World Religions Before c.1450

Belief systems

Religious ideas, beliefs, and practices change over time. These changes may be due to internal developments, the experiences and make-up of the population of believers, and interactions with other belief systems. There, that’s the thesis of this article. You don’t even have to look for it!

The question is, can I prove that argument by exploring the histories of some religions before c. 1450 CE? In the sections below, I’m going to focus on changes over time in some belief systems. Because I only have so much space, I’m going to focus on big changes in a few major world religions. These are belief systems that we tend to call portable, congregational faiths because they connected people in communities of belief across vast distances.

But remember, while some elements of religions changed quite dramatically, others stayed the same. Indeed, religions retain characteristics over long periods of time better than most other human institutions. Also, change and continuity were happening in smaller, or more regional, belief systems as well. We just don’t have space here to cover everything.

Judaism

In the first millennium BCE, traditions and ideas that had earlier been handed down orally were often written down for the first time in many places around the world. Among these written traditions are those created by the Hebrews, a group of people who briefly established two small kingdoms in the area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River known as Canaan. These stories and laws formed the basis of Judaism, a monotheistic (one God) faith based on the concept of the Covenant, an agreement between the people and God.

The Hebrews were originally organized into tribe and were mainly nomadic pastoralists, herding sheep and goats. The shared faith of Judaism was one way for these tribes to work together and unify.

However, the Hebrews—now Jews—lived in a dangerous region. Although they managed to unify for a time in the first millennium BCE, their small states were conquered by a succession of other people. As a result, the Jews were scattered widely in a diaspora (dispersal) across the Mediterranean regions of Asia, Europe, and North Africa for much of the millennia to follow. In the period 1200 to 1450 CE, Jews mostly lived in states ruled by others, in particular the Islamic states of Spain and North Africa and the Catholic states of Europe. Partly because they were so dispersed, Jewish communities didn’t have a very centralized priesthood. Instead, each community had a community-based rabbi. These rabbinim largely shared ideas through training together in regional religious schools and through correspondence.

At times, Jewish communities were treated quite harshly by both Christian and Muslim rulers. In both cases, they were generally considered to not be part of the normal order or categories of people—for example, the system of lords, knights, and serfs in much of Europe. Many Jews protected themselves by becoming useful to rulers as bankers and scribes. Some became assimilated, and even converted to other faiths. In general, however, Jews remained a minority population with their own rabbis as community leaders, within both the Islamic and Christian worlds.

Hinduism

Hinduism arose from a group of people in northern India between roughly 1500 and 500 BCE. They created a body of sacred works and ritual texts known as the Vedas. Their belief system recognized a number of gods and goddesses and a powerful priestly class, the Brahmins. Through their rituals, the Brahmins could assist people in achieving union with the unchanging reality that is the source of the universe. Around 300 BCE, these ideas began to develop into Hinduism, which allowed people more freedom to show devotion to the gods without the Brahmin priests as intermediaries, although these priests remained important.

Over time, the Hindu philosophy deepened. A set of texts known as the Upanishads explained how an endlessly repeating cycle of reincarnation allowed people to slowly achieve a state of liberation and union with the universe. At the same time, social division within the Hindu community deepened. People were born into a social class associated with the jobs of their parents, and could only rarely change into a different social class.

Through these new ideas, Hinduism spread throughout South Asia and into nearby Southeast Asia by 1200 CE. As it did, Hinduism began to incorporate new ideas from some of the local faiths and practices of these regions. While a religious mainstream remained, Hinduism was not so centralized that everyone agreed on anything more than its core ideas and stories. Hindu rulers also recognized the diversity of beliefs in their kingdoms, and were often quite tolerant. In northern and central India, however, conflict between Hinduism and Islam became intense in the eleventh and especially the twelfth century, and partly in response rulers and religious leaders such as Ramanuja, Chaitanya, and Madhva tried to unify Hindu thought and faith.

Buddhism

Buddhism grew from many of the same roots as Hinduism, in North India. But in the sixth century BCE, it began to move even more dramatically away from ideas of hierarchy and the dominance of a priestly class to a more egalitarian (equality of all people) structure. Most of its main ideas are attributed to an individual, Prince Siddhartha Gautama (563–483 BCE), who gave up his privilege and tried to live a disciplined and serious life of study and enlightenment. Known as Buddha, Gautama pioneered the “Four Noble Truths”:

1. Life is suffering.
2. Suffering comes from desire.
3. If you can limit desire, you can limit suffering.
4. You can do this by following the “Eightfold Path” of righteous action, effort, and more.

Buddhism gave everyday people a roadmap to enlightenment and ending their suffering through individual action and devotion. Different pathways developed by which people believed they could make this journey. Some of these called for people to join monasteries and work on their thoughts and actions full-time. Others, like Mahayana Buddhism, emphasized the everyday activities that people like you or I could do.

Buddhism spread, and as it reached new areas it took on new practices. It was not a highly centralized faith with a priestly class, so it could adapt readily to new places. China became an important Buddhist center in the seventh century CE, and then it spread rapidly to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Under the Song Dynasty of the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, the Chan school of Buddhism became increasingly important. Known as Zen Buddhism in Japan, Chan Buddhism emphasized meditation and a focus on natural ways of reaching personal enlightenment. It existed alongside many other schools of Buddhism in this period.

Christianity

Christianity appeared in the early Roman Empire in a place and time where there was a great mixing of cultures and traditions, and it was fairly easy for them to move around. It began among a Jewish population under Roman Rule.

Into this climate came Jesus of Nazareth (c. 3 BCE–29 CE). According to Christian Scripture, he was born to deeply religious Jewish parents. His ministry began when he was about thirty. He taught by preaching and telling stories, and left no writings. However, oral accounts of his sayings and preaching were written down by a community of his followers in the century after his life.

Jesus’ followers had different beliefs about his purpose, but they agreed that Jesus preached of a kingdom of eternal happiness in a life after death and of the importance of devotion to God and love of others. His teachings were based on Hebrew Scripture and reflected a conception of God and morality that came from Jewish tradition. He said that he was the Son of God and the Messiah (Christus in Greek, the origin of the English word Christ), but also asserted that he had come to establish a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one based on wealth and power. He also declared that he would return to save the righteous.

The Christian faith developed around groups of priests, including his followers such as Paul of Tarsus. It quickly became quite hierarchical, partly following the model of the Roman Empire in which it was based. Splits also developed quite early, as followers in different regions applied Greek, Ethiopian, and Roman theological ideas to understand his preaching. However, the support of later Roman Emperors meant that a large and centralized church could be built.

The decline of the Roman Empire left a vacuum in Europe after the sixth century. As state power fragmented, the Christian Church and its leaders provided diplomacy and a unifying set of beliefs and practices. However, a great break in 1054 CE damaged this mission. The Great Schism created two large churches. The first, the Catholic Church, was based in Rome and headed by the popes. The second, the Eastern Orthodox Church, was based in Constantinople and headed by the patriarchs. These two churches disagreed over some practices and ideas, but they also reflected disagreements between states in these regions. At times, the two churches supported each other, mostly in opposition to Muslim states and power. But they were also competitors, each seeking to convert new regions to their beliefs.

Islam

Islam was founded by religious reformer and prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE). He lived in Arabia, a region with many religions at the time, and was heavily influenced by Jewish and Christian ideas. A pious man, when he was about forty he began to experience religious visions instructing him to preach, which continued for the rest of his life. Muhammad described his revelations in stylized and often rhyming prose as his Qur’an, or “recitation.” His followers memorized his words and some wrote them down. Shortly after the Prophet’s death, memorized and written materials were collected and organized into an official standard version. Muslims regard the Qur’an as the direct words of God to his Prophet Muhammad, and it is therefore especially revered.

Muhammad gathered followers and managed to bring the entire Arabian Peninsula under Muslim authority by the time of his death. By this time, core elements of the faith had become clear. All Muslims had the obligation of jihad (literally, “self-exertion”), to strive to submit to God, spread God’s rule, and lead a virtuous life. According to the Muslim shari’a, or sacred law, five practices—the profession of faith in God and in Muhammad as God’s prophet, regular prayer at home or in mosques, fasting during the sacred month of Ramadan, giving alms to the poor, and a pilgrimage to Mecca if possible—constitute what became known as the Five Pillars of Islam.

After Muhammad’s death, Islam continued to spread, partly through conquest and partly through conversion. But it also experienced splits, including a dispute between a larger group known as Sunnis and a smaller group known as Shi’a, which sometimes erupted into violence. Mystical movements arose in many areas that combined Islamic thought with local ideas, and often included the veneration of local saints. Sometimes, Muslim rulers sought to eliminate these ideas, but they proved resilient.

Although the Islamic political system had broken into many parts, Islam itself provided a bridge between these many states during this period. It also became the chief religion of the Mongols in Central Asia and, later, the Turkish and Central Asian dynasties that succeeded them, even while spreading to East and West Africa and deep into Southeast Asia.

Conclusion

Religions each have their own histories of continuity and change. Religious thinkers developed new ideas, responded to changing populations, and engaged with each other. The history of religion deserves its own study, but it is also an important part of an integrated look at the global past.