Buddhism and Christianity
Between 600 BCE and 600 CE, universal religions in Asia and the Mediterranean, particularly Christianity and Buddhism, both spread through trade networks, but emerged with diverging ideologies and through different founders and religious leaders.
Both Christianity and Buddhism were constantly evolving religions that had missionaries and pilgrims that traveled long distances to share their beliefs. The Silk Road and the Indian Ocean Maritime System proved to be trade routes that not only shared goods, but also ideas about religion. The period of Pax Romana also allowed for the quick movement of Christianity by means of the vastly extending Roman roads, and also through the Roman missionary St.Paul. Buddhism also landed in China through traders during the Sui Dynasty. All of these trade networks facilitated the spread of Christianity and Buddhism during the Classical Era.
Whereas Buddhism was based upon the self-motivated search for liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, Christianity was a monotheistic religion that focused on the idea of Good vs. Evil and judgment at the end of one’s life by the one and only true god. These ideas both pleased the people within the regions in which they emerged, but were nonetheless very different. While Buddhism was characterized by meditation, karma, and nirvana, Christianity had a sharper political and social edge due to the fact that Jesus was associated with the impure. The ideologies of Buddhism and Christianity had differing perspectives on the duties of their followers. Unlike the impure Jesus, Guatama, the founder of Buddhism, was a prince, which made Christianity more antagonized by non Christian political leaders. While Christianity had a huge hierarchy and divisions created by the installation of the priesthood, Buddhism had no overall hierarchy. St. Paul was a missionary who journeyed in eastern Rome, and shared the Christian story. Later, Constantine and Theodosius further gave Christianity
Both Christianity and Buddhism were constantly evolving religions that had missionaries and pilgrims that traveled long distances to share their beliefs. The Silk Road and the Indian Ocean Maritime System proved to be trade routes that not only shared goods, but also ideas about religion. The period of Pax Romana also allowed for the quick movement of Christianity by means of the vastly extending Roman roads, and also through the Roman missionary St.Paul. Buddhism also landed in China through traders during the Sui Dynasty. All of these trade networks facilitated the spread of Christianity and Buddhism during the Classical Era.
Whereas Buddhism was based upon the self-motivated search for liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, Christianity was a monotheistic religion that focused on the idea of Good vs. Evil and judgment at the end of one’s life by the one and only true god. These ideas both pleased the people within the regions in which they emerged, but were nonetheless very different. While Buddhism was characterized by meditation, karma, and nirvana, Christianity had a sharper political and social edge due to the fact that Jesus was associated with the impure. The ideologies of Buddhism and Christianity had differing perspectives on the duties of their followers. Unlike the impure Jesus, Guatama, the founder of Buddhism, was a prince, which made Christianity more antagonized by non Christian political leaders. While Christianity had a huge hierarchy and divisions created by the installation of the priesthood, Buddhism had no overall hierarchy. St. Paul was a missionary who journeyed in eastern Rome, and shared the Christian story. Later, Constantine and Theodosius further gave Christianity