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PHL 230 Religions of the World

Published : 13-Sep,2021  |  Views : 10

Question:

The final project for this course is the creation of a final paper that provides a comparative analysis of the key beliefs of one Eastern religion and one Abrahamic religion regarding existential questions and the afterlife. In the paper, you should provide a description of the key beliefs for the religions you select, an analysis of the ways in which the two religions differ, an analysis of the ways in which the two religions resemble each other, and an evaluation of how well you believe the two religions address the issues at hand. 

The final paper must demonstrate a firm understanding of key beliefs about existential issues and the afterlife for the religions you select. Papers will be graded based on your understanding of the key beliefs for the religions you choose, the thoroughness of your comparative analysis, originality, use of relevant research, critical analysis, clarity, and organization. 

Answer:

Introduction

It is a matter of fact that Hinduism originated in the Indian Sub-continent approximately 3000 BC ago and Christianity originated in Jerusalem in 33AD, it is a myth that there is a huge gap between Hinduism as an Eastern religion and Christianity as an Abrahamic religion but it can be denied by a few logics (Brockington, 2016). Looking into the matter of facts it can be seen that there are numerous similarities between these two religions that could help in understanding the similarities between these two contradictory theological perspectives with their beliefs regarding the existentialism and afterlife.  

Monotheism

Most of the population believes that Hindus have many gods to worship and Hinduism does not support Monotheism, but it is a matter of fact that, there are thirty-three Crores of deities in Hinduism but they are viewed as one spirit that brings everything together (Brockington, 2016). There is a small sector in Hinduism in which people actually believe that all the deities are real, but the majorities have faith on the fact that a supreme being manifests all the deities like the humankind and the whole creation.  This research discusses that the categorization of the Abrahamic religion intervenes the loss of reality in the Christian religion as well as its relation with the Muslim religion. There is also a surprising fact that a part of Christianity originated from India, which is also the birth place of Hinduism. Many of the Christian rites are borrowed from Vedic Hinduism. In fact, Hinduism promotes the ism where it is believed that there is only one supreme power and that has no form and personality but it is a reality and the supreme power is omnipresent and omnipotent (Brockington, 2016).

All Abrahamic religions also support monotheism, worshipping the only supreme power, may be referred to as different names. However, Christianity believes in presence of only one super power, but the Bible includes a variety of supernatural characters such as Satan, Beelzebub, Archangels Seraphim where as in Hinduism there are many lower ranked Gods. The difference is in the belief of God because in Christianity God in the name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit and that in Hinduism there are many gods but only one powerful spirit controlling the world (Raj, 2014).  Christianity practices salvation through passion for Christ, through death or by resurrection. Hinduism practices salvation by reaching the enlightenment of life by following the path of knowledge, devotion and by good works (Brockington, 2016). The philosophy of Christianity is determining salvation in the path of sin and the passion for the Lord and in Hinduism it is the freedom that is obtained from birth and after life. It can b stated that though majorly both religions promote monotheism but in both cases there are exceptions (Dobe, 2015).

Moral Values

  There are many similarities seen in the moral teachings of both the religions as in Bible and in Gita. In both  contexts it is said that man should be nonviolent, they should be forgiving, one should give without expecting much and apart from these man should learn to control himself, they should meditate and pray for the peace of mind (Brockington, 2016). These lessons are very similar in Hinduism and Christianity because it may be said that there is nothing more than humanity and these are basic lessons of humanity (Klostermaier, 2014). Apart from moral values, many religious rituals, and concepts of reincarnation along with the birth of Jesus and Krishna, both leading figures of both religions are similar to each other (Knott, 2016). The research further elaborates these above-mentioned facts regarding these points and determines how similar they are in almost every aspect as they both promote the fact that there is nothing beyond humanity. This study claims that both the religion significantly put in the beliefs of eternal life or the life after death. The common belief of the Hindus about afterlife is that it is a transformation from a corporal being, to an eternal being ,that goes to the Heaven to God and the Christians believe that an eternal life is only for the person who is faithful towards God and has commenced fewer sins throughout life. In Christianity it is believed that only God will save a person from performing sins and in Hinduism they believe that only God has the power to choose that which human will get salvation (Clooney, 2017).  Hindus have more faith regarding reincarnation and the Christians believe that after death the soul is resurrected to a new life. These two religions represent the two poles east and west and they may vary from each other in many terms but in reality they have more similarities among them (Brockington, 2016). The belief of the afterlife in both the religion contributes to the determination of investigation that states whether a person has a life even after their death (Knott, 2016).

Birth of Christ and Krishna

Birth of Krishna and Jesus has many similarities. Angels warned both of their parents that a dictator might kill their ward. They both were responsible for numerous miraculous incidents including bringing in life in the dead bodies. They both had the power to destroy their opponents but they restrained themselves. They both were resurrected after their death and they both taught similar kinds of moral values (Flannelly, 2017).

Reincarnation

It is a well-known fact that Hinduism has faith in reincarnation as well as Christianity does. According to Christian teaching after death human souls would be resurrected to a new life in a pleasure dome created by God, and there man will reunite with all of them forever, whom he loved (Raj, 2014).  On the other hand, in Hinduism it is believed that after death a man’s soul gets reincarnated in a new body and live a new life as a different person and after death gain the soul reincarnate in a new life, like this the chain continues until the soul gets nirvana (Clooney, 2017). The belief of the afterlife in both the religion contributes to the determination of investigation that states whether a person has a life even after their death. The focal point of this research is to show how an Abrahamic religion Christianity and an eastern religion Hinduism raise beliefs on matters like existentialism and afterlife (Knott, 2016). Christians who believe in God will have their reward from God within their life span or after life by reaching heaven. The Christians mark out the origin of their religion to the progenitor Abraham or Ibrahim. Religious originality is a conflict that is associated with the Christian and Muslim religion in a worldwide basis but the exact reason of the conflict is still not understood, this article mentions few probable reasons behind the conflict and also discusses the concept of Abrahamic religion talking in to consent the Christian religion as a form of it (Monier-Williams, 2014).

Conclusion:

In the above discussion it is found that the Hindus have more faith regarding reincarnation and the Christians believes that after death the soul is resurrected to a new life. Both religions hails from two different poles having some striking similarities between them. It can be said that these similarities only point out a fact that humankind is greater than anything else is in this world, and no individual can get away with committing a sin.

Annotated bibliography:

Kunst, J. R., Thomsen, L., & Sam, D. L. (2014). Late Abrahamic reunion? Religious fundamentalism negatively predicts dual Abrahamic group categorization among Muslims and Christians. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 337-348.

In this citation the author has demonstrated Christianity as an Abrahamic language and stated that some number of Christians uses the structure of multi group model and some  practice a manipulation of showing the fundamentalism of the religion caused by the categorization of Abrahamic. This citation is relevant to the above discussion because this citation discusses the concept of Christianity and its belief regarding existence and afterlife of human being as an Abrahamic religion. The research of the religion and the reason of the Christian religion being an abrahamic one are clearly described in the article. This article discusses the differentiation of reality in the religions and predicts the advancement of the origins of Christianity as an abrahamic religion. This article denotes that the Christians who believe in God will have their reward from God within their life span or after life by reaching heaven. The Christians mark out the origin of their religion to the progenitor Abraham or Ibrahim.

Kunst, J. R., & Thomsen, L. (2015). Prodigal Sons: Dual Abrahamic Categorization Mediates the Detrimental Effects of Religious Fundamentalism on Christian–Muslim Relations. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 25(4), 293-306.

This article is on the demonstration of the abrahamic religions that intervenes the disapproving effects of the originality among the Christians and the casual effects of the religious essentiality among the Christians. This article shows the effects of fundamentalism loss of the religious relations like Christians and the Muslims as it is also an abrahamic religion. Religious originality is a conflict that is associated with the Christian and Muslim religion in a worldwide basis but the exact reason of the conflict is still not understood, this article mentions few probable reasons behind the conflict and also discusses the concept of abrahamic religion talking in to consent the Christian religion as a form of it.

Yerke, P. (2014). Religious beliefs in the afterlife have prompted the scientific investigation to determine whether we, as humans, possess a soul and if the soul continues to live after our mortal death. A study was conducted by Robert Schoch, the Associate Professor of Natural Science at Boston. Science.

This study claims that both the religion significantly put in the beliefs of eternal life or the life after death. The common belief of the Hindus about afterlife is that it is a transformation from a corporal being to an eternal being that goes to the Heaven to God and the Christians believe that an eternal life is only for the person who is faithful towards God and has commenced fewer sins throughout life. The belief of the afterlife in both the religion contributes to the determination of investigation that states whether a person has a life even after their death. The Hindus believe that the spirits can possess a living body to influence the host and these kinds of realities are still present in the world.  The Hindus think that the spirits who had attachment to any special person or possessions will not be able to leave them even after death and this influences coming back of the spirits in the world.

References:

Brockington, J. L. (2016). Hinduism and Christianity. Springer.

Clooney, F. X. (2017). The Future of Hindu–Christian Studies: A Theological Inquiry. Routledge.

Dobe, T. S. (2015). Hindu Christian Faqir: Modern Monks, Global Christianity, and Indian Sainthood. Oxford University Press.

 Flannelly, K. J. (2017). Belief in God and Life-After-Death Among American Adults. In Religious Beliefs, Evolutionary Psychiatry, and Mental Health in America (pp. 143-152). Springer International Publishing.

Klostermaier, K. K. (2014). Hinduism: A short history. Oneworld Publications.

Knott, K. (2016). Hinduism: a very short introduction (Vol. 5). Oxford University Press.

Monier-Williams, M. (2014). Buddhism, in its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in its Contrast with Christianity (Vol. 45). New york: macmillan and co.

Netland, H. (2015). Christianity and religious diversity. Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

Raj, S. (2014). Why Jesus Is Not an Avatar: A Critique of the Indian Hindu and Christian Incarnation Idea of Jesus as ‘Avatar’on the Basis of Nicene Affirmation for Future Missions. 

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