BC (Bussman, 557). He is famed for trying to introduce monotheism or the worship of one God in Egypt to replace polytheism. He failed in that attempt and soon after his death traditional polytheistic worship continued to reign in Egypt (Bussman, 556). During his period as King, ...

Mesopotamia referred to the region in the eastern Mediterranean Sea which was bound in the Northeast by the Zagros Mountains and the Southeast by Arabian Plateau. In the modern times, this land forms parts of Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Mesopotamia was watered by two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, and it is famous for its association with the invention of the wheel as well as being regarded as the cradle of civilisation characterised by the mixture of cultures. As a land with many cultures, it is here that many works were developed and written that there is impact is ...

Religious studies

Abstract The main three western monotheisms are Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Each religion consists of its own goals, where most of them are different. There are also common similarities associated with the western monotheisms. The notion of the existence of God in Islam, Christianity and Judaism is monotheism, where they all believe that there is only one invisible God. Concerning the future, Christianity, Islam and Judaism believes that there is hope about the coming days despite the difficulties experienced in present and past days. Christianity, Islam and Judaism uphold the concept of redemption as the main aim to ...

Mesopotamia is believed to be a land that’s between two rivers. Ancient Mesopotamia was occupied by different people with different cultures, wealth, gender, and religion. This therefore, brought about conflicts and warfare because of inequality. It is a fact that ancient Mesopotamia was growing and due to trade others became wealthy while others remained poor. The laws were made by the elite who made it possible for it to benefit them. In the laws when a poor person commits the same crime as the rich person they will be given a harsher punishment compared to the rich person. The education system was ...

Introduction

This research paper contributes to the ongoing debate between African and Western scholars regarding the role played by Ancient African civilization played in the development of modern civilization. As Dr. George James puts it in the book, Stolen Legacy, “the authors of Greek philosophy did not come from the Greeks, but from the North Africans, commonly called the Egyptians, which discredits the honor and praise accorded to Greeks for modern world civilizations (James 87). Arguably, the impression given by Western scholars that Africans made insignificant contribution to civilization, and that they are primitive, unfortunately, has become the basis for ...

Max Weber was a prominent historian, sociologist and economist. He is mostly famous for his work on the history of culture, economics, and sociology. Considering himself as a pioneer of the new science, Weber strived, along with the development of a material sociology of economy, politics and religion, to give the first systematic description of the epistemological, methodological, and theoretical foundations of sociology. He was the author of many works, among which “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” draws our particular interest in the current paper. Basically, there are two main issues addressed in the treatise above specified: an impact ...

Which practice do you believe resonate more with human nature? Why? Why not?

I believe most human beings are stuck to Monotheism; the belief of a single god. People believe in a god who is considered a supreme being with natural powers. The single god is self-sufficient and does not depend on any other living thing. Monotheism is considered to be exclusive in nature as it does not believe that other gods exist. Human nature resonate more with Monotheism as it seems to ignore the chances of existence of other gods (Peter 2011). I tend to disagree with polytheism since it dwells with beliefs in more than one god. Many human beings will avoid ...

Isa (Jesus) and the Muslim Scriptures

The Quran narrates the birth of Jesus through Maryam (Mary), a virgin mother. Before Isa’s (Jesus) birth, Maryam serves in the temple of Jerusalem. She was taken care of by the prophet Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. According to the Quran, Maryam, who was a virgin then, conceived Isa according to the Will of Allah (God). According to Muslim scriptures (Quran, Hadith, etc.), Maryam was in the Jerusalem Temple when a messenger of Allah, named Archangel Jibrail (Gabriel), visited her. Allah blessed Maryam among all the women across the world because she will bore a son, called Isa (Jesus). ...

Introduction

A creational myth is defined as a symbolic narrative that explains the beginning of the world and how human beings came into existence in the universe. A myth is considered a certain belief towards something associate with a particular culture. The human culture consists of the creational myths, which in most instances, they develops from the oral traditions making them to have multiple versions. The creational myths may be either, fallacies, symbolic, metaphorical, or profound truths. Every culture has their own creational myth which explains the psychic life of all living beings. Members of particular cultures easily identify themselves through the creational ...

Assignment 2. The building of the mosque or cathedral of Cordoba was initiated around 600-601 and was initially planned as Christian church of Visigoth kingdom, which ruled of the territory of contemporary Spain. Although it was meant to be Christian church, due to the Islamic conquest of 8th century and eventually subordination of Visigoth kingdom to Arab prince Abd al-Rahman, the building was divided between Christian and Muslim followers and was used by followers of both religions. In the next few centuries, the building was rebuilt and expanded in order to correspond to traditional requirements of a mosque. Today, it ...

SECTION A

The period after 323 BC to 30 BC, marked by the death of Alexander the Great and ending with Cleopatra’s death, did subsequently see the annexation of Egypt into the Roman Empire. It however, largely represent a time of considerable assimilations of Greek cultural traditions assimilated into the Empire. Hellenism grew strong on the Mediterranean shore, which saw the emergence continuous Greek civilizations, whose influence spread across the East Jordan River, Palestine, Panias and other regions where Judaism had already taken root (Hadaf 27). The contact between Semites and Greeks does however go as far back as the Mycenaean times, ...

When the sociological theory is mentioned, many people tend to think of the likes of Marx, Weber, Durkheim and others who are famed for having come up with these theories. However, what the people fail to appreciate is that there were other philosophers who equally contributed to the body of knowledge in this area. One of them is Auguste Comte. According to Besant 5), Comte was one of the philosophers who shaped the modern understanding of philosophy. He also has quiet a lot to do with the modern understanding of science, religions and positivism (Wernick 22). However, not much is ...

Part 1

The beliefs, history and characteristics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam Judaism

Judaism is said to have begun from the covenant between Abraham and God around 2000BC. Moses, who was their next leader led them out of Egypt and later received the Ten Commandments. His successor, Joshua led them into Canaan (the Promised Land) (Peters, 2008). Samuel established the Kingdom of Israel and Saul became their first King and later succeeded by King David who established Jerusalem. King Solomon constructed the first temple in Jerusalem, which was later destroyed in 70 CE (Om Sakthi, 2010). After the destruction of ...

A contrast between the two messengers of God

This essay is aimed at illumining the contrasting features of the lives of Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed. Though both of them proposed different religions namely Christianity and Islam which have quite a lot of dissimilarities in the beliefs, customs and present day scenario, still the presence of striking elements for comparison and contrast cannot be denied. Several online articles and research papers have been used to find the details of the lives of these two great ‘messengers of God’. But certain opinions on the negative aspects of adherence to either of the Prophets and the conclusion on how to ...

In its first three centuries, Christianity began to separate from Judaism while also selectively incorporating the Jewish Scriptures and laws that it regarded as most useful, as is clear from the Didache. There were Gnostic Christians who were prepared to reject Judaism completely, along with the books of the Bible that finally became known as the Old Testament in the 4th Century. They regarded the Genesis Creator of the Hebrew Bible as a false and evil God and also denied the humanity and Jewish heritage of Jesus and his earliest followers. Orthodox Christianity did not accept the Gnostic argument that ...

One of the most common arguments in religion deals with the existence of God or a Sentient Being that created the entire universe and established the concept of morals and means of life. Some religions like Hinduism and certain sects of Buddhism, they argue that there are many gods that control a specific sector of life. In history, polytheism pertains to the worship of idols and pagans, said to control a natural occurrence or luck. Other religions, like Islam, Judaism and Christianity, believe that there is only one god that created the world in His splendour, and dictated how man should live ...

Although criticizing religion is undoubtedly controversial according to many a believer, the concept of having a universal but supreme god prevents many from finding solutions to their problems (Vidal). On the religious side, it can be argued that having monotheistic religions has contributed to the existence of a just society, characterized by law and order. From a critical point, a monotheistic religion prevents the believers from exercising their freedom of worship or freedom of religion and hence, preventing them from visualizing the existence of any world other than the one depicted by their religion. As such, a monotheistic believer will always live in a world of ...

Analysis of biographical similarities of Jesus and Zeus made scientists think about their identity. In accordance with some contemporary sources Zeus could be a prototype of Jesus. Other researchers argue that Zeus’ biography was copied from the Jesus’ one or even vice versa. This paper objective is to reveal if there is any resemblance between Jesus and Zeus if there is any. Zeus (Jupiter) was a supreme god who ruled in Olympus and ranked high in the pantheon. Zeus was the son of Chronos and Rhea. His siblings were swallowed by his father Chronos to remove the threat of his ...

Explain the degree of Akhenaten’s revolution of Aten politically, if any. Also, Identify what institutions might have posed a threat to the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. What's important is to distinguish between "religious" and "political" in the world of New Kingdom Egypt

Introduction:

The pharaoh Akhnaten was certainly a huge visionary who observed strict guidelines as to the regard of political acumen and intrinsic decisions on anything. He managed to revolutionise the way the Egyptians thought about their pharaoh but was also kind and benign in more ways than one. His relationship with the young Queen Nefertiri was seen by ...

Many Christians believe that Jesus was not only a prophet, but that he was the son of God. This argument has been a long one, spanning throughout the centuries. Far from the fact that people should not believe in Jesus’ righteousness, but they should not be tempted to believe that he was the son of God, despite what the Bible and the Old Testament say. He was God’s prophet. Despite the fact that God ordered Adam and his wife to worship only him when they descended to Earth and to avoid unholy actions and beliefs, the sons of Adam ...