The 10 th Step: Comparative Religion & Influences
Throughout my years (decades!) of studying religion and philosophy, if I was to be honest with my inquiries—and true to my commitment to 'truth' wherever it leads—I have had to examine, analyze, and compare religious systems and doctrines as espoused from a variety of cultures, geopolitical groups, and historical eras. True, it would have been far easier to simply stick to the religious traditions in which I was raised—or those which my particular culture unquestioningly adheres—and take my religious education at face-value and as something pre-decided for me, but as I have said before I have always been more interested in uncovering the 'truth' of a thing even if the 'truth' is the last thing I think I want to know. Following such a path can often be very hard and time-consuming and quite often leads down treacherous trails, endless loop-arounds, and the occasional dead end. No matter. I decided I would rather waste twenty years looking in the wrong direction for the sake of 'truth' then twenty years sitting on my hands or paying lip-service to a religious system I know little about. At the least, self-honesty required it, and requires it on a daily basis.
After realizing my religious beliefs had changed so much that I could no longer continue considering myself a 'Christian', I began looking for other 'answers' (other religious solutions) to fill what I considered at the time a sudden void. This search for fulfillment brought me to study the other major religions, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Zen, as well as the religions of the Ancient Near East, Zoroastrianism, and early Christian Gnosticism. Because I knew so little about other religions, this study lasted for nearly two decades in which time I embraced but ultimately outgrew a broad assortment of religious notions.
The Major World Religions
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Christianity depends on its founder (Jesus of Nazareth or Yeshua ben Yosef) probably more than any other religion. (Most other religions see their founder as a messenger of a truth greater than themselves, but Christians see Jesus as the embodiment of their faith.) Jesus lived in Israel between about 4 BCE and 30 CE and was an itinerant preacher and healer for the last couple of years. He claimed to be the long-awaited "Messiah" who would inaugurate God's rule on earth, a kingdom which anyone (not just the ultra religious) could enter if they sought God's forgiveness. Jesus was executed for sedition, but his followers claimed he was resurrected and was seen alive by them. Christians believe Jesus' death was the means by which God's forgiveness can now be received by all who ask for it. They believe that following Jesus requires a new way of living, based on love and serving others, and assisted by God's Spirit who lives within all believers. Jesus is believed to be the "Son of God" and equal with God - the Father, Son and Spirit share the same nature and make up the "Trinity", three "persons" of the one being God (a difficult concept!). The christian scriptures are the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament (basically the Jewish scriptures) and the New Testament (writings about Jesus) - "testament" means covenant or agreement, so the New Testament supersedes the Old in many ways. |
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 Judaism |
Judaism is the ancient monotheistic religion of the Jewish people, based on the revelation of God to Abraham (about 1800 BCE), Moses (about 1200 BCE) and later prophets, and through the history of the Jewish people recorded in the Jewish scriptures. God chose Israel to be a "light to the Gentiles (non-Jews)", and gave them detailed instructions how to live in the Torah, the first section of the scriptures. However their continual falling short of the faithful living required of them led to the Jewish nation suffering invasion, destruction, exile and occupation. During this period, the Nation of Israel worshipped God in a permanent temple or a movable tabernacle, with an emphasis on animal sacrifice for atonement for sins and the singing of Psalms. Following completion of the scriptures in the last few centuries BCE, further Jewish traditions were gathered together in other writings, and Judaism took on new forms as the temple was destroyed (meaning the sacrifical system has not been possible for almost 2000 years) and the Jewish people were scattered. Jewish religious life centred on keeping the law, observing the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week when no work ws to be done), a number of annual festivals and meetings in synagogues. The Jewish nation of Isreal was re-established in 1948 as a homeland for Jews after the horrors of World War 2 and the Holocaust. However many Jews today, often as a result of th Holocaust, no longer hold to their faith although many retain Jewish culture. |
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 Islam |
"Islam" comes from an Arabic word meaning "submission", and it is a religion based around a life of surrender to the will of Allah (God). It was first taught by "the Prophet", Muhammed, who lived in Arabia from 570-633 CE. The Prophet received many revelations from Allah which were eventually written in the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, which is believed to contain the exact words of God. Islam is founded on three elements: the unity of God, Muhammed as the messenger of God to all people, and a belief that all living things will be brought back to life after death to be judged by God. Five practices (the "five pillars of Islam") are rquired of every Muslim:
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 Hinduism |
Eight Beliefs of Hinduism
Five Obligations of all Hindus
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 Jainism |
Belief in Deity Incarnations Origin of Universe and Life After Death Why Evil? Salvation Undeserved Suffering Contemporary Issues |
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 Sikhism |
Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539 CE) in northern India, so it is one of the most recent religions. Sikhism is a practical religion where honesty, serving other people and treating them equally, and living a productive life in one's family and community, are valued more than religious rituals. Sikh men are easily recognisable by their wearing of a turban. Sikhs believe in one God, Vahiguru (the name means "wonderful Lord"), who is indescribable and the ultimate reality, present in all creation. Sikhs pursue salvation through disciplined personal meditation on the name and message of God which leads to faith, a relationship with God and ultimately spiritual union with God and escape from the cycle of death and rebirth. The barriers to spiritual union with God include karma (bad deeds, social conflicts and an attachment to worldy pursuits have an impact on one's next life) and maya (the illusion of wordly pleasure). The Sikh scriptures are the Guru Granth Sahib, the writings of Nanak and subsequent gurus. Thus the four basic principles of a good life and leaving the life cycle are:
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 Buddhism |
Siddhartha Gautama, son of King Suddhodana Gautama, a raja of the Shakya clan in India, was born around 563 BCE. He was shielded from all suffering until he escaped his protectors and observed suffering. This event changed his perspective and caused him to leave his wife and child to search the world for enlightenment. Through meditation he finally reached complete enlightenment. This he passed on to his followers as his teachings, called the dharma. The goal of Buddhism is to escape samsara, or the cycle of rebirths, reincarnation, transmigration. Reincarnation is necessary because one must eliminate his karma, or the negative balance between one's good deeds and bad deeds that determines one's state in the next life. Buddhism's idea of reincarnation is different from that of Hinduism, because Buddhism teaches that the individual soul or "self" is not reborn, but only "karmic matter" or the elements that comprises an individual, but completely rearranged, "much as a chariot is a name for a certain grouping of parts that can be rearranged to be something else while still comprising the same parts." Escape is made by understanding the Four Noble Truths, also called Pativedhana, or "the wisdom of realization":
Once one understands the Four Noble Truths, he can then dedicate himself to following the Noble Eightfold Path (Marga):
One escapes samsara and reaches Nirvana, where he is freed forever from all the anxieties, fears, and desires of ordinary life, and freed from the eternal round of decay, suffering, and death. One experiences liberation, inward peace, strength, insight, truth, and the joy of complete oneness with reality. After death, the one who has reached Nirvana is totally annihilated. This completes the re-absorption of the individual soul with the Universal Soul, "like a candle flame being blown out." |
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 Confucianism |
Although Confucianism and Taoism are considered to be separate religions, they are often grouped together because they, plus Buddhism and folk religion combine to form "Chinese religion", with many people holding to all or part of the teachings of these different beliefs. Confucianism, named after the teacher K'ung Fu-tzu (various spellings are used, including Kongzi and Kong Fuzi) who lived in China from 551 to 479 BCE, is a system of teachings aimed at achieving human fulfillment through perfecting the moral nature of individuals and society, especially the ruling classes. A superior person is one who shows humanity and respect to others by not doing to them what they would ot want done to them, and who loves learning, Governments should maximise the opportunities for people to live in this way. Taoism originated with Laozi, who is believed to have been an older contemporary of Confucius. The Tao is a "formless, all-pervading power which brings all things into being and reverts them back into non-being in an eternal cycle." "Tao" means "way" or "path", so living according to Tao means not taking actions that are contrary to nature. Taoism exists in many forms, but it includes a belief that Tao has been manifested in history through gods and worthy people who obtain divinity after death. Taoism's religious practices include healing, funeral rituals, offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors and divination. Taoists believe they can possibly attain immortality. Thus Confucianism attempts to put right relations between people, whereas Taoism attempts to pur right relations between people and nature or the Tao. In China, throughout history (though less so today because of the impact of communism), these beliefs have been mixed with Buddhism and folk religious practices to create an amalgum of beliefs. |
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 Shinto |
Shinto, or the “way of the spirits or deities,” began to take form in Japan’s pre-historic period before the sixth century C.E. In this early phase, Shinto was the religion of a pre-literate society that was organized around the central social unit of the clan. Shinto deities or kami were seen as permeating the natural world. Uniquely shaped or awe-inspiring trees, mountains, rivers, and rocks, all could be considered kami, but human beings could also be viewed as kami. An early mythology developed by the leading clan of the sixth and seventh centuries, the Yamato clan, later known as the Imperial family, holds that the leader of the clan, the emperor, was a descendent of their protector kami, the sun goddess Amaterasu. But great warriors and poets, for example, have also been recognized as kami by virtue of their special abilities. Since early Shinto did not have a founder or produce sacred texts, it was through communal rituals that the religion was transmitted. The goal of the rituals was to maintain or reinstate the harmony between nature, humans and the kami that the early Japanese appear to have taken as the norm. As the Japanese began to adopt agriculture around the third century B.C.E., Shinto rituals became closely tied to the agricultural year. Communal festivals were conducted at times of planting or harvest, or at important times in the history of a community. Major rituals contained four parts: purification, offerings, recitations or prayers, and a concluding meal. All members of the community took part, if only symbolically, in the final meal, thus bringing harmony again to the relationship of humans and the kami. |
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 Zen |
Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism notable for its emphasis on practice and experiential wisdom—particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen—in the attainment of awakening. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of direct individual experience of one's own true nature. The emergence of Zen as a distinct school of Buddhism was first documented in China in the 7th century CE. It is thought to have developed as an amalgam of various currents in Mahayana Buddhist thought—among them the Yogacara and Madhyamaka philosophies and the Prajñaparamita literature—and of local traditions in China, particularly Daoism and Huáyán Buddhism. From China, Zen subsequently spread southwards to Vietnam and eastwards to Korea and Japan. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zen also began to establish a notable presence in North America and Europe. |
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 Zoroastrianism |
Founder: Zarathustra (in Greek, Zoroaster) was a Persian prophet who at the age of 30 believed he had seen visions of God, whom he called Ahura Mazda, the creator of all that is good and who alone is worthy of worship. This was a departure from previous Indo-Persian polytheism, and Zarathustra has been termed the first non-biblical monotheist (though monotheism in Zoroastrianism never took on the absolute quality that it assumed in Judaism and Islam). Though there is disagreement among scholars as to exactly when and where Zarathustra lived, most agree that he lived in eastern Iran, probably around the sixth century B.C.E. Main Tenets: Zoroastrian theology is strongly dualistic. In his visions, Zarathustra was taken up to heaven, where Ahura Mazda revealed that he had an opponent, Aura Mainyu, the spirit and promoter of evil. Ahura Mazda charged Zarathustra with the task of inviting all human beings to choose between him (good) and Aura Mainyu (evil). Consequently, Zoroastrianism is a highly ethical religion. Zarathustra taught that humans are free to choose between right and wrong, truth and lie, and light and dark, and that their acts, words, and thoughts would affect their lives after death. He was thus the first to promote a belief in two heavenly judgments: of the individual soul right after death and of all humankind after a general resurrection. His ideas of heaven, hell, and the resurrection of the body profoundly influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Later Zoroastrianism conceived of an opposition between body and soul, though there was no suggestion in its theology that the body was evil and the soul was good. A wandering preacher from Mesopotamia named Mani developed those theories into an extreme form of dualism called Manichaeism. Main Sacred Text: The Zoroastrian "Avesta" ("Book of the Law") is a fragmentary collection of sacred writings divided into: liturgical works with hymns ascribed to Zarathustra; invocations and rituals to be used at festivals; hymns of praise; and spells against demons and prescriptions for purification. Compiled over many centuries, the Avesta was not completed until Persia's Sassanid dynasty (226-641 C.E.). Principal Center: Zoroastrianism all but disappeared in Persia after the Muslim invasion of 637 C.E. Only about 10,000 survive in remote villages in Iran, but over the centuries many sought religious freedom in India. |
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 Gnosticism |
The doctrines of certain pre-Christian pagan, Jewish, and early Christian sects that valued the revealed knowledge of God and of the origin and end of the human race as a means to attain redemption for the spiritual element in humans and that distinguished the Demiurge from the unknowable Divine Being. Religious and philosophical movement popular in the Roman world in the 2nd – 3rd century AD. The term, based on the Greek gnosis ("secret knowledge"), was coined in the 17th century, when it was applied liberally to ancient Christian heretical sects, especially those described by their orthodox contemporaries as radically dualistic and world-denying, and those who sought salvation through esoteric revelation and mystical spirituality. In the late 19th and the early 20th century, that view of Gnosticism was replaced with several groupings, and the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945 greatly enhanced the understanding of Gnosticism. The relationship with ancient Christianity remains uncertain, but the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary (which portrays Mary Magdalene as a leading apostle) are generally seen as being grounded in Gnosticism. They emphasized the teachings of Jesus, rather than his death and resurrection, as the key to salvation. The teachings of Valentinus were the basis of the Gospel of Truth, a fusion of Christian and Gnostic beliefs. Other texts previously considered Gnostic are now assigned to distinct religious traditions, especially Hermeticism (see Hermetic writings), Mandaeanism, and Manichaeism. The texts of the Sethians have the best claim to the designation "Gnostic"; they describe one supreme, good God and the creation, by a junior heavenly being (Sophia), of an arrogant creature who then claims to be God. That creature withholds from humanity moral knowledge and eternal life, but Sophia plants the divine spirit within people to save them. Male and female saviours (including Jesus) were sent from the world above to instruct humanity in the knowledge of the true God and humanity's own divine nature. In general, Gnostics taught cosmological dualism, strict asceticism, repudiation of material creation as evil, docetism, and the existence of the divine spark in humans. |
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- Patterns in Comparative Religion by Mircea Eliade
- The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
- A History of Religious Ideas 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries by Mircea Eliade
- A History of Religious Ideas 2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity by Mircea Eliade
- A History of Religious Ideas 3: From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms by Mircea Eliade
- Myth of the Eternal Return by Mircea Eliade
- Images and Symbols by Mircea Eliade
- Myth and Reality by Mircea Eliade
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
- The Masks of God 1: Primitive Mythology by Joseph Campbell
- The Masks of God 2: Occidental Mythology by Joseph Campbell
- The Masks of God 3: Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell
- The Masks of God 4: Creative Mythology by Joseph Campbell
- The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion by Joseph Campbell
- Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell
- Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion: Aims, Methods, and Theories of Research by Jacques Waardenburg
- A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong
- The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong
- A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong
- The Elementary Forms of Religious Life by Emile Durkheim
- The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto
- Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism by Rudolf Otto
- Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James
- The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion by Peter L. Berger
- Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach by William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt
- Religion and Culture: An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion by Annemarie De Waal Malefijt
- Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas
- The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley
- Comparative Religion: A History by Eric J. Sharpe
- A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age by Kimberley C. Patton
- The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions by Huston Smith
- Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs by Ninian Smart
- Comparative Religion (Wikipedia)
- ComparativeReligion.com
- Comparative-religion.com
- Comparative Study of Religion
- World Religions (ReligiousTolerance)
- Adherents.com
- Religious Studies (Voice of the Shuttle)
- World Religions and 101 Cults and Sects
- World Religions (Internet Sacred Text Archive)
- Religion and Ethics (BBC)
- The World of Religions
- Joseph Campbell (Wikipedia)
- Mircea Eliade (Wikipedia)
- Rudolf Otto (Wikipedia)
- Emile Durkheim (Wikipedia)
- William James (Wikipedia)
- Anthropology and Comparative Religion (Mary Douglas and Edmund F. Perry)
- Religious Worlds
