World Religions paper Due 6/11
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Esposito-WorldReligionsToday6e-Chapter6PowerPoint.pptx1
Lecture Outline Chapter 6
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Premodern Hinduism
Vedas
Earliest knowledge of Indic religion
Centered on fire sacrifices
Brahmins chanted Vedic hymns in Sanskrit
Teachings on death and afterlife
Primacy of deities
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Upanishads
Appended to Vedic hymns after 1000 bce
Disciples sitting at the feet of masters
Introduced ideas of samsara, maya, Brahman, atman, moksha, karma
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Yoga
Yoga Sutras appeal to elite
50 BCE–300 BCE Composition of the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
Meditation
OM sound
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Classical Hinduism
In response to Buddhism
Individual’s place in society defined in terms of karma
Further defined by Dharmashastras
Caste system becomes law of the land
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Four stages of life
Four aims of life
Two great epics to show people how to live
Mahabharata and Ramayana
Puranas
Ideal of bhakti becomes mainstream
Deities
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Postclassical era
Brahmin elite systemize philosophy
Sankhya school
Advaita Vedanta becomes most significant to Hinduism
Brilliance of Shankara
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Postclassical era
First great network of Hindu monasteries
Tantra teachings
Not open to all
Harness bodily energy
Inverts status and gender hierarchy norms
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Islamic influence
Delhi Sultanate—first era of Muslim rule
Muslim armies conquer northern India and destroy religious monuments
Mughal Empire—second era of Muslim rule
Mostly prosperous and peaceful
Rise in converts to Islam
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Sikhism
Bhakti saint Guru Nanak
Offered indigenous monotheistic alternative to Islam
Now more Sikhs in South Asia than Buddhists
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Modernity
British most successful colonizers in India
Protest movements ongoing until India became independent in 1947
Ramakrishna
Revivalism emphasized mystical experience and ecumenical theology
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Mentee Vivekananda spread Ramakrishna’s teachings
Organized first Hindu mission with a vision of ecumenical Hinduism as savior of the whole world
Gandhi reinterpreted Hinduism in ethical and this-worldly manner; nonviolence
Linked Indian National Congress with masses
Led India to independence
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Postmodern trends
Pluralism
Still endures
Hindu worldviews still primary
Evidence of infiltration of non-Hindu ideas mostly in reform and modernizing of social institutions
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Postmodern trends
Guru–disciple relationship
Karma, reincarnation, salvation at center of Hindu belief
Festivals and celebrations
Kumbha Mela in 2007—largest single religious gathering on earth
Hinduism enters Western awareness through practices of yoga and meditation
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Islamic activists
Found in cabinets and parliaments of many countries and in leadership of professional organizations
Mostly laypeople from all walks of life
Majority work within system
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Emergence of radical extremist organizations
9/11 a watershed, signaling extent to which Muslim extremists had become global threat
Adopt own criteria for a just jihad
Believe that violence and revolution only way to impose Islamic way of life
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Religion and politics
Linkage growing
Modernizers
Those not influenced by science
Proponents of Hindu nationalism
Popularity of televised epics and religious comic books
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