 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)