The Spread of Religions
Short Writing Assignment # 2
Topic: The Spread of Religions
11/20/2011
Question 1: How did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the world, and why are they practiced so far from their origins?
Answer 1: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the world by use of four common practices. Missionaries spread the faith to new areas. These missionaries adapted their message to the existing culture of the area and adopted elements of existing religious traditions. Pilgrimage was encouraged and allowed the pilgrim to express devotion through the hardships of travel and expand their world-view. Through the use of relics, people were allowed a personal connection to the story of the religion. They are practiced all over the globe, far from their origins. One reason is forced conversion such as the conversion of the Saxons by Charlemagne under threat of death. Another is diaspora such as when the Romans expelled the Jews from Judea and they scatted all over the earth.
Question 2: How did these three major world religions change and adapt to diverse cultural circumstances?
Answer 2: Buddhism adapted the Chinese culture in China and flourished there to an extent that China became the center of pilgrimage and dispersion even though India was the source. It adapted to Chinese culture easily because the Chinese idea of Wuwei was very similar to the idea of Nirvana as taught by Buddha.
Christianity adapted to the indigenous religions in many ways. Just a few: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was once the site of a shrine to Aphrodite. Christmas is now the celebration of Christ’s birth even though no one knows the day he was born. European Christians absorbed their old pagan tradition of the celebration of Yule into the practice of their new religion.
Sufi missionaries adopted local cultural practices into the practice of Islam to attract converts.
Question 3: Why did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam emerge when and
Topic: The Spread of Religions
11/20/2011
Question 1: How did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the world, and why are they practiced so far from their origins?
Answer 1: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam spread across the world by use of four common practices. Missionaries spread the faith to new areas. These missionaries adapted their message to the existing culture of the area and adopted elements of existing religious traditions. Pilgrimage was encouraged and allowed the pilgrim to express devotion through the hardships of travel and expand their world-view. Through the use of relics, people were allowed a personal connection to the story of the religion. They are practiced all over the globe, far from their origins. One reason is forced conversion such as the conversion of the Saxons by Charlemagne under threat of death. Another is diaspora such as when the Romans expelled the Jews from Judea and they scatted all over the earth.
Question 2: How did these three major world religions change and adapt to diverse cultural circumstances?
Answer 2: Buddhism adapted the Chinese culture in China and flourished there to an extent that China became the center of pilgrimage and dispersion even though India was the source. It adapted to Chinese culture easily because the Chinese idea of Wuwei was very similar to the idea of Nirvana as taught by Buddha.
Christianity adapted to the indigenous religions in many ways. Just a few: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was once the site of a shrine to Aphrodite. Christmas is now the celebration of Christ’s birth even though no one knows the day he was born. European Christians absorbed their old pagan tradition of the celebration of Yule into the practice of their new religion.
Sufi missionaries adopted local cultural practices into the practice of Islam to attract converts.
Question 3: Why did Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam emerge when and