"it seems to me that religions change so little through history that any change is a rare exception. "History's effect on religion", imho is Very Little Indeed... "
That is what every organized religion would have you believe. I can't point to how religion is changing today, but over the last 4000 years it's easy enough to see,imo. From my upbringing as a fundamentalist christian this is my take. In 900 BCE the five books of moses are put to paper. Abraham came on the scene (if you believe it) about 900 years before, so whatever "jewish" religion he was practicing lacked the free-us-from bondage theme we find after the exodus from Egypt in about 1280BCE. The disappearance of the ten tribes of israel after 800BCE changed the character of the subsequent old testament books. The temples's destruction in 70 CE, transformed the hebrew temple-based (animal sacrificing) religion into Judaism. At near the same time, with the murder of Jesus's brother james, the Jerusalem christian church lost its strongest voice in favor of following Jesus's teachings within The Law. A series of historical events shaped religious practice and belief. There's catholicism from which historical events led to a breakaway lutheran church, to the calvins, .... the mormons.... change never stops. It's not really religion (maybe I mean spiritual) if it remains static, imo. The most important religious stories talk of radical change from one way of thinking/living to another. Noah, Moses, Abraham, the prophets, the christian disciples all embrace change, that's the message ... change is where it's at. |
