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What were the earliest religions prior to the Bible or Old Testament?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
One thing that researchers agree upon is that mankind has always believed in a Higher Power. Archaeology has shown that no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the supernatural.
Based upon a massive worldwide study of the most ancient inscriptions and the earliest levels of civilization, Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (in his twelve-volume Der Ursprung Der Gottesidee) concluded that the original belief was monotheistic. It was a simple belief in the Creator (Sky-Father) with no imagery of any kind. This belief gave way relatively quickly to polytheism and idolatry; and it was the ubiquitous idolatry which Abraham found when he was born.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoAnswer 1
The major religions that pre-date Christianity are Hinduism, Judaism, Shintoism, and Buddhism. There are several others including Kemetism (the Ancient Egyptian mythology), Zoroastrianism, Ur-Nammu (Sumerian Mythology), Greco-Roman Mythology, Daoism, Confucianism, Atenism (the monotheism of Pharaoh Akhenaton), Jainism, Epicureanism to name a few. Followers of Islam (see Answer 2) hold that Islam is the oldest religion as Islam means full submission to God, but as a religion practiced per Qur'an it did not exist until after Christianity.
Answer 2
Alternate analysis:
Religions are either God religions (Monotheistic religions) or polytheistic and/or hanotheistic religions. Regarding monotheistic religions Muslims teach that Islam (that means full submission to God) is the oldest of all religions since it has existed from the creation of the universe. Muslims consider the first prophet of Islam to be Adam, followed by prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, and several other prophets until prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all).
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If the Gospels were written in early times why was not a New Testament used as the early Bible?
The Gospel contains the Old Testament, composed of scriptures found prior to Jesus birth or orally transmitted from lost ancient scriptures after Jesus birth, and the New Testament related to Jesus life and teaching. Any early Bible is made of Old and New Testaments as a whole.
What were religions in the Middle East like before the idea of monotheism became popular?
Prior to monotheism, most religions were based on worshipping many gods.
Who is the earliest historical person in the Old Testament?
A:We can not be certain who was the earliest historical person in the Old Testament. There are good grounds for believing that King David was a real, historical person and King Saul is also quite likely to have existed, although neither of them was the great king of all Israel portrayed in the Bible. Prior to this, history becomes murky. Some of the Judges were probably historical, others not. The order in which the Judges are presented in the Book of Judges is clearly artificial, so we can not be sure in which order any historical Judges really lived. We can be sure that Gideon was a real, historical person since his real name, Jerubbaal, is also used in the Book of Judges, reflecting the early polytheism of Israel. The Song of Deborah (Judges 5), which mentions a battle that probably did happen, is thought to have been one of the earliest passages in the Old Testament so Deborah is also likely to have been historical.We should exclude Joshua, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as all members of their families, as being legendary, not historical people.
Were the Gospels written prior to any of the New Testament letters?
A:No. Mark, the earliest New Testament gospel, was written approximately 70 CE, after the time of Paul. So Paul's seven genuine epistles were written before the first gospel to be written. New Testament scholars have noted that the author of Mark seems to have known Paul's epistles and might have used some material from them.
What word means the study of culture prior to its earliest recording?
Protohistory.
When precisely will the world end?
There is no way of knowing when that time will be. If you are a Christian you may believe that the signs spoken of in the bible precede just prior to Christ's return and the end of this world. Different religions have different beliefs.
When was the first tagalog Bible published?
The first complete Bible translation in Tagalog, referred to as the "Ang Biblia," was published in 1905 by the American Bible Society. Prior to this, there were earlier translations of parts of the Bible in Tagalog, but this was the first complete version.
What religions existed in SW Asia prior to Muhammad?
A distorted form of all Abrahamic religions, idol worship etc.
Catholic bible in use before the Reformation?
Presumably you are asking whether the Catholic Bible was used before the reformation. The answer to that is "yes" absolutely. The official Catholic Bible is (and was) the Latin Vulgate. The Vulgate was translated by Jerome in 382-405 AD and it contains the full 76 books considered by Catholics to be the canon of the Bible; that means it contains the books that Martin Luther removed during the reformation. Prior to the vulgate, Catholics used the "Vetus Latina" which was a collection of Latin translations (remember that Latin was the commonly spoken language by the majority of Christians at the time) of books from the septuagint (the version of the Old Testament used by Jesus and the apostles) which is the basis of the Catholic old Testament and also contains the books removed by Luther. In conclusion: the Old Testament as used by Catholics today existed before the time of Christ and was used by the Jews at the time - this remains the Old Testament Canon of the Catholic Church and was most definitely in use at the time of the reformation. There is early evidence of the New Testament as we know it from the middle of the second century, but the earliest reference to it as an unchangeable and full canon comes from Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in 367 AD.
Prior Religions of the first followers of jesus?
Most, but not all, were Jewish.
Mary husband is he the same Joseph that was sold?
No. The Joseph that was sold into slavery in Egypt was a son of Jacob in the Old Testament. The Joseph who married Mary, the mother of Jesus was born just prior to the New Testament era. We know very little of him, except he believed in God.
How the the term old testament originate?
The word testament means, at root, a document containing testimony. The Gospels and letters are the testimony of the people who founded the Christian Church. Given this, from a Christian perspective, the older Hebrew Bible is older testimony about the acts of God prior to the time of Jesus. The naming is quite rational from a Christian perspective.
