I thought Christianity would be the religion that I would know the most about of all the worlds major religions, but it turns out that I am wrong again. The more I read about the Christendom the more I am amazed at what I did not know. The fact that Christianity developed from Judaism and was not tolerated for several years in Rome. Until the Edict of Milan, which announced that the Roman Empire would be tolerant of other religions. Constantine and Licinius, the emperors of the western and eastern parts of the empire, signed edict at a wedding in Milan. It stated that the Christians were to have their confiscated property returned. The Edict of Milan was signed in 313CE, the next revolution for Christendom after that was the First Council of Nicaea, in 325. This was important because it was the first meeting of all the bishops of the church, also the Creed of Nicaea was created here. In 392 Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the old pagan religion was outlawed. Once the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed, the churches in the western half were no longer connected with emperor and changed as a result. The eastern half of the empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire was then ruled by Constantine the Great until 337, when he died. He is known for helping Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire. At this point Christianity became more complex, creating different branches and denominations; there was the Catholic church, Eastern Orthodox church, Protestant. Overtime the Christendom has grown from a small Jewish sect to one of the world’s largest religions with billions of followers.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Muhammad
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/timeline_html.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
Innovation and tragedy
When we first started learning about Islamic influences I had no idea just how far they stretched and how much of my day-to-day life has its beginnings in Islam. Everyday I use medicine, paper, complex mathmatetics and textiles. It has always been an assumption of mine that these goods and ideas were created by those who lived in the more Western regions of Europe and China.
I again stand corrected. I thought I had a good grasp on the past and where certain things came from but some everyday things just didn’t occur to me to ask whom, how and when they were made. It was quite interesting to watch the movie on Islam in class and to learn about the beginnings of so many things. When the video began I was in awe of all the developments that came from Islam and especially from Baghdad and the House of Wisdom. I had previously never learned any Islam history and all I knew about it was that they were Muslim. The scientific discoveries of that time, as I said before affect me everyday. The innovation that came with the far-reaching trade routes and systems allowed for trade of goods across the entire continent and merging of culture, goods, ideas, and religion. I thought that only good had come from this until I learned of the Crusades. I had only briefly heard about the Crusades, which now seems impossible to me that I had not learned more about these events before. I guess that comes from growing up in a Catholic home.
The video, with its cheesy remake and dramatic voice-overs really changed what I knew about history. The movie depicted the events in a way that the book could not, as a violent and totally unnecessary massacre. The events during the Crusades parallel what is going on now and I just can’t help but think that we will never learn what we need to from history, and we will always be bound to repeat events. Who knows what kinds of further innovations could have been created from some of the great minds in Islam if they had not been killed in Jerusalem. Now a days we can see some more great minds coming out of Islam, just like in the past there was soap, spices, fine goods, and knowledge, today we can credit them with further medical innovations, engine technology, and popular iPhone applications, which shows that the influence of Islam can be seen in the past, present, and the future.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=islamic+inventions&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Friday, November 20, 2009
Five Pillars of Islam
The First Pillar was that there may be no god worshipped but the God and His messenger Muhammad. Muslims would often say, la ilaha illa Llah, which translated from Arabic means, 'There is no god except God.' This is the Muslims way of declaring their devotion to their only God.
The second Pillar was focused around prayer. They were expected to pray at least five times a day. Salat is the name of the prayer they preformed five times throughout the day; it was concerned as a direct link between the individual and God. Not only do they have requirements about the number of times they pray these prayers also have to be said at certain times: dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. This sequence order helped keep order to their daily activities. One of their prayers translated into English goes as follows...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Striking Similarites: Christianity and Islam
Monotheism: One God, recognized as the Creator.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, immanent within His creation yet transcendent.
At the end of the world, God will judge humans based on their actions in compliance with a moral code, specified in the Covenant which God makes with us.
This judgment will determine one's eternal abode, heaven or hell
Human beings have a soul which is eternal, continuing its existence after our physical death
Humans have the ability (free will) to choose between good and evil
Angels exist who are the servants, and sometimes messengers of God
Satan exists, as well as evil spirits who follow him; they are the enemies of humanity
Miracles occur on occasion.
If a person errs or transgresses, God may forgive them, if they sincerely repent.
Prophets brought spiritual instruction.
Jesus Christ was born to the virgin Mary.
At the time of the end of the world, Jesus Christ will come again.
Prayer is a means of communicating with God; God hears prayers and sometimes grants requests.
Charity and relieving the suffering of others carries spiritual rewards.
Certain standard prayers exist.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Islam: Qur’an
In my opinion, holy texts offer a reference to answers in life. These answers include how to live life, the purpose of life, and after life. For the Islamic faith, the answers lie in the Qur’an.
Originally written in Arabic text, the Qur’an offers guidance and direction for mankind. The Islamic faith rose to existence as the angel Gabriel spoke to Muhammad while he resided in the mountains. Muhammad soon gathered followers to memorize and recite the word of Gabriel. These teachings did not become documented right away, like many other religions. Instead, Islam continued orally, and eventually, individuals began recording the Qur’an on tablets and other surfaces. Individuals pooled together the tablets and other surfaces with the holy text to produce the completed version of the Qur’an after Muhammad’s death.
The text consists of one hundred fourteen chapters each of varying length. Interestingly, the text does not seem to have a beginning, middle, and end. Also, the Qur’an mentions stories of people and events found in the Jewish and Christian religion, some including Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and John the Baptist.
One of the principles of the Islamic faith consists of prayer. Prayer, typically, involves reciting segments of Qur’an. For this reason, many Muslims end up memorizing much of the Qur’an.
Originally written in Arabic text, printed on large tablets, the Qur’an appeared to be an inconvenience. However, in today’s society, an individual can access the Qur’an in different languages, fonts, and sizes. With improving technology in the past decade, individuals have uploaded the Qur’an to the internet for anyone to access.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
In my opinion...
When the topic of Christianity came up in class I had thought I knew everything I wanted to know about the subject, which was not much at all, I stand corrected. When the topic started I had no idea where the religion originated from, much less that it had a similar developmental frame as Buddhism, a religion that is regarded today as so different from Christianity. The term salvation religion had been foreign to me, and seems like something lost in the past when looking at how religion is today and the amount of money that goes through churches. Churches in my hometown seem to compete to have the nicest buildings and the largest congregations. I can relate this now to the time when Constantine announced that he had converted to Christianity and money from the empire went into building great structures devoted to Christianity and spreading the word and the belief of the religion.
I feel that for some, in our times and in the time of Constantine and the formation of Christianity and other Universal religions, the true sense was somewhat lost. People felt more inclined to be part of a group then they felt a spiritual connection to the religion. I have noticed this in some, I am not saying all, people in Michigan who go to church and are motivated by an outside source. I feel that in the beginning they had it right, fighting for what they want and for what they believe in, no matter what beliefs. The closest I feel that we have come to the type of religious persecution in individuals in my generation would be political differences involving voting. Religious uprisings are present everyday in countries all over the world, causing wars and death, however it is sad to look at the US and see how this goes relatively unnoticed. I feel that people of my generation, the 20 something’s of the world in the US need to start believing in something if we ever hope to understand where the foundations of our society, religion, and culture come from.