Origins of Religions?

Question

I have to complete a timeline for my history class that states when each of the following religions originated:

Hinduism
Buddhism
Judaism
Christianity
Muslim/Islam
Confucianism

Please include the dates they were founded, in years (i.e. 2,000 B.C.; not the 7th century). Also, if someone could help me figure out how to list them, for example, does 2,000 B.C. come before 500 B.C., or 300 A.D. go before or after 4,000 A.D.

Thanks Alot!

Answer 1

I think the assignment is flawed as you can't really give a time when a religion began, only the events that shaped the religious movement. Christianity didn't start with Christ, but after his death by his disciples. Siddharta was searching for enlightenment but his philosophies inspired others.

Here is the best that I can do for you: This website gives dates but I would change the BC to BCE. This stands for Before the Common Era because not everyone in the world is Christian, therefore Before Christ is exclusive. However to make this simple and avoid going into details (some teachers may take this offensively, stick to the BC/AD timeline.


http://www.letusreason.org/Cult11.htm



History Timeline of World Religions and its Founders

2,085 BC. Judaism-Abraham

1,500 BC. Hinduism- no specific founder

560 BC. Buddhism- Gautama Buddha

30 AD. Christianity –Jesus Christ

610 AD.- Islam- Mohammed

1650 AD.- Tibetan Buddhism-Dalai Lama

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Confucius existed c. 551-479 BCE.


Also, you will want to organize your dates from largest BCE number to smallest because you are counting backwards to zero. For example, 2000 BCE, 1000 BCE, 500 BCE, 1 CE (or AD). This year would be written 2007 AD.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

http://www.omsakthi.org/religions.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_founders_of_religious_traditions These sites show the dates for the major religions of the world. The dividing line for dates using B.C. and A.D. have the dates getting higher to the right with BC and getting higher to the right with A.D. The order would be 2000 B.C., then 500 B.C. 300 A.D. then 4000 A.D. on a timeline. Some timelines use B.C.E. ( Before Common Era) and C.E. ( common era. B.C.E. is equivalent to B.C. and C.E. is equivalent to A.D.
2000B.C.___500B.C.___/___300 A.D._______4000 A. D.

Answer 3

I sware, you kids have it so easy now a days. Back in my day, we had to actually open up these things called Encyclopedias and look up each religion one by one. LOL. But anyhoo! here is the answer to your question. These dates are approximate and listed in the order of Oldest to Youngest.

Hinduism - 4500 years ago (2500 B.C.) (Fact: Hinduism is the worlds oldest religion that is still in existence today)

Judaism - 4000 years ago ( 2000 B.C. ) according to Jews and 2700 years ago (700 B.C.) according to Science.

Buddhism - 2600 years ago ( 600 B.C. )

Confucianism - 2500 years ago (500 B.C.)

Christianity - 2000 years ago ( 30 A.D.)

Islam -1400 years ago ( 610 A.D.)

Answer 4

Think of BC & AD as Before Christ and After Death. An easy way to remember the dates is like this:

200 BC = 200 years Before Christ

50 BC = 50 years Before Christ

So 200 BC is older than 50 BC

AD is the opposite:

50 AD (50 years After Death)

200 AD (200 years After Death)

Answer 5

Religion didn't just explain death, it was used to explain everything early man didn't understand. As time wore on the people running the local religions realized they had a power over the people around them. As we all know power corrupts. Those "priests" of the time often abused their power and used it for wealth and control. In later religions society had changed some and wanted security so religion picked up the slack and tossed in moral values as well.

Answer 6

Do a web search on history timelines, there are several good ones out there.

In BCE (BC) the larger numbers come first, like negatives, 0 is where it switches to CE (AD) and the numbers increase from there.

Answer 7

It doesn't matter when any of them were 'invented'.
The bloody lot of them, religions. Were invented to keep the populace of a certain region under control by the rulers.
Give the simple folk some mumbo-jumbo to believe in, and they will, believe in it.
It's just that no government at the moment has any balls to finally say enough is enough and ban the lot..!!

Answer 8

And the Lord God did say unto his people Thou Shalt do thy own Homework!
And he saw that it was good
And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloth, and fruitbats, and various breakfast cereals ...

Answer 9

I can barely do my own homework on the subject. Doesn't your history class require a textbook?

Answer 10

Wikipedia is the right place for you at the moment