Although Buddhism emerged as a philosophical tradition, over the centuries it began to shift into a universal, salvation oriented religion. Since it no longer only addressed issues familiar to those in South Asia, it began to expand.
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Tag Archives: religion
The Rise of Buddhism in South Asia
In the fifth and sixth centuries BCE, Siddhartha Gautama (later known as the Buddha) began teaching a path to Nirvana that appealed to a wide range of people within South Asia.
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South Asia’s Common Culture
The kingdoms of South Asia–emerging from a blending of the Indus Valley civilizations with the migrations of the Vedic peoples–did not unite into a larger state or empire until a later time than its counterparts in East Asia or the Southwest Asia.
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New England: Witchcraft?
Although the Salem, Massachusetts witchcraft trials are the most well-known, courts in New England had dealt with the perceived issue of witchcraft for decades. This case, from Connecticut, describes the case of Elizabeth Knap. At the conclusion the author provides his own assessment of the evidence in the case.
Religion in New England
The Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay colony sought to make their society a “citiy on a hill,” an example of Christian community for their English homeland to emulate. This led to, in some cases, a greater degree of religious persecution than in England; not only against the non-Christian Native Americans but against Christians who dissented from some aspects of the leadership’s Calvinist faith.
Roger Williams (1603-1683) was a proponent of religious freedom and of a separation between civil and religious affairs. He founded the Providence Plantation colony (later Rhode Island) partially as a refuge for those persecuted.