Learn More About World Religions
Comparative Religion
Buddhism as we know it commenced in Northeast India about 500 B.C. through the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama, often known subsequent to his experience of “enlightenment” as Sakyamuni.
Buddhism revolves around the central figure of the Buddha (sanskrit: meaning “awakened one”). This usually refers to the First Buddha, who is said to have lived around 563 BC to 483 BC.
Looking back down the many branches of Christianity, we see a tree called Jesus the Christ. Beyond this trunk, Christianity is rooted in God’s call to Abraham in the land of Ur.
Christianity is centered upon the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as chronicled in the Gospels, and the texts of the New Testament which develop theological themes centered upon him.
Hinduism is the oldest and perhaps the most complex of all the living, historical world religions.
Hinduism is the European name for the Sanatama Dharma, ‘the Eternal Law’. The name hindu comes from the Sanskrit word sindhu, meaning ‘river’. In time the land beyond the river became known as the Hind, and the people who lived there known as Hindus.
Islam is the proper name of religion which Allah, the Alone God, revealed to mankind
Islam was founded by Muhammad, who lived from about 570 to 632 AD. Its holy scripture is the Koran (Al Qu’ran), claimed to be the direct word of Word as given to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel, later written down and compiled by his followers twenty years after his death.
Judaism is a spirituality which indeed gave birth to Christianity, and later played a role during the emergence of Islam. But Judaism as we know it began almost 4,000 years ago among a pastoral/nomadic and later agricultural people, the ancient Hebrews.
Believed founded by Abraham, a Hebrew chieftain originally from the Babylonian city of Ur. Tradition has it that he taught his people to worship one God, YHWH (Yahweh, or Jehovah).
Founded only 500 years ago by Guru Nanak (1439-1539), Sikhism is one of the youngest world religions. After a revelatory experience at the age of about 38, Nanak began to teach that true religion consisted of being ever-mindful of God, meditating on God’s Name, and reflecting it in all activities of daily life.
Founded in India around 1500 AD by Guru Nanak, who lived from 1469 to 1539 AD, he was the first of the ten ‘gurus’, or teachers, of the Sikhs. Its main writings are contained in the Adi Granth, a Punjabi phrase meaning ‘The Original (or first) Book’, which was compiled by the fifth guru, Arjun, in 1604.
The Sikh Religion Part One, Part Two
Wicca is a vital, contemporary spiritual path reviving the ancient, pre-Christian indigenous religion of Europe.
Zoroastrianism is the first revealed monotheistic religion of the world. The date of its founding is lost in antiquity, but general consensus places it between 2000 to 1800 BCE.
Zoroastrianism was once the faith of the Persian empire, but today it is the smallest major religion in the world, its followers mainly living in northeastern India and Iran.
Internet Resources
Dictionary of Theology
World Religions
Sacred Sites
Sacred Texts – Timeline