Bodhisattva. Saṃsāra (Buddhism) Samsara is the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death that arises from ordinary beings' grasping and fixating on a self and experiences. Specifically, samsara refers to the process of cycling through one rebirth after another within the six realms of existence. [a][b] Each of these six realms can be understood as a physical realm or a psychological state characterized by a specific type of suffering. The nineteenth century Tibetan lama Patrul Rinpoche explains the cyclic nature of samsara as follows: The term samsara, the wheel or round of existence, is used here to mean going round and round from one place to another in a circle, like a potter's wheel, or the wheel of a water mill.
Contemporary scholar Rupert Gethin emphasizes this point as follows: ...beings generally rise and fall, and fall and rise through the various realms, now experiencing unhappiness, now experiencing happiness. So we have six realms. We tend to say, "Oh yes. Samsara is also characterized by impermanence.
Saṃsāra (Buddhism) Christianity in the 16th century. In 16th-century Christianity, Protestantism came to the forefront and marked a significant change in the Christian world. Age of Discovery[edit] The expansion of the Catholic Portuguese Empire and Spanish Empire with a significant roled played by the Roman Catholic Church led to the Christianization of the indigenous populations of the Americas such as the Aztecs and Incas. Later waves of colonial expansion such as the Scramble for Africa or the struggle for India by the Netherlands, England, France, Germany and Russia led to Christianization of other native populations across the globe, eclipsing that of the Roman period and making it a truly global religion.
Protestant Reformation[edit] The Renaissance yielded scholars the ability to read the scriptures in their original languages, and this in part stimulated the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther and Lutheranism[edit] Luther's 95 Theses Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach the Elder Widening breach[edit] First edition of Exsurge Domine. Augustine of Hippo. In the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint, a pre-eminent Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the Augustinians. His memorial is celebrated on 28 August, the day of his death. He is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.[11] Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace.
In the East, many of his teachings are not accepted. Life[edit] Childhood and education[edit] At the age of 17, through the generosity of his fellow citizen Romanianus,[24] Augustine went to Carthage to continue his education in rhetoric. At about the age of 19, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Teaching rhetoric[edit] During the years 373 and 374, Augustine taught grammar at Thagaste. Augustine won the job and headed north to take up his position in late 384. Relics[edit] God in Buddhism. Gautama Buddha rejected the existence of a creator deity,[1][2] refused to endorse many views on creation[3] and stated that questions on the origin of the world are not ultimately useful for ending suffering.[4][5] Some teachers tell students beginning Buddhist meditation that the notion of divinity is not incompatible with Buddhism,[8] and at least one Buddhist scholar has indicated that describing Buddhism as nontheistic may be overly simplistic;[9] but many traditional theist beliefs are considered to pose a hindrance to the attainment of nirvana,[10] the highest goal of Buddhist practice.[11] Some variations of Buddhism express a philosophical belief in an eternal Buddha: a representation of omnipresent enlightenment and a symbol of the true nature of the universe.
The primordial aspect that interconnects every part of the universe is the clear light of the eternal Buddha, where everything timelessly arises and dissolves.[22][23][24] Early Buddhism Brahma in the Pali Canon Dr. Ancient Egyptian religion. Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with many deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature. The practices of Egyptian religion were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Although a human, the Pharaoh was believed to be descended from the gods. He acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods, and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe.
Individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for their help through prayer or compelling them to act through magic. The religion had its roots in Egypt's prehistory and lasted for more than 3,000 years. Theology Deities Associations between deities Atenism Writings. Five Major World Religions. Bhagavad Gita. Major Hindu Scripture The Bhagavad Gita (; Sanskrit: भगवद्गीता, lit. '"God's Song"', IAST: bhagavad-gītā[a]), often referred to as the Gita (IAST: gītā), is a 700-verse Hindu scripture, which is part of the epic Mahabharata.
It forms the chapters 23–40 of book 6 of the Mahabharata called the Bhishma Parva. The work is dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE.[2] The Bhagavad Gita is set in a narrative framework of dialogue between the Pandava prince Arjuna and his charioteer guide Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. At the start of the Kurukshetra War between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Arjuna despairs thinking about the violence and death the war will cause in the battle against his kin and becomes emotionally preoccupied with a dilemma.[3] Wondering if he should renounce the war, Arjuna seeks the counsel of Krishna, whose answers and discourse constitute the Bhagavad Gita. Etymology[edit] The gita in the title of the Bhagavad Gita means "song of the god". Date[edit] J. V. [edit] Maya religion. The traditional Maya religion of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, and Yucatán regions of Mexico is a southeastern variant of Mesoamerican religion.
As is the case with many other contemporary Mesoamerican religions, it results from centuries of symbiosis with Roman Catholicism. When its pre-Spanish antecedents are taken into account, however, traditional Maya religion already exists for more than two millennia as a recognizably distinct phenomenon. Before the advent of Christianity, it was spread over many indigenous kingdoms, all with their own local traditions. Today, it coexists and interacts with pan-Mayan syncretism, the 're-invention of tradition' by the Pan-Maya movement, and Christianity in its various denominations. Sources of traditional Mayan religion[edit] What is known of pre-Spanish Maya religion stems from heterogeneous sources (the primary ones being of Maya origin): Fundamentals of ritual[edit] Ritual topography and calendrical mapping[edit] Religion in ancient Greece. Many Greek people recognized the major (Olympian) gods and goddesses: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera though philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used language that seems to posit a transcendent single deity.
Different cities often worshiped the same deities, sometimes with epithets that distinguished them and specified their local nature. The religious practices of the Greeks extended beyond mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of Ionia in Asia Minor, to Magna Graecia (Sicily and southern Italy), and to scattered Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, such as Massalia (Marseille). Greek religion was tempered by Etruscan cult and belief to form much of the later Ancient Roman religion. Beliefs Zeus, the king of the gods, and controller of thunder and the sky. While there were few concepts universal to all the Greek peoples, there were common beliefs shared by many. Abrahamic religions. Abrahamic religions (also Semitic religions) are the monotheistic faiths of West Asian origin, emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham[1] or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him.[2][3][4] They are one of the major divisions in comparative religion, along with Indian religions[5] (Dharmic) and East Asian religions[5] (Taoist).
As of the early twenty-first century[update], it was estimated that 54% of the world's population (3.8 billion people) considered themselves adherents of the Abrahamic religions, about 30% of other religions, and 16% of no organized religion.[6][7] The Abrahamic religions originated in Western Asia.[8] The largest Abrahamic religions in chronological order of founding are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; the Bahá'í Faith is sometimes listed as well.[9] There are other obscure religions that are also Abrahamic but rarely considered. Etymology[edit] Major religious groups as a percentage of world population.
Origins and history[edit] What Does the Bible Say About Women's Rights. Frequently Asked Questions Does the Bible say that women must obey their husbands? Is it a sin for a woman to speak in church? Does the Bible say women have lower standing than men? Does the Bible authorize discrimination against women? Should women be submissive? Old Testament Genesis Most of the Bible's teachings about women are based upon the foundation laid in Genesis. God created the woman as a "helper" for the man: The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. But the man and woman, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.
It is not clear in what sense the husband was to rule over his wife, and this been the subject of much debate. Old Testament Era New Testament Mary and Elizabeth Jesus The Early Christian Church The Apostle Paul Conclusion. Biblical Atrocities committed by God and his followers: The no-win indefensible issue for Christians. Biblical Atrocities committed by God and his followers: The no-win indefensible issue for Christians Warning: This section may be disturbing One of the biggest hypocrisies in the Bible is that while God says “Thou shalt not kill” in the Ten Commandments, he nevertheless kills a lot of innocent people in the Bible. The subject of Biblical atrocities by God and his followers is relatively unknown by the average fundamentalist, yet they are spread out all over the Bible.
So I decided to dedicate a whole section to this topic, because it alone debunks Christian fundamentalism. Despite all the other arguments, this section itself pretty much disproves that the Bible is God’s word. All you have to do is take an indefensible atrocity, such as the murder of innocent children by God or his followers, and ask the Christian: “Do you agree with God and the Bible that this should have been done?” Let’s begin revealing these things that come as a big shock to most Christians. (Moses - Numbers 31:17) Religious Diversity (Pluralism) 1. The Pervasiveness of Religious Diversity Religious diversity exists in a striking way between religions that are theistic and those that are not. For instance, the monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam agree that there is a sole God. Hinduism, by contrast, typically recognizes many gods and goddesses, although some varieties of Hinduism, which count these many deities as aspects of a single God, may be monotheistic.
Other strands of Hinduism are henotheistic, worshiping one deity but recognizing many others. 2. One obvious response to religious diversity is to maintain that since there exists no divine reality — since the referent in all religious truth claims related to the divine is nonexistent — all such claims are false. When the topic is approached in this way, philosophers normally center discussions of religious truth claims on three basic categories: religious exclusivism, religious non-exclusivism, and religious pluralism. 3. Others philosophers disagree.