Dbq Essay Islam And Christianity

Trade as well as religion has always been a part of world history. However when you put the two side by side, it is often questioned whether trade is encouraged or advocated in a specific religion or not. Within the time period of 600 CE to about 1500,Islam and Christianity were able to be the world’s dominant religions. As both religions rose to power they began to develop their own attitudes towards merchants and trade itself. The two religions differ in their initial attitudes towards trade and merchants. While Christianity’s initial attitude did not accept trade and merchants, Islam’s initial attitude did accept trade and merchants. However both religions’ attitudes were similar in the fact that over time, they both changed their opinions
Christianity's distaste for merchants and trade is displayed in an excerpt from the Christian Bible,New Testament (Matthew) where the author talks about how being wealthy makes it difficult to enter the kingdom of God (Doc 1). The document itself seems to be trustworthy since the Bible is Christianity's first book and was written by Christianity's earliest followers to simply tell the stories of the Christian faith (which shows no real ulterior motive). The mention of eternal life intensifies Christianity's negative attitude towards merchants. This is because merchants tended to be wealthy and if being a merchant jeopardized eternal life in heaven, Christianity would definitely see merchants and trade as bad. In The Life of St. Godric Reginald monk of Durham talks about how 12th century St. Godric was once a wealthy merchant but then abandoned that life (giving all of possessions to the poor) to become a hermit and follow God (Doc 3). Although the document itself may not be very trustworthy considering the author was a colleague to St. Godric and may portray him in a better light, it does state the initial attitudes Christians had