Comparative religion

Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and forms of salvation. It also considers and compares the origins and similarities shared between the various religions of the world. Studying such material facilitates a broadened and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.[1]

For other uses, see Comparative religion (disambiguation).

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In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification[2] of the main world religions distinguishes groups such as Middle Eastern religions (including Iranian religions), Indian religions, East Asian religions, African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.[2]

There also exist various sociological classifications of religious movements.

History
A statue of Ibn Hazm, father of modern comparative religious studies, in Córdoba Spain.

Al-Biruni (973 – c. 1050) and Ibn Hazm (994 – 1064), both of the Islamic Golden Age and considered as the "fathers of comparative religion", compared the study of religious pluralism and their works have been significant in the fields of theology and philosophy.[3][4][5][6] The Persian Al-Biruni discussed his idea of history in The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (c. 1000 AD) which was translated by Eduard Sachau in 19th century. It is a comparative study of calendars of different cultures and civilizations, interlaced with mathematical, astronomical, and historical information, exploring the customs and religions of different peoples.[7] Social scientists in the 19th century took a strong interest in comparative and "primitive" religion through the work of Max Müller, Edward Burnett Tylor, William Robertson Smith, James George Frazer, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Rudolf Otto.[8][9] Nicholas de Lange, Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Cambridge University, says that

The comparative study of religions is an academic discipline which has been developed within Christian theology faculties, and it has a tendency to force widely differing phenomena into a kind of strait-jacket cut to a Christian pattern. The problem is not only that other 'religions' may have little or nothing to say about questions which are of burning importance for Christianity, but that they may not even see themselves as religions in precisely the same way in which Christianity sees itself as a religion.[10]

Examples that demonstrate this point are Buddhism and Chinese Folk Religions. These belief systems have not historically been seen as mutually exclusive and have blended over time into different beliefs such as Pure Land Buddhism. This shows a marked difference from Western conceptions of religions which see adherence to one religion as precluding membership of another faith.[11]

Hinduism and Buddhism provide another insight in the form of soteriology. Comparative study of religions may approach religions with a base idea of salvation with eternal life after death, but religions like Hinduism or Buddhism don't necessarily share this view. Instead, Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism both speak of a falling back into nonexistence and escaping the cycle of reincarnation, rather than eternal life after death.[12][13]

Geographical classification

According to Charles Joseph Adams, in the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification discerns[2] the main world religions as follows:[2]

  1. Middle Eastern religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and a variety of ancient cults;
  2. East Asian religions, the religious communities of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, and consisting of Confucianism, Daoism, the various schools of Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, and Shintō;
  3. Indian religions, including early Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and sometimes also the Theravada (“Way of the Elders”) Buddhism and the Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired religions of South and Southeast Asia;
  4. African religions, the ancient belief systems of the various indigenous peoples of Africa, excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered to belong to the ancient Middle East;
  5. American religions, the beliefs and practices of the various Indigenous peoples of the two American continents;
  6. Oceanic religions, the religious systems of the peoples of the Pacific islands, Australia, and New Zealand; and
  7. Religions of ancient Greece and Rome and their Hellenistic descendants.

Abrahamic or Western Asian religions
Main articles: Abrahamic religion, Western religion, and Islamic religion

In the study of comparative religion, the category of Abrahamic religions consists of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which claim Abraham (Hebrew Avraham אַבְרָהָם; Arabic Ibrahim إبراهيم ) as a part of their sacred history. Smaller religions such as Baháʼí Faith that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted.[14]

The original belief in the God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. Jews hold that the Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, they also believe in a supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud.[15]

Christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus (Hebrew Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ) is the awaited Messiah (Christ) foretold in the Old Testament prophecies, and believe in subsequent New Testament scripture.[16] Christians in general believe that Jesus is the incarnation or Son of God. Their creeds generally hold in common that the incarnation, ministry, suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection of Jesus was for the salvation of mankind.[17]

Islam believes the present Christian and Jewish scriptures have been corrupted over time and are no longer the original divine revelations as given to the Jewish people and to Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. For Muslims, the Quran is the final, complete revelation from God (Arabic الله Allah), who believe it to have been revealed to Muhammad alone, who is believed by Muslims to be the final prophet of Islam, and the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, meaning the last of the prophets ever sent by Allah ("seal of the prophets").

Based on the Muslim figure of the Mahdī, the ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams, Ali Muhammad Shirazi, later known as Bab, created the Bábí movement out of the belief that he was the gate to the Twelfth Imām. This signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, Bábism. However, in the 1860s a split occurred after which the vast majority of Bábís who considered Mirza Husayn `Ali or Bahá'u'lláh to be Báb's spiritual successor founded the Baháʼí Movement, while the minority who followed Subh-i-Azal came to be called Azalis.[18] The Baháʼí division eventually became a full-fledged religion of its own, the Baháʼí Faith. In comparison to the other Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the number of adherents for Baháʼí faith and other minor Abrahamic religions are not very significant.

Out of the three major Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Judaism are the two religions that diverge the most in theology and practice.

The historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it gradually became the major religion closest to Judaism. As opposed to Christianity, which originated from interaction between ancient Greek, Roman, and Hebrew cultures, Judaism is very similar to Islam in its fundamental religious outlook, structure, jurisprudence and practice.[19] There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions. These practices are known collectively as the Isra'iliyat.[20]

The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam. Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith – with some differences in interpretation – and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the final revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations, including the Bible.

Mandaeism, sometimes also known as Sabianism (after the mysterious Sabians mentioned in the Quran, a name historically claimed by several religious groups),[21] is a Gnostic and monotheistic religion.[22]: 4 [23] John the Baptist is their chief prophet and frequent baptism is part of their core beliefs. According to most scholars, Mandaeism originated sometime in the first three centuries CE, in either southwestern Mesopotamia or the Syro-Palestinian area.[24] However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times.[25] Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith.[26] Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son,[27]: 182  and also from John the Baptist's original disciples.[28]

Iranian religions
Main articles: Proto-Indo-Iranian religion and Iranian religions

Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is, among speakers of various Iranian languages. They include Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Ætsæg Din, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq, Zurvanism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism.

Depiction of the Faravahar, a popular symbol for Zoroastrianism

Perhaps one of the most important religions to have come out of Iran was Zoroastrianism. While not, properly speaking, a world religion, it became widespread in the Iranian world, especially through the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires. It went into decline alongside many Iranian religions with the rise of Islam and the Caliphates. The religion still survives today in small numbers, with a particularly notable example being the Parsis in India and Pakistan.[29][30]

Scholars have often noted the similarities between Zoroastrianism and the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity. They've particularly noted this due to the historic relationship between the Jews and the Zoroastrian Persian Empires, as well as the relationship between Greek philosophy, Persia, and Christianity. They've debated whether Zoroastrianism played an influencing role on these religions or not. Particular areas of concern are a shared sense of duality between the forces of good and evil, or light and darkness. In addition to this, there is a shared belief in the resurrection of the dead as well as an emphasis on free will and the moral responsibility of mankind. These are seen by some as having influenced the three major Abrahamic faiths as well as Gnosticism and the Baháʼí Faith.[30]

Manichaeism is another Iranian faith that shares many similarities to Zoroastrianism. In fact, Manichaeism shares a belief in the prophethood of Zoroaster while also maintaining the prophethood of Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ. It shares a dualist cosmology that pits good and light against evil and darkness, with an adversary to oppose the benevolent God.[31] Manichaeism and Mandaeism also share a common belief in many of the figures and stories of the Abrahamic faiths, which has raised questions of influences and origins.[32]

Indian religions
The Rig Veda is one of the oldest Vedic texts. Shown here is a Rig Veda manuscript in Devanagari, early nineteenth century.
Main articles: Indian religions and Brahman § Brahman in Earliest Buddhism
See also: Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu, Gautama Buddha in world religions, and God in Buddhism

In comparative religion, Indian religions are all the religions that originated in South Asia. It is thought that "the kinship of the religions of India stems from the fact that Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs look back to Hinduism as their common mother."[33][12]

Al-Biruni deeply studied the Vedic religions and through his works essential details about pre-11th century India's religions and cultures were found. Adi Shankaracharya was an early 8th century philosopher and theologian[34] who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.[35][36][note 1] Gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Most Hindus believe the Buddha accepted and incorporated many tenets of Hinduism in his doctrine.[12] Prominent modern Hindu reformers such as Mahatma Gandhi[37] and Vivekananda[38] acknowledge Buddhist influence. Like Hindus, Gandhi himself did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, "I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism."[39]

East Asian or Taoic religions
The Chinese character depicting Tao, the central concept in Taoism
Main articles: East Asian religions and East Asian Buddhism
See also: Tao and De (Chinese)

A Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao ("The Way"). This forms a large group of eastern religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shintoism, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo, and Chen Tao. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features.

Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, due to a belief that nature demonstrates the Tao. The flow of Ch'i, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao. Following the Tao is also associated with a "proper" attitude, morality and lifestyle. This is intimately tied to the complex concept of De, or literally "virtue" or "power." De is the active expression of Tao.

Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism for centuries had a mutual influence on each other in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. These influences were inherited by Zen Buddhism when Ch'an Buddhism arrived in Japan and adapted as Zen Buddhism.

Despite being too far from each other to have had any influence, some have historically noted similarities between traditional Chinese religious beliefs and Christianity. This was noted by Jesuit missionaries who became known as figurists. Figurists promoted the idea that the ancient Chinese knew the truth of Christian revelation and that many of the figures described in Chinese texts are actually figures and concepts from Christianity. Noted parallels include shared flood myths, similarities between Fu Xi and Enoch, as well as parallels between Christ and the sages.[40] There is also a noted similarity between the Tao being "the Way" as well as Christ claiming to be "the Way."[41]

While scholarship rejects this view today, it was a notable view in the history of comparative religion. These beliefs were ultimately opposed and disavowed by the Catholic Church in the 18th century.[40]

The introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China under the Tang dynasty also led to increasing similarities between Chinese Buddhism and Nestorian Christianity. Christians began using Buddhist and Taoist concepts to explain their faith. During this time the Jingjiao documents were created, sometimes called sutras, that demonstrated the blending of Christianity with Buddhism.[42][43] The two also formed a monastic tradition that furthered the similarities. This fusion became so heavy that when Emperor Wuzong of the Tang dynasty began persecuting Buddhists in the 9th century, he claimed that Christianity was merely a heresy of Buddhism rather than its own religion.[44] This equation of the two led to the collapse of Nestorian Christianity in China alongside the persecution of Buddhism.[43]

Comparing traditions
Further information: Eastern religions, Western religions, Prehistoric religion, Religions of the ancient Near East, Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, and Proto-Indo-European religion

Baháʼí Faith

Buddhism

Christianity
Mormonism

Confucianism

Hinduism

Islam

Jainism

Judaism

Paganism and Neopaganism

Sikhism

Taoism

Zoroastrianism

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Comparative religion.

Notes
  1. Modern scholarship places Shankara in the earlier part of the 8th century CE (c. 700–750).[36] Earlier generations of scholars proposed 788–820 CE.[36] Other proposals are 686–718 CE, 44 BCE, or as early as 509–477 BCE.

References
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  2. "classification of religions | Principles & Significance". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  3. Ibn Hazm. The Ring of the Dove: A Treatise on the Art and Practice of Arab Love Archived 30 October 2004 at the Wayback Machine (Preface). Trans. A. J. Arberry. Luzac Oriental, 1997 ISBN 1-898942-02-1
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  8. Hans Kippenberg, Discovering Religious History in the Modern Age (2001).
  9. Berner, Ulrich (5 August 2021). "Max Müller, Charles Darwin and the science of religion". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 77 (2): 8. doi:10.4102/hts.v77i2.6730. ISSN 2072-8050.
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  16. Woodhead, Linda (1 September 2005), "4. Mystical Christianity", Christianity, Oxford University Press, pp. 71–88, doi:10.1093/actrade/9780192803221.003.0005, ISBN 978-0-19-280322-1
  17. Gilpin, W. Clark (19 December 2017), "American Narratives of Sin and Salvation", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.439, ISBN 978-0-19-934037-8
  18. "But the upshot of the whole matter is, that out of every hundred Bábís probably not more than three or four are Ezelís [sic], all the rest accepting Behá'u'lláh [sic] as the final and most perfect manifestation of the Truth." (Browne (1889) p. 351 Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine)
  19. Rabbi David Rosen, Jewish-Muslim Relations, Past and Present Archived 16 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, November 2003
  20. Rabbi Justin Jaron Lewis, Islam and Judaism Archived 5 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine, October 2001
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  22. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). "Part I: Beginnings - Introduction: The Mandaean World". The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. New York: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion. pp. 1–20. doi:10.1093/0195153855.003.0001. ISBN 9780195153859. OCLC 57385973.
  23. Ginza Rabba. Translated by Al-Saadi, Qais; Al-Saadi, Hamed (2nd ed.). Germany: Drabsha. 2019. p. 1.
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  25. Etudes mithriaques 1978 p545 Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin
  26. "The People of the Book and the Hierarchy of Discrimination". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
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  31. KRONEN, J. D., & MENSSEN, S. (2010). The defensibility of zoroastrian dualism. Religious Studies, 46(2), 185-205. doi:10.1017/S0034412509990357
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  33. Religions of the World S. Vernon McCasland, Grace E. Cairns, David C. Yu
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  35. Sharma 1962, p. vi.
  36. Comans 2000, p. 163.
  37. “owes on eternal debt of gratitude to that great teacher,”Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhism Y.P. Anand An Encounter with Buddhism http://www.iop.or.jp/0414/anand.pdf Archived 10 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  38. He is the ideal Karma-Yogi, acting entirely without motive, and the history of humanity shows him to have been the greatest man ever born; beyond compare the greatest combination of heart and brain that ever existed, the greatest soul-power that has ever been manifested. Essay, Ideal Karma Yogi http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5208/karmayoga/ideal.html Archived 18 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  39. P. 17 Gandhi By Ronald Terchek
  40. Ping, Y. (2020). The jesuit translation and interpretation of the yijing (classic of changes) in historical and cultural perspective. International Forum of Teaching and Studies, 16(2), 47-53,76. ProQuest 2447280664
  41. Andrew, S. P. (2001). A theology of the way (tao): A journal of bible and theology. Interpretation, 55(4), 389-399. ProQuest 202734112
  42. Littlejohn, R. (2003). The jesus sutras: Rediscovering the lost scrolls of taoist christianity. Journal of Church and State, 45(1), 167-168. ProQuest 230045489
  43. Chin Ken-pa. (2019). Jingjiao under the lenses of chinese political theology. Religions, 10(10) doi:10.3390/rel10100551
  44. Philip, T. V. (1998). "Christianity in China". East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia. Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Christian Sahitya Samithy, Tiruvalla. P. 123, ISBN 81-7214-441-5.

Works cited

Further reading
  • Chopra, R. M. A Study of Religions, (Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi, 2015) ISBN 978-9382339-94-6.
  • Davis, G. Scott. Believing and Acting: The Pragmatic Turn in Comparative Religion and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2012).
  • Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. (3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 1959) ISBN 978-0-19-511835-3.
  • Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in comparative religion (1958) online
  • Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (1959) online
  • Gothoni, Rene, How to Do Comparative Religion: Three Ways, Many Goals (2005) online
  • James, E. O. Comparative Religion (1961) online textbook
  • Jones, Lindsay, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd edn, 15 vols, Macmillan, 2004)
  • Momen, Moojan (2009) [Originally published as The Phenomenon of Religion in 1999]. Understanding Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-85168-599-8. OL 25434252M.
  • Muhiyaddin, M. A. (1984) A Comparative Study of the Religions of Today. Vantage Press, US. ISBN 978-0533059638.
  • Paden, William E. "Comparative religion." in The Routledge companion to the study of religion (Routledge, 2009). pp 239–256. online
  • Paden, William E. New patterns for comparative religion: Passages to an evolutionary perspective (Bloomsbury, 2016).
  • Paden, William E. Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion (2003) excerpt
  • Paden, William E. Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion (2015) excerpt
  • Saso, Michael R. Mystic, Shaman, Oracle, Priest (MYSHOP): Prayers Without Words. (Sino-Asian Institute of America, US, 2015) . ISBN 978-1624074059.
  • Sharpe, Eric J. Comparative Religion: A History, London: Duckworth, 1975 (2nd revised edition 1986).
  • Shaw, Jeffrey M. Illusions of Freedom: Thomas Merton and Jacques Ellul on Technology and the Human Condition. (Wipf and Stock, 2014). ISBN 978-1625640581.
  • Smart, Ninian. Dimensions of the Sacred: An Anatomy of the World's Beliefs (1999) ISBN 0-520-21960-0
  • Smith, Huston. The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions. (1991) HarperOne, US; Rev Rep edition. ISBN 978-0062508119.
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