LESSON 2

HOW WORLD
RELIGIONS BEGAN

SIDON, CHERRY M.
AFTER GOING THROUGH THIS LESSON, YOU ARE
EXPECTED TO:

Cite regions or places where specific religions evolved.

Analyze the culture of the region that gave rise to specific religions.

Explain how geography influences of a religion in a certain culture.

LESSON 2
ACTIVITY
Identify the religion that each picture tries to depict.

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Religions have their origin stories and are universal in nature.
Geography and culture have an effect on the establishment
and development of religions. Religion and spiritual issues,
including Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, the Bible,
Wicca, Buddhism and more, are at the core of human values
and history.

LESSON 2
CONCEPT MAP

WORLD
RELIGIONS

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHICAL CULTURE

FOUNDATIONS CONTEXT MILIEU

LESSON 2
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND

There are different theories in explaining how religion

originated many of which are based on human experiences
which in the language of Aristotelian philosophy is called
inductive.

LESSON 2
IMPORTANT DATES ON THE ORIGIN OF WORLD RELIGIONS

Date (circa) Significance

c. 2000 B.C.E. Time of Abraham, the patriarch of Israel

c. 1200 B.C.E. Time of Moses, the Hebrew leader of the Exodus

c. 1100-500 B.C.E. Hindus compiled their holy texts, the Vedas

c. 563-83 B.C.E Time of Buddha, founder of Confucianism

c. 551-479 B.C.E. Time of Confucius, founder of Confucianism

c. 200 B.C.E. The Hindu book, Bhagavad Gita, was written

Time of Jesus Christ the Messiah and founder of

c. 2 to 4 B.C.E.-32 C.E
Christianity
LESSON 2
 c. 32 C.E. The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

The New Testament written by the followers of Jesus

c. 40-90 C.E.
Christ

c. 100 C.E. Beginnings of Shintoism (no known founder)

c. 500-580 B.C.E Time of Lao Tze, founder of Daoism

Time of Muhammad, who recorded the Q’uran as the

c. 570-632 C.E.
basis of Islam

LESSON 2
The Patriarch
Abraham
The prophet and patriarch Abraham played a major role in the establishment of the
three monotheistic religions: namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which account
for more than half of the world’s total population at present.

LESSON 2
THE THREE MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS
SHARE SOME COMMONALITIES IN
THEIR BASIC TENETS.

LESSON 2
1. THEY ALL WORSHIP ONE SUPREME BEING.

-The ancient Hebrews call their God Elohim, Adonai, or Yahweh.

-Present-day Judaism uses the names “Lord” and “God.”
-For the Muslims, they call their God as Allah.

LESSON 2
2. PROPHETS AND APOSTLES PLAY MAJOR ROLES IN THESE
RELIGIONS.

-Judaism has 48 prophets and seven prophetesses. Early prophets include Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.
-In Christianity, the 12 apostles were the primary disciples of Jesus Christ, some of
whom wrote parts of the New Testament.
-For the Muslims, they believe that Muhammad is the final prophet or the “Seal of the
Prophets.”

LESSON 2
3. THE ROLE OF DIVINE REVELATION OR INTERVENTION IS
ASSOCIATED AMONG THEIR PROGENITORS (ANCESTORS).

- God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac at Mount Moriah.

- God presented the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai.
- God sacrificed his son Jesus Christ through crucifixion as the plan to salvation.
- God commanded Muhammad to establish a new religion at a cave in Mount Hira.

LESSON 2
THEN AND NOW, FOLLOWERS OF THE
THREE ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS ARE
PRESENTED WITH A CHOICE BETWEEN
GOOD AND EVIL.

LESSON 2
(FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE DIAGRAM BELOW
SHOWING THE GENEALOGY OF ABRAHAM.)

LESSON 2
THE INDIAN MOSAIC
India is one of the world’s oldest surviving civilizations, with its
history dating back to at least 6500 BCE. The many conquerors that
came to India were gradually absorbed into the native Indian
religions.

LESSON 2
HINDUISM
Hinduism has no specific founder, no one sacred book, with
innumerable gods and goddesses that any Hindu can venerate. As
such, Hinduism can be considered as a ‘museum of religions’.

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BUDDHISM
Buddhism centers its attention on the figure of the Buddha. He was
not a god but a human being who came to discover how to
terminate sufferings in order to escape the painful and continuous
cycle of rebirth.

LESSON 2
The Way of the Dao
CHERRY M. SIDON

Lesson 3
CONFUCIANISM

Even during the olden days, the Chinese had already endeavored to establish and attain
good governance. China adopted Kung Fu-Tzu's (Confucius) ideals and ethics as the nation
developed meritocracy as a basis for government officials.

Lesson 3
DAOISM

Mysteries abound the birth and personal

life of Laozi (Lao-tzu) who may have written
Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching or The Book of the
Way and its Power) around the 6th century
B.C.E.

Believed to be a contemporary of
Confucius, he once worked as government
archivist or record keeper at the time of the
Zhou Dynasty but soon left the service due to
his frustration with corruption.

Lesson 3
SHINTOISM

Shintoism is a loosely organized local belief of Japan, somewhat an ardent (dedicated)

religious form of Japanese patriotism. Its mythology highlights the superiority of Japan over other
lands. Japanese people believed that their emperors literally descended from the sun goddess
Amaterasu. Conscious effort is being done to revere the beauty of Japan’s lands, especially
mountains.

Lesson 3
Geography of Faith
Laws and social norms vary by region and localities. The study about geography of religion
may reveal some fascinating truths why a certain country is predominated by one particular
religion or why a specific region became homeland of great religions.

Lesson 3
THE WESTERN FRONTIER

West Asia is home of three great religions, namely, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Religions have increasingly become involved in the domestic politics of West Asia, resulting in
protracted conflicts among countries that have claimed thousands of lives.

Countries closest to the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea north of the Arabian Sea and
south of Turkey, sometimes called the Levant, have experienced numerous religious cataclysms
in their existence as nation-states. These include Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Palestine.

Lesson 3
TABLE 2: SACRED MOUNTAINS IN THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Holy Mountains Location Significance

Eastern part of
Mount Ararat Traditional landing place of Noah’s Ark as narrated in the Book of Genesis
Turkey

Sinai Peninsula in
Mount Sinai The peak where Moses received the Ten Commandments
Egypt

Mount
Zion/Mount Jerusalem Known as the City of David and Temple Mount
Moriah

Mount Tabor Israel Site of transfiguration of Jesus Christ

The Temple Mount is one of the most sacred sites in the world revered by the Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Three structures are found in the present site: that include the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, and
the Dome of the Chain. The Jewish people consider the Temple Mount as their holiest shrine. Mount Moriah
is also believed to be the site of sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham.

Lesson 3
THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

The subcontinent of South Asia covers an area of more than one and a half million square
miles stretching from the Hindu Kush and Baluchi Hills on the west and the Great Himalayan
mountain range on the north, to the Burmese mountain on the east and the Indian Ocean on the
south.

More than 4000 years ago, a civilization emerged along the Indus River that developed a
unique and exceptional culture long before the dawn of the Christian xii era. Invasions from
people originating in Macedonia and Central Asia have added diversity to India’s population and
complexity to its culture.

Lesson 3
THE EASTERN END

The location of China proper in the valleys of two great bodies of water, the Huang He and
Yangtze, is quite favorable because of the support these streams provide to the Chinese people
that made historic China the center of culture.

Geographically speaking, the farming people of the river valley were isolated from the rest
of Asia because of deserts and mountains. From these river valleys emerged small states now
controlled by the first recorded dynasties in China, the Shang and the Zhou. It is within this
context that the great teacher Confucius became fascinated with ethical questions and morality
in government affairs.

Lesson 3
The entry of Buddhism in Japan between the 4th and 8th centuries had a direct effect in
their religious traditions.

1. The name ‘Shinto’ was introduced to differentiate the native belief from the new foreign
religions.
2. Local Shinto followers acknowledged that the numerous buddhas and bodhisattvas were
revelations of the kami.
3. Fusion or syncretism between Shintoism and Buddhism.
4. Japan developed a unique form of Buddhism taking its fullest meditative form under Zen

Lesson 3
 CULTURAL MILIEU

World religions can be regarded along the lines of their exclusivity or nonexclusivity. Exclusive
religions are oftentimes monotheistic with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as examples. Meanwhile,
non-exclusive religions are often polytheistic in nature. Examples of non-exclusive religions are
Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism.

Lesson 3
On Monotheism and Universality

While Judaism and Islam affirm the presence of one god, Christianity acknowledges one God
in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The basic principles of the Muslim faith are reflected in the “Five Pillars of Islam.” The first
pillar states that “there is no God but Allah.” Allah is eternal, creator, omnipotent, infinitely
good, merciful, but harsh on those who oppose his will.

Lesson 3
On the Concept of Dharma

The concept of dharma is integral in religions that emerged in India, including Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

In Hinduism, dharma could mean duty, righteousness, and ethics.

For Buddhism, it means cosmic law and order, or the teachings of the Buddha and the truth
of the way things are.

For the Theravada sect, dharma is sometimes used to indicate all the factors of existence.

Lesson 3
Dharmic religions do not compel their adherents to profess their devotion to be a believer or a
practitioner. Meditational and yoga rituals lead to right behavior xiv and ultimate understanding
of the universe. While the Hindus and Buddhists share similarities on some of their basic tenets,
such as ideas concerning enlightenment and liberation, they differ in:

1. Hindus believe in the trimurti or the three forms of god.

2. Buddhists do not believe in the existence of any god.

Lesson 3
On Nature and Ancestors
The elements of cult of heaven and ancestor worship are features of ancient Chinese
culture integrated into the Confucian philosophy and belief. Confucius had a firm conviction in a
natural order that was also a moral order.

Apart from having a harmonious relationship between humans and heaven, the
establishment of an ideal human society is also key to Confucian followers. The five basic
relationships are:

1. Ruler and subjects

2. Father and son
3. Husband and wife
4. Older and younger brother
5. . Friends or members of the community

Lesson 3