Global Study 1 Midterm Essay
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Lecture_4Spring.pptxGods and Goods: Religion and Empire as Early Globalizing Forces
According to Giles Gunn (2018):
“The one experience that most people in the world…have been unable to cope with is the lack of meaning itself”
“Religions…have offered themselves as a way of managing it”
World religions by population (2010):
Christianity – 2.2 billion (31.5% of the world’s population)
Islam – 1.6 billion (23.2% of the world’s population)
Hinduism – 1 billion (15.0% of the world’s population)
Buddhism – 500 million (7.1% of the world’s population)
Judaism – 14 million (0.2% of the world’s population)
An Anthropological Definition of Religion…
Anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1968) views religion as a specific kind of cultural system:
He argues that culture in general, and religion in particular, are ways of understanding the world created by groups of people over long periods of time and passed down from generation to generation
These ways of understanding the world are communicated through symbols (think of the cross and its significance for Christians)
These symbols and their significance shape the way believers behave in their public/private lives
This definition also applies to spoken languages, and that is why his approach to studying religion is “semantic,” which means “relating to (the study of) meaning in language”
An Anthropological Definition of Religion…
What is specific about religion? How does it differ from other cultural systems?
Religion possesses two distinct parts:
1) a worldview – “the collection of notions a people has of how reality is at base put together”
2) an ethos – a people’s “general style of life, the way they do things and like to see things done”
These two parts are mutually reinforcing – they rely on each other for justification
This mutually reinforcing relationship between worldview and ethos is communicated through symbols. Again, think of the cross and its significance for Christianity:
Signifies that humans experienced a fall from divine grace and needed a messiah to redeem them by sacrificing himself for their sins
Messiah’s sacrifice took the form of crucifixion by the Romans
Reminds believers that they are supposed to share the values espoused by their messiah and live their lives accordingly
Some Religions Cease to Exist; Some Remain Local; Some Become Global. Why?
First of all, what defines a “world religion”?
According to Michael Mann (1986):
They are religions that possess characteristics that allow them to spread across great stretches of territory and penetrate deep into the societies occupying said territories
Interestingly enough, most (if not all) world religions emerged in the Silk Roads region and solidified between the years 300 BCE and 700 CE
According to David Held, et al. (1999), the internal, intellectual characteristics that bind them together are:
1) A complex and adaptable theology, which enables them to “embrace and attract adherents across cultures”
2) A moral code/vision of salvation “potentially open to all”
Some Religions Cease to Exist; Some Remain Local; Some Become Global. Why?
In addition, there are certain external characteristics that bind them together:
1) Reliance on writing and literacy – allowed for the standardization/diffusion of “core texts which provided the infrastructure for…shared and stabilized beliefs”
Believers of world religions are “people of the book”
2) Organized clerical hierarchies – caste of people whose responsibility it was to transmit/interpret sacred texts, thereby ensuring “systematization and routinization” of “belief and behaviour”
3) Alliance with political empires – valued the centralizing/binding power of elites who had converted to the religion, and who ruled over large swaths of territory otherwise difficult to control
4) Reliance on brute force and violence
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
The Prophet Muhammad
Born in Mecca (c. 570 CE)
Starts receiving revelations in 610 CE, which he shared with his friends, family, and eventually with others in Mecca
His monotheistic message was inconsistent with the city’s polytheistic culture, and he was forced to flee, together with his supporters
In 622 CE, he and his followers settled in Medina
In 630 CE, Muhammad and his followers defeated the Meccans in battle; over the next two years, Muhammad managed to unite the tribes of Arabia under his banner
His successes were widely taken as a sign of divine favor, and must have encouraged tribes throughout Arabia to cooperate and convert
In 632 CE, Muhammad died
Muhammad’s death set off two chain reactions whose consequences were momentous…
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
1) The first caliph, Abu Bakr, succeeded Muhammad and reigned from 632 CE to 634 CE
Origin of the split between Sunni Muslims, who believe that Abu Bakr was the rightful heir, and Shia Muslims, who believe that the rightful heir was ‘Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the prophet
2) Abu Bakr led a series of wars intended to prevent Arab tribes from leaving the faith following Muhammad’s death
Not only achieved their basic aims, but also created the momentum/need for conquests beyond the peninsula
Arabians were pastoral nomads, and like other pastoral nomads, they relied on raiding others for their livelihood
The new religion instilled in them a new sense of social cohesion and a spiritual purpose that harnessed the nomadic need to raid, while also depriving them of obvious victims
Muslims could not raid each other, so they raided their neighbors
For the first time, rather than just looting the settled peoples of the Near East, the nomads actually brought them something: a new religious message
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
Why were the Arab conquests so successful?
1) The Byzantine and Sasanid empires were weak, having battled each other to a costly and exhausting stalemate
2) Near Eastern populations were eager to exchange these rulers for more benign ones, having accumulated various grievances over the centuries
3) Arabs had military advantages – religious fervour, the element of surprise, familiarity with Byzantine and Sasanid tactics (some Arabs had previously served the empires)
It was under the second caliph, Umar (r. 634 CE - 644 CE), that victories over these empires were achieved
It was under the third caliph, Uthman (r. 644 CE - 656 CE), that “the assembly of an authoritative version of the Quran” was ordered
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
But it was not until a group of leaders called the Umayyad caliphs (r. 661 CE - 750 CE) that Arabic culture and Islamic rule spread from the Iberian Peninsula to the Punjab
The caliph’s control over his provinces was tightened – decentralized tribal traditions gave way to better-organized imperial ones
Arabic and Islamic identity was developed and imposed on caliphal institutions
Islamic coins were minted, and Arabic replaced local languages in administrative bureaus
It was under the Abbasid caliphs (r. 750 CE - 1258 CE) that these imperial achievements were solidified and a religious caste called ulama took definitive form
The caliphs, who claimed religious authority through descent from the prophet Muhammad, eventually accepted the status of the ulama, but not without putting up a fight
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
Theology and Faith
The Quran comprises 114 surahs (chapters)
The Hadith/Sunnah are a record of Muhammad’s words/actions that are used in interpreting the Quran
The core beliefs of Islam can be summarized as follows:
1) Oneness of Allah (Arabic for God)
2) Angels of God – Gabriel brought divine revelation to prophets
3) Books of God – The Torah, Gospels, and Quran are divine revelation, but the first two have been corrupted
4) Prophets/Messengers – The message of God has been communicated through humans, including Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad
5) Divine Judgment – There will be a judgment day when people will be rewarded with paradise/condemned to hell
6) Divine Decree – God knows all, past, present, and future, so everything is preordained
Testing Hypotheses…Early Islam
The core practices of an observant Muslim (known as the Five Pillars):
1) Declaration of Faith – There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet
2) Ritual Prayer – Five times a day, facing the holy city of Mecca
3) Almsgiving – Dedication of 2.5% of one’s wealth to charity
4) Fasting – Eating/drinking nothing during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan
5) Pilgrimage – Traveling to the holy city of Mecca at least once during one’s lifetime
Does Islam conform to the abstract definition of a world religion provided by David Held, et al. (1999)?
