“Outcasts” emerged who are outside of the social structure
Absorbed and assimilated tribal people
Adapted current practices, festivals, and beliefs of already existing religions and groups that were incorporated into the empires
Believe: Life is sorrow, wanting things (thirst) leads to sorrow, ending desire (thirst) ends sorrow, Eightfold path is the way to end sorrow
Brahman: universal spirit
Caliph: Leader of community
Caused tension between the government and the religion because the religion did not pay taxes
Challenged belief in Jesus
Claimed their practice could bring more people to Nirvana because they had a ‘helper’/’guide’
Covenant (promise) with god
Developed the concept of multiple heavens each with a different version of the Buddha
Dharma: set of religious and ethical duties which each living creature in the universe is subject
Eucharist and Holy Communion: Body and blood of Christ
Exiled several times throughout ancient and modern history
Founder called for rapid and radical changes to current religious status
Founder searched for the remedy of life’s suffering and sorrow
Founder: Jesus of Nazareth
Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
Four Noble Truths of suffering
God affects the destiny of all individuals
Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca
Heaven/Paradise as reward for following ethical code
Holy book are seen as the literal words of God
Holy rulers: Saul, David, Solomon
Incorporates the Torah as “old testament”
Integration of many diverse and ancient religious traditions
Karma: completing a dharma correctly
Legal code to guide behavior
Limited emphasis on converting others
Loses popularity in India
Missionaries to spread religion
Moksha: the union of the soul and the universal spirit
Muhammad met Angel Gabriel in a cave
Nirvana: blissful nothingness (sometimes described as a heavenly afterlife)
Persecuted during beginning years
Pilgrims return to holy sites
Poorer people attracted to religion and message
Priests are given special rights and privileges
Prophets spoke out against a hypocritical use of religious laws as a justification of political power and status
Proselytizing religion with monks and missionaries (tries to expand numbers)
Question of if Buddha is a god or not lead to a split in the religion
Religion holds together a large empire
Religion is used to validate and legitimize rulers and their power
Remained a distinct minority group in all areas that they traveled
Removed many of the requirements of the originating religion as a way to make it easier to join/convert and Reach heaven
Renounced dietary restrictions
Restarted calendar to align with Pagan winter festivals
Rigveda: collection of verses of Sanskrit poetry. Called the edas. Speculates on the creation of the world.
Roman Imperial government feared this religion as they saw it creating “problems’ and “rebellion”
Rulers used the religion, brahmin priests, and temple worship to legitimize their own power and status
Shintoism: Japanese religion
Similar to other monotheistic faiths of the time period
Social system is based on career
Some heroic women mentioned in holy texts
Spreads to East and Southeast Asia
TaNaKh: Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim
Temples had a special economic function and helped with banking
Temples used or banking and other economic functions
Unify the people of geography can political region
Used as a way to centralize government power
