Analysis Of The Invention Of World Religion By Tomoko Masuzawa

This work investigates the implications of theories of global change for the study of religion generally and, through a series of case studies, applications of those theories to specific religious movements. In particular, Beyer is interested in the seeming contradiction of the persistence of conflict between social units within a globalizing world that is more and more becoming a "single place." The first half of his book, the introduction and four chapters, is taken up with theoretical definitions of religion as a social system and the position of that social system with regard to other systems. The second half of the book, five chapters, explores applications of Beyer’s theorizing to a wide range of world religious particularities.

The meaning of religion is something that scholars, along with society at large, have attempted to define for centuries. Although the term cannot truly have one solid meaning, it is clear that religion is much more than a set of beliefs and practices. In Religion: The Basics, author Mallory Nye discusses his approach to studying religion. In arguing that culture and religion strongly influence each other, he explains that those studying religion must make people and culture their focus, as variations even within the same religions exist and must be considered. Moreover, Nye explains how religion is, essentially, a universal concept, as it takes form in an array of shapes across the globe. With Nye’s argument, I have developed new insights

Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic

The time period between 100 C.E. and 900 C.E. was a time for the rise of new, global religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. The spread of these new religions all shared certain unique aspects of spreading. These three religions shared what made them global and universal. Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, fit the definition of world religion for the reasons that they each were not culturally specific nor gender specific, incorporated other religions and appealed to all social classes and these religions spread by way of war and conquests, trade, elite sponsorship and missionary activity.

When discussing religion, many people have different perspectives about religion beliefs and how to approach it. Religion is grouped in different sections such as, religion and spirituality, religion and philosophy, and religion and politics. Religion has many different views from different cultures because everyone approaches it differently with different beliefs also. To make something religion, is to have some type of belief in God, but everyone’s belief is different depending on the culture someone is located in. In society back then and today, religion has no set essence of a definition because of the different aspects people group religion in. This paper will explain the different aspects of what people believe constitutes different types of religion.

Religion, special to each person, is very difficult to give one “satisfactory" definition to; in fact, in our introduction material, we kept hearing the phrase “pluralities of religion.” Despite academics using an objective perspective in the task to define religion, there are such emotional and personal viewpoints that will - arguably - swing the definition in one way or another. The main obstacle is accompanying the vast belief systems in the correct way. With this, I present the first challenge: too narrow definitions. Each religion has cultivated its own cultures and traditions. While some religions like Zoroastrianism may contain aspects that aren't followed by the majority of other faiths, they cannot be eliminated to fit a smaller

Which religion came first into the world? Buddhism, Lutherism, Satanism, Christianity? It is impossible to tell, however, it is easier to tell some of the earliest forms of religion. The Indus River valley civilization of ancient India was one of the earliest civilizations in world history. Located in the north-western region of India, it brought the limelight to the history of ancient India. The Civilization had a classification called the Caste System. This featured five levels of people in the society based on occupation and status. The lowest level was comprised of outcasts, untouchables if you will, while the higher level consisted of priests. In the middle there were Commoners, Peasants, merchants, warriors and much more. Although what really brought attention to this civilization is its religions. There are three main religions involved with the Indus Valley civilization: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The fact that there is no available information on these religions in any ancient texts or document is what really interests people. This is a

I have always wondered this; who created us? All those stories that we have learned from our ancestors, teachers and multilateral sources tell a different story. I think the very existing origin story of humans in earth is illogical. Illogical in a sense of lacking sense in the story we once thought were true from religion. How come an entity who lives up in the sky or in the highest mountains could create us, who hovers on a flying chariot, exaggerating claims and false claims about human like figure who has powers beyond unimaginable. The main sources of such claim seems to have come from early dates as old as Religion.

Although a majority of the ideas within the scientific community can be opposed and argued, the finding that religious behavior is present in every society in the world has remained unchallenged. Consequently, religion has played an extremely noteworthy role in the lives of modern humans. However, religion did not always exist and the need to discover why and how it emerged is a worthwhile feat. Even in behaviors that seem unrelated directly to religion itself, there are important developments evolutionarily in hominids and the great apes that directly contributed to the emergence of religion. For instance, during the lives of two zoo gorillas, they not only depended on one another for support in managing the challenges of life, but when one of them dies, the other can be seen and heard grieving. This event alone may not be significant in the search for the beginnings of religion, but the fact that the brain has adapted to make emotional connections and feel empathy may have been evolutionarily important in the roots of religion. In order to gain an understanding of the roots of religion, the primatologist Barbara King, examines key characteristics such as empathy, compassion, shared emotional experiences, and self awareness in both apes and early hominids. Such characteristics may have perhaps been the precursors for contemporary religion. More specifically, while King presents valid points with appropriate evidence, the roots of

Religion is a belief and worship of supernatural powers that affect human being’s daily lives. It can also be defined as a collection of cultural systems, beliefs, and worldview that it relates humanity to an order of its occurrence. There have being been many questions about which religion is which. For example, “can someone be a Wiccan and a Christian at the same time?” or is Buddhism a religion? These questions can be answered by Ninian Smart’ seven dimensions which will later be discussed in the essay. Being a Christian myself, and having learned about the three Abrahamic religions for the past 5 months, and choosing to continue a deeper research and understanding on this topic wasn’t a difficult choice.

Why study comparative religions? You could study religion for the same reason you study music or biology or drama. It is based on your interests. The second cultures of the world cannot be understood without a knowledge of the influence of religion on everyday life. Lastly, politics is a huge contribution for knowledge about world religions. How do the historic theories of the origins of religion begin? Well the first theory is Animistic Theory which Edward Burnett Tylor in his primitive culture Tylor hypothesized that primitive peoples developed a sense of the soul or the “other” from experiences with death and dreams. The nature-worship theory was developed by Max Muller, an Oxford Professor. The magic theory in which Sir James Frazer wrote a huge book on religion called “The Golden Bough”. The first phase people attempted to control the world of nature through magic. Then the second phase people turned to religion with the premise that nature could be implored or begged to cooperate by the use of scarifies and offerings. The last phase was when religion failed people and turned to science showing a progress to a more rational understanding of nature. The last theory is religion as a projection of human needs which a German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach claimed that religions were essentially projections of the wishes and needs of humanity.

Globalization is defined by Uwah (2017 p.81) as the process through which social, political, pecuniary and cultural interactions are intensified to international scale. Therefore, the driving force behind globalization is to enable transcendental unification of socio-economic and political ideologies across borders. Further, Kasongo (2010 p.309) looks at a globalization as the dispersion of practices, ties, consciousness and recollection of people’s social lives on worldwide scale. Religion is one of the oldest institutions in the history of humanity. On the other hand, globalization is considered as a revolutionary process which intensified after the Soviet Union collapsed. Globalization of religion traces its start from the times of Alexander the Great and when Buddhism was first conceived by Chandragupta Maurya. In this period, the increasing powers of religion cased significant effects on imperial armies and trade economies. According to Nggong (2014), globalization caused the unification of religions and cultural ways of life; leading to the emergence of civilizations, and evolution of trade routes. These activities marked great historical periods like colonization of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The current study looks into the impact of globalization on local religious practices and how global movement of people, ideas, finance and technologies impacted the religious practices on the African continent.

What is the role of the religion in the journey of human evolution? Millions and millions years ago our first early-ape ancestor Lucy has to walk African savanna and she did not know her uniqueness, unfortunately. Walking is the interpretation of the environment and its adaptive solution for surviving problem. Interpretation of the environment is the most crucial component of adaptive solutions (Buss, 2004).

Religion has not often been a topic that comes to mind when bringing up globalization, and that could be because globalization relates to economic and political thought (Mahjabeen). Stackhouse says, "Scholars see globalization as an economic phenomenon of capitalist expansion, one that brings the destruction of culture and a degradation of society and nature." (page numer) If Buddhism becomes globalized, sooner or later, the world can become a more peaceful place. This new idea of "globalization," that scholars have only been made aware of in the past couple decades has been around for quite some time. Mahjabeen says, "With globalization, we have seen the emergence of human rights and environmentalist groups that aim to protect people. The spread of peaceful religions has led to conversations about poverty, war, and environment to be on a global scale instead of just within about country or nation." (page number).

This will be the bases of the shared experiences that constitute on a global scale the civil religion of national societies, one that uniquely expresses the character of the emerging global community but that also has “a spiritual dimension drawing from all the great religions of the world” [1]