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History and Religion

2022-09-02T12:32:36-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What Was the Axial Age?

Last updated on: September 2, 2022 at 12:32 pm By Barbara O'Brien

The Axial Age was a period of world history. It’s called “Axial Age” because it was a pivotal time, a turn on an axis, in religion and philosophy. The oldest of our great world religions became what they are today in the Axial Age. The first of the great philosophers whose work still shapes civilization lived in the Axial Age. The phrase “Axial Age” was coined by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), in his book Vom Ursprung und Ziel... Read more

Interfaith

2022-09-02T13:06:21-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Ten Commandments and the Origins of Law

Last updated on: September 2, 2022 at 1:06 pm By Barbara O'Brien

Is U.S. law based on the Ten Commandments? Over the years, many in the U.S. have called for displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools and courthouses. To sidestep the obvious conflict with the establishment clause, it’s argued that U.S. law is based on the Ten Commandments. So, displaying the Commandments is not really about religion, they say, even though several Commandments (versions vary) are directions about how humans should relate to God. Which pretty much makes it about religion.... Read more

General Christian

Politics and Religion

Christianity

Religion and current events

Religion and politics

2022-08-25T14:39:33-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Trials of Kumarajiva the Translator

Last updated on: August 25, 2022 at 2:39 pm By Barbara O'Brien

Kumarajiva (344–413 CE) is remembered for translating many significant Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. His influence on the development of Buddhism in China cannot be overstated. And he accomplished this while being caught up in outrageous political upheavals and intrigues in China. For example, Kumarajiva spent several years of his life as the hostage of a rogue warlord. But in order to appreciate what Kumarajiva went through, you need a bit of background into China’s history. Big Troubles In... Read more

Buddhism

Buddhism in China

Buddhist scriptures

2022-08-22T17:14:07-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Last updated on: August 22, 2022 at 5:14 pm By Barbara O'Brien

Descriptions of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, 1572, are gut-wrenching to read even now. The mob violence spread out from Paris and through the French provinces over a period of more than two months. It’s hard to know how many died; historians today say that 20,000 to 30,000 is a probable figure, with 2,000 to 3,000 dead in Paris alone. The slaughter began in Paris on Sunday, August 24, the feast day of Bartholomew the Apostle. Within a few hours... Read more

General Christian

The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

2022-09-27T10:31:55-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jews in Colonial America

Last updated on: September 27, 2022 at 10:31 am By Barbara O'Brien

Yes, there were Jews in colonial America. It wasn’t just Puritans and Quakers. The history of Judaism in North America began in 1654, when 23 Sephardic Jews arrived in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, or today’s New York City. Like the Puritans, they were refugees from religious persecution. About Sephardic Jews The Sephardi or Sepharadim are Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent. Historians believe the first Jewish communities on the Iberian Peninsula date to the time after the destruction... Read more

Judaism

Jews in American history

Sephardic Jews

2022-08-17T10:11:32-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Edicts of Ashoka

Last updated on: August 17, 2022 at 10:11 am By Barbara O'Brien

Much of what we know about Ashoka the Great is taken from the edicts of Ashoka, which were inscribed throughout his empire on boulders and on magnificent sandstone pillars. Ashoka the Great reigned from about 268 to 232 BCE. Ashoka’s empire, called the Mauryan Empire, was huge; it took in most of modern-day India and part of Bangladesh as well as portions of what is now Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. In this post I’d like to talk more about the... Read more

2022-08-13T17:37:12-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Mystery of the Pillars of Ashoka

Last updated on: August 13, 2022 at 5:37 pm By Barbara O'Brien

Now we call them the pillars of Ashoka. But for centuries no one knew who had built them or what they represented. For centuries, travelers in India noted the magnificent sandstone pillars, 40 to 50 feet high. Many were capped with elaborate carvings of animals, usually lions, but sometimes elephants or oxen or possibly horses. Many were covered with writing, but no one recognized the script. Most intriguiging, the massive monuments — which weighed up to 50 tons each —... Read more

Muslim

Buddhism

Ashoka pillars

edicts of Ashoka

pillars of Ashoka

2022-08-30T11:12:53-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Father Georges Lemaître and the Big Bang Theory

Last updated on: August 30, 2022 at 11:12 am By Barbara O'Brien

The gorgeous images of distant space taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope put astronomy in the news. It’s well known that some religious institutions have had, shall we say, issues with astronomy. But did you know the Big Bang theory of physics about how the universe began was first proposed by a Catholic priest? Georges Lemaître (1894-1966), a native of Belgium, lived a life on two tracks, science and the Church. He received a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1920... Read more

Catholic

2022-08-24T10:14:53-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Many Fake Quotes of Laozi

Last updated on: August 24, 2022 at 10:14 am By Barbara O'Brien

Fake quotes are a known hazard of the Web. The Chinese philosopher Laozi (or Lao tzu) currently may be the most commonly attributed source of fake quotes on social media. I can’t verify that, but there’s no question the Web is well stocked with memes pairing him with lovely sayings he never said. It may take Laozi a while to catch up to the all-time king of fake quotes, Confucius, but give him time. Who Was Laozi? Laozi is remembered... Read more

More Voices

2023-01-18T12:57:09-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When Evangelicals Were Liberal

Last updated on: January 18, 2023 at 12:57 pm By Barbara O'Brien

There were liberal evangelicals? What if I told you that evangelical Christians were the original social justice warriors? Seems unlikely, I know, but keep reading. One of my favorite quotes is from a British novelist named L. P. Hartley — “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” History is full of surprises. It is not just a version of the present with strange clothes and bad technology. Cultures and institutions can sometimes change very rapidly in... Read more

Evangelical

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