A History of Religion
Running head: A HISTORY OF RELIGION
A History of Religion Learning Team B: Nikki Gibbs, Antonio Rodney, Deborah Saude, Dan Hugo, David Sullivan University of Phoenix History of Western Civilization to the Middle Ages HIS/112 Whitney Bell June 20, 2009
A History of Religion
When humans first became religious is unknown. What we do know is that religion has grown from carvings of rocks and paintings on cave walls into vast libraries of knowledge and magnificent structures of spiritual worship. We have gone from worshiping our ancestors to worshiping powerful deities and nature. Your beliefs have much to do with your personal history. Your ancestry, the culture that you live in, your family heritage, all of these may play a great part in your belief structure. There are many types of religion from Christianity to Islam to Buddhism and Judaism. There are different forms of religion such as ecclesiolatry, geolatry, hierolatry and iconolatry. History has proven that religion has been the cause of much strife and yet much elation. The acts of conquest, trade, and massacre, all of these actions done in the name of religion. Religion has evolved as we have evolved. Like some cultures, some religions have risen in a frenzy of celebrated power, only to fade away in a blaze of glory. Some religions have lived though endless scrutiny and persecution only to rise into empires of vast wealth and power, challenged by none. Take into consideration the Christians, which we study later in this essay. Their perseverance and dedication through vast years of persecution and humiliation at the hands of the early Roman Empire, only later to be embraced by that same power. What caused these great happenings? What draws us to these religions, only to so quickly run from them and turn to another? How do religions evolve with the times to keep
A History of Religion Learning Team B: Nikki Gibbs, Antonio Rodney, Deborah Saude, Dan Hugo, David Sullivan University of Phoenix History of Western Civilization to the Middle Ages HIS/112 Whitney Bell June 20, 2009
A History of Religion
When humans first became religious is unknown. What we do know is that religion has grown from carvings of rocks and paintings on cave walls into vast libraries of knowledge and magnificent structures of spiritual worship. We have gone from worshiping our ancestors to worshiping powerful deities and nature. Your beliefs have much to do with your personal history. Your ancestry, the culture that you live in, your family heritage, all of these may play a great part in your belief structure. There are many types of religion from Christianity to Islam to Buddhism and Judaism. There are different forms of religion such as ecclesiolatry, geolatry, hierolatry and iconolatry. History has proven that religion has been the cause of much strife and yet much elation. The acts of conquest, trade, and massacre, all of these actions done in the name of religion. Religion has evolved as we have evolved. Like some cultures, some religions have risen in a frenzy of celebrated power, only to fade away in a blaze of glory. Some religions have lived though endless scrutiny and persecution only to rise into empires of vast wealth and power, challenged by none. Take into consideration the Christians, which we study later in this essay. Their perseverance and dedication through vast years of persecution and humiliation at the hands of the early Roman Empire, only later to be embraced by that same power. What caused these great happenings? What draws us to these religions, only to so quickly run from them and turn to another? How do religions evolve with the times to keep
References: MacCulloch, J. A. (1911). The Religion of Ancient Celts. (T. T. Clark, Ed.). Edinborough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Christianity (n.d.). Celtic Christianity. Retrieved June 17, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org Kishinsky, M., Geary, P., O’Brien, P. (2005). “Brief History of Western Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy” [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Published by Longman. Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from University of Phoenix, HIS/216-Interdisciplinary Capstone Web site. The book of Acts. 14: 6-12 p.140 Manzullo, Neil. The Roman Persecution of Christians Wright, Robert. (2009) The Evolution of God. Retrieved July 19, 2009 from http://evolutionofgod.net/excerpts_chapter5/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolatrism The Buddhist Channel. (2009) Everyday Enlightenment. Retrieved June, 20th, 2009 from http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,8112,0,0,1,0