...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Contemporary: Current, modern, popular, progressive, present-day, fashionable, and up-to-date. Can this definition apply to a religion that is more than 2000 years old? Christianity struggles within its own religious borders to be contemporary and remain relevant in today’s ever changing landscape of religions and beliefs. The question must be asked regarding when is too much. How far can the Christian faith push its borders without losing its core and traditional meanings and foundations? The appeal of the Christian religion has to compete with the social world in which it exists. The traditional Christian is viewed by many as stagnant, stiff, and out-dated. The youth today need to be challenged mentally and spiritually to stimulate their interest in a religion that can be interpreted as boring and seen as a relic of their parents and grandparents. To explore how Christianity as a religion can grow, one must first explore its past and past struggles to include those with Judaism and Islam. According to a book entitled the first Christians, attention is drawn to archaeological discoveries and modern social science scholars that have sharpened their focus on that first generation of Christians. It has shown early Christians saw themselves not as founders of a new religion but as reformers of Judaism. They did not want to abandon Judaism, but to rejuvenate it. The early Christian message was not a uniform creed; it changed in important...
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...Contemporary Issues within Judaism and other Religions Contemporary Issues within Judaism and other Religions Introduction for paper - We will take a look Historical connections and theological similarities There has been fighting within Israel since the beginning. The battle can be referred to as a Holy War. "Holy war," sanctioned or even commanded by God, is a common and recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible” ("Judaism101", 2011). Jews in Israel want to have their country as God intended them to have, their “Holy Land.” The Jewish Holy War continues because inhabitants of Israel fight amongst themselves about who is truly entitled to the Holy Land. Holy War for another religion that originated in the same area, Islam, is completely different. Holy War for Islam is more about completing a mission. Islam is a religion similar to Judaism; however Judaism began before Christianity and Islam. Judaism is one of the first modern religions that are monotheistic. Judaism, Islam and Christianity each have that characteristic in common. Jewish people believe the Torah is the chief book that should be followed for their religion. The Torah is similar to the Old Testament in the Christian bible. The Torah does not promote Jesus as the messiah as the New Testament does for Christians. On the other hand, some Jewish people actually do believe in Jesus. Many Jewish Jesus believers belong to the organization Jews for Jesus. The group Jews for Jesus believes and promotes...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions LaKeisha Davenport Rel/134 University of Phoenix Sammy Frailey July 26, 2010 Contemporary Issues in Western Religions One of the ways to understand people of a diverse society is to understand their religious beliefs and practices. In the western world there are three major religions. These religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each of these religions is monotheistic and is practiced by more than half the people in the world. Monotheistic religion is the belief in one God. Although Judaism, Christianity and Islam religious practices are each monotheistic, some of the religious traditions are different. Judaism believes there is one God who cannot be made up of parts; Islam embraces an immaterial, invisible God, one to be intensely feared in His omnipotence; Christians hold fast to the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The differences mentioned are but a few of the differences between the three religions that could very well be reasons for some of the struggles believers faced during the early biblical days. To better the religious traditions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, one must study the early traditions and struggles of each religion. The writers of this paper will discuss the similarities, differences, theological and historical connections between the three religions. Historical Connections Judaism is historically connected to Christianity through Jesus...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Jennifer, Josafina, Lucas, & Wendy Lemons REL 134 02/24/2011 Mikel Del Rosario Contemporary Issues in Western Religions There are many religions in the world today. It is possible to study many individual religions and never fully understand one religion completely. In this paper only three religions will be discussed. The three religions discussed are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The primary focus religion that will be discussed is Christianity, the second religion will be Judaism, and the third religion will be Islam. In this paper the historical connections between these three religions will be explored. Questions will be answered such as; what makes these three religions similar? How are they connected? The theological similarities and differences between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam will also be thoughtfully brought up. The contemporary struggles within Christianity today will be explored. It will also be discussed what contemporary struggles Christianity has with Judaism and the contemporary struggles between Christianity and Islam. In this paper it is the expressed hope that the reader will be able to learn about these three religions and gain knowledge. The paper is to help the reader learn something new about Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and with curiosity want to explore these individual religions further. With this hope in mind this paper will start with the historical connections between...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Harry Potter REL/134 November 20, 2011 UoP Instructor Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Religious beliefs have been the center of many conflicts across the entire world since the beginning of time. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism the major monotheist religious traditions have been at the heart of many of those religious conflicts. Historical connections and theological similarities are prevalent between the three. In parallel to the similarities exists the contemporary struggles affecting these western religious traditions. From the internal struggles within Christianity such as abortion, to its struggles with Islam and Muslim extremists, finally to the contempt against Christianity from actions of the Holocaust, each tradition faces contemporary struggles within their own right. Gaining a better understanding and insight into the historical, theological, and contemporary struggles between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism will enhance appreciation for each belief. Historical Connections and Theological Similarities: One main pillar of similar theology between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism is the belief in one god. However, each has different perspectives in relation to God. For example, Christians believe in [pic]the Trinity[pic] of [pic]God; God the Father, the Son (Jesus[pic] Christ), [pic]and the Holy Spirit[pic] ("Judaism, Islam, Christianity-Comparison", 2002-2011). Also Christians consider Jesus...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Nerkeda Bulter, Regina Edwards Lakisha Lewis Sinceria Lewis Religion/134 October 11, 2012 Stephanie Cripps Contemporary Issues in Western Religions This paper will reflect research on contemporary issues in Western Religions. The main objective is to elaborate on Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The other key focus is to uncover the struggles within its historical and modern times. Islam is an interesting subject because it has plenty history surrounding Islamic cultures, and the contrast between Judaism, and Christianity. Nevertheless, revealing how time has change from than to now also captivate some attention. Exploring the foundation surrounding Islam such as Abraham, and the other forefathers is rewarding when searching the history of these three religions. Historical connections Islam and Judaism share connections starting very early in history with the patriarch Abraham. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael, and Isaac, who eventually went on to lead two different groups of people. Ishmael led the Arabs who later became known as the Muslims and Isaac led the Israelites who later became Jews. These two different groups of religions grew and traditions known today in modern religion. Each religion shares a monotheistic belief and has similar...
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...Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Islam Struggles within Christianity and Judaism Islam’s nature of sacred reality is monotheistic just as Christianity and Judaism, and is very similar in their religious formation. The theoretical foundations of each belief are historically similar and all saying the same message, that there is only one true God. The Islamic religious structure believes in the same God as Judaism and Christianity, the God of Abraham, but Islam knows him as Allah. There are some differences in the way Islam refer to Allah as God and Christianity and Judaism prefer to say God but theoretically they are referring to the same one true God. The origin of Islamic way of living is to seek to serve Allah only, through the instructions given by Allah to the prophet and first Muslim Muhammad. The history of the Islamic religion is connected to Judaism and Christianity in the same way because they also believe the way of the righteous is to submit to God and instruction on God’s will has been given through prophecy. Only Christianity submission is through the redemption of Jesus Christ by the New Testament and Judaism submission to God is to follow the Laws of the Old Testament. They all began in the Middle East where Islam’s prophet Muhammad was the prophecy of Abraham’s first son Ishmael by Hagar his servant and Judaism and Christianity’s prophecy developed in the Middle East by Abraham’s youngest son Isaac from Sarah Abraham’s wife. Even though each prophecy...
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...its three sources Torah instruction or law, Nevi’im which means prophets and ketuvi’im which means writings. The writings that make up the Tanakh were believed to have been initially compiled by the men of the Great Assembly. Judaism believes that Tanakh happens to represents God’s teachings to man and was actually written by God. The Torah contains an account of the creation of the world. Gods special call to Abraham which was the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. The Torah is by far the most important part of the Tanakh because in addition to including the important stories it also details the commandments God gave the Jewish people threw Moses. The Torah is carefully handwritten in Hebrew calligraphy. The Tanach is the Hebrew Bible that contains all the variety of life itself. Its books touch all aspects of life such as history, laws, behavior, prayers, advice and so on all every part of the Tanach is written is Hebrew expect for one part of it and that’s the Book of Daniel which is written in Aramiac a language used by Babylonians at the time of Daniel’s Captivity. The Talmud is considered to be second to the Torah. It is traditionally referred to as Shisha Sedarim which is also Hebrew is known as the six orders of the Oral Law of Judaism. The Talmud has two components the Mishnah the firs written compendium of Judaism’s Oral Law and the Gemara an elucidation of the Mishnah. The whole Talmud consists of 63 tractates and in standard print are over 6,200 pages long...
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... University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Molloy, M. (2010). Experiencing the world’s religions: Tradition, challenge, and change (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. All electronic materials are available on the student website. Week One: The Nature of Religion Details Objectives 1.1 Describe the common elements of religion. 1.2 Identify issues in the study of religion. 1.3 Describe the sacred in indigenous traditions. Reading Read Ch. 1 of Experiencing the World’s Religions. Reading Read Ch. 2 of Experiencing the World’s Religions. Reading Read the Contemporary Paganism: Wicca and Druidism section in Ch. 11 of Experiencing the World’s Religions. Reading Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings. Nongraded Actvitiy Post a personal bio in the chat room on OLS. Introduce yourself to our class as a response to the thread begun by the facilitator....
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...A Concise Introduction to Islam: by Richard T. Nolan "ISLAM" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion." As "final," Islam is God's final revelation of prophetic religion, in fulfillment of all that had preceded. Moses was given the Law; David was given the Psalms; Jesus was given the Gospel. Judaism offers God's message of justice, and Christianity proclaims the love of God. To Mohammed (570-632 A.D.; spelled in a variety of ways) the God of Abraham and Jesus revealed the Qur'an (Arabic for "recital," sometimes written Koran). The Qur'an, written in Arabic, is the Sacred Scripture of Islam, the perfection of all previous divine revelations, and is to be understood literally as the direct words of God. In this sense of scriptural literalism, all Muslims may be called "fundamentalists." However, when referring to the aggressive behaviors of a few, "militants" and "extremists" are better categories. Muslims believe in all prophets of the Bible. The Qur'an itself mentions the Torah and the Gospel as scriptures revealed by God to Moses and Jesus. However, the Qur'an indicates that over time, changes were made to the actual biblical texts...
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...Course) REL 134 Week 3 DQ 1 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 3 DQ 2 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 3 DQ 3 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 3 DQ 4 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 4 Individual Assignment Islam Worksheet (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 4 DQ 1 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 4 DQ 2 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 4 DQ 3 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 4 DQ 4 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 5 Learning Team Assignment Contemporary Issues in Western Religions Paper and Presentation (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 5 DQ 1 (UOP Course) REL 134 Week 5 DQ 2 (UOP Course) ------------------------------------------------------------- REL 134 Week 1 Individual Assignment Elements of Religious Traditions Paper (UOP Course) For more course tutorials visit www.tutorialrank.com Tutorial Purchased: 3 Times, Rating: A+ Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that does the following: Explains how religious traditions describe and encourage the following relationships: Relationship with the divine Relationship with sacred time Relationship with sacred space or the natural world Relationship with each other Identifies key critical issues in the study of religion Includes specific examples from the various religious traditions described in the Week One readings—such as a belief in one God or many gods and goddesses, church on Sunday, holy mountains, or the Quakers calling each other friends. You...
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...Religion and Belief Systems in Australia post Students learn about: | Students learn to: | Contemporary Aboriginal Spiritualities * Aboriginal spirituality as determined by the Dreaming * issues for Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to: * the effect of dispossession * the Land Rights movement Religious expression in Australia – 1945 to the present * the religious landscape from 1945 to the present in relation to: * changing patterns of religious adherence * the current religious landscape * religious dialogue in multi-faith Australia * ecumenical movements within Christianity * Interfaith dialogue * The relationship between Aboriginal spiritualities and religious traditions in the process of Reconciliation | * discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming * kinship * ceremonial life * obligations to the land and people * discuss the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to: * separation from the land * separation from kinship groups * the Stolen Generations * outline the importance of the following for the Land Rights movement: * Native Title * Mabo * Wik * analyse the importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights movement * outline changing patterns of religious adherence from 1945 to the present using census data * account for the present religious landscape in Australia in relation to: * Christianity as the...
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...Judaism It is interesting to note that the three major religions of the World, even in contemporary times, are all religions that have Abrahamic traditions, and that they remain at the forefront of social, political, and cultural events worldwide: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All are called Abrahamic religions because each utilizes the teaches of Abraham in its central historical view of the world. Each of the three Abrahamic faiths are monotheistic, and actually account for over 50% of the world’s population, or almost 4 billion people (Christian Science Monitor, 8/4/98). Note, too, that besides the three major traditions, other religions cite their traditions from Abraham: Mandaenism, Rastafairnism, Bahai, Samaritan, and the Druze (“Why Abrahamic?”) It is also interesting to note that within these three religious teachings, there are considerable areas of commonality, yet the three are often at odds with one another over political and social issues, even in the contemporary world. The name Judaism comes from the Hebrew word Yehuda, meaning celebrated or praised. This set of beliefs originated from the ancient tribes of the Middle Eastern deserts, the Israelites, and told within the Talmud, or the ancient Hebrew Bible. In essence, Judaism is the special relationship that the Children of Israel have with God, and that special relationship derived from promises and covenants of law, tradition, and civil rights. Many scholars, in fact, see Judaism...
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...Environmental Ethics Dr. Vicki Toscano Issues paper#1 Anthropocentrism vs. Biocentrism 1/26/2012 The Historical Roots of our ecologic crisis is an article written by Lynn T. White, Jr. published in the journal Science in 1966. White was a medieval scholar and in this article he blames technology, Christianity, and anthropocentrism as the “Roots” of our ecologic crisis. He states, “All forms of life modify their contexts,” but believes that this modification should be for the good of the earth like the coral polyp. He states Man must coexist with nature. Man had always been a dynamic element in harmony with the earth. This all changed sometime around the 1850 when the “Baconian Creed” of scientific knowledge started influencing the people. As a result man began to exploit the earth through new advents in technology. White cites the invention of the eight-oxen plow as the beginning of man’s “ruthlessness” towards nature. White continues to argue that Christian Axioms fueled this newfound exploitive attitude towards earth. To White, Christianity’s story of creation and notion that “no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve man’s purpose (White).” only served to justify these actions and put Christianity as “the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen.” White continues to argue that simply applying more science and more technology to our ecologic crisis is not going to solve the problem. To him the issue is essentially religious. White suggests...
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...there are millions of Gods. This influences praying rituals and sub groups that may focus more on one single God rather than others. Rites of passage are also important. These are transitional periods from one social status to another. Within Judaism, the Bar Mitzvah transitions young boys into men where they have to take on other responsibilities and society views the, differently. Within African cultures, each village or tribe may have their own local religious rituals as well. Despite these sharp differences, there are also some similarities. One major similarity is that most religions have some sort of organizational structure. This means that it is an established institution that exists separately of the people involved. Leading these organizations are clerical members and priests. Priests join the ranks by either going through training programs or apprenticeships. While the exact rituals by which religious leaders are initiated or conduct their work may be different, the main element of having a core infrastructure with designated leaders is still present throughout various cultures. Another major set of commonalities is that they all share common stories, use symbols (such as a crucifix in Christianity or the Star of David in Judaism), have rituals and undergo change. This is because the core function of religion is to transmit information and beliefs onto the next generation. Thus, using symbols and anecdotal stories (written or verbal) is the most efficient means of carrying...
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