Religious cosmology
Religious cosmology is an explanation of the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe from a religious perspective. This may include beliefs on origin in the form of a creation myth, subsequent evolution, current organizational form and nature, and eventual fate or destiny. There are various traditions in religion or religious mythology asserting how and why everything is the way it is and the significance of it all. Religious cosmologies describe the spatial lay-out of the universe in terms of the world in which people typically dwell as well as other dimensions, such as the seven dimensions of religion; these are ritual, experiential and emotional, narrative and mythical, doctrinal, ethical, social, and material.[1]
Religious mythologies may include descriptions of an act or process of
The scope of religious cosmology is more inclusive than a strictly
.Zoroastrian
In Zoroastrian Cosmology, universe is the manifestation of a cosmic conflict between Existence and non-existence, Good and evil and light and darkness which spans over a period of 12000 years. It is subdivided into four equal periods of 3000 years each. The first period is known as Infinite Time. During this period the good and the evil remained in perfect balance in their respective spheres. For 3000 years
Abrahamic
The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a
Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God.[7]
Indian
Buddhism
In
According to Akira Sadakata, the Buddhist cosmology is far more complex and uses extraordinarily larger numbers than those found in Vedic and post-Vedic Hindu traditions.[14] It also shares many ideas and concepts, such as those about Mount Meru.[15][16] The Buddhist thought holds that the six cosmological realms are interconnected, and everyone cycles life after life, through these realms, because of a combination of ignorance, desires and purposeful karma, or ethical and unethical actions.[11][10]
Hindu
The Hindu cosmology, like the Buddhist and Jain cosmology, considers all existence as cyclic.
Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet. What was concealed?
And where? And in whose protection?…Who really knows?
Who can declare it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation?
The devas (gods) were born later than this world's creation,
so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where
creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it.
He who surveys it in the highest heavens,
He alone knows or perhaps He does not know."
Time is conceptualized as a cyclic Yuga with trillions of years.[25] In some models, Mount Meru plays a central role.[26][27]
Beyond its creation, Hindu cosmology posits divergent theories on the structure of the universe, from being 3 lokas to 12 lokas (worlds) which play a part in its theories about rebirth,
The complex cosmological speculations found in Hinduism and other Indian religions, states Bolton, is not unique and are also found in Greek, Roman, Irish and Babylonian mythologies, where each age becomes more sinful and of suffering.[31][32]
Jain
Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having no beginning or an end.[33] Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.[34]
Mahāpurāṇa of Ācārya Jinasena is famous for this quote:
Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression.
Chinese
There is a "primordial universe"
Gnosticism
Gnostic teachings were contemporary with those of Neoplatonism. Gnosticism is an imprecise label, covering monistic as well as dualistic conceptions. Usually the higher worlds of Light, called the Pleroma or "fullness", are radically distinct from the lower world of Matter. The emanation of the Pleroma and its godheads (called Aeons) is described in detail in the various Gnostic tracts, as is the pre-creation crisis (a cosmic equivalent to the "fall" in Christian thought) from which the material world comes about, and the way that the divine spark can attain salvation.[39]
Serer religion
Serer religion posits that,
A
See also
- Axis mundi
- Baháʼí cosmology
- Big Bang § Pre–Big Bang cosmology
- Cosmology of The Urantia Book
- Chinese creation myth
- Dogon people § Dogon astronomical beliefs
- Greek mythology § Origins of the world and the gods
- History of the center of the Universe
- Japanese creation myth
- Mandaean cosmology
- Raëlian beliefs and practices § Structure of the Universe
- Somnium Scipionis – Sixth book of Cicero's "De re publica"
- Worship of heavenly bodies
- broken anchor]
References
- JSTOR 1399924.
- ^ "The Bundahishn ("Creation"), or Knowledge from the Zand".
- ^ a b Aune 2003, p. 119
- ^ Wright 2002, pp. 117, 124–125
- ^ Lee 2010, pp. 77–78
- ^ Zakariya al-Qazwini. ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt (The Wonders of Creation). Original published in 1553 AD
- ^ "Cosmology". Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012.
- ]
- ISBN 978-0-521-67674-8
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-517398-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-539352-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-803765-1.
- ISBN 978-4-333-01682-2.
- ISBN 978-4-333-01682-2.
- ISBN 978-4-333-01682-2.
- ISBN 978-0-89581-955-0.
- ISBN 978-0-14-008144-2.
- ISBN 978-1-134-60875-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
- ISBN 978-1-118-47195-1.
- Max Muller, Oxford, pages 46–50
- ISBN 978-0-8091-2781-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-95067-2.
- ISBN 978-0-674-06309-9.
- ISBN 978-1-134-78754-8.
- ISBN 978-3-447-02522-5.
- ISBN 978-81-208-1324-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-0799-8.
- ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-3067-5.
- ISBN 978-0-900588-31-0.
- ISBN 978-0-09-185145-3.
- ^ "This universe is not created nor sustained by anyone; It is self sustaining, without any base or support" "Nishpaadito Na Kenaapi Na Dhritah Kenachichch Sah Swayamsiddho Niradhaaro Gagane Kimtvavasthitah" [Yogaśāstra of Ācārya Hemacandra 4.106] Tr by Dr. A. S. Gopani
- ^ See Hemacandras description of universe in Yogaśāstra "…Think of this loka as similar to man standing akimbo…"4.103-6
- ^ 《太一生水》之混沌神話
- ^ 道教五方三界諸天「氣數」說探源
- ^ 太一與三一
- ^ 太極初探
- ISBN 1-4381-3026-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-660-15965-1. pp 5, 27, 115
- ISBN 2-7236-1055-1
- ^ Guinness World Records, Sigui : "Longest religious ceremony."[1] (retrieved March 13, 2020)
Bibliography
- Aune, David E. (2003). "Cosmology". Westminster Dictionary of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-21917-8.
- Bernstein, Alan E. (1996). The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8131-7.
- Berlin, Adele (2011). "Cosmology and creation". In Berlin, Adele; Grossman, Maxine (eds.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973004-9.
- Lee, Sang Meyng (2010). The Cosmic Drama of Salvation. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-150316-0.
- Wright, J. Edward (2002). The Early History of Heaven. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534849-1.
External links
- Media related to Religious cosmologies at Wikimedia Commons