Pre to Modern Religion

  • From Premodern to Modern Religion
    • Contact between cultures sparked the idea of a universal god
      • Isolated cultures were very strict with religion
      • Religions on borders and margins were not so strict
    • Six things essential for a religion to be considered modern
      1. A set of rituals
      2. A set of doctrine
        • The meaning behind the rituals
      3.  A set of ethical requirements
        • "love your neighbor, etc"
      4. Has a sacred text
      5. Considers it's god to be universal
      6. Has a soteriology (path to salvation)
    • Modern vs Premodern Religion
      • Modern religions dealt with death and the afterlife unlike premodern religions
      • The only thing that modern and premodern religions have in common is ritual
    • Zoroastrianism
      • Grandfather of modern religion
      • Persian religion that predates the Persia that we know
      • Started by Zoroaster, known in his time as Zarathustra
        • Was some kind of prophet in his day
        • Lived c.1500 BCE
      • Practiced by a group of people in between the influences of India and Mesopotamia
      • Avesta - The sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism
        • Put together from 500-300 BCE (when the Persian empire was around)
        • Not everything in the Avesta came straight from Zarathustra, because it was compiled over centuries
        • Others might have put in their own word
        • Could have been filtered out by Greeks and Romans
      • Beliefs
        • Ones fate after death depends on your life on earth
        • After death, you would not be flesh anymore, but you will be judged and rewarded accordingly
        • the earth will be cleansed by fire and those that have straightened up their lives and will be reunited with their bodies
          • This cleansed earth will become the kingdom of Ahura Mazda where all the saved people will live with him
        • In short: Resurrection of the dead, final judgment, cleansing of the earth
        • No bloody sacrifices, but fire was important to the religion
        • There are a series of saviors to assist in the triumph of good over evil
        • The individual is the religious unit, not the nation
      • Zarathustra teaches bodily resurrection
        • This bears a likeness to the later religion of Judaism
        • All bodies were put on a plain to later be resurrected
          • This created a field full of bones
          • See "Bodily Resurrection" under Judaism