Religions have shaped the nations of our world very much, yet rarely do we ever take the time to learn about it. Religions have defined nations, given purpose to lives of people, and have started wars. This here report is a report on such religions, their beliefs, their founders, and their followers.
JUDAISM.
Judaism was founded by the Hebrew nation of Israel. Abraham, as in the Bible character, is recognized as the Father of this religion. One of the most tenet doctrines in Judaism is monotheism, or the belief in one God. This idea is expressed in the Bible as well as many of Judaism's other doctrines. It was prophesied in the Bible that a Messiah, or Savior would be born. He was expected to come bringing God's kingdom of perfect harmony here to Earth. After the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C. and the captivity by the Babylonians that followed it, a few other doctrines were added to the religion that we now call Judaism. It was in Babylonia that the Israelites adopted and absorbed new ideas, like the personification of evil, which they named Satan, and the belief in the resurrection of the dead. In the period of time that followed after they were allowed back into their own lands, the Israelites began to publicly study the Torah, or Pentateuch (the first five books of!.
our Bibles), and write their thoughts upon it. These thoughts and clarifications were collected and bound in two volumes, called the Mishna and the Talmud. With Alexander the Great's conquest of Israel came more ideas, the most significant of which was the immortality of the soul. Also with Alexander came Greek philosophy. Conflicts over the permissible amount of Hellenization eventually led the revolt of the Maccabees.
Apocalyptic beliefs grew as the quality of Israelite life deteriorated. National catastrophes and the Messiahs coming were seen as imminent and soon-coming events. Out of these concerns evolved both Christianity and classical, or rabbinic Judaism.
