Cultural Diffusion

There were many cases of cultural diffusion in all of Asia. East Asia included the spread of Confucianism and Buddhism. Both of these had a positive and negative effect, because at times they went against each other. Buddhism had a real negative effect because of its belief of reincarnation. One of the main reasons why there are so many suicide cases in east Asia. Confucianism had a overall good effect because it taught a moral code. A example of cultural diffusion in South Asia would be the spread of Hinduism. It had a positive effect because it taught about telling the truth. Southeast Asia was greatly influenced by Theravada Buddhism. It teaches about the follower staying away from all evil. Southeast Asia was also greatly influenced by

Cortney McMath Many ideas and practices that are applied here in the United States are a result of cultural diffusion from Mexico. Cultural diffusion is defined as “the spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group to another.” In today’s times, people are more open and welcoming of other cultures, while they are still preserving their own in the process. Throughout, the cultural portfolio project, many connections and differences have been made between my lifestyle and values here in the United States with Mexico’s lifestyle.

     Throughout these chapters we see many portrayals of God’s character: The destroyer, the ever-judging, a God with expectations, a God that grieves, feels pain, repents, a God that demands justice; a self-evaluating, ruling and omnipotent God whom also passes on saving grace to the deserving.

When you look back on history there were many defining religions, beliefs and values among different cultures and societies. The beliefs varied from believing in one single God to multiple gods, from being patriarchal to matriarchal. When discussing difference you can see numerous among the Ancient Hebrew culture and the Archaic Greeks. Greeks believed in multiple gods, the Olympians and the Chthonian whereas Ancient Hebrew’s believed in one God whose name shouldn’t even be pronounced it was so sacred. These two cultures perceived the world and their surrounds in a completely different way.

Evolutions of civilizations can occur because of differences in people’s religion, culture, or geographic setting of the settlement. The relationship between the world of the gods and that of men was perceived differently by the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrew ancient civilizations. This is demonstrated by the way each group viewed the process of creation. They had different thoughts on the creation of their gods, the universe and of man. This essay will discuss the relationship between humans and their gods in three different ancient civilizations: Sumerian, Egyptian and Hebrew.

The world of the ancient Near East believed in a creator deity as member within a plethora of deities; that is, there was no supreme being. Within this plethora, each deity held a specific responsibility, representing such matters as order, justice, love, and truth, to name but a few. Among ANE inhabitants, according to Philip J. Nel, “a normative principle of justice was maintained as part and parcel of the created universe. The human life-world and the order of nature were seen as inextricable entwined.” It is not surprising, therefore, how ancient civilizations understood justice to be a concomitant attribute of a deity within a pantheon of deities; a pantheon where members had origins and, in most instances, were familial in nature. According to their understanding of creation, ancient civilizations held views on social and economic justice as a means that would “facilitate the service of the community to the divine world.” Nel observes that, “The principle of justice was . . . not so much regarded as a system of moral order, but rather the assumption of an existing/created autonomous design/order which should be upheld and adhered to in all sectors of society.” The Sumerians, and the Egyptians, serve as examples.

America is a country where individuals are able to find their own niche within their community, to connect with other individuals with common beliefs, and to have an American identity without losing their own roots. One of the reasons why America is what it is today is because of how its history was started and founded. Ever since its discovery, people from different continents such as Africa, Europe, and Asia have immigrated to America for various reasons, allowing America to be ethnically diverse. Throughout the world, cultural diffusion occurs; however, in America, cultural diffusion has been part of the country’s culture since the colonial era. For example, the colonies in America did not only interact with their mother country,

Myth still remains one of the major links that merges the different cultures and religions from various ethnicities. “The Creation of the Titans and the Gods”, as well as “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe”, are among the many creation myths that highlight these combinations. Throughout history, myths have created various similarities and differences between the cultures and religions of the world.

Man had become wicked and only thought of wicked things which is why we had the great flood. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (genesis 6:5). Our wickedness as a civilization made God regret that he had made us; to me that means that we did and can be a slave to our flesh which is evil. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled (genesis 6:6). He was going to wipe out everything he had made if it were not for one man Noah, he had found favor in the eyes of God. This is the first time that one man has saved the human race from being wiped out. Later Jesus saved us from a certain death and gave us eternal life.

Ancient China and ancient Egypt were both two sophisticated civilizations that created a religion as a way to explain the natural phenomena they encountered and the unknown. Although different in many ways, their religions do share many similarities with each other. One of these similarities is that both of the religions are polytheistic. In both Chinese and Egyptian religion, there are many different gods, and each god rules in their own domain. However, not only do both religions have more than one god in them, but also many of the gods from both religions are very similar to each other in the sense that they rule over the exact same thing. For example in ancient Chinese religion there is a sky god, just like the sky god in ancient Egyptian religion. Another similarity that both religions have in common with each other is that each religion has it’s own “high god” that rules above all of the other gods. For the Chinese it is Shang-Ti, the supreme god who rules above

Through stories like Blaxicans, Of Plymouth Plantation, and Mother Tongue, the element of immigration is shown strongly throughout. The encounters of immigration are in America with other cultures and each culture deals with different encounters followed by different struggles. These encounters affected the people coming to america and the people already in America but overall it changed America as a whole nation. Immigration changed America and the lives of those who settled here through widespreads of cultural diffusion.

Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural ideas from their place of origin to other regions, groups or nations. Norfolk Island was predominantly a Polynesian cultural community. Today’s cultural community involves many aspects of British and Pitcairn culture. Moreover, the island has benefited greatly from the spread of foreign cultures. British immigrants migrate from England, and brought their own skills, tradition, cultural beliefs, and social activities. The British established Norfolk Island as a penal colony, and they send criminals from Sydney, Australia to the island. Also, their culture spread, as they settled at Norfolk Island. However, the penal colony abandoned, and the population declined. The British Pitcairn islanders (descentants

I believe that we all copy from each other in some ways because that is what culture is all about and it is what has helped us evolve and grasp new concepts and learn about the world around us. In the text ‘Diffusionist and Culture-Area theories’ Alan Barnard looks at proof that diffusionism is used in our society and that individuals from two very different cultures may invent objects or have similar ideas even if they are both from two opposite places. He tries to prove that diffusionism does truly exist when he mentions that two similar hunting bows were created in New Guinea and Africa. We are all people and we all become inspired by one another. In my anthropology of religion class we were just recently discussing Clifford Geertz and I

Since the dawn of time, people have necessitated explanations for various natural phenomena, such as rain, earthquakes, and death as well as human characteristics of love, wisdom, and anger. Societies, thus, began to formulate unique beliefs of deities with great power that explained any unknown territories. They worshiped these divine beings trusting in their abilities and fearing their fury. However, no two cultures ever had the same beliefs; each system of belief - each mythology - was designed to reflect the individual societies, who practiced it.

In "God Has Need of Man", Archibald MacLeish dives head-first into the question of suffering. MacLeish finds that the meaning of suffering lies in the idea that God needs the love of man to exist.