This document summarizes several classical belief systems including Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Daoism, and Greek rationalism. It discusses their origins and founders, key beliefs around existence after death, how they spread through various means like trade, migration and conquest, how their teachings were recorded in sacred texts, and how some like Buddhism and Christianity challenged the social hierarchies of their times by appealing to lower classes and women. Greek rationalism emphasized using reason and questioning assumptions to understand natural laws and human behavior.

1. CLASSICAL
BELIEF SYSTEMS
In CONTEXT

2. Religious Diversity in Today’s World

3. Religions in Asia

4. Hinduism, Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, Buddhism,
Greek Rationalism, Daoism
& Christianity
Belief Systems of the Classical
Period

5. Hinduism-India

6. Buddhism-India to China

7. Zoroastrianism-Persia

8. Judaism-Mesopotamia

9. Christianity-Roman Empire

10. Foundations
 There is no recorded founder of
Hinduism – it is the oldest
institutional religion of the early
belief systems.
 Judaism began in the Middle East
around the 1200s bce when it had
its own political empire.
 First monotheistic religion-Based
on the belief that God is active in
the lives of humans

11. Foundations
 Daoism emerged in East Asia in the
600s to 300s BCE from the
teachings of Laozi and later
Zhuangzi
 Zoroastrianism arose in Persia in
the 500s BCE from the teachings of
Zarathustra-Ideas about one god
influence Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam

12. Foundations
 Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha),
the founder of Buddhism, was
originally a Hindu in the
upperclass.
 Buddhism emerged in South Asia
out of Hinduism starting in the 500s
bce.

13. Foundations
 Jesus of Nazareth, the founder of
Christianity, was a lower-class Jew
living in Roman controlled Middle
East.
 The Jesus movement became
Christianity with non-Jewish
converts based on the teachings of
the Apostle Paul.

14. Existence after Death
 Hinduism and Buddhism – Existence is
cyclical until one breaks from the cycle
and becomes eternally spirit.
 Judaism (some forms), Zoroastrianism, &
Christianity – Existence is linear; one
lives and then becomes eternally spirit.

16. Spread
 Groups within Buddhism and Christianity
supported missionaries – men and
women who purposely took the message
of a religion into different regions.
 Religions also spread through conquest,
along trade routes, and through
migrations.

17. Spread of Hinduism-Trade and
Migration

19. Spread
 Buddhism spread from South Asia into East
and SE Asia.
 Buddhism by the 500s ce was stronger in
areas where it spread than where it
originated.
 How does this compare to Zoroastrianism?
 How does this compare with Hinduism?

20. Spread
 Judaism spread after the Romans exiled
Jews to new territories in Europe
 Christianity spread into the Roman
Empire, into North and East Africa, and
beyond.
 Christianity by the 1200s was stronger
in areas where it had spread than in
where it originated.

21. Spread

25. Spread & CHANGE
 As religions spread and new
interpretations arose – there were
changes, splits into different sects (or
groups), and new influences

29. Texts
 The founders of Buddhism and
Christianity did not record their own
statements or life story.
 Which belief systems are connected to
these texts?
Vedas and Upanishads
Torah
Gospels & Epistles
Analects
Sutras

30. Challenges to Society
 Both Buddhism and Christianity, more
than the other belief systems, challenged
the social class system and women’s
status.
 Especially in the early centuries, these
religions appealed to lower classes and
women.

31. Greek Rationalism…What’s up
with that???
 Greece-polytheism remained
 Intellectuals abandoned mythology
 Natural laws govern world
 Humans can understand those laws
 Power of Human Reason!
 KEY ELEMENT-the way questions are asked
(argument, logic, questioning of received
wisdom)

32. Greek Rationalism…What’s up
with that???
 Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
 Constant questioning of assumptions
 Applied rationalism to understanding human
behavior..Herodotus-the first historian (why
did the Persians and Greeks fight each
other?)
 Influenced later Western Civs-knowledge
preserved by Byzantines and Islam

33.  Religion Quiz